When you take a few moments to look over the latest brackets from ESPN’s Joe Lunardi there is a moment of pain akin to a dagger in your eye. You should be mentally exclaiming, WTH! Only 4 teams from the conference currently have a reasonable shot at making it into the field of 68 according to Lunardi. You really can’t argue with that scenario considering the season to date. Two additional teams are on the cusp.
Among his First 4 out there is Virginia Tech and the Next 4 out includes Florida State. There’s a decent chance that both the Hokies and Noles will make the cut. Even if 6 teams make it that would still be less than the 8 teams representing the Big 12.
Arguably, this has been one of the most insanely uninspiring men’s basketball seasons for the ACC in what seems like forever. Ultimately, the proof is in the pudding and teams will get an opportunity to prove themselves in the conference tournament. In years past, that may have been enough to inspire the selection committee to pencil a team in. This year? Color us less than optimistic.
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Where are the other 11 ACC teams? Couldn’t we usually count on at least half of the 15 delivering a surprise or two and keeping the big boys honest? Is it that we have more parity than usual or are teams just…..mehhhhh? Wins of onesies and twosies, plenty of overtime games and power ball one day of the week followed by yet another WTH moment do not instill confidence.
Pain
Men’s College Basketball Bracketology – ACC
| REGION | SEED | TEAM |
| MIDWEST | #1 | AUBURN |
| #10 | MIAMI | |
| WEST | #1 | GONZAGA |
| #11 | WAKE FOREST | |
| EAST | #1 | ARIZONA |
| #2 | DUKE | |
| SOUTH | #1 | BAYLOR |
| #7 | NORTH CAROLINA |
As mentioned above, Virginia Tech is in the First 4 out while the Next 4 out includes Florida State. Who does Lunardi pair the four ACC teams up with? Let’s take a look –
- Midwest – Fort Worth
- Miami
- Seton Hall
- #2 Kansas
- Princeton
- West – Indianapolis
- Wake Forest
- Alabama
- #3 Illinois
- Wagner
- East – Greenville
- Duke
- #7 Iowa
- St Mary’s
- Navy
- South – Indianapolis
- North Carolina
- Marquette
- #2 Purdue
- Liberty
Can any of these four teams make it out of these regional pairings? For the other 11 teams on the outside looking in will it be all pain and no gain? Jim and Will share their thoughts on the next episode of ACC Nation dropping late evening on Wednesday, January 19.
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