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ACC Roundup - Final Day Of Regular Season; Tournament Set

Not a vintage season but the tournament could still be fun

By JD King
/ new
North Carolina v Duke
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - MARCH 05: Paolo Banchero #5 of the Duke Blue Devils shoots a layup during the second half against the North Carolina Tar Heels at Cameron Indoor Stadium on March 05, 2022 in Durham, North Carolina.
Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Saturday wraps up regular season ACC action and here are those scores:

  • Virginia 71 Louisville 61
  • Georgia Tech 82 Boston College 78
  • Miami 75 Syracuse 72
  • Clemson 63 Virginia Tech 59
  • Florida State 89 NC State 76
  • Notre Dame 78 Pitt 74

And the seeds are also set:

  1. Duke
  2. Notre Dame
  3. UNC
  4. Miami
  5. Wake Forest
  6. Virginia
  7. Virginia Tech
  8. Florida State
  9. Syracuse
  10. Clemson
  11. Louisville
  12. Pitt
  13. Boston College
  14. Georgia Tech
  15. NC State

The nice thing about losing the second Duke-UNC game is that a few hours later, attention switches to the tournament.

Duke, Notre Dame, UNC and Miami get the double byes. Wake Forest, Virginia Tech and Virginia miss playing Tuesday and start on Wednesday, as do Florida State and Syracuse.

None of the Tuesday games look very compelling although there are some things to keep in mind. Pitt and BC open things up in Game 1 and while both have been losing, right now BC’s culture seems better. The winner there plays Wake Forest.

Clemson and NC State are in Game 2 while Louisville and Georgia Tech close out Tuesday in Game 3.

We can’t possibly overstate how impressive Clemson has been without PJ Hall. The Tigers have won four straight. Who even imagined that would be possible? Don’t let anyone tell you that Brad Brownell can’t coach. That is just masterful.

The merciful thing for Louisville would be just to stop playing. If their season was a horse it would have been shot weeks ago as a mercy.

Wednesday opens with Florida State and Syracuse, which could be fun. Both teams have struggled and FSU traditionally doesn’t play great away from home. Syracuse is the home team in Brooklyn. Plus the ‘Cuse is now under .500 and needs to win a couple to get back to a winning record and no doubt would like to wash the taste of Saturday’s collapse away.

However, FSU closed with three wins and two of them were relatively impressive. So you can’t rule them out. Plus they have a lot of size, which bothers Syracuse, and can defend shooters, which bugs them more.

Wake takes on the winner of BC/Pitt and while we can imagine an upset it seems pretty unlikely. Wake would have to basically take the day off.

We would fully expect Clemson to beat NC State at this point, with or without Hall and they just did beat Virginia Tech. Why not twice? Could be.

If Louisville did manage to beat Georgia Tech they’ll just run into Virginia again and why bother? They’ll just lose again. Might as well go home Tuesday.

We would expect Duke to beat either Florida State or Syracuse on Thursday, particularly after losing to UNC. They’ll want to make a point.

Miami and Wake Forest could be really intriguing though. Wake fell off a bit at the end but they are a talented, well-coached team. That one should be fun.

Notre Dame and Virginia Tech could be the most fun game of the day. Both teams like to air it out and both have been playing well. That could be a real blast.

So might Virginia and UNC. They played once in mid-January, a game that UNC won easily. Armando Bacot scored 29 points on 12-18 from the floor and had 22 rebounds, nine of them offensive. You have to think Virginia remembers and will have a plan.

That’s far enough for now. We’ll see how the early games play out and revisit.

Tuesday, March 8 First Round

  • 2 p.m. – No. 12 Pitt vs. No. 13 Boston College (ACC Network)
  • 4:30 p.m. – No. 10 Clemson vs. No. 15 NC State (ACC Network)
  • 7 p.m. – No. 11 Louisville vs. No. 14 Georgia Tech (ACC Network)

Wednesday, March 9 Second Round

  • Noon – No. 8 Florida State vs. No. 9 Syracuse (ESPN)
  • 2:30 p.m. – No. 5 Wake Forest vs. Pitt/Boston College winner (ESPN)
  • 7 p.m. – No. 7 Virginia Tech vs. Clemson/NC State winner (ESPN2/ESPNU)
  • 9:30 p.m. – No. 6 Virginia vs. Louisville/Georgia Tech winner (ESPN2)

Thursday, March 10 Quarterfinals

  • Noon – No. 1 Duke vs. Wednesday Noon winner (ESPN/ESPN2)
  • 2:30 p.m. – No. 4 Miami vs. Wednesday 2:30 p.m. winner (ESPN/ESPN2)
  • 7 p.m. – No. 2 Notre Dame vs. Wednesday 7 p.m. winner (ESPN/ESPN2)
  • 9:30 p.m. – No. 3 North Carolina vs. Wednesday 9:30 p.m. winner (ESPN/ESPN2)

Friday, March 11 Semifinals

  • 7 p.m. – Thursday afternoon winners (ESPN/ESPN2)
  • 9:30 p.m. – Thursday evening winners (ESPN/ESPN2)

Saturday, March 12 Championship

  • 8:30 p.m. – Semifinal winners (ESPN)

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