ACC Tournament 2017: Bracket Predictions Before Final Regular-Season Games

In 2011, the Big East set a record when 11 teams made the NCAA men's basketball tournament. One of those 11, UConn, won the national championship over Butler.

This season, the ACC has a chance to match (or perhaps even break) that mark. Currently, Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report and Joe Lunardi of ESPN have 10 ACC teams in the field, with Miller mentioning an 11th (Georgia Tech) and 12th team (Clemson) as others who could still make it.

The ACC wraps up its regular season with seven games on Saturday. When the games are complete, the seedings for the conference tournament field will be set.

Here's a look at the ACC tournament schedule as of now. Only three of the seeds are confirmed, but the times, dates and place (the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York) for all the matchups have been revealed.

ACC Tournament Schedule

Date	Game	Round	Matchup	Time (ET)	Television
Tuesday, March 7	1	First	No. 13 seed vs. Clemson	Noon	ESPN2/ACC Network
Tuesday, March 7	2	First	BC vs. No. 10 seed	2 p.m.	ESPN2/ACC Network
Tuesday, March 7	3	First	No. 14 seed vs. No. 11 seed	7 p.m.	ESPNU/ACC Network
Wednesday, March 8	4	Second	No. 9 seed vs. No. 8 seed	Noon	ESPN/ACC Network
Wednesday, March 8	5	Second	Game 1 winner vs. No. 5 seed	2 p.m.	ESPN/ACC Network
Wednesday, March 8	6	Second	Game 2 winner vs. No. 7 seed	7 p.m.	ESPN2/ACC Network
Wednesday, March 8	7	Second	Game 3 winner vs. No. 6 seed	9 p.m.	ESPN2/ACC Network
Thursday, March 9	8	Quarterfinals	Game 4 winner vs. UNC	Noon	ESPN/ACC Network
Thursday, March 9	9	Quarterfinals	Game 5 winner vs. No. 4 seed	2 p.m.	ESPN/ACC Network
Thursday, March 9	10	Quarterfinals	Game 6 winner vs. No. 2 seed	7 p.m.	ESPN/ACC Network
Thursday, March 9	11	Quarterfinals	Game 7 winner vs. No. 3 seed	9 p.m.	ESPN/ACC Network
Friday, March 10	12	Semifinals	Game 8 winner vs. Game 9 winner	7 p.m.	ESPN or ESPN2/ACC Network
Friday, March 10	13	Semifinals	Game 10 winner vs. Game 11 winner	9 p.m.	ESPN or ESPN2/ACC Network
Saturday, March 11	14	Final	Game 12 winner vs. Game 13 winner	9 p.m.	ESPN/ACC Network

Here are some predictions for the final ACC tournament seeds as well as game-by-game projections.

Bracket Predictions

Seed	Team	Projected ACC W-L
1	North Carolina	14-4
2	Florida State	12-6
3	Notre Dame	12-6
4	Louisville	12-6
5	Virginia Tech	11-7
6	Duke	11-7
7	Virginia	11-7
8	Miami	10-8
9	Syracuse	10-8
10	Wake Forest	8-10
11	Georgia Tech	8-10
12	Clemson	6-12
13	NC State	4-14
14	Pittsburgh	4-14
15	Boston College	2-16

Tournament Predictions

A note before diving in: There is a sizable gap between the top 12 teams and the bottom three this year. While anything is certainly possible, we are skipping the first round and saying that the projected No. 10-12 seeds and favorites (Wake Forest, Georgia Tech and Clemson) hold serve and advance to the second round.

Second Round

No. 5 Virginia Tech over No. 12 Clemson

Clemson would need to win at least three ACC tournament games to have a shot at being selected for an NCAA tournament at-large bid. The Tigers get an easy draw with Boston College in the first round, but Virginia Tech is a much stiffer challenge.

The Hokies beat the Tigers by one point in each of its two matchups this season, but, perhaps more importantly, they are rolling going into the postseason, winning five of their last six.

Virginia Tech will win another close game, which will end Clemson's NCAA tournament hopes.

No. 6 Duke over No. 11 Georgia Tech

After Duke scuffled through the early part of the ACC schedule, the Blue Devils bounced back to win seven straight games before losing to Syracuse in the Carrier Dome on a buzzer-beater before falling in an ugly 55-50 slugfest at Miami.

Despite those two losses, Duke is back on track. The Blue Devils embarrassed the Yellow Jackets, 110-57, when these two teams played in January. Don't expect another 53-point victory, but the Blue Devils should win and end Georgia Tech's NCAA tournament hopes.

No. 7 Virginia over No. 10 Wake Forest

Virginia may be the seventh seed in this ACC tournament projection, but don't let that ranking fool you. UVA is arguably the second-best team in the conference. According to the Ken Pomeroy and Sagarin ratings, UVA is ranked sixth and ninth overall in Division I, respectively.

Like Georgia Tech and Clemson, Wake Forest needs to win its second-round matchup to have a chance at making the NCAA tournament field, even though it just added an impressive 88-81 win over No. 8 Louisville to its tournament resume on Wednesday.

