ACC Teams Mostly Short On High-Profile Wins
By David Glenn
North Carolina Sports Network
Last season, when only five of the Atlantic Coast Conference’s then-15 teams played in the NCAA Tournament, there shouldn’t have been much mystery about who got into the Big Dance and why.
North Carolina, Duke and Virginia were the top three teams in the ACC standings, and they all made the NCAA Tournament field. NC State wasn’t even close to the March Madness bubble conversation heading into the 2024 ACC Tournament, but the 10th-place Wolfpack claimed the league’s automatic bid with its unforgettable five-wins-in-five-days run to the conference championship.
In between those extremes, four additional ACC squads finished with winning records in league play — fourth-place Pittsburgh (12-8), followed by Clemson (11-9), Syracuse (11-9) and Wake Forest (11-9) in a tie for fifth place — but only the Tigers received an at-large invitation from the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee.
Why? Because only the Tigers of coach Brad Brownell had supplemented their solid but unspectacular ACC résumé with multiple non-conference victories over quality opponents.
That 2023-24 Clemson team, which received a strong #6 seed in the NCAA Tournament, had defeated Alabama, TCU, Boise State and South Carolina in non-league competition back in November and early December. All four of those early victims went on to make the Big Dance themselves.
Meanwhile, Pitt (22-11), Syracuse (20-12) and Wake Forest (20-13 on Selection Sunday) simply didn’t have enough victories on their non-conference slates to earn the benefit of the doubt on Selection Sunday after their middling ACC finishes.
The Orange (#55 Oregon) and Demon Deacons (#26 Florida) had only one non-conference victory each over a team that went on to finish in the KenPom top 75. The Panthers had no such non-conference wins a year ago.
So far this season (please see below), with only a handful of prominent non-conference opportunities remaining on ACC teams’ regular-season schedules, only Duke (#5 in this week’s Associated Press poll), Clemson (#25) and Pittsburgh (unranked) have performed particularly well against their top non-ACC opponents.
Louisville (#48 West Virginia), North Carolina (#26 Dayton) and Wake Forest (#22 Michigan) also have one victory each over opponents that are currently ranked among the top 50 teams in KenPom’s efficiency rankings.
This week, as non-conference play winds down, UNC (#7 Florida and #13 UCLA), Stanford (#19 Oregon), Syracuse (#20 Maryland) and Virginia (#34 Memphis) have additional opportunities for non-conference résumé-builders.
One path to the NCAA Tournament for ACC teams is to dominate in conference play, especially if a squad can include wins over the league’s top teams. Another road to the Big Dance, as always, is to win the ACC Tournament.
If you finish in the upper-middle of the new 18-team ACC standings and need the benefit of the doubt on Selection Sunday, though, you’d better have some quality non-conference wins on your résumé.
In that often-important category, only three ACC teams look to be in good shape right now. Everyone else is very close to running out of time.
2024-25 ACC Non-Conference Records Vs. KenPom 100
(Through Monday, Dec. 16)
Clemson (3-2)
Clemson 70, #11 Kentucky 66 (home)
Clemson 75, #32 Penn State 67 (neutral)
