How a deep ACC women’s basketball field could dominate the NCAA Tournament brackets
While ACC men’s basketball laments its diminishing reputation with the NCAA Tournament selection committee, ACC women’s basketball remains held in high regard.
That will be evident Sunday when the NCAA Tournament’s women’s bracket is complete, with the ACC expected to have as many as nine teams in the field.
ESPN bracketologist Charlie Creme called the ACC the “deepest league,” regarding its overall quality from top to bottom, and said the selection committee’s top 16 seeds and top seven or eight seed lines are likely “pretty firm.”
No. 9-ranked Notre Dame (26-6) and No. 11 N.C. State (27-6) are listed as No. 3 seeds — and set to host the first weekend — in Creme’s most recent bracketology update.
The Irish, listed in the Albany 2 regional, get the edge over the Wolfpack, Creme said, calling them the best team in the league right now. Notre Dame beat N.C. State, 55-51, in the ACC Tournament championship game last Sunday. He does not predict Notre Dame to be higher than a 3 seed due to its weaker non-conference schedule.
N.C. State should be at the No. 3 seed in the Portland 4 regional, thanks in part to its tough scheduling earlier in the season. The Wolfpack went 12-0 in the non-conference schedule, with wins over UConn, Colorado and Vanderbilt.
“I think at a certain stretch of the season, we felt like they were the best team in the conference themselves,” Creme said. “That’s kind of my thinking there. And, (Notre Dame and N.C. State) were the two teams that made it to the championship game of the conference tournament. It’s not a huge leap to say that those teams are one and two.”
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No. 13-ranked Virginia Tech came in as a No. 2 seed in the selection committee’s top 16 sneak peek on Feb. 29 but dropped in the projections after its losses to Notre Dame, Virginia and exit in the ACC Tournament.
Creme said the Hokies (24-7) were “on the doorstep of being a No. 1 seed” after winning the regular season, but ACC player of the year Elizabeth Kitley’s knee injury adds nuance to the conversation. Kitley missed the ACC Tournament and Virginia Tech has not indicated if she’ll play in the NCAA Tournament.
Creme doesn’t think she will play, but he still believes Virginia Tech should be a top 16 national seed and host early round games. But he said the Hokies, who have lost their last two games, are just not the best team in the ACC now.
North Carolina (19-12) is expected to make the field at a No. 7 seed, despite its consistency problems and losing its first game in the conference tournament.
“North Carolina, of all the tournament teams within the ACC, has had the most uneven season. They’ve been really hard to assess,” Creme said. “Just when you think that they’ve hit the bottom and you’re not really ready to regard them very highly, they pull off a win. Then, a week later, they take it another step back.
“If there was a little more consistency there, they’d be a higher seed.”
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The Tar Heels are projected to play in Columbus, hosted by Ohio State. If they advance out of the first weekend, Creme thinks Carolina would play in the Albany 1 regional.
Duke (20-11), No. 22 Syracuse (23-11), No. 24 Louisville (24-9), Florida State (23-10) and Miami (19-12) are all projected to join those top four ACC teams in the NCAA field, reflecting the national opinion that the league is talented up and down the standings.
The Selection Sunday bracket reveal is at 8 p.m. Sunday on ESPN.
