How many ACC teams made the NCAA Tournament?

In what was considered a down year for the ACC, there were still some conference representatives in the 2023 NCAA Tournament.

The Duke Blue Devils won the ACC Championship on Saturday night, knocking off the Virginia Cavaliers. Both of those teams are obviously in the tournament, but some aren’t as lucky.

A so-called down year from the conference’s perspective, the ACC may only get as many as five teams into the big dance, which is a surprising low for them given the expectations entering the season.

A team like North Carolina, for example, was the No. 1 team in the country at the start of the regular season. Barring the unforeseen, UNC will not be joining its arch rival Duke in the field.

How many ACC teams made the NCAA Tournament?

• Duke (5-East)
• Virginia (4-South)
• NC State (11-South)
• Miami (5-Midwest)
• Pittsburgh (11-Midwest)

North Carolina was projected to win the conference prior to the season. Instead, that honor went to the Duke Blue Devils, which are projected to be near a No. 5 seed, but enter the tournament red-hot.

Beyond Duke, Miami, Virginia, NC State and Pittsburgh are projected to be in the field, with the Wolfpack and Panthers among the Last 4 in, per Joe Lunardi.

It’s been a challenging week for both NC State and Pittsburgh, with the latter losing three out of their last four games and finding themselves squarely on the bubble. Given the Panthers were projected to finish outside the top-10 of the conference standings, they’ll take it, but that doesn’t mean its without drama.

Projected ‘down years’ for a conference often cannot be confirmed until March, when said teams are forced to play out-of-conference, meaningful NCAA Tournament games. Surprisingly enough, a blue blood which didn’t make the tourney may be the story of the season in the ACC.

Perhaps Duke, or another top-tier 2023 finisher, can change that.