ACC Tournament 2015: Full TV Schedule and Bubble Teams to Watch

As arguably the deepest college basketball conference in the nation, the ACC will have no issues leaving its footprint on this season.

The conference currently has five teams ranked and should see a minimum of six teams reach the NCAA Tournament this month. While the ACC hasn’t placed a Final Four team since Duke’s 2010 championship, that streak has a solid chance of ending this April.

Of course, for the ACC’s middle class, there’s still work left to do in the conference tourney. At the moment, a trio of teams sit with varying degrees of unease on the bubble. While none are likely to pull off a Cinderella championship run and automatic bid, even a pair of victories in the tournament could help any of these teams reach the dance.

For fans seeking to tune in, check out full viewing information below, as well as primers on the three teams with the most at stake in Greensboro.

Game	Team	Team	Date	Time (ET)	TV
1	Boston College	Georgia Tech	March 10	1 p.m.	ESPN2/ACCN
2	Wake Forest	Virginia Tech	March 10	3 p.m.	ESPN2/ACCN
3	Clemson	Florida State	March 11	12 p.m.	ESPN/ACCN
4	North Carolina	Game 1 Winner	March 11	2 p.m.	ESPN/ACCN
5	NC State	Pittsburgh	March 11	7 p.m.	ESPN2/ACCN
6	Miami	Game 2 Winner	March 11	9 p.m.	ESPN2/ACCN
7	Virginia	Game 3 Winner	March 12	12 p.m.	ESPN/2/ACCN
8	Louisville	Game 4 Winner	March 12	2 p.m.	ESPN/2/ACCN
9	Duke	Game 5 Winner	March 12	7 p.m.	ESPN/ACCN
10	Notre Dame	Game 6 Winner	March 12	9 p.m.	ESPN/ACCN
11	Game 7 Winner	Game 8 Winner	March 13	7 p.m.	ESPN/2/ACCN
12	Game 9 Winner	Game 10 Winner	March 13	9 p.m.	ESPN/2/ACCN
13	Game 11 Winner	Game 12 Winner	March 14	8:30 p.m.	ESPN/ACCN

NC State Wolfpack (19-12, 10-8 ACC, RPI: 45, SOS: 6) 

Grant Halverson/Getty Images

In what has become an annual tradition, NC State will once again be competing for a double-digit seed in the waning days of the regular season. However, whereas the Wolfpack have needed to pull upsets in this tournament in previous seasons, the 2015 rendition should be able to skate in comfortably if it avoids the second-round upset.

With four top-50 RPI wins including a massive trio against Duke, Louisville and North Carolina, the Wolfpack have displayed stretches in which they’ve looked like tourney dark horses. Truthfully, head-scratching losses to the likes of Wake Forest and Boston College are the only reason they sit on the bubble in the first place.

As ESPN Insider Jeff Goodman points out, the Wolfpack are a perimeter team whose fortunes have largely rested on their ability to stay hot from the field: 

"

Gottfried can rely on leading scorer Trevor Lacey, who has been in double figures for the past 13 games. But besides Lacey and point guard Anthony "Cat" Barber, there’s little else he can depend on. Ralston Turner can look like the best shooter in the country one day (8-of-17 from 3 and 33 points against Tennessee), but can also shoot the team out of the game (3-of-14 in the loss to BC). The big men are talented, but have been inconsistent for most of the season. This team has the talent to make a run, but could just as easily get blown out in its first game by whoever it gets matched up against.

"

That’s obviously a dangerous formula in the tournament, and NC State is unlikely to pull off the string of wins necessary to make a deep run. But they’ve also shot teams like the Blue Devils out of the building, an ability which makes them the type of squad that could exploit looser, uptempo squads.

In the context of this conference tourney, NC State should be fine as long as it takes care of Pitt in its first game, especially after beating probation-grounded Syracuse in the regular-season finale. Anything beyond that would simply be gravy for a team playing for seeding.

Miami Hurricanes (20-11, 10-8 ACC, RPI: 64, SOS: 61)

Brett Carlsen/Getty Images

Miami’s win over Pitt last week was the type of swing game that could vault the Canes into the tournament. The Panthers have enough holes themselves, so while that game isn’t necessarily a definitive win, it did allow Miami to avoid what would have been a crippling defeat against a fellow bubble foe.

Unfortunately, Miami probably needs at least one upset in the ACC Tournament to truly catch the committee’s eye. The Hurricanes possess mediocre RPI and SOS numbers, while Ken Pomeroy ranks them a mediocre 63rd overall. Still, given that Miami won at Pitt without starting point guard Angel Rodriguez, some observers see this as a team that could do damage if it makes the cut:

Wins over fellow bubble squads Illinois and NC State will help a bit, but it’s distressing that those are probably Miami’s two best wins apart from their stunning January upset of Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium. When factoring in losses to the likes of Georgia Tech, Florida State, Wake Forest and Eastern Kentucky, the warts outweigh the one big victory carrying Miami’s resume at this point.

The good news is that the Canes should cruise into the ACC quarterfinals as the No. 6 seed, potentially setting up a date with Notre Dame. Miami narrowly dropped a five-point decision at South Bend on Jan. 17, but if the Canes can complete the upset this time, they could propel themselves over the bubble hump.

Pittsburgh Panthers (19-13, 8-10 ACC, RPI: 59, SOS: 36)

Brett Carlsen/Getty Images

As harsh as this sounds, putting Pitt here is more of a courtesy than anything else. The Panthers certainly need a minimum of two wins for consideration, and even then they would sit squarely on the bubble come Selection Sunday. Indeed, at the moment, the ACC bubble picture appears pretty clearly stratified: 

Pitt essentially had no margin for error due to an extremely weak non-conference schedule, and while the overall SOS and RPI numbers look reasonable, a trio of losses against Virginia Tech, Wake Forest and Clemson hurt. Wins over North Carolina and Notre Dame keep the case alive, but the goodwill from those victories has been squandered, especially after their latest loss to Florida State.

One silver lining? Don’t put it past Pitt to actually pull off the run they need, as they rank 16th in Pomeroy’s Adjusted Offensive Efficiency ratings and have beaten teams by slowing down the tempo and winning from deep. With shooters like Michael Young and Jamel Artis, the Panthers are the rare team that can produce a deadly offensive output at a slowpoke tempo.

As the 10th seed, Pitt will get a shot at what would be a nice win over NC State in its first game. The subsequent game against second-seeded Virginia would be a must-win, but if the Panthers pull the improbable, their tourney hopes will suddenly become a very real proposition.

*All RPI and SOS rankings based on ESPN.com's metrics.