Sunday NCAA Outlook for ACC Teams
Posted by Brad Jenkins (@bradjenk) on March 15th, 2015Now that the ACC Tournament is in the books, all the resumes are complete heading into Selection Sunday. Here’s an updated look at what we can expect to see when the field is announced tonight.
Notre Dame will try to defy NCAA Tournament history after winning the ACC Championship.
(AP Photo/Bob Leverone)
Each team is listed with its current overall record along with projected NCAA seed per ESPN‘s Joe Lunardi and CBS Sports‘ Jerry Palm.
- Duke (29-4, ESPN: #1, CBS: #2) As you can see, opinions differ among the experts regarding which (if any) ACC team will get a #1 seed and which will fall to the #2 line. Duke’s ace in the hole is the fact that the Blue Devils own road wins over each of the other two primary #1 seed contenders, Wisconsin and Virginia. We predict that the Selection Committee will use that as a tie-breaker and reward Duke with the third-overall #1 seed, placing the Blue Devils in the South Region.
- Virginia (29-3, ESPN: #2, CBS: #1) The Cavaliers hope that the Selection Committee places higher value on their ACC regular season title than how the team looks recently with two losses in their last three outings. Justin Anderson has not looked sharp in his two games since returning and that may also influence things. If Wisconsin wins the Big Ten title today, look for Virginia to be the #2 seed in the East.
- Notre Dame (29-5, ESPN: #3, CBS: #3) After winning the ACC Tournament, Notre Dame will probably be one of the highest #3 seeds. That means the Irish will likely be assigned to the Midwest Region, where Kentucky is projected as the top seed. But before we start looking ahead to determine what kind of a matchup problem the Irish could be for the big, bad Wildcats, take a look at the chart below. In the four occasions over the last 18 years that a school other than Duke or North Carolina has won the ACC Tournament, that team has subsequently gone on to lose to a lower-seeded opponent in the NCAA Tournament. It appears that those schools have trouble settling down from such a unique achievement and keeping the momentum going in the Dance. Maybe given that this year’s ACC Tournament finished on a Saturday for the first time in decades, the extra day to regroup and focus will benefit the Irish..
- North Carolina (24-11, ESPN: #4, CBS: #4) The Tar Heels’ nice run in the ACC Tournament boosted their seeding to a solid #4 spot.
- Louisville (24-8, ESPN: #4, CBS: #5) Louisville fans will be watching to see if they once again are placed in the same region as arch-rival Kentucky.
- N.C. State (20-13, ESPN: #8, CBS: #10) If the Wolfpack are put in an #8/#9 game and advance, they could be a total handful for one of the #1 seeds they would meet in the next round.
- Miami (21-12, ESPN: Last Four Out, CBS: Last Four Out) Miami’s selection hopes probably went down the drain as soon as Wyoming stole one of the available bids by winning the Mountain West title last night.