However, UVA's defense is stifling (Pomeroy ranks the Cavaliers first in adjusted defensive efficiency), and the Cavaliers have a lot of depth and experience, led by senior guard London Perrantes. The Cavs will beat the Demon Deacons and advance to the quarterfinals.

No. 9 Syracuse over No. 8 Miami

This will be the most competitive quarterfinal matchup. It's a game that could go either way, but 'Cuse's 2-3 zone will give the Hurricanes some problems. It did when these two teams played in January, when Syracuse stifled Miami and beat the 'Canes, 70-55. Miami only shot 39 percent from the field and would have lost by more if not for the hot shooting of Dejan Vasiljevic, who made six three-pointers.

As a team, Miami is 13th in the ACC in three-point percentage (35.9) and tied for 12th in adjusted field-goal percentage (51.5), per ESPN, so that doesn't bode well against 'Cuse's zone. Furthermore, with the tournament in New York City, where Syracuse has a huge alumni base, it will feel like a home game for the Orange.

Syracuse will take this game and advance to play UNC.

Quarterfinals

No. 1 North Carolina over No. 9 Syracuse

It's no contest here. UNC is the best team in the ACC and one of the best teams in the country. Syracuse impressed in its wins over Duke and Virginia, but it is also capable of losing to St. John's by 33 points as it did early in the season.

'Cuse will overcome its inconsistency to make the NCAA tournament, but its ACC tournament hopes will fall short after a tough draw against UNC.

No. 7 Virginia over No. 2 Florida State

The first "upset" of the tournament will belong to Virginia, although UVA and FSU are more evenly matched than the seedings make it seem.

Future NBA draft pick Dwayne Bacon scored 29 points to lead FSU to a 60-58 win the last time these two teams met. He shot 11-of-18 that day, while the rest of his team went 9-of-31.

This game could go either way, but the guess is that UVA finds a way to slow Bacon down the second time around and stifles the rest of the Seminole offense en route to a low-scoring win.

No. 3 Notre Dame over No. 6 Duke

Notre Dame went through a rut midseason, losing four of five ACC games during one stretch, but the Fighting Irish have bounced back to win six straight, including an impressive 84-72 win over Florida State.

Duke beat Notre Dame, 84-74 when these two teams met in January, but Notre Dame went unusually cold from the field in the first half, making only 27 percent of their shots. Notre Dame also was out-rebounded 38-26.

Now the Fighting Irish are hot, and their offense is clicking. They've scored at least 81 points in five of six games during their winning streak, and junior forward Bonzie Colson is averaging 21.8 points and 10.7 rebounds in that span.

Look for Colson to be the difference in a shootout win for the Irish.

No. 4 Louisville over No. 5 Virginia Tech

Despite shooting 59 percent from the field (and 65 percent from three-point range), the Hokies lost to the Cardinals 94-90 when these two teams faced off in February.

As great and impressive as Virginia Tech's season has been this year (it was picked to finish 10th in the official ACC preseason poll), it's a cut below the elite teams in the ACC. Louisville is one of those teams, and the guess is that it plays extra motivated and angry after a disappointing loss to Wake Forest on Wednesday.

Semifinals

No. 1 North Carolina over No. 4 Louisville

Here's an incredible stat about North Carolina: The Tar Heels lead Division I in rebounding margin, and it isn't even close. According to NCAA.com, they out-rebound their opponents by 13.3 boards per game. No other Division I team out-rebounds opponents by more than 10 (UCF is second in the nation with exactly 10 thanks to 7'6" center Tacko Fall).

Louisville is no slouch on the boards itself, out-rebounding its opponents by 5.5 boards a game (good enough for 35th in the nation).

When these teams faced off this season, rebounding turned out to be the difference, as UNC won on the boards, 46-33, led by Kennedy Meeks' 10.

That will prove to be the difference again in the semifinals, and UNC will advance to the final.

No. 7 Virginia over No. 3 Notre Dame

UVA has lost nine games this season. Three have been in overtime (or double overtime), and three others have been by a combined eight points.

The Cavaliers are unlucky (Ken Pomeroy actually ranks teams by their luck, and UVA ranks a meager 299th out of 351 Division I teams), but eventually, variance has to swing back their way, right?

It could certainly happen in the conference tournament. UVA's defense is the perfect antidote to Notre Dame's high-powered offense. UVA held Notre Dame to just 42 percent shooting (and 17 percent from deep) in a 71-54 win in South Bend.

As good as Notre Dame is, and it will make another deep tournament run this year, UVA will win again and advance to the tournament final.

Final

No. 1 North Carolina over No. 7 Virginia

The Tar Heels shot 35 percent from the field and 25 percent from three when they lost to UVA, 53-43 on Monday night.

Aa good as UVA's defense is, don't expect UNC to be held to those anemic numbers for a second time. The Tar Heels are too good, too experienced and too motivated to return to the national championship after coming so close last season.

It wouldn't be wise to sleep on UVA during the NCAA tournament, as it's a deep and experienced team with an elite defense, but UNC is a cut above the rest of the ACC and one of the best five teams in the country.

The Tar Heels will cut down the nets in Brooklyn before earning a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.