Carolina Sports News

Carolina Sports News

ACC Tournament Bracket Is Officially Set After Duke’s Loss To UNC

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ATLANTA, GA – MARCH 11: Bernard James #5 of the Florida State Seminoles fights for control of the opening tip-off against Tyler Zeller #44 of the North Carolina Tar Heels during the Final Game of the 2012 ACC Men’s Basketball Conference Tournament at Philips Arena on March 11, 2012 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

The ACC wrapped up its men’s basketball regular season today, and it was capped in pretty explosive fashion. In what was extremely close to a must-win game for Duke, Mike Krzyzewski‘s fell on its face from the opening tip, losing to North Carolina 91-73. With that result, the ACC Tournament field is set.

That game probably eliminates any chance of the 11-11 (9-9) Blue Devils from making the NCAA Tournament as an at large bid. They will, of course, have the chance to win the league’s automatic bid in Greensboro next week, at the ACC Tournament, but it will require a magical five games-in-five days run.

Duke, the No. 10 seed, opens things up with No. 15 Boston College in Tuesday’s first round. No. 12 Pitt will face No. 13 Miami to open the day, while No. 11 Notre Dame, coming off of a big upset of Florida State, will take on No. 14 Wake Forest.

With that FSU loss and their own win over Louisville today, the Virginia Cavaliers are the ACC regular season champions, and earn the top seed. Florida State drops to the two-seed, followed by Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech. UVA faces the Wednesday winner of No. 8 Syracuse and No. 9 NC State.

Clemson, the No. 5 seed, will face the Pitt-Miami winner on Wednesday, with the winner of that game advancing to face Georgia Tech.

Florida State will take on the winner of No. 7 Louisville and the Duke/Boston College winner. Virginia Tech has the team that comes out of the No. 6 North Carolina, Notre Dame, Wake Forest trio.

Beyond the first few teams in the league, the ACC is a bit of a mess this season. Right now, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has Virginia as the No. 16 team in the Tournament, the final of the teams on the four-seed line, with Florida State right behind them. Louisville and Georgia Tech are both among the “last four byes,” while Syracuse is in the “First Four Out” categories. He has seven ACC teams currently in the field, but it is not a group that many will have going far in a few weeks.