ACC Tournament 2023: TV Schedule and Early Men's Bracket Predictions
The ACC tournament may not carry as much buzz as the other power-conference tourneys in 2023.
The Duke Blue Devils and North Carolina Tar Heels are not on top of the league, and in the latter's case, they are fighting just to get into the NCAA men's basketball tournament.
The Pittsburgh Panthers and Miami Hurricanes will play for the No. 1 seed on Saturday in Coral Gables, Florida.
Pittsburgh played on the first day of the ACC tournament a year ago, but it is assured of not featuring until the third day of action in Greensboro, North Carolina this time around.
If Pitt loses to Miami, though, every team will enter the Greensboro Coliseum with at least five losses, which means the top teams could be susceptible to upsets.
That was the case in 2022, when the Virginia Tech Hokies cut down the nets in Brooklyn as the No. 7 seed.
Duke and UNC have dominated the tournament, winning it 39 times between them. But given the way the ACC regular season has played out, we could see another new name winning this year.
ACC Tournament Schedule
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Tuesday, March 7
Game 1: No. 12 seed vs. No. 13 seed (2 p.m. ET)
Game 2: No. 10 seed vs. No. 15 seed (4:30 p.m. ET)
Game 3: No. 11 seed vs. No. 14 seed (7 p.m. ET)
Wednesday, March 8
Game 4: No. 8 seed vs. No. 9 seed (noon ET)
Game 5: No. 5 seed vs. Game 1 winner (2:30 p.m. ET)
Game 6: No. 7 seed vs. Game 2 winner (7 p.m. ET)
Game 7: No. 6 seed vs. Game 3 winner (9:30 p.m. ET)
Thursday, March 9
Game 8: No. 1 seed vs. Game 4 winner (noon ET)
Game 9: No. 4 seed vs. Game 5 winner (2:30 p.m. ET)
Game 10: No. 2 seed vs. Game 6 winner (7 p.m. ET)
Game 11: No. 3 seed vs. Game 7 winner (9:30 p.m. ET)
Friday, March 10
Game 12: Game 8 winner vs. Game 9 winner (7 p.m. ET)
Game 13: Game 10 winner vs. Game 11 winner (9:30 p.m. ET)
Saturday, March 11
Championship Game (8:30 p.m. ET)
All games to be televised on ESPN, ESPN2 and ACC Network.
Pittsburgh, Miami Will Enter as Top Seeds
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Pittsburgh and Miami will headline the ACC tournament bracket.
The seeding order for the two teams will be determined by their regular-season finale in south Florida on Saturday.
As of Tuesday morning, Pittsburgh holds a half-game lead at 14-4. The Hurricanes are 14-5 in the ACC and do not play again until Saturday.
Jeff Capel III's Panthers need to beat the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on the road on Wednesday to maintain their one-game lead heading into the weekend.
Pitt and Miami have been the two most consistent teams throughout the ACC regular season, and both have used veteran players to reach the conference summit.
Pitt has one of the oldest starting lineups in the country, while Miami is driven by Nijel Pack, who is in his third year of college basketball.
The consistency from both sides has been rare to find elsewhere in the ACC this season. Even the third-place Virginia Cavaliers were not immune to some struggles, as they just dropped two games to take them out of regular-season title contention.
If Miami beats Pitt on Saturday, it will be the No. 1 seed off a common opponents tiebreaker. The 'Canes beat the fourth-place Clemson Tigers and Pitt lost to Brad Brownell's team.
A Miami victory on Saturday splits the regular-season series and both teams have wins over Virginia. The record against the next-best team determines the No. 1 seed and the first disparity in results between Miami and Pitt comes against Clemson.
If Pitt wins on the road, it will complete the season sweep of the Hurricanes and earn the No. 1 seed with a two-game advantage.
UNC, Clemson Stuck on NCAA Tournament Bubble
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North Carolina and Clemson will head to Greensboro with work left to do on their respective NCAA tournament resumes.
UNC, the NCAA tournament runner-up last season, earned its first Quad 1 victory on Saturday over Virginia.
The Tar Heels are still on the outside looking in, per Joe Lunardi of ESPN. A Monday win over the Florida State likely did nothing for UNC's resume because the Seminoles have been at the bottom of the ACC for most of the season.
North Carolina sits in seventh place in the ACC standings and can only jump the NC State Wolfpack, so it will either be matched up with the No. 2 or No. 3 seed in the quarterfinal round.
Hubert Davis' team needs a quarterfinal win to feel more comfortable about its spot in the field of 68. If it gets in as an at-large team, it may have to go to Dayton, Ohio for the First Four.
Clemson started 10-1 in ACC play, but it has since dropped to 13-5 and needed a thrashing of NC State to move up on the bubble projections.
The Tigers visit Virginia on Tuesday, and they could catch the Cavaliers in the right spot on a two-game losing streak.
A win inside John Paul Jones Arena would bolster Clemson's resume and put a bit less pressure on the team heading into Greensboro.
If Clemson wins out and Miami loses to Pitt, the Tigers could jump up to the No. 2 seed in Greensboro.
No matter where Clemson lands, it will have to win a quarterfinal game to feel safer about its NCAA tournament prospects.
There is a scenario in which Clemson and UNC face each other in the quarterfinal round, and that could serve as an elimination game.
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Bracket Prediction
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1. Miami
2. Pittsburgh
3. Virginia
4. Clemson
5. Duke
6. NC State
7. North Carolina
8. Wake Forest
9. Syracuse
10. Boston College
11. Virginia Tech
12. Florida State
13. Georgia Tech
14. Notre Dame
15. Louisville
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