NC State headlines ACC-heavy Sweet 16 in men’s NCAA Tournament

There was a lot of talk about the ACC’s lack of competitiveness heading into the NCAA Tournament this year. Bracketologists and pundits around the country did not buy into the league’s ability to play at a high level, and it ended up getting fewer bids than the Mountain West Conference. 

One of the most-outspoken people against the ACC’s bids was ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, who expanded on his thinking in a Zoom media availability the day before Selection Sunday. 

“Their problem is not perception. Their problem is they’re not as good at basketball as they think they are, and they always have been,” Lunardi said at the time. “And there are dozens of factual measurements to support that. Until they come to grips with that, we’re still going to be having these debates.”

Well, it seems like the ACC proved Lunardi and the rest of its doubters wrong in the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament. The league, which had four teams in the field of 64, went 8-0 in the first two rounds of the tournament, which tied the best record by any conference in the history of the event (2003 Big East), according to ESPN’s Bryan Ives. 

NC State in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2015, and it will play 2-seed Marquette in Dallas during the South Regional. NC State will be accompanied by 4-seed Duke, which will play 1-seed Houston on Friday night. The ACC also has a pair of teams in the West Regional: 1-seed North Carolina and 6-seed Clemson. 

Wolfpack coach Kevin Keatts thought the ACC squads’ ability to get teams to the second weekend of the tournament proves the historical landmark of doing well in the event.

“I think it’s been a common theme for three years, and it’s crazy because when we do, meaning we as the ACC, we get teams in the tournament, the few that we’re getting in pretty much play pretty well,” Keatts said. “And so we try to send that message early on before we get to Selection Sunday, that we play well once we get in the tournament.”

When looking at it through Keatts’ lens, it is easy to see how the ACC teams have outperformed expectations. There are only two teams seeded sixth or lower remaining, Clemson and NC State, and the league has double the number of Big 12 teams in the Sweet 16, even though it had eight teams get into the tournament (same with the SEC). 

Keatts is not the only ACC coach that has talked about the league needing more teams in the field, either. He spoke about it nearly all regular season, and so did Clemson’s Brad Brownell. 

Brownell, whose squad beat 3-seed Baylor to advance to the West Regional in Los Angeles this week, has been public about his disagreement with the NCAA’s evaluation metrics when looking at the NET rankings this season. But he was pleased to see the ACC’s success in the first weekend of the tournament. 

“I’m not surprised. I think we have a terrific league,” Brownell said after his team advanced to the Sweet 16. “I know the quality of play. I’ve been doing this for a long time. I’ve been a head coach for 22 years. I know when I’m playing against good teams, well-coached teams. And so I’m not surprised in the least that our teams are doing so well.”

But how did the ACC’s teams get to this point? The squads have played high-level games during the regular season and conference tournament before getting on college basketball’s biggest stage. 

“One of the reasons why we’re playing good basketball is because we’re battle-tested,” Keatts said. “A lot of times a lot is put on the non-conference. You play 11 games. So let’s say we play five or six Power 5 games and then we have five or six buy games. They’re good. They’ll challenge you. But you can’t tell me that that’s more challenging than playing 20 ACC games and playing at great venues.”

The results have shown in the postseason. NC State upset its way to the ACC Tournament title to even punch its ticket to the NCAA Tournament. And once it arrived in the Big Dance, the Wolfpack continued to play at a high level. NC State upset 6-seed Texas Tech before outlasting 14-seed Oakland, which beat 3-seed Kentucky, to move into the second weekend. 

That is just a glimpse of what the ACC has done in March. Clemson ran past a red-hot 11-seed New Mexico before it upset Baylor in the second round. North Carolina, the top seed in the West, coasted by 16-seed Wagner and 9-seed Michigan State this weekend. Duke, the 4-seed in the South, also had no issues in its wins over 13-seed Vermont and 12-seed James Madison. 

While Brownell and Keatts thought the league’s schedule helped prepare the ACC’s teams for March, they were not alone in that thinking. Clemson guard Joe Girard thought the same thing. 

“It might seem like we’re beating up on each other throughout the year, and that’s why we did have some bumps in the road because the teams are so good,” Girard said. “But it prepares us for March. I think just the way that the league is set up, the way the league has so much talent, so many great coaches, it’s going to prepare you for moments like these. That’s why I think we’re so successful year in and year out in this tournament.”