Atlantic Coast Conference
March 8-12. All games at Washington, D.C.
kPOY: Malcolm Brogdon, Virginia.
The ACC gets underway on Tuesday afternoon with two first-round games at the Verizon Center.
Virginia’s bludgeoning of Louisville on Saturday vaulted it to the top of the ratings and added about 3% to its chances of winning this event. No team is more disappointed about the Cardinals’ absence from this event than the Cavaliers. They were responsible for Louisville’s two-worst offensive games of the season.
The ACC finished with a whopping 12 teams ranked in the top 100. So there’s some strength in the middle of the field that is capable of challenging the top seeds. There’s about an 80% chance that the winner comes from Virginia, North Carolina, or Miami.
Boston College was the only team in the country that didn’t win a conference game. (edit: Actually, Chicago State also went winless.) Interestingly, the three teams with just one win – Rutgers, St. John’s, and Washington State – also came from power conferences. To the Eagles’ credit, their scoring margin in conference play was a full three points per game better than Rutgers. Unlike Rutgers, they didn’t have the luxury of playing a season finale against a team of benchwarmers.
I guess all eyes are on the quarterfinal game between Syracuse and Pitt since both teams are not sure things to get an at-large bid. Although, the consensus has them both in at this point, and it’s odd that a loss to a team that will be in the tournament could actually damage one’s portfolio to the point where it would not get a bid. This is one of many reasons I don’t do bracketology.
Rd1 Qtrs Semis Final Champ 2 Virginia 100 100 83.5 59.7 39.8 1 North Carolina 100 100 74.9 51.6 26.3 3 Miami FL 100 100 72.5 28.7 14.7 5 Duke 100 79.3 49.6 21.8 8.4 4 Notre Dame 100 100 44.0 14.4 4.2 9 Syracuse 100 50.6 12.8 5.6 1.5 8 Pittsburgh 100 49.4 12.4 5.3 1.4 11 Florida St. 89.9 52.3 16.2 3.9 1.2 7 Clemson 100 54.8 9.7 3.5 1.1 10 Georgia Tech 100 45.2 6.8 2.2 0.6 6 Virginia Tech 100 46.4 11.2 2.1 0.5 12 North Carolina St. 64.3 15.5 5.3 1.1 0.2 13 Wake Forest 35.7 5.2 1.2 0.2 0.02 14 Boston College 10.1 1.4 0.07 0.003 <.001
ACC tourney records (since 1999)
Duke 37- 7 Notre Dame 3- 1 North Carolina 23-15 North Carolina St. 21-17 Miami FL 12-10 Pittsburgh 2- 2 Florida St. 14-16 Boston College 8-10 Virginia Tech 7-11 Georgia Tech 10-17 Virginia 8-16 Wake Forest 7-17 Clemson 6-17 Syracuse 0- 1 Louisville 0- 1