Looking At Boston College's ACC Tournament Seed Possibilities

With just four games left in Boston College's forgettable season, the Eagles are currently in 14th place in the conference standings. Still a lot of basketball left to be played which could place Boston College anywhere from #7 to #15. That's right. Seventh.

To start, you can forget about the ACC Tournament's top six seeds because, well, duh. Even if BC won out to finish 7-11, Clemson and Pittsburgh are already at eight wins. No double-bye for the Eagles and two of the five Thursday spots are filled up too.

The best possible scenario for BC is if the Eagles win out and N.C. State, Maryland and Florida State all lose out to finish with seven conference wins. Oh, and Miami, Notre Dame, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech all need to fail to reach seven wins. In that case, Boston College (2-1 combined record against the tied teams) would earn the seven seed and avoid playing on Wednesday. Wouldn't that be nice?

#7 seed

Basically everything has to go right for the Eagles to earn the ACC Tournament's #7 seed. Boston College would need to win out and Florida State, Maryland and N.C. State all lose out to finish in a four-way tie at 7-11. Miami would have to finish up 1-3 or worse to fall short of seven wins which, with a remaining schedule of @ Virginia, @ N.C. State, @ Clemson and Wake Forest is certainly possible. Notre Dame would also have to drop two of its remaining three games -- Georgia Tech, Pitt and @ Carolina -- to stay out of that tie at 7-11, too. Wake and Georgia Tech would have to go 2-2 or worse down the stretch. Suffice it to say, this scenario is very unlikely.

#8 seed

The #8 seed is possible but also requires BC winning out. The easiest way to get here is for Florida State and N.C. State to lose out but for Maryland to win at least one more game to bump its conference record to 8+ wins. BC would own the head-to-head tiebreaker against both FSU and N.C. State by virtue of head-to-head wins over both squads. Just as in the above scenario, Miami, Notre Dame, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech all have to fail to hit the seven win mark as well. Also highly unlikely.

#9 seed

Again, need to win out. Again, have to avoid any tiebreakers with Miami, Notre Dame and Georgia Tech. In this scenario, two teams currently at seven conference wins get at least one more win but one of them doesn't. The team BC ends up tied with has to be either FSU or N.C. State, as Maryland owns the head-to-head tiebreaker against BC.

#10 seed

In this scenario, all three of N.C. State, Maryland and Florida State get to 8+ wins. BC either has to win out and Miami goes 1-3 or worse, or BC goes 3-1 and Miami loses out to finish 5-13. Notre Dame, currently at five wins, would also have to lose out. Wake Forest and Georgia Tech couldn't win more than one more game.

#11 seed

To earn the #11 seed, BC is going to have to jump Notre Dame, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech in the final standings. The Irish are 1.5 games up on BC with one less to play. Wake and Georgia Tech are a game up on BC. The Eagles would have to win out and hope that, a) the Irish don't go 2-1 or better and b) Wake and Georgia Tech finish 2-2 or worse. There are ways of clinching the #11 seed at 3-1, but most involve the Irish losing out to finish 5-13. Remember, Notre Dame owns the head-to-head tiebreaker with BC at 2-0.

#12 seed

The #12 seed likely means that BC will jump two of Notre Dame, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest. In order to jump the Irish or Jackets, BC needs to finish one game better than either since the Eagles don't own the tiebreaker. BC would own the tiebreaker over Wake Forest with a head-to-head victory over the Deacons.

#13 seed

Should BC beat Wake Forest, the Eagles will have a very good shot at finishing at #13. BC would own the head-to-head with the Deacons and would need to avoid a three-way tie involving Georgia Tech (0-2).

#14 seed

This will be the most likely scenario since it involves BC losing out and Virginia Tech finishing the regular season 1-3 or 0-4. The Hokies have games remaining @ Duke, North Carolina, @ Maryland and @ Georgia Tech. Good luck with that, Hokies.

#15 seed

This scenario involves Virginia Tech finishing two games better than BC over the final four games of the regular season. So either BC 2-2 / VT 4-0, BC 1-3 / VT 3-1 or BC 0-4 / VT 2-2. Here are the remaining schedules:

Boston College -- Pittsburgh, @ Wake Forest #therivalry, Florida State, @ N.C. State
Virginia Tech -- @ Duke, North Carolina, @ Maryland, @ Georgia Tech

Three wins will keep BC ahead of Virginia Tech in the final standings. If BC does end up with the #15 seed, throw stuff.

It's a stretch, but ultimately BC's goal is to avoid playing on Wednesday and starting the ACC Tournament on Thursday. The #9 seed would be ideal but that involves winning out and getting a lot of help. If the Eagles do end up playing on Thursday, BC wants to be the #10 seed for a third matchup with Virginia Tech.