The ACC Basketball Tournament gets started Tuesday in Greensboro; which team will persevere in what’s been a down year for the conference?
This has been a bit of an unusual season for an ACC that has often been revered as one of the best conferences in the world of college basketball. It’s a league with Duke and North Carolina, the most prominent rivalry in the sport, but both of those programs are down this year. Prominent teams like Florida State, Notre Dame, and Syracuse have really struggled this season and struggle isn’t a strong enough word to describe Louisville.
Looking back, the ACC Tournament has actually been one of the wilder conference tournaments in recent years, a trend that could certainly continue in 2023. Two seasons ago, 4-seed Georgia Tech surprised a lot of people by winning the conference tournament. Not to be outdone, last year’s champion was 7-seed Virginia Tech who went on quite the run, winning four games in four days to secure their spot in the NCAA Tournament.
This season, the ACC might only get 4 or 5 teams into the Big Dance, with a number of schools needing a big boost from this tournament. Miami and Virginia have been the top dogs in the conference for much of the year, even though both have had struggles at times this season. They earned the top two seeds in the Tournament, while a resurgent Duke squad also earned one of those coveted double-byes.
Two other teams near the top of the standings are major surprises. Clemson was picked to finish near the bottom of the league and instead earned a double-bye, claiming the 3-seed; though the Tigers have work ahead to secure their place in the NCAA Tournament. Another shocking development has been the play of Pittsburgh. The Panthers were picked 14th in this 15-team league but still had a chance at the regular season crown on the final day of the regular season; they instead settled for the 5-seed and just the single bye.
Can someone outside of those Top 5 get the job done in Greensboro? North Carolina hasn’t won the ACC Tournament since 2016 but may need to at least make the championship game to get into the NCAA Tournament, shocking news for a team that were the national favorites in the preseason. We’ll be looking closely at all the happenings to come in this tournament, starting with a few key players to watch.