ACC Tournament 2019: Quarterfinals Schedule, Live Stream, Bracket Predictions

The expected return of Zion Williamson to the Duke lineup will be the main story Thursday at the 2019 ACC tournament.

But before Williamson and the Blue Devils hit the court at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, there are three games worth tuning into due to a vast amount of intriguing storylines. 

Virginia opens the quarterfinal slate against NC State, who came back against Clemson Wednesday to keep its NCAA men's basketball tournament hopes alive. 

Virginia Tech and Florida State are set to meet in the second quarterfinal in a rematch of a game that went to overtime March 5. 

North Carolina starts the night session against Louisville, but most in attendance will be concerned primarily with Duke's game against Syracuse, where Williamson is expected to play. 

ACC Tournament Quarterfinals Schedule

All Times ET. 

No. 1 Virginia vs. No. 8 NC State (12:30 p.m., ESPN) 

No. 4 Florida State vs. No. 5 Virginia Tech (2:30 p.m., ESPN) 

No. 2 North Carolina vs. No. 7 Louisville (7 p.m., ESPN)

No. 3 Duke vs. No. 6 Syracuse (9 p.m., ESPN) 

Games can be live-streamed on Watch ESPN or ESPN app.

Predictions

Williamson Scores 20 Points in Return 

According to Stephen Wiseman of the News and Observer, an announcement from Duke is expected at some point Thursday regarding Williamson's return to the Blue Devils lineup. 

Barring a late setback, Williamson's appearance against Syracuse will be the moment everyone in Charlotte, and across the nation, will be looking forward to. 

Even though he hasn't played since February 20, Williamson will enter Thursday with high expectations given how well he performed in ACC play before he got hurt. 

Williamson reached double digits in every contest before leaving the February 20 contest against North Carolina, and he reached the 20-point mark on nine occasions. 

Robert Franklin/Associated Press

In the overtime loss to Syracuse January 14, Williamson scored 35 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. 

When the Blue Devils and Orange met again February 23, Jim Boeheim's team gave up 50 combined points to R.J. Barrett and Alex O'Connell. 

With Williamson back in the lineup, the Blue Devils unravel Syracuse's zone and steamroll into a semifinal meeting with North Carolina.

Given his production during ACC play and desire to make an immediate impact upon his return, Williamson stars in Duke's tournament opener with at least 20 points. 

Top 4 Seeds Advance To Semifinals 

This isn't exactly a bold prediction given the level Virginia, North Carolina and Duke have played at, but we're tipping each of the top four seeds to advance to Friday's semifinals. 

Virginia faces arguably the most dangerous opponent of the top four seeds since NC State is trying to impress the NCAA men's basketball tournament selection committee one final time. 

Steve Helber/Associated Press

The Wolfpack are one of the last four teams into the field of 68, according to ESPN.com's Joe Lunardi, but they barely escaped a matchup with fellow bubble team Clemson Wednesday. 

Even though Kevin Keatts' side will put up some fight, the Cavaliers defense will frustrate the Wolfpack and open up plenty of scoring opportunities in transition. 

With Williamson returning, Duke should cruise past Syracuse, especially if Barrett and Cam Reddish experience an uptick in production with the Orange keeping more eyes on Williamson. 

Although Louisville might be handed a chance to upset North Carolina by some, the Cardinals haven't played well down the stretch.

The only two wins by Chris Mack's team since February 16 came against Notre Dame, and if you go further back, the Cardinals are 4-7 since the start of February. 

With North Carolina eyeing a No. 1 seed in the Big Dance, it should have no problem knocking off Louisville for the second time. 

The clash between Florida State and Virginia Tech projects to be the best game of the day, but we're leaning toward the Seminoles coming out on top behind Terance Mann and Phil Cofer, who both scored in double digits against the Hokies a week ago. 

Buzz Williams' Hokies are capable of defeating Florida State, but it'll take an extraordinary effort since they're still playing without Justin Robinson.

Virginia Tech is 7-4 since Robinson went out with an injury at the start of February, but five of those wins came against the bottom feeders of the ACC. 

The combination of Mann, Cofer and Mfiondu Kabengele will be too much for the Hokies to handle without Robinson, and they'll lead the Seminoles into a semifinal clash with Virginia. 

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.

Statistics obtained from ESPN.com.