Bracketology 2020: Storylines to watch in ACC Basketball Tournament

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 8: The NCAA Basketball Tournament Selection Committee meets on Wednesday afternoon, March 8, 2017 in New York City. The committee is gathered in New York to begin the five-day process of selecting and seeding the field of 68 teams for the NCAA MenÕs Basketball Tournament. The final bracket will be released on Sunday evening following the completion of conference tournaments. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) /

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RALEIGH, NC – JANUARY 9: Head coach Kevin Keatts of North Carolina State (Photo by Andy Mead/ISI Photos/Getty Images). /

BUBBLE BREAKDOWN

Will NC State’s Bubble Burst Again?

One of the stories coming out of Selection Sunday 2019 was the omission of NC State from the field of 68. Across the board, NC State’s profile was as good as, if not better than, those of other Bubble teams: 33rd in the NET, 8-9 In Quad 1 and 2 games, top 50 average in resume metrics, top 30 in predictive metrics, no glaringly bad losses. And then we got to non-conference strength of schedule: 353rd. For those uninitiated, there were 353 teams in all of D-I men’s college basketball last year, and NC State’s non-conference schedule was the easiest of all. For that reason, the Committee left the Wolfpack out of the field.

Fast forward to 2020 and NC State is once again a Bubble team with a Bubble profile: 53rd in the NET, 8-10 in Quad 1 and Quad 2 games, top 50 in both resume and predictive metrics, no terrible losses, although losing a Quad 3 game at Boston College isn’t helpful to the cause, and what’s more, the non-conference strength of schedule is 85th!

Though currently listed as one of the first five teams out on Bracket Matrix, our own Bracketology has the Wolfpack among the last four in to play in Dayton. With a second-round ACC tournament matchup on the horizon against Pitt, and another crack at Duke should they win, the Wolfpack have the chance to make a strong case to the Committee for inclusion in this year’s field.