***** – quit your job and divorce your wife if that’s what it takes to watch this game live
**** – best watched live, but if you must, tivo and watch it tonight as soon as you get home
*** – set your tivo but make sure you watch it later
** – set your tivo but we’ll forgive you if it stays in the queue until 2013
* – don’t waste bandwidth (yours or the tivo’s) of any kind on this game

Brian Otskey is an RTC contributor.

When we’re this late into Championship Week, every game is dynamite and a must-see event. There are too many games to preview in their entirety so here are a handful you absolutely have to watch today. All rankings from RTC and all times Eastern.

ACC Semifinals (at Greensboro, NC): #5 Duke vs. Virginia Tech – 3:30 pm on ESPN (****)

With the status of Nolan Smith uncertain after suffering a toe injury yesterday (bad toes have killed the Blue Devils this year, right?), Virginia Tech can lock up a bid for certain with another win over Duke this afternoon. After a scintillating conclusion to their game against Florida State, one tenth of a second may be enough to vault this Hokies team into the Big Dance regardless of what happens today. If Smith can’t go, Kyle Singler and Seth Curry become Duke’s go-to players. Singler played like the guy we saw last year against Maryland yesterday, posting 29/9 on 10-15 FG, while Curry did a nice job filling in at the point after Smith left. Virginia Tech slowed the pace down in their win over Duke last month but more importantly committed only five turnovers in that game. The Hokies also held the Blue Devils to 20% shooting from three and owned the paint with Jeff Allen and Victor Davila combining for 29/25 in the win. To beat Duke for the second time, Seth Greenberg needs a similar game plan. If Duke can get out in transition, Virginia Tech’s limited depth will become a major concern, as will their propensity to turn the ball over. The Hokies are at their best playing in the half court where they work the ball inside to Allen and crash the glass, not when Malcolm Delaney is jacking up ill-advised deep shots leading to long rebounds and fast break points for the opponent. If Smith can’t go and Curry doesn’t make his teammates better, look for Virginia Tech to use a lot of zone (they might anyway) to force Duke into deep jumpers, especially Singler. He shot the ball poorly in the first meeting and was a big part of why Duke lost that game. A game like he had against Maryland will lead Duke to a win but Virginia Tech knows what is at stake and can definitely win this game if they stick to the blueprint we just outlined.

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Games #208-209.  It’s ACC Semifinal Saturday, with Duke and Carolina seemingly on a collision course for a third matchup.

1:00 pm.  UNC vs. Clemson.  Third time’s the charm? Clemson has fallen to North Carolina twice already this season, but comes into the semifinals with all the momentum that a dismantling of Boston College can buy. Additionally, Clemson comes in knowing that they have been close in the past. In the last meeting between these teams at Clemson, the Tigers came within two points and four seconds of upsetting the Tar Heels. In North Carolina, Clemson faces a team not so different from itself: both teams are elite defensive teams who sometimes struggle to score against other defensive-minded squads. Yet while North Carolina seeks to run, Clemson plays at a fairly slow pace. Expect Clemson to burn through every second of the shot clock as they try to control the tempo and increase their odds at an upset. Of course, this was the same strategy that Miami used, fairly successfully, until North Carolina’s stunning comeback..

3:15 pm.  Duke vs. Virginia Tech. After Virginia Tech’s surprising comeback against, Florida State, the question that the Hokies have to answer is whether or not they have the legs to take on this Duke team. The shorthanded VT team has leaned on stars Malcolm Delaney and Erick Green to play nearly 40 minutes each of the past two nights. With this Duke game coming less than 15 hours after their late-night victory, it seems likely that the Hokies will be exhausted. That said Malcolm Delaney and his team have played iron man minutes the entire season and showed a steely resolve against the Seminoles. The question for Duke hinges on Nolan Smith’s toe: Will the Player of the Year candidate even suit up? It’s a tough break for the Blue Devils, but Seth Curry showed himself to be a capable point man in the closing minutes against Maryland. Even more intriguing, Kyrie Irving’s tantalizing warm-up before the Maryland game suggested that the sensational freshman isn’t too far off from a return. Does Smith’s injury accelerate the timetable? Virginia Tech only lost to Duke by four points in a win that leaned heavily on Smith’s 18-point performance. Will his absence tilt the scales or will the sheer exhaustion of Seth Greenberg’s team be too much?

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Zach Hayes is RTC’s official bracketologist.

UPDATED: Saturday, 11:19 PM ET.

