ACC in Charlotte: 3 NC teams fight for automatic NCAA bid

NCAA

North Carolina and Duke are among the top five seeds in the ACC basketball tournament at Spectrum Center. Top-seeded Duke, the nation's No. 1-ranked team, swept North Carolina during the regular season.

The ACC basketball tournament is Charlotte for the first time since 2019.

Three North Carolina-based teams are in the field with Duke, Wake Forest and North Carolina competing for an automatic NCAA tournament bid.

Duke is the top seed after securing the season sweep of rival, North Carolina on Saturday. The Blue Devils finished 19-1 in ACC play and 28-3 overall. Duke, as one of the top four seeds, will start their quest for a 28th conference title Thursday.

Wake Forest, which has fallen off a bit as of late will also have a double bye as the fourth seed. The Demon Deacons finished the conference slate 13-7, the same as North Carolina, but beat the Tar Heels 67-66 in the regular season to earn the higher seed. Wake Forest is 3-4 over the last month and will hope to re-kindle some of their early season success. 

For North Carolina, their tournament will start Wednesday. After losing the tiebreaker with the Demon Deacons, the Tar Heels earned a bye after going 7-2 over the last nine games. North Carolina may need a deep tournament run to keep their hopes of making the NCAA tournament alive.

When could these in-state foes meet?

Wake Forest and North Carolina would meet in the quarter final round assuming the Tar Heels wins its opener on Wednesday. If Duke wins Thursday, the Blue Devils could meet the winner of Wake Forest-North Carolina in the semifinal round.

Where are the Wolfpack?

North Carolina State was one of the ACC’s bottom three teams, eliminating the Wolfpack (12-19, 5-15) from the NCAA tournament. 

With the addition of California, Stanford and Southern Methodist to the conference last summer, the ACC kept the tournament bracket the same, which means three teams – the Wolfpack, Miami and Boston College – were left out. N.C. State is a season removed from playing in the Final Four but now looking for a new coach after firing Kevin Keatts.

Tournament schedule

March 11 | First Round

• Game 1: No. 12 Notre Dame vs. No. 13 Pitt | 2 p.m on ACC Network

• Game 2: No. 10 Virginia Tech vs. No. 15 Cal | 4:30 p.m. on ACC Network

• Game 3: No. 11 Florida State vs. No. 14 Syracuse | 7 p.m. on ACC Network

March 12 | Second Round

• Game 4: No. 8 Georgia Tech vs. No. 9 Virginia | 12 p.m. on ESPN

• Game 5: No. 5 North Carolina vs. winner of No. 12 Notre Dame/No. 13 Pitt | 2:30 p.m. on ESPN

• Game 6: No. 7 Stanford vs. winner of No. 10 Virginia Tech/No. 15 Cal | 7 p.m. on ESPN2/ESPNU

• Game 7: No. 6 SMU vs. winner of No. 11 Florida State/No. 14 Syracuse | 9:30 p.m. on ESPN2/ESPNU

March 13 | Quarterfinals

• Game 8: No. 1 Duke vs. winner of Game 4 | 12 p.m. on ESPN/ESPN2

• Game 9: No. 4 Wake Forest vs. winner of Game 5 | 2:30 p.m. on ESPN/ESPN2

• Game 10: No. 2 Louisville vs. winner of Game 6 | 7 p.m. on ESPN/ESPN2

• Game 11: No. 3 Clemson vs. winner of Game 7 | 9:30 p.m. on ESPN/ESPN2

Friday, March 14 | Semifinals

• Game 12: 7 p.m. | TBA

• Game 13: 9:30 p.m. | TBA

March 15 | Championship

• Game 14: 8:30 p.m. | TBA

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