Give @MattZemek a twitter follow and check out his musings on college sports at https://www.patreon.com/Zemek.
ACC QUESTION of the WEEK : Can the ACC get three No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament?
The short answer: Yes, it can.
The other short answer: It can, but it probably won’t.
The slightly longer answer: It probably won’t, but it’s still in play.
The addendum to the slightly longer answer: Things keep happening which increase the chances of the ACC getting three No. 1 seeds.
Kentucky had to lose to Tennessee. It did. North Carolina had to beat Clemson. It did. Michigan State lost. Houston lost. Teams moving toward the No. 2 seed line lost, removing them as threats for a 1 seed. Teams in line for top-two seeds are generally failing to move up the board… but North Carolina is an exception. The Tar Heels keep cranking out wins, and if they sweep Duke, they would certainly have a strong case to make as a 1 seed.
Duke still hammered Kentucky, swept Virginia, and has a large pile of good road wins. Virginia is the No. 1 OVERALL seed in the NCAA Tournament right now if you ask many bracketologists.
Here’s the deal: Virginia and Duke are still relatively safe No. 1 seeds. If we assume Virginia is a strong 1 seed, the Cavaliers just need to win two more games, three for sure. That’s pretty likely.
Duke will lock up a No. 1 seed if it wins at North Carolina in a week, but a Duke win would significantly harm UNC’s chances of getting a 1 seed, and blow up the ACC’s three-team dream. So, the ideal path to a “3-for-1” in the ACC is this: UNC needs to beat Duke, but Duke then needs to make the ACC Tournament final, with Virginia losing in the ACC semis or final. As a possible alternative, Duke could beat UNC, but then UNC would win the ACC Tournament and beat both Duke and Virginia in the process.
If one of those two scenarios unfolds AND Kentucky loses in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament, there is a very realistic chance of the ACC getting Duke, UVA and UNC as top seeds. If Kentucky lost the SEC final, I’m not so sure, but the main thing to realize is that while this scenario isn’t likely — the margins are slim — it is certainly possible.
Far more absurd and improbable things have happened.
This is March, after all.
Make sure you follow the All Sports Discussion Twitter account at @AllSportsDACC and please like our Facebook Page
Leave a Reply