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2020 ACC Tournament printable bracket, preview, predictions

By Mike Phillips

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - MARCH 07: Braxton Key #2, Jay Huff #30 and Kihei Clark #0 of the Virginia Cavaliers defend a shot by Lamarr Kimble #0 of the Louisville Cardinals in the second half during a game at John Paul Jones Arena on March 7, 2020 in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images)
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - MARCH 07: Braxton Key #2, Jay Huff #30 and Kihei Clark #0 of the Virginia Cavaliers defend a shot by Lamarr Kimble #0 of the Louisville Cardinals in the second half during a game at John Paul Jones Arena on March 7, 2020 in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images) /
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The 2020 ACC Tournament bracket is live so make your picks to see who wins the Atlantic Coast Conference’s crown in Greensboro.

In most years, the ACC Tournament is a marquee event just below the NCAA Tournament in terms of scale. The ACC has been a powerhouse league, usually sending at least seven or eight teams dancing, and it has produced four of the last 10 national champions, including Virginia a year ago.

This is not a normal year for the ACC, which is in a down cycle and could send as few as five teams to March Madness. The full bracket, which you can see here, is pretty top-heavy with the top four seeds all headed to the dance.

The regular season crown went to Florida State, which held off hard-charging Virginia for the top seed in Greensboro. The Cavaliers were in trouble as recently as a month ago, but an eight-game winning streak to end the season helped them snag the two seed via tiebreaker over Duke and Louisville.

Those two teams also receive byes to the quarterfinals, with Louisville getting the three seed on the strength of a head-to-head win over Duke back in January. The real intrigue in the ACC comes in the form of the five seed, NC State, which has the most realistic shot in getting an at-large outside of the top four.

The Wolfpack has a confounding resume, featuring a trio of top wins over Duke, Virginia, and Wisconsin countered by bad losses to Boston College, Georgia Tech, and North Carolina among others. As the five seed, NC State will have to avoid a bad loss to the winner of the matchup between Pittsburgh and Wake Forest before getting a third shot at Duke. Simply put, the Wolfpack has to win their second-round matchup or else they will be severely sweating on Selection Sunday.

Anyone else coming out of the ACC has to win the tournament and secure the league’s automatic bid to March Madness, which won’t be an easy task given the strength of those top four teams.

Click here for a printable version of the ACC Tournament bracket. Also note that only 14 of the league’s 15 teams are participating due to Georgia Tech, which finished fifth in the regular season, dropping its appeal of a postseason ban in response to impermissible benefit violations.

ACC Tournament Seeding

  1. Florida State
  2. Virginia
  3. Louisville
  4. Duke
  5. NC State
  6. Syracuse
  7. Notre Dame
  8. Clemson
  9. Miami
  10. Boston College
  11. Virginia Tech
  12. Wake Forest
  13. Pittsburgh
  14. North Carolina

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