ACC tournament bracket released: Notre Dame earns No. 2 seed, plays first game Thursday night
The postseason is here.
The 2022 ACC tournament bracket has been set, and Notre Dame knows its path to leaving Brooklyn with a trophy.
The No. 2 seed Irish (22-9, 15-5 ACC) will play their first game of the tournament Thursday at Barclays Center, with tipoff at 7 p.m. on ESPN or ESPN2. Their opponent will either be No. 7 Virginia Tech, No. 10 Clemson or No. 15 North Carolina State. The Tigers and Wolfpack play Tuesday night, and the winner advances to a Wednesday game with the Hokies. That winner will see Notre Dame in the quarterfinals.
Notre Dame would move on to a Friday night semifinal game if it wins. A meeting with No. 3 seed North Carolina (23-8, 15-5) could await. The Irish held the tiebreaker over the Tar Heels because of their head-to-head victory Jan. 5. The ACC championship game is Saturday at 8:30 p.m. ET.
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Notre Dame beat Clemson and North Carolina State twice apiece this season, once at home and once on the road. Three of those victories were double-digit final scores. The Tigers (16-15, 8-12) beat Virginia Tech Saturday to earn the No. 10 seed. The Wolfpack (11-20, 4-16) finished alone in last place.
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Virginia Tech (19-12, 11-9) and Notre Dame played once this season, a 79-73 Hokies win in Blacksburg, Va. on Jan. 15. The Irish led that game by as many as 10 points in the second half. Virginia Tech went 9-2 to end the regular season following a 2-7 start to ACC play and put itself on the periphery of NCAA tournament at-large bid conversation before losing to Clemson.
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It turns out, Notre Dame needed to beat Pittsburgh Saturday to clinch the No. 2 seed. North Carolina upset No. 1 seed Duke Saturday night to pull into a tie for second place in the standings. The Irish swiftly handled business earlier in the day, dusting the Panthers 78-54 in a game they led for all but 33 seconds. The victory gave them their most conference wins in program history and all but locked in an NCAA tournament bid.
Notre Dame is 11-6 in the ACC tournament since joining the league in 2013-14 and has won at least one game every season since 2015. The Irish last earned a double bye in 2017. They have not advanced to the semifinals or championship game since that season. Their lone ACC tournament title came in 2015.
