ACC Tournament 2017 Bracket: Notre Dame, Duke Move Up, Louisville Moves Down

2017 ACC tournament brackets have changed a bit this week, with several games on the schedule shifting the ACC standings. Wake Forest beat Louisville, Notre Dame beat Boston College, and Clemson beat North Carolina State on Wednesday (March 1). The Louisville Cardinals had been holding down the No. 2 seed in the ACC tournament bracket, but will now get passed by the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The teams actually match up again on Saturday (March 2), with Louisville hosting Notre Dame in a must-win ACC game.

In the updated ACC standings, the North Carolina Tar Heels are now just one game ahead of Notre Dame for the No. 1 seed in the ACC tournament bracket. Then there are three ACC teams with identical 11-6 conference records that will rely upon tiebreakers to be solved. Three additional teams are tied with 10-7 records, making the current appearance of the ACC standings quite complicated. That raises the stakes for the conference schedule this weekend, as teams are playing for more than just pride and an improvement to their overall record.

The Duke Blue Devils, Louisville Cardinals, and Florida State Seminoles each have records of 23-7 (11-6). To solve the three-team tie, the Atlantic Coast Conference will use head-to-head tiebreakers. Florida State is 2-1 against the other two schools, securing the No. 3 seed for the time being. That leaves the battle between Duke and Louisville for the No. 4 seed. Duke went 1-2, while Louisville went 1-1 aginst the other schools. That leaves Louisville at No. 4 and keeps Duke down at No. 5 for now. It’s not set in stone, though, as each school has one game left.

The battle for the No. 6 seed is no less intense, as the Virginia Tech Hokies, Miami Hurricanes, and Virginia Cavaliers each have 10-7 conference records. Using the same tiebreaker method as before, the 2017 ACC tournament bracket orders the teams as Miami, Virginia Tech, and then Virginia. Each ACC school has one regular season game left, so things could shift once again over the coming week. That should lead to some good television ratings for CBS and ESPN in the final weekend of the regular season.

The ACC schedule has some important games on March 4 that include Notre Dame vs. Louisville, Miami vs. Florida State, and Duke vs. North Carolina. Each one of the games between ranked opponents is going to have a direct impact on the ACC tournament seeding. The seeding is very important, as the top four schools will receive a double-bye that puts them straight into the quarterfinals. That’s a big deal for these schools, especially as they battle for respectable seeding in the 2017 NCAA Tournament as well.

Current 2017 ACC Tournament Brackets And Game Schedule (As Of March 2)

March 7

Game 1: No. 12 Clemson vs. No. 13 Pittsburgh (12 p.m. ET)
Game 2: No. 10 Wake Forest vs. No. 15 Boston College (2 p.m. ET)
Game 3: No. 11 Georgia Tech vs. No. 14 North Carolina State (7 p.m. ET)

March 8

Game 4: No. 8 Virginia vs. No. 9 Syracuse (12 p.m. ET)
Game 5: Game 1 Winner vs. No. 5 Duke (2 p.m. ET)
Game 6: Game 2 Winner vs. No. 7 Virginia Tech (7 p.m. ET)
Game 7: Game 3 Winner vs. No. 6 Miami (9 p.m. ET)

March 9

Game 8: No. 1 North Carolina vs. Game 4 Winner (12 p.m. ET)
Game 9: No. 4 Louisville vs. Game 5 Winner (2 p.m. ET)
Game 10: No. 2 Notre Dame vs. Game 6 Winner (7 p.m. ET)
Game 11: No. 3 Florida State vs. Game 7 Winner (9 p.m. ET)

In the latest Bracketology report by ESPN, 10 schools from the Atlantic Coast Conference are now projected to make the 2017 NCAA Tournament. That includes North Carolina as a No. 1 seed in the South Region and Louisville as a No. 2 seed in the East Region. The new school that has joined the Joe Lunardi predictions is Wake Forest as a No. 11 seed in the West Region. Wake Forest is scheduled to play in one of the first-round games against California of the Pac-12 Conference.

The other ACC teams showing up on the 2017 NCAA tournament bracket are Duke as a No. 3, Florida State as a No. 4, Virgina as a No. 4, Notre Dame as a No. 5, Miami as a No. 8, Virginia Tech as a No. 8, and Syracuse as a No. 10. Games over the next week and during the 2017 ACC tournament schedule could dictate how it ends up looking in March.

The games of the 2017 ACC Tournament begin on March 7, with a lot on the line for the top 10 teams. Quite a few ACC schools need to notch at least one or two more victories in the tournament to get a stronger resume for this season. With so many competitive teams coming out of the Atlantic Coast Conference this year, it will be tough for the NCAA Selection Committee to compare them against each other. What will be freshest in their minds, though, is how the ACC tournament bracket plays out and which schools make it to the ACC Championship Game.

[Featured Image by Michael Hickey/Getty Images]