The ACC has taken a ton of heat this season for being a “bad” league compared to the other high-major leagues. The bottom of the league has been historically awful and could provide for a couple boring days to start the week in Greensboro. However, there are some intriguing teams at the top that I believe could make deep runs in the tournament. Combine that with the storylines surrounding the bubble in the conference and you have yourself an interesting week in Greensboro. The ACC last season had two final four teams, three elite eight teams and the tournament provided us with a bid stealer in Virginia Tech. However bad you think the league is, you’re going to want to pay attention to some of these teams.

Favorites:

Miami

The ACC regular season champs and number 1 seed come into the tournament after having quite the season. The Canes sit on the four or five line in the NCAA Tournament headed into the week and probably can’t rise above a four even with a tournament championship. However, following up an Elite Eight appearance with a double conference championship would be pretty significant for Jim Larrañaga and his program.

As Jon Rothstein says: “Miami Basketball. More guards than Shawshank.” That has been a theme for Miami over the past couple seasons and this year, as they fully embraced small ball. Jordan Miller and Norchad Omier have been perfect for that system as they are both good enough inside on the offensive end to avoid Miami relying exclusively on threes. Isaiah Wong is the leader of this team and the senior for Miami was named ACC player of the year today. Wong doesn’t have the stats that “wow” you, but he was the best player on the team that earned the one seed in Greensboro. Nijel Pack has also been very good after a slow start to the season. The Kansas State transfer has played some of his best basketball down the stretch.

Duke

Here comes America’s enemy. Unlike their rival on tobacco road, Duke has completely flipped the switch down the stretch. The Blue Devils have been a different team since the blowout loss at Miami. They swept UNC and have just been playing way  better basketball over the final month. A Pitt loss to Miami combined with Duke’s win at the Dean Dome gave Duke the double bye and the second quarterfinal game of the day on Friday. Duke is now healthy and playing well enough to most definitely win three games in a row this week.

Jon Scheyer and his staff’s development of this team throughout the course of this season has gone under the radar for the most part. Dereck Lively, Mark Mitchell, Kyle Filipowski and mostly Tyrese Proctor, have gotten so much better as the season has gone on. Scheyer also moved Proctor to the point guard spot when Jeremy Roach got hurt. Roach has gotten back to being the player he was at the end of last season since returning. Duke’s offense isn’t extremely efficient, but they do have a lot of action that is hard to prepare for and guard. Defensively, Duke has been so good over the last month. A ton of the teams this season were held to their season low against the Blue Devils. If Duke can make some shots this week, they will be holding up the trophy.

Virginia

Let’s not sugarcoat it. Virginia has been playing some of its worst basketball in the last month. They lost to Boston College and looked dreadful against Notre Dame and Louisville. The reason they are in the favorites tier is simply that they’re the best team in the bottom half of the bracket. Someone from that side has to play in the championship, so why shouldn’t it be the guy that most people argue is the best coach in the ACC in Tony Bennett?

Virginia did earn a split of the regular season title in the conference thanks to their play back early in conference play. There is a part of me that thinks Tony Bennett being as good of a coach as he is can get Virginia back to playing like they did in November. The other side of that is that the talent they have is simply not great for what Virginia has been. Reece Beekman was named defensive player of the year and they have some nice complimentary players with Jayden Gardner and Armaan Franklin, but they don’t really have a true superstar. Kihei Clark does a nice job of handling the ball and Isaac McKneely can be a future stud, but I think Virginia is at the point where the “let’s make other teams beat themselves” strategy won’t work.

Other Contenders:

North Carolina State

If you’ve watched NC State, you know exactly why they can win this tournament. The Wolfpack are a nightmare to guard with Jarkel Joiner and Terquavion Smith who are a tough matchup because at times they simply won’t miss shots. You can contest them as good as you want, but when those two are on, it does not matter. The Wolfpack also have one of the most unique centers in the country in D.J. Burns. Burns is built like a lineman, but has really soft touch around the rim. Burns’ issue is that he cannot guard anybody in pick and rolls. He’s simply too slow. That’s something that is likely going to get exposed in the tournament which is why NC State is not one of the favorites.

Pitt

Pitt got a tough draw, but they’re also an interesting basketball team. They are sort of this jack of all trades, master of none team. Their offense is good, not great and their defense is bad, not horrible. They’re just okay at forcing turnovers and shooting threes. They’re not an awful rebounding team, but definitely not good. Jamarius Burton and Blake Hinson were both selected to All-ACC teams and they both deserved it despite whether they were on the right teams or not. Nelly Cummings transferred up from Colgate and has had his moments this season. They’ve also overcome the injury of John Hugley and despite being on the bubble, have overachieved.

The Rest

I’m not going to go too into depth about some of the dark horses just because none of these teams are that good. UNC has had a disappointing season to say the least after starting the year ranked #1 in the country by the AP Poll. I don’t really buy that they have to win the ACC Tournament to get into the NCAA Tournament, but they certainly have to win a couple.

Clemson is the three seed and they definitely have to win the tournament to get in. The Tigers will likely play NC State who they’ve beaten twice already and then play a Virginia/UNC/BC winner in the semis. Hunter Tyson was a first team All-ACC player.

Syracuse and Wake meet in the 8/9 game and both have pretty polarizing players. Neither has enough in the tank to win the tournament or likely get to the final, but I wouldn’t rule out either of them upsetting Miami in the quarters.

Predictions:

1st round:

12 Florida State > 13 Georgia Tech

11 Virginia Tech < 14 Notre Dame

10 Boston College > 15 Louisville

2nd round:

8 Syracuse > 9 Wake Forest

5 Pitt < 12 Florida State

7 UNC > 10 Boston College

6 NC State > 14 Notre Dame

Quarterfinals:

1 Miami > 8 Syracuse

4 Duke > 5 Pitt

2 Virginia > 7 UNC

3 Clemson < 6 NC State

Semifinals:

1 Miami > 4 Duke

2 Virginia < 6 NC State

Championship:

1 Miami > 6 NC State

Most Outstanding Player: Nijel Pack