The ACC tournament is making its triumphant return to the Greensboro for the first time since 2015 after the event traveled to D.C., Brooklyn, and Charlotte.
The No. 4 ranked Florida State Seminoles enter the tournament as the outright regular-season winner and No. 1 seed. Leonard Hamilton — the ACC Coach of the Year — and his squad have just five losses on the season. Trent Forrest, Devin Vassell, and MJ Walker headline a balanced squad for the Seminoles that will make every aspect of the game difficult for opponents.
The No. 2-seeded Virginia Cavaliers finished in a three-way tie for second with Louisville and Duke, and are entering the postseason as one of the hottest teams in the country, let alone conference. Virginia won its last eight games, and have won 11 of the last 12 games with victories over Florida State, Duke, and Louisville in that span. The Hoos have the nation’s best defense (per KenPom) and one of the worst offenses, but they’re still finding ways to grind out wins. They may be without the trio of De’Andre Hunter, Ty Jerome, and Kyle Guy, but second year guard Kihei Clark has come on late and Mamadi Diakite refuses to be denied.
Duke, the No. 4 seed, is the odds-on favorite to win, but finished the season 2-2 heading into the tournament. Coach Mike Krzyzewski has been tinkering with his lineups, reducing playing time for Matthew Hurt, Alex O’Connell, and Joey Baker down the stretch. The Blue Devis rely heavily on ACC Player/Defensive Player of the Year Tre Jones and Rookie of the Year Vernon Carey, Jr., and can struggle if a third scoring option doesn’t emerge.
The No. 3-seeded Louisville Cardinals have been inconsistent this season, looking like a title contender and extremely beatable at different times. Malik Williams made a brief return from injury in the Cards’ regular-season finale (a loss to Virginia), but his performance is going to be huge for Chris Mack and Louisville in the postseason. Louisville will have to face either Syracuse or North Carolina/Virginia Tech, none of which would be a cake walk. Jordan Nwora is the type of player that can take over a game, and Louisville’s supporting cast (Steven Enoch, Dwayne Sutton, and Ryan McMahon to name a few) is capable of beating anyone.
All season, the ACC has been a bit of a free-for-all. The top tier — Florida State, Duke, Louisville, and Virginia — pulled away from the rest of the league, but this season more than any other in recent memory has been hotly contested. Keep an eye on the middle grouping of NC State, Notre Dame, and Syracuse as trio that could make some noise. It’s a shame Georgia Tech is ineligible for postseason play, because the Yellow Jackets were actually … good? Oh, and North Carolina? Yeah, they may have finished last, but it would be the most 2019-20 basketball thing ever for them to put together a run.
The stakes
Right now, the ACC is only looking at getting four teams into the tournament: Florida State, Duke, Louisville, and Virginia. The Cavaliers worked their way off the bubble with an eight game winning streak to end the regular season, and you should see the reigning champs at or about the seven seed line.
NC State still has some work to do, and the Wolf Pack should also probably be hoping no bid stealers pop onto the scene. NCSU will face the winner of No. 12 Wake Forest and No. 13 Pittsburgh, so if they want to keep their NCAA tournament hopes alive, they have to at least win one, and should probably pick up another win over Duke in the Quarterfinals for good measure.
North Carolina has undoubtedly been playing much better, but they’re dead last in the conference this season and will have to win five games in five days to earn the conference’s automatic qualifier for the Big Dance.
The format
The top 10 teams receive first-round byes and the top four teams receive double-byes to the quarterfinals. Teams are seeded by record within the conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records. Georgia Tech is ineligible for post season play because of NCAA violations and won’t participate.
The bracket and schedule
Here is the full tournament bracket and day-by-day schedule. Game times subject to change. We’ll be updating it with results along the way.
Round 1: Tuesday, March 10 (all times ET)
Game 1: No. 12 Wake Forest 72, No. 13 Pittsburgh 81
Game 2: No. 11 Virginia Tech 56, No. 14 North Carolina 78
Round 2: Wednesday, March 11
Game 3: No. 8 Clemson vs. No. 9 Miami, Noon
Game 4: No. 5 NC State vs. No. 13 Pittsburgh 2 p.m.
Game 5: No. 7 Notre Dame vs. No. 10 Boston College, 7 p.m.
Game 6: No. 6 Syracuse vs. No. 14 North Carolina, 9 p.m.
Quarterfinals: Thursday, March 12
Game 7: No. 1 Florida State vs. Game 3 Winner, 12:30 p.m.
Game 8: No. 4 Duke vs. Game 4 Winner, 2 p.m.
Game 9: No. 2 Virginia vs. Game 5 Winner, 7 p.m.
Game 10: No. 3 Louisville vs. Game 6 Winner, 9 p.m.
Semifinals: Friday, March 13
Game 11: Game 7 Winner vs. Game 8 Winner, 7 p.m.
Game 12: Game 9 Winner vs. Game 10 Winner, 9 p.m.
Championship: Saturday, March 14
Game 13: Game 11 Winner vs. Game 12 Winner, 8:30 p.m.
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