First 4 Byes: Illinois, Colorado, Michigan, Saint Mary’s.

Last Four In: Penn State, Clemson, Virginia Tech, Alabama.

First Four Out: Georgia, Boston College, Southern California, VCU.

S-Curve (italics indicate automatic bids)

• 1 Seeds: Ohio State, Kansas, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh
  
• 2 Seeds: Duke, San Diego State, Texas, North Carolina
  
• 3 Seeds: Florida, Connecticut, Louisville, BYU
• 4 Seeds: Purdue, Syracuse, Kentucky, Wisconsin
• 5 Seeds: St. John’s, West Virginia, Arizona, Vanderbilt
  
• 6 Seeds: Texas A&M, Kansas State, Cincinnati, Georgetown
• 7 Seeds: Xavier, Old Dominion, Missouri, Temple
  
• 8 Seeds: George Mason, Tennessee, Washington, Utah State
  
• 9 Seeds: UCLA, UNLV, Gonzaga, Florida State
  
• 10 Seeds: Marquette, Villanova, Richmond, Butler
• 11 Seeds: Michigan State, Illinois, Colorado, Michigan
• 12 Seeds: Saint Mary’s, Penn State, Clemson, Virginia Tech, Alabama, Memphis
  
• 13 Seeds: Belmont, Princeton, Oakland, Indiana State
  
• 14 Seeds: Bucknell, Morehead State, Wofford, Long Island
  
• 15 Seeds: Akron, Northern Colorado, St. Peter’s, Boston University
  
• 16 Seeds: UC-Santa Barbara, UNC-Asheville, Hampton, Arkansas Little-Rock, UT-San Antonio, Alabama State

3/12 changes:

• Penn State and Ed DeChellis will go dancing. The Nittany Lions needed to beat both Wisconsin and Purdue/Michigan State in the Big Ten Tournament to clinch a bid. They completed both scalps and should go to the tournament in Talor Battle’s senior season.
• Kentucky didn’t help their SEC brethren by thrashing Alabama. If Dayton wins the A-10 Tournament, the Tide are the team to drop out. Richmond also clinched a bid with their semifinal win over Temple, so the conference may end up with four teams in the Dance.
• Washington jumped up two seed lines with their dramatic Pac-10 Tournament victory. The Huskies made up for a lackluster non-conference performance with two wins over both UCLA and Arizona.
• San Diego State flipped with BYU. The Aztecs are now the #6 overall team in the S-Curve while the Cougars will either garner a #3 or #4 seed on Sunday depending on how much the committee downgrades them post-Brandon Davies.
• Florida will earn a #2 seed if they beat Kentucky and win the SEC Tournament tomorrow. Their body of work is tremendous and the Gators will have won both the regular season and tournament titles.
• Connecticut won five games in five days and now will receive a #3 seed at the very minimum. They were a #6 seed heading into the Big East Tournament. Louisville’s defeat of Notre Dame on Friday, close loss to UConn and entire body of work in the historic Big East (7 RPI top-25 wins, five more than Purdue) gives them a slight edge for the final #3 seed.

Throughout conference tournament weekend, we’re going to pop in with some BGTD-style analysis at least twice a day. For a recap of the action earlier today, check out our afternoon BGTD post.

• Jimmer goes off. For most of the past week we have focused on who BYU doesn’t have (Brandon Davies) while seemingly ignoring the who they do have (Jimmer Fredette) and Jimmer reminded us how good he can be thanks to a ridiculous 52-point performance to knock off New Mexico, a team that had beaten the Cougars the two previous times they played this season. We aren’t saying that the Cougars are still a contender without Davies because we think they lack the depth to make it past the second weekend without him, but with Fredette and a decent supporting cast we wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to see the Cougars in the Sweet 16. As for Fredette, this should basically be the stamp on his national player of the year campaign. There are plenty of excellent players this year (more on a few in a bit), but nobody has been as dominant throughout the entire seen as Fredette.
• OT at MSG. The Big East seminfinals provided us with a pair of excellent games that required an extra session. In the first semifinal Kemba Walker finally played like the phenomenal player we saw in Maui, but UConn still required an extra 5 minutes to knock off Syracuse after a pair of huge threes by Scoop Jardine late in regulation. In the end, Walker (33 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists, and 6 steals) and Alex Oriakhi (15 points and 11 rebounds) were too much for the Orange. In the nightcap, Louisville overcame a 14-point halftime deficit against Notre Dame to force overtime and join the Huskies in the Big East finals. The key for the Cardinals was forcing Ben Hansborough into numerous poor shots as he ended the day 3 for 16 from the field. The Cardinals comeback victory sets up an intriguing Big East final match-up involving two of the league’s most controversial coaches who each have dealt with major issues in the past year (Rick Pitino‘s being personal and Jim Calhoun‘s being professional). One thing to watch for is the Huskies legs as they are attempting to become the first team in Big East Tournament history to win 5 games in 5 days. You might also want to watch for how the Huskies respond when they get to the NCAA Tournament as all these miles might begin to take a toll on them.
• Toe Problems at Duke. Normally we would brush off Nolan Smith‘s toe injury against Maryland in a game that the Blue Devils won handily, but given how innoucous another toe injury to another Duke guard (Kyrie Irving) seemed at the time we think the Blue Devils will be a little more cautious heading into their game against Virginia Tech.

