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ACC fans have been hearing about it all throughout the season that the conference wasn’t near as good as it has been in the past. Traditionally, the conference has been right there with any of the Power-4 conferences, but that just wasn’t the case.
Heading into Selection Sunday, there were 3 locks from the conference in Clemson, Duke and Louisville, with North Carolina being the only other team that could sneak in. Luckily for Tar Heels fans, there wasn’t much expense as North Carolina was one of the very first teams announced that they made the tournament. The Tar Heels were a huge talking point as they went only 1-12 this season against Quadrant-1 teams, which is usually an automatic eliminator from consideration.
Hubert Davis and North Carolina will play San Diego State in a First Four matchup.
Duke is the No. 1 seed in the East after winning the ACC Tournament on Saturday night against Louisville. The Blue Devils had to deal with injuries to Cooper Flagg and Maliq Brown, who are both key part of the Duke team. The Blue Devils open up on Friday against the winner of American and Mount St. Mary’s.
Clemson is the No. 5 seed in the Midwest region after a terrific regular season. The Tigers best win on the season was a home win against Duke earlier in the season. Last year, Brad Brownell’s team went on a special run, making it all the way to the Elite Eight before losing to Alabama. For the Tigers, they do have a difficult first round matchup against a McNeese State team that made the tournament last year.
The final ACC team to make the tournament is Louisville, who is led by first year coach Pat Kelsey. Last season, the Cardinals went 8-24. They had a great season, making it all the way to the ACC Championship before losing to Duke. Louisville is the No. 8 seed in the South, and will take on Creighton in one of the most entertaining first-round games. One positive for the Cardinals is the fact they are in the Lexington region, which is only 70 miles from Louisville.
