ACC Men’s Tournament pairings: Duke alone at No. 1, Wake No. 4, UNC slips to No. 5
Duke left no doubt Saturday.
As dominant a season as the Blue Devils had running roughshod over most of their ACC brethren this season, a loss to UNC would have relegated Duke to the No. 3 seed in the ACC Men’s Tournament thanks to a tiebreak scenario with Clemson and Louisville.
But when the final buzzer sounded in the Blue Devils’ 82-69 win over the Tar Heels, the tournament seeds locked in.
Duke (28-3, 19-1 ACC) entered Saturday in first place with a share of the regular-season title assured. The Blue Devils, with their win over UNC, earned the tournament’s No. 1 seed. Duke could have dropped all the way to No. 3.
The Cardinals (25-6, 18-2) are the No. 2 seed after they whipped Stanford, 68-48. Louisville’s January win over Clemson (26-5, 18-2) gave it the head-to-head advantage over the Tigers.
The fight for the final spot among the top four seeds, which carries a double-bye into Thursday’s quarterfinals, was down to the Tar Heels (20-12, 13-7 ACC) and Wake Forest (21-10, 13-7 ACC). Wake is No. 4 after UNC lost. Wake had the head-to-head tiebreaker over UNC because the Deacs beat the Tar Heels, 67-66, on Jan. 21.
The first game of the final day of ACC men’s basketball regular-season play had no impact on the tournament pairings, thanks to expansion and a new tournament format.
Miami topped N.C State, 72-70, in a battle between two of the three teams who are in the bottom three spots in the league standings and therefore won’t make next week’s ACC Tournament at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center.
SMU (22-9, 13-7 ACC) started Saturday in the running for the double-bye, but Florida State beat the Mustangs, 76-69. That dropped SMU to the No. 6 seed.
Stanford (19-12, 11-9 ACC) is the No. 7 seed while Georgia Tech (16-15, 10-10 ACC) is No. 8 after they both lost on Saturday.
The biggest jumble came between Seeds 9 and 13. A Virginia loss to Syracuse created a five-way tie in the standings. Based on the tie-breaking scenarios, though, the late game did nothing to change the seeding outcome: Virginia was locked in at No. 9, the Hokies at No. 10, the Seminoles at No. 11, the Irish at No. 12 and Pitt at No. 13.
With Notre Dame (14-17, 8-12 ACC) outlasting California, 112-110 in four overtimes, Cal (13-18, 6-14) was the No. 15 seed regardless of the result of Saturday night’s Syracuse-Virginia game. The Orange (12-18, 6-13), who beat Cal in their lone meeting this season, ended up winning anyway, and are the No. 14 seed.
Saturday’s games
Miami 72, N.C. State 70
Louisville 68, Stanford 48
Wake Forest 69, Georgia Tech 43
Florida State 76, SMU 69
Notre Dame 112, California 110, 4 OT
Clemson 65, Virginia Tech 47
Pitt 93, Boston College 67
Duke 82, North Carolina 69
Syracuse 84, Virginia 70
With NC State, Boston College and Miami not qualifying, here are the official pairings:
ACC tournament schedule
At Spectrum Center, Charlotte
Tuesday’s games
Game 1: No. 12 Notre Dame vs. No. 13 Pittsburgh, 2 p.m. (ACC Network)
Game 2: No. 10 Virginia Tech vs. No. 15 California, 4:30 p.m. (ACC Network)
Game 3: No. 11 Florida State vs. No. 14 Syracuse, 7 p.m. (ACC Network)
Wednesday’s games
Game 4: No. 8 Georgia Tech vs. No. 9 Virginia, noon (ESPN)
Game 5: No. 5 UNC vs. Game 1 winner, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Game 6: No. 7 Stanford vs. Game 2 winner, 7 p.m. (ESPNU/ESPN2)
Game 7: No. 6 SMU vs. Game 3 winner, 9:30 p.m. (ESPNU/ESPN2)
Thursday’s games
Game 8: No. 1 Duke vs. Game 4 winner, noon (ESPN/ESPN2)
Game 9: No. 4 Wake vs. Game 5 winner, 2:30 p.m. (ESPN/ESPN2)
Game 10: No. 2 Louisville vs. Game 6 winner, 7 p.m. (ESPN/ESPN2)
Game 11: No. 3 Clemson vs. Game 7 winner, 9:30 p.m. (ESPN/ESPN2)
Friday’s games
Semifinals: 7 pm. and 9:30 p.m. (ESPN/ESPN2)
Saturday’s game
Championship, 8:30 p.m. (ESPN)
This story was originally published March 8, 2025 at 4:05 PM with the headline "ACC Men’s Tournament pairings: Duke alone at No. 1, Wake No. 4, UNC slips to No. 5."