Jim Phillips makes case for ACC to have six NCAA Tournament bids, expresses concern about NET

At one point this season, there was talk that North Carolina and Duke would be the only two ACC teams in the NCAA Tournament. The conference has since gotten a little more respect, and the latest Bracketology has the ACC getting four teams in.

With that said, ACC commissioner Jim Phillips still feels like the league is better than it gets credit for.

Phillips spoke with Rece Davis on Thursday at the ACC Tournament about the strength of the confernece.

“Rece, we’ve had a good year, we really have,” Jim Phillips said. “I really feel like we have six teams that should be in the NCAA Tournament… Our top four seeds that you’ll see throughout the day today, as well as Clemson and Wake Forest.”

The top four seeds in the ACC Tournament are North Carolina, Duke, Virginia and Pitt. Duke was upset by NC State on Thursday, but the others advanced to the ACC semis.

Wake Forest and Clemson earned the No. 5 and No. 6 seeds in the ACC Tournament, but both of those teams have already been eliminated.

ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi currently has North Carolina, Duke, Clemson and Virginia in the Big Dance, with Pitt in the first four out and Wake Forest in the next four out. However, Phillips believes all four should be in.

“Listen Rece, the non-conference, there’s been a lot of debate about that. We scheduled well, we really did. We performed well against good conferences but I’m concerned a little bit about the NET and what that’s going to mean on Selection Sunday,” Phillips said. “And we’ve talked to the committee about that, but listen, our basketball stands for itself. Over the course of the history of college basketball, no conference has been better than the ACC.”

The NET rankings have not been kind to the ACC, and coaches in the conference have voiced their displeasure about the metric, including Clemson coach Brad Brownell. Phillips is also not a fan.

“I think that the NET has been well intended, but it’s been well documented about scheduling in the non-conference, about gaming the NET, so to speak. About maybe playing in that bottom quartile, that bottom four, and having huge margins of victory,” Phillips said.

“So, listen, I believe in the selection committee, I’ve served on that selection committee. So I’m not saying anything about that group in particular, that group will get it right and wherever the ACC ends up is where the committee, [that] has worked hard all year, has put us to be but I really am bullish about our conference.”

Phillips also pointed out that the ACC has had success in the NCAA Tournament in recent years.

“The last two years, we’ve had five teams in. Each of those two years we’re 21-10,” Phillips said. “Those teams have performed Rece, and so I hope that we get the benefit of the doubt of some of the previous selections have not granted the ACC as much access as I believe we deserve.”

It will be interesting to see which way the selection committee goes and how many teams the ACC ultimately gets in.

On3’s Kaiden Smith contributed to this report