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Games #199-200.  The evening session in Greensboro will give us a classic rivalry as well as an important bubble game.

7 pm.  Duke vs. Maryland.  There is no good will between Duke and Maryland. While the Blue Devils’ rivalry with North Carolina has shades of mutual respect, the rivalry with Maryland is one of pure unadulterated hate. Maryland has lost twice to Duke, but gave the Devils a real scare in early January by nearly stealing one in Durham. The question of this game, as it has been for an increasing number of game, is Kyle Singler. In the two prior games against Maryland, Singler scored a critical 25 and 22 points. Singler’s recent slump is cause for concern given how important he has been to victory over Maryland. Conversely, this matchup against the Terrapins may be just what Singler needs to get over his slump.For Maryland, the focus will be on defense. In January, Maryland boasted the most efficient defense in the entire country, but have now slumped to eighth in the conference. If Maryland can play effective defense against Duke’s elite perimeter scorers and set loose Jordan Williams on the soft Duke interior, an upset is a very real possibility.

9:30 pm.  Virginia Tech vs. Florida State.  While Virginia Tech looked like world-beaters on defense last night against hapless Georgia Tech, Florida State’s defense is even better. Boasting the seventh best defense in the nation and the third best in the ACC, the team has the potential to get even tougher. Chris Singleton, the presumptive pre-season Defensive Player of the Year for the ACC, is rumored to make his return as the anchor of a defense that was already well-nigh impenetrable. Singleton’s fractured foot side-lined him for the last chunk of the ACC season, but a return tonight spells bad news for a Virginia Tech team that counts on interior penetration to score. An additional worry is the long minutes that the Hokie starters played against Georgia Tech last night. While Florida State has likely already secured an NCAA berth, Virginia Tech probably needs at least this win to get off the bubble, and in all honesty, that might not be enough. Virginia Tech won against Florida State in January by 12 points, and last night they showed the power of their disruptive zone to flummox an offense. Florida State’s propensity for turning the ball over looks like a rough match-up against  a team that has the ball-hawking talent of Virginia Tech.

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***** – quit your job and divorce your wife if that’s what it takes to watch this game live
**** – best watched live, but if you must, tivo and watch it tonight as soon as you get home
*** – set your tivo but make sure you watch it later
** – set your tivo but we’ll forgive you if it stays in the queue until 2013
* – don’t waste bandwidth (yours or the tivo’s) of any kind on this game

Brian Otskey is an RTC contributor.

One auto bid and a host of major conference games are on tap today, two days out from Selection Sunday. The afternoon session features plenty of bubble teams making their closing arguments to the Selection Committee. All rankings from RTC and all times Eastern.

SEC Quarterfinals (at Atlanta, GA): Georgia vs. Alabama – 1 pm on ESPN FullCourt (***)

We’ve heard all kinds of things about this game from an elimination game to a play-in game. Whatever it may be, one team will be looking better than the other by the time it’s over. Alabama beat Georgia in the regular season finale six days ago and now they meet again in another game with major NCAA implications. RTC’s resident bracketologist had Georgia in and Alabama the first team on the “out” list as of last night while Joe Lunardi over at ESPN has the Bulldogs as the last team in the field and the Crimson Tide in the same position as RTC. This game will be played almost exclusively in the paint as neither team shoots it well from deep. Both teams rank in the top 20 in interior defense but Georgia has to avoid turnovers to win. Alabama thrives on giveaways despite their slower tempo, ranked #28 in defensive turnover percentage. Georgia committed 16 turnovers in the loss to the Tide last week and lost the game despite out-shooting Alabama from the floor. Senario Hillman leads Alabama in steals and will look to harass the Georgia guards all game long. The battle in the paint between Trey Thompkins and JaMychal Green could determine the outcome of the game if the Bulldogs don’t turn it over often.

