The ACC Tournament bracket is set. Here’s the schedule for Charlotte
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Final regular-season games set final ACC seeds and determine 15-team field.
- Duke secures No. 1 seed; Virginia, Miami and North Carolina earn byes.
- Tournament schedule lists Tuesday play-ins through Saturday championship.
Saturday’s final day of ACC men’s basketball regular-season play settled the final seeds for the ACC Tournament, which begins Tuesday at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center.
Some things were already known prior to Saturday. Duke (29-2, 17-1 ACC) is the outright regular-season champion and owns the tournament’s No. 1 seed. The Blue Devils will seek their second consecutive ACC Tournament championship, and third in coach Jon Scheyer’s four seasons, beginning with the quarterfinals Thursday night.
The other three teams joining Duke by earning double-byes into Thursday’s quarterfinals are No. 2 Virginia (27-4, 15-3 ACC), No. 3 Miami (24-7, 13-5 ACC) and No. 4 North Carolina (24-7, 12-6 ACC).
Clemson (22-9, 12-6 ACC) will be the No. 5 seed after the Tigers beat Georgia Tech, 79-76, on Saturday. The Tigers finished with the same league record as UNC. But the Tar Heels won the tiebreaker due to their 67-63 win over Clemson last Tuesday.
Louisville (22-9, 11-7 ACC) locked up the No. 6 seed with its 92-89 win at Miami on Saturday.
N.C. State (19-12, 10-8 ACC), after losing, 85-84 to Stanford on Saturday, enters the ACC Tournament on a four-game losing streak and is the No. 7 seed.
The Pack tied with Florida State (17-14, 10-8 ACC) but holds the tiebreaker over the Seminoles because N.C. State won 113-69 at Florida State on Jan. 10.
Florida State is the No. 8 seed with Cal (21-10, 9-9 ACC) at No. 9. They will play Wednesday at the ACC Tournament, with the winner advancing to face Duke on Thursday night.
Even though Cal finished tied with Stanford (20-11, 9-9 ACC), the Bears won the tiebreaker because they beat Stanford twice this season. That leaves the Cardinal beginning ACC Tournament play on Tuesday as the No. 10 seed.
SMU (19-12, 8-10 ACC) is the No. 11 seed with Virginia Tech (19-12, 8-10 ACC) at No. 12. SMU won that tiebreaker due its 77-76 win over Virginia Tech on Jan. 14.
Wake Forest (16-15, 7-11 ACC) earned the No. 13 seed with its 80-73 win over California on Saturday. Syracuse (15-16, 6-12 ACC) is the No. 14 seed.
At the bottom end of the league standings, Georgia Tech (11-20, 2-16 ACC) was already assured of a last-place finish prior to losing to Clemson and will not be participating in the ACC Tournament. This is the second season in a row only the top 15 teams in the regular-season standings will play in the tournament.
Notre Dame (13-18, 4-14 ACC) joined Georgia Tech in sitting out the tournament. Boston College (11-20, 4-14 ACC) kept its hopes for making the ACC Tournament bracket alive by beating the Irish, 77-69, on Saturday. But those hopes were dashed Saturday night when Pitt (12-19, 5-13 ACC) beat Syracuse, 71-69, in overtime and claimed the tournament’s No. 15 seed.
Saturday’s games
Virginia 76, Virginia Tech 72
Boston College 77, Notre Dame 69
Clemson 79, Georgia Tech 76
Louisville 92, Miami 89
Florida State 91, SMU 78
Stanford 85, N.C. State 84
Wake Forest 80, Cal 73
Pitt 71, Syracuse 69 OT
Duke 76, North Carolina 61
End of regular season
With Georgia Tech, Notre Dame and Boston College not qualifying, here are the pairings:
ACC Tournament schedule
At Spectrum Center, Charlotte
Tuesday’s games
Game 1: No. 10 Stanford vs. No. 15 Pittsburgh, 2 p.m. (ACC Network)
Game 2: No. 11 SMU vs. No. 14 Syracuse, 4:30 p.m. (ACC Network)
Game 3: No. 12 Virginia Tech vs. No. 13 Wake Forest, 7 p.m. (ACC Network)
Wednesday’s games
Game 4: No. 7 N.C. State vs. Game 1 winner, noon (ESPN/ESPN2)
Game 5: No. 6 Louisville vs. Game 2 winner, 2:30 p.m. (ESPNU/ESPN)
Game 6: No. 8 Florida State vs. No. 9 California, 7 p.m. (ESPN2/ESPNU)
Game 7: No. 5 Clemson vs. Game 3 winner, 9:30 p.m. (ESPN2/ESPNU)
Thursday’s games
Game 8: No. 2 Virginia vs. Game 4 winner, noon (ESPN/ESPN2)
Game 9: No. 3 Miami vs. Game 5 winner, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN/ESPN2)
Game 10: No. 1 Duke vs. Game 6 winner, 7 p.m. (ESPN/ESPN2)
Game 11: No. 4 North Carolina vs. Game 7 winner, 9:30 p.m. (ESPN/ESPN2)
Friday’s games
Semifinals: 7 and 9:30 p.m. (ESPN/ESPN2)
Saturday’s game
Championship, 8:30 p.m. (ESPN)
This story was originally published March 7, 2026 at 6:15 AM.