Joe Lunardi updates the ACC's bids for March Madness

As January comes to a close, teams across the country in college basketball have just over one month left in the regular season to position themselves for their postseasons and the NCAA Tournament. That’s why, ahead of the action in the ACC on Monday and heading into the next few days, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi updated the conference’s outlook when it comes to potential seeding for March Madness.

Lunardi shared his updates, including in regards to the ACC, in a set of tweets on Monday. It included nine teams out of the league overall. He has three currently in the field while six others are still amidst consideration in his bracketology.

Lunardi’s main focus was on the one game in the conference tonight with No. 7 Duke (15-4, 6-2) traveling to play Virginia Tech (13-7, 5-4) inside Cassell Coliseum. The Blue Devils moved up to the four-seed line after their close, 72-71 win over Clemson on Saturday. However, with a quick, two-day turnaround, Lunardi says they’ll need to beat the Hokies in order to maintain that spot.

“The Blue Devils have rejoined the Top-16 but will need a win tonight in Blacksburg to hold their new position,” wrote Lunardi.

Another game in a different conference will then affect another ACC team in No. 3 North Carolina (17-3, 9-0). The Tar Heels currently own the fourth of the four No. 1 seeds for the NCAA Tournament according to Lunardi. However, they could overtake Houston at No. 3 overall in his rankings if the Cougars lose in Austin tonight.

“The Cougars would likely remain a one-seed even with a loss at Texas tonight but North Carolina would eclipse them for No. 3 overall,” Lunardi explained.

The only other team that Lunardi has in for certain at the moment is Clemson (13-6, 3-5). The Tigers sit at 13-6 after this weekend’s one-point loss inside Cameron Indoor. That’s good enough for a No. 6 seed in March Madness. Playing Louisville (6-14, 1-8) on Tuesday will be a good opportunity for them to get back in the win column.

From there, six other teams are currently up in the air when it comes to their postseason fates. That group includes Virginia (15-5, 6-3), Wake Forest (13-6, 5-3), Virginia Tech, Miami (14-6, 5-4), Florida State (12-8, 6-3), and Syracuse (14-6, 5-4). All of them sit anywhere between No. 77 and No. 88 in Lunardi’s rankings for the 68-team field.

As previously noted, the Hokies play host to Duke tonight in Blacksburg. That would be a matchup that’d be key for their resume if they were to secure it.

After that, two of those teams play tomorrow, two play on Wednesday, and one is idle until this weekend. The Orange and Hurricanes will each go on road trips on Tuesday. Syracuse will be at Boston College (12-8, 3-6) while Miami will travel to NC State (13-7, 5-4). Then, on Wednesday, the Cavaliers will host Notre Dame (7-13, 2-7) while the Demon Deacons will go to Pittsburgh (12-8, 3-6).

That leaves the Seminoles as the odd team out on the schedule. After losing to UNC this past weekend, they’re off until this upcoming weekend when they’ll go to play the Cardinals.

North Carolina has set themselves apart from the rest of the league through the first month. Duke sits in second behind them at 2.5 games back of the Tar Heels. That makes this week an important one for Jon Scheyer’s team them as they’ll play at UNC on Saturday.

Beyond that margin, there isn’t much difference atop the standings in the ACC. A game and a half separates eight of the league’s teams and three games separates the nine behind North Carolina.

The Atlantic Coast Conference stands as no more than a three-bid league as we exit January according to Lunardi. That number could change, though, depending on how some of these bubble teams fare over the next week within conference play.