Big Ten Quarterfinals (at Indianapolis, IN): Michigan vs. Illinois – 2:30 pm on ESPN (***)

Illinois is generally considered to be in the field of 68 but Michigan could really use a win. The Wolverines are likely in as of now but a loss here and other results around the country could make it a very close call on Sunday. The Illini won the only meeting of the regular season, a two point win in Champaign on February 16. Michigan protects the ball very well but rebounding and defense did them in against Illinois in that game. John Beilein would love to play this game in the half court where his team can probe and dissect the Illinois defense, although the Illini rank tenth in three point defense and Michigan fires up almost 23 triples per game. With two dynamic playmakers in Darius Morris and Tim Hardaway Jr, Michigan can break a team down off the dribble of spot up for a three. This is a game they definitely can win but a better effort on the glass is needed. Michigan ranks near the bottom of D1 in offensive rebounding percentage (that will happen when you shoot so many threes) and was out-rebounded in the loss to Illinois last month.

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RTC is pleased to announce that we’ll be covering all of the major conference tournaments this year — the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10, and SEC — in addition to the strongest two high-middies, the Atlantic 10 and the Mountain West.  Each day for the rest of this week, we’re asking our correspondents to provide us with a Daily Diary of the sights and sounds from the arena at each site.  Equal parts game analysis and opinion, the hope is that this will go beyond the tiresome game recaps you can find elsewhere and give you an insightful look into Championship Week.  Today’s coverage:  ACC, Big East, Big 12, Big Ten, Mountain West & Pac-10.

ACC Tournament – by Kellen Carpenter

• Miami-Virginia.  This was a truly bizarre game that I’m still not sure makes any sense.  Greensboro Coliseum was surprisingly packed for a 12 pm game between the 8 and 9 seed. Both teams boasted sizable and vocal fanbases who were each treated to a game of runs. Miami jumped out ahead, leading by six at the half, and then one of the weirdest second halves I have ever seen happened. Miami only scored eight points over the first 18 minutes of the second half. Virginia, rallying strongly, jumped out to a 50-39 lead with 2:15 left on the clock. Then Miami went nuts.  No, really. I’m still not sure what happened. The crowd was whipped into a frenzy by a series of weird, truly improbably events. Miami cut the eleven point deficit and forced an overtime which the Hurricanes suddenly dominated and walked away with a truly unexpected win. For a the first game of the ACC Tournament, it was not just a dinger, but a hum-dinger. Whenever you can get a crowd of Floridians and Virginians to scream their heads off in the early afternoon in North Carolina, you’ve put on quite a show. Beyond that, nothing about this game mattered.
• Wake-BC.  After the drama of the Miami and Virginia game, any game with a team that had only managed to win one ACC game over the course of the season was bound to be a letdown. What was surprising to me, was the letdown in crowd energy. Winston-Salem, home of Wake’s campus, is a mere 20 minutes away, yet it seemed like the Demon Deacons had fewer fans present than Miami. Boston College had a very small and quiet contingent who seemed happy to quietly watch as the Eagles just took apart Wake. It really wasn’t much of a game, with the hyper-efficient Boston College offense firing on all cylinders (well, excepting the Raji cylinder). Reggie Jackson scored 27 points on 13 shots. Joe Trapani scored 22 points on 12 shots.  Nicholas Biko scored 21 points on 12 shots. Wake Forest’s porous defense could do little to stop them, and their impotence on the offensive end doomed them. Freshman Travis McKie was a bright spot, going 6-8 in the first half while the rest of his team struggled. But, for some stupefying reason, McKie only got two shots in the second half, one of these being a put-back dunk of his own manufacture. If there is a silver lining to that second half, it’s the fact that Wake actually managed to outscore BC, 36-34. Sadly, this was clearly not enough to make up for the 16 point deficit incurred in the first half. My favorite part of this game, was clearly the few, loud Wake Forest fans sitting directly behind me. One woman seemed particularly keen on trying to coach Travis McKie’s admittedly poor free throw shooting (2-5). Every time he got to the line she would yell “Bend your knees! Follow through!” If only he had listened? The season is mercifully over for Wake, and BC will get it’s chance at tougher competition tomorrow when they take on Clemson.
• NC State-Maryland.  There were, as you might expect, an alarming number of loud, red-wearing people at this game. Maryland jumped out to an early lead which energized/enraged these loud, red-wearing fans. In response, the N.C. State band played Cee-Lo’s “Eff You,” which, when you think about it, is a perfect pep band song: catchy and insulting to the other team, while the lack of singing effectively makes it family friendly. Well-played, Wolf Pack band. That said, the pep band arrangement of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme song was pretty excellent as well. And if the bands played with flair, the teams did too. There was more speed, athleticism, and acrobatic drives on display in this game than in the first two games combined. Cross-overs, spin moves, and behind the back dribbles on the fast break had the crowd frequently on its collective feet. Does Tracy Smith have the MVB (Most Valuable Beard) of this tournament? It’s hard to see anyone overtaking him. Maryland looked in command the whole game, but since Miami’s Miracle, there was a palpable nervousness in the crowd until the buzzer finally went off.
• Virginia Tech-Georgia Tech. Virginia Tech controlled this game from the start and once it became clear that Georgia Tech could never catch up, the crowd that had gathered for the previous game started to vanish. Virginia Tech’s fans were consistently loud and even when the Hokies’ lead exceeded twenty, the fans took every call against them as if the game depended on it. Meanwhile, the Georgia Tech fans seemed resigned to his fate. Georgia Tech never managed to score more than a point per minute in the first half. It was one of the worst performances I’ve ever seen in a tournament setting, and remember, I watched the Wake Forest game earlier today. Virginia Tech played well enough, but I couldn’t help but be concerned about the minutes that the starters were playing. Malcolm Delaney played 39 minutes despite the massive lead VT held throughout. He only sat for the final minute of the game and that was after he had taken a needless hard foul. You have to wonder how such long minutes on consecutive days are going to affect the Hokies hopes of going deep into this tournament. Well, you don’t have to worry, but I would.

