March Madness is just over a week away. But before that, appetizers for the main course that is the Big Dance must be served in the form of the NCAA’s Championship Week. These tournaments offer teams the chance to clinch an auto-bid for the National Tournament, something that the lower seeded teams in the ACC are definitely eyeing.
Starting tomorrow and continuing until March 15, the ACC will roll out its own championship tournament that will be held at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina. Let’s take a look at the some of the favorites, the sleepers, and the long shots to win the ACC Tournament.
If it’s Championship Week action you’re into, don’t miss our preview of the SEC Championship, which will revolve completely around whether Kentucky can remain undefeated heading into the National Championship tournament.
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ACC Tournament Preview and Prediction
Favorites: Virginia, Duke
Virginia and Duke are the top dogs in the ACC tournament, and get the quarterfinal-round byes in the tournament. What that means is that it only takes three straight wins for either team to cop the conference title.
[sc:NCAAB240banner ] It doesn’t look too difficult of a task for Virginia (the defending champions), who racked up 19-straight wins this season before falling to Duke on January 31—the only loss thus far for Tony Bennett’s team. That said, Virginia will have to overcome its opponents without leading scorer Justin Anderson (13.4 PPG) who’s still recuperating from a nasty finger injury. As for Duke, a tournament win would erase the bitter taste left by its shocking loss to Clemson last year.
Sleepers: Miami (Florida), NC State
Even with two of the best teams in the nation competing for this conference championship, this is still college basketball and upsets are common.
Miami only has one win against a ranked team this season and that was against then No. 4 Duke on January 13. Without that win, the Canes might not even be considered a bubble team at this point of the season. For sure, they’ll be going all out in the ACC tournament, knowing that they don’t have enough wins to feel confident about their chances with the selection committee. That’s going to be easier said than done of course, but take note that the ‘Canes are coached by Jim Larrañaga—the same coach who mentored the 2006 George Mason team all the way to the Final Four.
Furthermore, the Canes have shown some bite against other solid competition during the season—albeit versus unranked ones—with victories over Illinois, Syracuse, Florida and NC State.
NC State, meanwhile, is currently viewed as an ACC bubble team. The Wolfpack have turned some heads with a recent three-game win streak, which included victories over ranked teams in Louisville and North Carolina. And have we mentioned that they also beat Duke back in January? These wins speak volumes about the Wolfpack’s ability to make a run in the tournament just as they did last season when T.J. Warren carried the team all the way to the semis.
Long Shots: Boston College, Florida State
Boston College and Florida State? These teams are just here for the ride, and it’s likely going to be short ones for the Eagles and the ‘Noles, who’ll both finish the regular season in the bottom four of the conference standings. They’ll have to pull off one upset victory after another in arguably the toughest conference tournament in the nation to get to win the title.
However, that doesn’t mean they’ll not be fun to watch. Olivier Hanlan, the ACC’s top scorer with 19.4 PPG this season, can single-handedly make things interesting for the Eagles, especially when he’s in the zone. Florida State, on the other hand, has been in some close defeats against top-tier teams like North Carolina and Duke.
Writer’s Prediction
Virginia and Duke make the finals with the Blue Devils winning their first ACC tournament title since 2011. Jahlil Okafor is named the tournament MVP.
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