Let the Madness begin.
March is finally here and so is the season of conference tournaments, which leaves the main event-the NCAA Tournament-on the minds of basketball fans everywhere.
So as brackets fill up with automatic qualifiers, the question remains: Which ACC teams will hear their names called on Selection Sunday?
In a year when the ACC lacks experienced talent, the Missouri Valley Conference could relieve more bids to the Big Dance than a conference that has year-after-year been called the nations' best. And with just the ACC Tournament remaining, there are precious few games left for bubble teams Florida State and Maryland to make their case for admittance.
Regardless of the outcome of the conference tournament, the ACC's top four teams-No. 3 Duke, No. 10 North Carolina, No. 11 Boston College, and No. 25 N.C. State-are locks to make the NCAA field.
Each team ranks in the top-25 in the AP poll and none have an RPI ranking worse than 40th. Even after two straight losses, the Blue Devils-still first in RPI and strength of schedule-remain poised to earn a No. 1 seed for the eighth year in the last nine.
Similarly, the fates of the teams at the bottom of the ACC standings are most likely already sealed. Unless they cut down the nets in Greensboro, giving them an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, the six teams with losing records in conference are all but out of the 65-team field.
That leaves two teams, Florida State (9-7 in the ACC) and Maryland (8-8), which have a chance to make or break their seasons during the ACC Tournament. Even though a record of .500 in the ACC has recently been enough to seal an NCAA bid, both teams may not have made a strong enough case.
The Seminoles rank just 317th in non-conference strength of schedule. Their best non-ACC win was over Nebraska, which is 111th in RPI.
But FSU significantly improved its resumé March 1 by upsetting then top-ranked Duke, handing the Blue Devils their first league loss. Although that was Florida State's first win over a ranked foe, three of the team's seven conference losses were near upsets against top-25 programs.
Florida State lost by three to BC Jan. 14, fell by just one to UNC Jan. 22, and took Duke to overtime Feb. 22 in Cameron Indoor Stadium before losing 97-96.
"I feel very confident we're one of the top 64 teams," Florida State head coach Leonard Hamilton said. "I'm just hopeful people will have respect for the ACC."
A win against Wake Forest today should earn the Seminoles a ticket to the NCAA Tourney.
As for Maryland, the Terrapins' 12th-place standing in strength of schedule is impressive, but their 2-7 record against RPI top-50 teams is not. So far they lack a signature win to impress the selection committee.
Currently the Terrapins stand sixth in the ACC and probably need a deep run this weekend, starting today against Georgia Tech, to bolster their resumé.
"Anytime you get two wins the last week of the season it helps your chances," said Maryland head coach Gary Williams, whose team defeated Miami March 1 and Virginia March 5. "I don't think we have win the Tournament to make the NCAA Tournament."
Last year, when the ACC was significantly stronger, 8-8 Virginia Tech failed to make the national tournament. And since it is unlikely that Florida State and Maryland can both secure invitations to the dance, the Terrapins' .500 record make the chances of a Sunday bid grim.
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