Why the ACC Will Have 3 #1 Seeds in NCAA Tournament

Selection Sunday is finally here and as the last few conference tournaments are wrapping up, everyone is predicting where their favorite teams may end up tonight in the NCAA Tournament brackets. Ten years ago, we seen something we’ve never seen before: three teams from the same conference were selected as #1 seeds. The Big East’s Louisville, Connecticut, and Pittsburgh were all selected to represent the tournament’s top line, along with the ACC’s North Carolina. This year, you can expect to see three teams from the ACC get selected as #1 seeds.

Photo: Andrew Shurtleff/The Daily Progress

North Carolina, Duke, and Virginia are all expected to receive #1 seeds tonight, according to many basketball analysts, including bracketology expert Joe Lunardi. It will probably upset a lot of fans of different conferences who will argue the NCAA has an ACC bias, but when you look at the numbers, you really can’t argue with it. So let’s do just that.

First let’s look at the Strength of Schedule (SOS) rankings. North Carolina comes in at #1, with the toughest schedule of any Division 1 basketball team. Duke is 5th, while Virginia is 17th. Other teams vying for a #1 one seed come in as follows: Gonzaga (81st), Tennessee (44th), Kentucky (24th), Michigan (22nd), and Michigan State (8th).

Next, let’s look at the Strength of Record (SOR) rankings. According to ESPN.com, SOR is “a measure of team accomplishment based on how difficult a team’s W-L record is to achieve.” In other words, it’s how well a team did with their SOS. In this category, Virginia, Duke, and Carolina are 1-2-3 (in that order) out of all the Division 1 basketball teams in the country. Here’s how the other teams fared: Gonzaga (9th), Tennessee (4th), Kentucky (7th), Michigan (6th), and Michigan State (5th).

Now let’s take a look at how these teams fared against quadrant one and quadrant two opponents.

Virginia:

Q1 Record: 12-3

Q2 Record: 4-0

Duke:

Q1 Record: 11-4

Q2 Record: 6-1

North Carolina:

Q1 Record: 10-6

Q2 Record: 6-0

Gonzaga:

Q1 Record: 4-3

Q2 Record: 6-0

Tennessee:

Q1 Record: 9-4

Q2 Record: 6-0

Kentucky:

Q1 Record: 10-5

Q2 Record: 6-1

Michigan:

Q1 Record: 9-5

Q2 Record: 10-0

Michigan St.

Q1 Record: 12-4

Q2 Record: 6-2

Right now, it looks as if Gonzaga will be the other #1 seed in this year’s NCAA basketball tournament, but some speculate that could change if Tennessee wins the SEC Tournament today. The Vols could potentially replace the Bulldogs. There could also be a serious discussion to put Michigan State in over Gonzaga if the Spartans were to win the Big Ten tournament today over Michigan, which would give them a 3-0 record against the Wolverines this season. Kentucky lost its chance to get in the conversation last night, by falling to Tennessee.

Whoever the fourth #1 seed may be, it seems fairly certain right now that those three teams from the ACC will be one seeds. The ACC is the strongest conference in basketball, and teams in it should benefit from that. On top of the grueling conference schedule, North Carolina and Duke have the 2nd and 3rd, respectfully, toughest non-conference schedules in the country. That goes a long way with the voters, especially succeeding with those schedules.

It will certainly be interesting when the brackets are revealed tonight, as it always is. There will be many fans upset at seedings and bracket selections, which is part of what makes this time of year great. Whether your team gets a #1 seed or a #16 seed though, their goal will be the same as the other 67 teams: win. So let’s all buckle in and enjoy the wild ride that is March Madness.

Garett

Garett, College Basketball, SportsGarettMarch 17, 2019basketball, college, college basketball, ncaa, ncaam, ncaa basketball, acc, north carolina, duke, virginia, march madness, sports, uncComment