With the calendar turning to March, the Eagles have just three games remaining before the 2013 ACC Tournament. Let's look at how the ACC Tournament bracket will look if it began today:
Here are the seeds:
1. Miami Hurricanes (14-1)
2. Duke Blue Devils (11-4)
3. Virginia Cavaliers (10-5)
4. North Carolina Tar Heels (10-5)
5. N.C. State Wolfpack (9-6)
6. Florida St. Seminoles (7-8)
7. Maryland Terrapins (7-8)
8. Clemson Tigers (5-10)
9. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (5-10)
10. Wake Forest Demon Deacons (5-10)
11. Boston College Eagles (4-11)
12. Virginia Tech Hokies (3-12)
And the tournament bracket:
Thursday, March 14 - First Round
Game 1: #8 Clemson vs. #9 Georgia Tech, noon ESPNU/ACC Network
Game 2: #5 N.C. State vs. #12 Virginia Tech, 2 p.m. ESPNU/ACC Network
Game 3: #7 Maryland vs. #10 Wake Forest, 7 p.m. ESPNU/ACC Network
Game 4: #6 Florida State vs. #11 Boston College, 9 p.m. ESPNU/ACC Network
Friday, March 15 - Quarterfinals
Game 5: #1 Miami vs. Game 1 winner, noon ESPN2/ACC Network
Game 6: #4 North Carolina vs. Game 2 winner, 2 p.m. ESPN2/ACC Network
Game 7: #2 Duke vs. Game 3 winner, 7 p.m. ESPN2/ACC Network
Game 8: #3 Virginia vs. Game 4 winner, 9 p.m. ESPN2/ACC Network
NOTES:
-- Virginia and North Carolina are currently tied for third in the standings at 10-5. The regular season series is knotted at 1-1 so the next tiebreaker goes to each team's record vs. the team occupying the highest position in the final regular season standings. Neither team has defeated Miami this season. Virginia's win over Duke last night gives the tiebreaker to the Cavaliers.
-- Maryland and Florida State are currently tied at 7-8, but the Seminoles two wins over the Terps give Florida State the no. 6 seed.
-- Georgia Tech, Clemson and Wake Forest are in a three-way tie at 5-10. Clemson is 3-0 against the other two teams, Georgia Tech 2-2 and Wake Forest 0-3, so the Tigers are the no. 8 seed, the Jackets the no. 9 and Wake Forest the no. 10 seed.
Next, let's project out the rest of the regular season. Using realtimerpi.com's GAMER projected record, here's how the ACC's final regular season standings play out.
1. Miami Hurricanes (17-1)
2. Virginia Cavaliers (12-6)
3. North Carolina Tar Heels (12-6)
4. Duke Blue Devils (12-6)
5. N.C. State Wolfpack (10-8)
6. Florida St. Seminoles (9-9)
7. Maryland Terrapins (8-10)
8. Wake Forest Demon Deacons (7-11)
9. Clemson Tigers (6-12)
10. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (6-12)
11. Boston College Eagles (5-13)
12. Virginia Tech Hokies (4-14)
And the tournament bracket:
Thursday, March 14 - First Round
Game 1: #8 Wake Forest vs. #9 Clemson, noon ESPNU/ACC Network
Game 2: #5 N.C. State vs. #12 Virginia Tech, 2 p.m. ESPNU/ACC Network
Game 3: #7 Maryland vs. #10 Georgia Tech, 7 p.m. ESPNU/ACC Network
Game 4: #6 Florida State vs. #11 Boston College, 9 p.m. ESPNU/ACC Network
Friday, March 15 - Quarterfinals
Game 5: #1 Miami vs. Game 1 winner, noon ESPN2/ACC Network
Game 6: #4 Duke vs. Game 2 winner, 2 p.m. ESPN2/ACC Network
Game 7: #2 Virginia vs. Game 3 winner, 7 p.m. ESPN2/ACC Network
Game 8: #3 North Carolina vs. Game 4 winner, 9 p.m. ESPN2/ACC Network
-- Here, Duke, North Carolina and Virginia all finish with identical 12-6 records. Virginia is projected to be 2-1 against the other two teams, North Carolina 2-1 and Duke 1-2. With Duke dropping out, the tiebreaker then moves to each team's record vs. the team occupying the highest position in the final regular season standings. Virginia's win over Duke gives the Cavaliers a 1-0 record against the 4th place team gives the Cavaliers the edge over North Carolina, projected to be 1-1 vs. Duke. Virginia is the no. 2 seed, North Carolina the 3 and Duke the 4.
-- Clemson's two wins over Georgia Tech break the tie at the 8/9. Not that that affects anything other than what color your wear in the first round.
BC's draw doesn't change in either scenario as it's looking more and more likely that we're headed towards an Eagles-Seminoles ACC Tournament first round draw. N.C. State is currently two games up on Florida State with just three games remaining for the 5th spot in the standings and Florida State holds the tiebreaker over Maryland. I'm pretty OK with this draw. This makes the Eagles trip to the semis go through the 6 seed and the 3 seed, which looks like it will be one of Duke, Virginia or North Carolina. There's not a favorable draw of that bunch but if I had to pick, I'd take the Hoos over the Blue Devils and Tar Heels. Tony Bennett's crew is as defensively sound as they come in the conference, but should the Eagles get hot from the floor, I like BC's chances against Virginia more than I do against either Duke or North Carolina in the blue-friendly confines of Greensboro Coliseum.