Big East Tournament – by Rob Dauster

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Zach Hayes is RTC’s official bracketologist.

UPDATED: Friday, 1:34 AM ET.

First 4 Byes: Richmond, Colorado, Saint Mary’s, Michigan.

Last Four In: Clemson, Alabama, Virginia Tech, Penn State.

First Four Out: Georgia, Boston College, Southern California, VCU.

S-Curve (italics indicate automatic bids)

• 1 Seeds: Ohio State, Kansas, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame
  
• 2 Seeds: Duke, Texas, BYU, San Diego State
• 3 Seeds: Florida, North Carolina, Louisville, Connecticut
• 4 Seeds: Purdue, Syracuse, Wisconsin, Kentucky
• 5 Seeds: St. John’s, Arizona, West Virginia, Vanderbilt
  
• 6 Seeds: Texas A&M, Kansas State, Cincinnati, Xavier
• 7 Seeds: Georgetown, Old Dominion, Temple, Missouri
  
• 8 Seeds: George Mason, Tennessee, Utah State, UNLV
  
• 9 Seeds: UCLA, Gonzaga, Florida State, Marquette
  
• 10 Seeds: Washington, Villanova, Michigan State, Butler
• 11 Seeds: Illinois, Richmond, Colorado, Saint Mary’s
• 12 Seeds: Michigan, Clemson, Alabama, Virginia Tech, Georgia, Belmont
  
• 13 Seeds: Harvard, UTEP, Oakland, Indiana State
  
• 14 Seeds: Bucknell, Morehead State, Wofford, Kent State
  
• 15 Seeds: Long Beach State, Long Island, Northern Colorado, St. Peter’s
  
• 16 Seeds: Boston University, UNC-Asheville, McNeese State, Arkansas Little-Rock, Hampton, Alabama State
  

Note: Full bracket coming Saturday morning, Sunday morning and Sunday just before the Selection Show.

Changes on 3/12 at midnight:

• Notre Dame holds on to the final #1 seed but flips with Pittsburgh, sending the Irish to the Anaheim region. Duke has a chance to pass Notre Dame if they win the ACC Tournament.
• Louisville and Connecticut both move to the #3 seed line by advancing to the Big East Tournament final. Purdue’s second straight loss moves them down to a #4 seed to make way for the Cardinals and Huskies.
• Virginia Tech remains in the field with their dramatic win over Florida State. A loss would have dropped them out.
• Penn State barely edges Georgia for the last spot in the field following their upset of Wisconsin.

Games #191-192.  The Granddaddy of all conference tournaments tips off with a couple of solid bubble-related afternoon games today.

