The Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament begins play on Thursday with four games. Check the latest NCAA basketball lines.
Top-seeded North Carolina (24-6, 14-2 ACC) knocked off #2 Duke (27-4, 13-3) in the regular-season finale 81-67 on Saturday, and anything but a rematch in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament title game will be disappointment for both teams. The defending national champion Blue Devils were the conference’s best team for most of the year until the Tar Heels caught fire down the stretch, winning their last seven games and 12 of 13 en route to the regular-season title.
Duke had beaten North Carolina 79-73 in the first meeting between the teams on February 9. But a 64-60 loss at #6 Virginia Tech (19-10, 9-7) for the Blue Devils opened the door for the Tar Heels to win the conference title. Last year, North Carolina was a #10 seed and lost to Georgia Tech in the first round while Duke later topped the seventh-seeded Yellow Jackets 65-61 in the tournament championship game.
A lot has certainly changed since then, and a lot of work is yet to be done for most of the ACC’s other teams trying to secure bids to the NCAA tournament. The only other team that definitely appears in the Big Dance with the Tar Heels and Blue Devils right now is #3 Florida State (20-9, 10-5). Three other teams with 9-7 conference marks all need to state their case and win at least their first games of the tournament this week to have a shot, including #4 Clemson (20-10), #5 Boston College (19-11) and #6 Virginia Tech (19-10).
The Tigers won three of their last four games to finish the regular season with 20 victories, a minimum magic number of sorts to get into the NCAA tournament. They also have key home wins against the Seminoles, Eagles and Hokies in their last 10 games that should hold some weight in the eyes of the tournament selection committee. Clemson will face the winner of Boston College and #12 Wake Forest (8-23, 1-15) in the quarterfinals on Friday.
Virginia Tech pulled off the biggest win of the three teams, beating Duke 64-60 on February 26. But the Hokies took a couple steps back by losing to the Eagles and Tigers by a combined 24 points in their last two games. Virginia Tech will square off against #11 Georgia Tech (13-17, 5-11) in the first round on Thursday while the Eagles meet the ACC’s worst team in the Demon Deacons.
Other first-round matchups on Thursday include #8 Virginia (16-14, 7-9) against #9 Miami (18-12, 6-9) and #7 Maryland (18-13, 7-9) against #10 North Carolina State (15-14, 5-10). All of the aforementioned teams will need to win the conference tournament to get the ACC’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. North Carolina gets the winner of Virginia/Miami in the quarterfinals on Thursday while Duke plays the winner of Maryland/NC State.