#34 Memphis 87, Clemson 82-OT (home)
Clemson 70, #53 San Francisco 55 (neutral)
#55 Boise State 84, Clemson 71 (away)
Tuesday: at #68 South Carolina, 7 pm, SECN
Pittsburgh (3-2)
#30 Mississippi State 90, Pitt 57 (away)
#35 Wisconsin 81, Pitt 75 (neutral)
Pitt 91, #36 Ohio State 90-OT (away)
Pitt 86, #48 West Virginia 62 (home)
Pitt 74, #59 LSU 63 (neutral)
Duke (2-2)
Duke 84, #1 Auburn 78 (home)
#10 Kansas 75, Duke 72 (neutral)
#11 Kentucky 77, Duke 72 (neutral)
Duke 69, #31 Arizona 55 (away)
Tuesday: #81 George Mason, 7 pm, ACCN
Louisville (2-4)
#2 Tennessee 77, Louisville 55 (home)
#11 Kentucky 93, Louisville 85 (away)
#24 Mississippi 86, Louisville 63 (home)
#37 Oklahoma 69, Louisville 64 (neutral)
Louisville 79, #48 West Virginia 70-OT (neutral)
Louisville 89, #52 Indiana 61 (neutral)
Southern Methodist (2-2)
#30 Mississippi State 84, SMU 79 (home)
SMU 74, #59 LSU 64 (neutral)
SMU 77, #71 Washington State 60 (neutral)
#74 Butler 81, SMU 70 (away)
Wake Forest (1-3)
#7 Florida 75, Wake Forest 58 (neutral)
#18 Texas A&M 57, Wake Forest 44 (away)
Wake Forest 72, #22 Michigan 70 (neutral)
#60 Xavier 75, Wake Forest 60 (away)
North Carolina (1-4)
#1 Auburn 85, UNC 72 (neutral)
#8 Alabama 94, UNC 79 (home)
#10 Kansas 92, UNC 89 (away)
#17 Michigan State 94, UNC 91-OT (neutral)
UNC 85, #26 Dayton 75 (neutral)
Tuesday: #7 Florida in Charlotte, 7 pm, ESPN
Saturday: #13 UCLA in New York, 3 pm, CBS
Virginia (1-3)
#2 Tennessee 64, Virginia 42 (neutral)
#7 Florida 87, Virginia 69 (away)
#14 St. John’s 80, Virginia 55 (neutral)
Virginia 70, #51 Villanova 60 (neutral)
Wednesday: #34 Memphis, 7 pm, ESPN2
Boston College (1-2)
#42 VCU 80, Boston College 55 (neutral)
Boston College 63, #55 Boise State 61 (neutral)
#68 South Carolina 73, Boston College 51 (home)
Stanford (1-1)
Stanford 71, #77 Santa Clara 69 (away)
#91 Grand Canyon 78, Stanford 71 (neutral)
Saturday: #19 Oregon in San Jose, 8 pm, BTN
California (1-2)
#49 Missouri 98, Cal 93 (away)
#62 Vanderbilt 85, Cal 69 (away)
Cal 71, #85 Southern Cal (away)
Saturday: #43 San Diego State in San Jose, 10:30 pm, ACCN
Notre Dame (1-4)
#4 Houston 65, Notre Dame 54 (neutral)
#39 Georgia 69, Notre Dame 48 (away)
#41 Creighton 80, Notre Dame 76 (neutral)
#76 Rutgers 85, Notre Dame 84-OT (neutral)
Notre Dame 84, #86 Georgetown 63 (away)
Florida State (0-2)
#7 Florida 87, Florida State 74 (home)
#59 LSU 85, Florida State 75 (away)
Georgia Tech (0-4)
#23 Cincinnati 81, Georgia Tech 58 (home)
#37 Oklahoma 76, Georgia Tech 61 (away)
#39 Georgia 77, Georgia Tech 69 (home)
#56 Northwestern 71, Georgia Tech 60 (neutral)
Miami (0-5)
#2 Tennessee 75, Miami 62 (neutral)
#40 Arkansas 76, Miami 73 (home)
#42 VCU 77, Miami 70 (neutral)
#73 Drake 80, Miami 69 (neutral)
#92 Oklahoma State 80, Miami 74 (neutral)
NC State (0-4)
#10 Kansas 75, NC State 60 (away)
#21 Purdue 71, NC State 61 (neutral)
#38 Texas 63, NC State 59 (home)
#44 BYU 72, NC State 61 (neutral)
Syracuse (0-4)
#2 Tennessee 96, Syracuse 70 (away)
#25 Texas Tech 79, Syracuse 74 (neutral)
#38 Texas 70, Syracuse 66 (neutral)
#86 Georgetown 75, Syracuse 71 (home)
Saturday: #20 Maryland in Brooklyn, noon, ESPN2
Virginia Tech (0-4)
#22 Michigan 75, Virginia Tech 63 (neutral)
#32 Penn State 86, Virginia Tech 64 (neutral)
#62 Vanderbilt 80, Virginia Tech 64 (home)
#68 South Carolina 70, Virginia Tech 60 (neutral)
