What NC State’s loss means for Duke, UNC and the Wolfpack’s ACC tournament seeds
N.C. State’s loss helped Duke. Now the Wolfpack needs some help from the Blue Devils to get a double-bye in the ACC tournament.
The Wolfpack’s 78-75 loss at Georgia Tech on Thursday secured a double-bye in the ACC tournament next week in Brooklyn for Duke (12-5 ACC).
The only way N.C. State (10-7) can join Duke as one of the top four seeds is with a Duke win over North Carolina on Saturday and some other help. The Wolfpack will be the No. 8 seed with a loss to Louisville (9-8) on Saturday. Duke will be the No. 3 seed with a loss, State’s loss on Thursday made sure of that.
The winner of the Duke-UNC game on Saturday night in Durham will be the No. 2 seed. The Tar Heels (11-6) can still finish fourth with a loss or could drop down to the No. 6 seed. UNC holds the potential tiebreaker over Clemson (11-6) but not with Miami (10-7) or Virginia Tech (10-7).
The first tiebreaker is head-to-head result, followed by “group record,” if more than two teams are tied. Since not all teams play twice, the group record goes by winning percentage.
Virginia (16-1), the No. 1 seed, and Pittsburgh (0-18), the No. 15 seed, are the only two teams who have locked in their position with only Saturday’s regular-season finale games left.
The tournament returns to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The bottom six seeds open in the play-in round on Tuesday. The next five seeds play on Wednesday in the first round and the top four seeds receive a double-bye into Thursday’s quarterfinals.
The tournament-seeding scenarios for Duke/Carolina/State:
Duke (12-5, vs. UNC)
No. 2 seed
▪ with a win
No. 3 seed
▪ with a loss
UNC (11-6, at Duke)
No. 2 seed
▪ with a win
No. 3 seed
▪ Cannot be the No. 3 seed
No. 4 seed
▪ with a loss AND Clemson loss, NC State loss, VT win
No. 5 seed
▪ with a loss AND Clemson loss, NC State loss, VT loss
▪ with a loss AND Clemson loss, NC State win, VT win
▪ with a loss AND Clemson win, NC State loss, VT win
▪ with a loss AND Clemson win, NC State loss, VT loss
No. 6 seed
▪ with a loss AND Clemson win, NC State win, VT win
▪ with a loss AND Clemson win, NC State win, VT loss
▪ with a loss AND Clemson loss, NC State win, VT loss
NC State (10-7, vs. Louisville)
No. 4 seed
▪ with a win AND Duke win, Clem loss, VT win
No. 5 seed
▪ with a win AND Duke win, Clem win, VT loss
▪ with a win AND Duke win, Clem win, VT win
▪ with a win AND Duke win, Clem loss, VT loss
▪ with a win AND UNC win, Clem loss, VT win
No. 6 seed
▪ with a win AND UNC win, Clem win, VT loss
▪ with a win AND UNC win, Clem win, VT win
▪ with a win AND UNC win, Clem loss, VT loss
No. 7 seed
▪ Cannot be the No. 7 seed
No. 8 seed
▪ with a loss
ACC tournament scenarios
Clemson (11-6, at Syracuse)
No. 3 seed with a win and a Duke win; OR with a loss AND Duke win, NC State loss, VT loss
No. 4 seed: ▪ with win and a UNC win
▪ with a loss AND Duke win, NC State win, VT loss
▪ with a loss AND UNC win, NC State loss, VT loss
▪ with a loss AND UNC win, NC State win, VT loss
No. 5 seed with a loss AND NC State loss, VT win
No. 6 seed with a loss AND NC State win, VT win
Miami (10-7, vs. Virginia Tech)
No. 3 seed with a win AND Clemson loss, UNC loss, NC State win
No. 4 seed with a win AND Clemson loss, UNC loss, NC State loss; OR with a win AND Clemson win, UNC loss
No. 5 seed with a win AND UNC win
No. 6 seed with a loss AND NC State loss
No. 7 seed with a loss AND N.C. State win
Virginia Tech (10-7, at Miami)
No. 3 seed with a win AND Clemson loss, UNC loss
No. 4 seed with a win AND a Clemson win, UNC loss; OR with a win AND a Clemson loss, UNC win
No. 5 seed with a win AND a Clemson win, UNC win
No. 7 seed with a loss
Louisville (9-8, at NC State)
No. 6 seed with a win AND VT loss
No. 7 seed with a win AND a VT win
No. 8 seed with a loss AND EITHER FSU loss OR Notre Dame win
No. 9 seed with a loss AND a FSU win, Notre Dame loss
Florida State (8-9, vs. BC)
No. 8 seed with a win AND Louisville loss, Notre Dame loss
No. 9 seed with a win AND Louisville win, Notre Dame loss
No. 10 seed with a win AND a Notre Dame win
No. 11 seed with a loss
Notre Dame (8-9, at Virginia)
No. 9 seed with a win; OR with a loss AND FSU loss
No. 10 seed with a loss AND FSU win
Boston College (7-10, at FSU)
No. 10 seed with a win
No. 11 seed with a loss AND a Syracuse loss
No. 12 seed with a loss AND a Syracuse win
Syracuse (7-10, vs. Clemson)
No. 11 seed with a win AND BC loss
No. 12 seed with a loss OR with a win AND BC win
Georgia Tech (5-12, vs. Wake Forest)
No. 13 seed with a win
No. 14 seed with a loss
Wake Forest (4-13, at Georgia Tech)
No. 13 seed with a win
No. 14 seed with a loss
ACC tournament schedule
at Barclays Center, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Tuesday’s games
No. 12 vs. No. 13, noon
No. 10 vs. No. 15 Pittsburgh, 2:30 p.m.
No. 11 vs. No. 14, 7 p.m.
Wednesday’s games
No. 8 vs. No. 9, noon
No. 5 vs. 12/13 winner, 2:30 p.m.
No. 7 vs. No. 10/15 winner, 7 p.m.
No. 6 vs. No. 11/14 winner, 9:30 p.m.
Thursday’s games
No. 1 Virginia vs. No. 8/9 winner, noon
No. 4 vs. No. 5 and 12/13 winner, 2:30 p.m.
No. 2 vs. No. 7 and 10/15 winner, 7 p.m.
No. 3 vs. No. 6 and 11/14 winner, 9:30 p.m.
This story was originally published March 2, 2018 at 6:05 AM with the headline "What NC State’s loss means for Duke, UNC and the Wolfpack’s ACC tournament seeds."