ACC Tournament quarterfinals have Notre Dame basketball’s attention first, even as they set lofty postseason goals

Notre Dame already has Selection Sunday plans.

The Irish will gather at head coach Mike Brey’s house to watch the NCAA Tournament bracket reveal, just like a year ago. Last March, Brey invited them over as a motivational tactic. The Irish knew their name and logo wouldn’t flash on the screen. They wanted the frustration from an 11-15 season to further imbue itself and fuel them during the offseason.

Sunday evening’s mood should be decidedly more upbeat. The Irish will listen to Greg Gumbel announce teams hoping — expecting, really — to be one of them. Four days out, they’re in the nearly all tournament projections.

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“To be able to close that loop, I’ve been thinking about that for a couple weeks as we’ve been trending into this thing,” Brey said after Notre Dame beat Pittsburgh to close the regular season. “This is really going to be neat for them. It’s chasing it down as a group over one year.”

Skim most bracketologists’ latest mock fields of 68, and Notre Dame appears — making Brey comfortable to speak in such a confident manner. Still, there’s a more pressing matter at hand before everyone convenes in Brey’s living room.

Notre Dame (22-9, 15-5 ACC) is the No. 2 seed in the ACC Tournament and wants to watch the selection show with a trophy in hand. The Irish play their first game in the quarterfinals Thursday against No. 7 seed Virginia Tech (7 p.m. ET, ESPN2).

A loss wouldn’t jettison Notre Dame from the tournament picture. Knocking the Irish all the way out would take a defeat, multiple bid stealers popping up in other conferences (the Atlantic 10 feels ripe for thievery) and several bubble teams boosting their profiles with deep conference tournament runs. That still might not be enough. But the right mix — or wrong, for Notre Dame — of a quarterfinal loss and chaos elsewhere could send the Irish to the First Four in Dayton.

For a team that has willingly discussed its big dreams this postseason, that’d be a sour outcome. Want to avoid it and write your name on a bracket in Sharpie? Win Thursday night. And Friday, for good measure.

There’s reason for optimism the Irish will stick around New York for a minute.

Notre Dame has not gone one-and-done in the ACC Tournament since 2014, its first season in the league. The Irish are 11-6 in the tournament all time. They have not earned a double-bye, though, since 2017. That year — when the tournament was also played in Brooklyn — they might have won it if not for a Bonzie Colson ankle injury in the title game vs. Duke.

“Last time we were in Brooklyn, we left some money on the table,” Brey said. “We were bearing down on a second ACC championship, Bonzie twists that ankle, and we couldn’t get out of there.”

With a free pass to the quarterfinals comes a tougher opponent than they’ve usually faced on Tuesday or Wednesday of the ACC Tournament, even in this year’s weakened ACC. Virginia Tech (20-12, 11-9) has momentum at its back and the urgency of a team trying to reach the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble. The Hokies are 10-2 since starting 2-7 in ACC play and advanced to the quarterfinals when guard Darius Maddox sank a buzzer-beating three-pointer in overtime to beat Clemson Wednesday night.

Virginia Tech toppled Notre Dame in their only meeting of the season, a 79-73 decision Jan. 15 in Blacksburg, Va.

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Notre Dame understands the stakes of this first game and every individual one that could follow it in Brooklyn. It’s also dreaming of going far beyond Thursday night in a lengthy postseason stay.

How long?

Brey’s pregame talk before the Pittsburgh game has the answer. He addressed the 74-70 loss at Florida State on March 2 and pointed out the Irish’s responses to prior defeats. He challenged them to author their best one yet.

“I said, ‘When we’ve had a loss, we’ve gone on a four-game win streak, a five-game win streak and a six-game win streak. How about we do a 10?’” Brey said, recalling his message. “We have one checked off. They’re very focused.”

Yes, he said it. He went there.

Ten in a row starting with that regular-season finale would take the Irish all the way to a Monday night in April in New Orleans. Four would net them an ACC Tournament title, an automatic bid and a single-digit seed. Can they really pull all that off? It sure sounds unlikely, but good luck telling Notre Dame it won’t.

No. 2 Notre Dame (22-9, 15-5 ACC) vs. No. 7 Virginia Tech (20-12, 11-9)

When: Thursday, March 10 at 7 p.m. ET

Where: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, N.Y.

TV: ESPN2

Radio: Notre Dame basketball radio network

Line: Pick ’em

KenPom prediction: Virginia Tech 67, Notre Dame 66

Last meeting: Virginia Tech won 79-73 on Jan. 15 in Blacksburg, Va.

Series history: Notre Dame leads 9-7

Leading scorers:

• Notre Dame: Guard Blake Wesley (14.8 ppg), guard Dane Goodwin (14.0 ppg)

• Virginia Tech: Forward Keve Aluma (15.4 ppg), forward Justyn Mutts (10.3 ppg)

Other notes:

• Virginia Tech is fourth nationally in three-point accuracy, at 39.0 percent. The Hokies led the ACC in three-point volume in conference play, taking 43.1 percent of their shots from behind the arc.

• The Hokies went 10 of 20 on three-pointers in the win over Notre Dame earlier this year with guards Storm Murphy and Nahiem Alleyne shooting a combined 8 of 12. Per KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency metric, it was the best overall performance against Notre Dame’s defense this year.

• Notre Dame committed a season-low three turnovers in the first meeting with Virginia Tech and averaged 1.2 points per possession.