2:30 pm.  Boston College vs. Wake Forest.  Listen, folks, Wake Forest is bad. Maybe the worst team in all the BCS conferences. They’ve only won a single game in the ACC and that was against lowly Virginia.  Boston College was the season ending match-up for Wake and they lost by 16 points. Boston College has every advantage in this match-up and needs to beat Wake. After a promising start to their season, Boston College slumped and truly needs a strong showing in the tournament to make an unambiguous case. A win against Wake Forest won’t mean anything to Boston College except a chance to keep proving themselves. A loss likely means the end of Boston
College’s hopes for dancing. For BC,  Reggie Jackson remains the straw that stirs the proverbial drink on an offense that remains the tenth best in all of college basketball. Solid offensive contributions from Joe Trapani and Corey Raji will probably spell the doom of a Wake Forest team that seems incapable of stopping anyone. Wake Forest can only hope to counter with solid offensive efforts by genuinely skilled freshman, Travis McKie and the quietly sweet-shooting senior, Gary Clark, who is posting a true shooting percentage that’s north of 65%. Still, Wake Forest’s offense is still putrid and the worst in the ACC. This should be a blowout, but never underestimate the delight that some teams take in playing the spoiler.

9:30 pm. Georgia Tech vs. Virginia Tech.  Does anyone remember when the Hokies nearly beat Purdue in overtime? Actually, does anyone remember when they nearly beat Duke? Virginia Tech really is a good team, but they have got to be one of the more schizophrenic teams in college basketball. I know that injuries have decimated the team and there isn’t a lot of margin for error, but this tradition of bubble uncertainty is ridiculous. As always, Virginia Tech needs a strong showing in the ACC Tournament to make their case, and in Georgia Tech, the Hokies got an odd draw. The two teams split the home and away series exchanging blowouts: First Georgia Tech won by 15 and then Virginia Tech won by 25. I know that Virginia Tech is probably hoping for a repeat of the latter, but GT has finished the season surprisingly strongly, handling their last two games against Wake Forest and Miami with ease, while the Hokies slumped through the final stretch. Still, Virginia Tech has to be the favorite to win this game with offensive whirlwind Malcom Delaney leading the way and the rest of the team playing some seriously tough defense. On the other hand, though Georgia Tech’s season has largely been disappointing, this is a team with veteran leadership in Iman Shumpert and Daniel Miller. This is a team that did, after all, manage to stick it to an unsuspecting North Carolina team. That said, the team has virtually no good three-point shooters, despite a willingness to bomb away from long range. They hardly ever gets to the line. Hell, the team is bad at shooting two-pointers too. The Yellow Jackets do play defense, however, and is the third best team in the nation in getting steals. If they can hold the line and get some easy baskets off of turnovers, they might have a chance to send Virginia Tech back into the bubble limbo they know so well.

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Matt Patton is the RTC correspondent for the ACC. With conference tournament action set to tip from Greensboro on Thursday, get set for March Madness with RTC’s regular season wrap-up and postseason outlook.

Postseason Preview

North Carolina is hot.  It took almost all of the regular season, but the Tar Heels are finally living up to preseason hype.  UNC  should definitely be favored to win the ACC Tournament, but I wouldn’t bet on them.  I think the Heels are due for one more hiccup before the Big Dance.  They’ve flirted with disaster a couple of times and are coming off a huge win against Duke.  It’s tough to keep a young team focused, and this team starts two freshmen and two sophomores.  I also expect Duke to be playing with real purpose after the beatdown in Chapel Hill as it fights for a top seed.

As far as the bubble is concerned, Virginia Tech, Clemson and Boston College all need wins.  I don’t think any of them are safe at this point (which is the unfortunate part of Clemson clinching the bye).  Unfortunately, Clemson and Boston College will probably meet in the second round in a de facto “win and in” game.

Besides interesting bubble match-ups, look out for Duke and Maryland in the second round.  Maryland has been down this year, but the Terps never back down from a fight (especially one with Duke).  Also keep an eye on the semifinals when Boston College or Clemson will probably meet North Carolina.  The Tigers and Eagles both played North Carolina incredibly close in Chapel Hill, and both would really benefit from the resume boost.

The most exciting conference tourney prospect is a rubber match between Duke and North Carolina in the tournament finals.  These two teams are far and away the best teams in the conference, and both are in the conversation for a number one seed.  Oh yeah, and who wouldn’t want a third game of one of the best rivalries in sports.

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