ACC NCAA Tournament Projections: UNC, SMU, Wake Forest on the Bubble

With one week left in the regular season, the men’s NCAA tournament field is pretty well set, but three ACC schools have critical games this week that may determine whether they get into the 68-team field.

Cal’s situation is simple. Only a championship in the ACC tournament next week will get the Bears into March Madness.

It’s much different for North Carolina, SMU and Wake Forest, each of whom needs to win games this week to improve its chances of getting an at-large berth in the NCAA tournament, assuming it does not win the conference tournament.

Five of the seven reputable projection sites we cite have only three ACC teams in the field, with North Carolina, SMU and Wake Forest just barely missing inclusion in the field of 68. Duke is still a No. 1 seed in all experts’ minds, and Clemson and Louisville are both comfortably in.

Does North Carolina need to beat Duke on Saturday to get in? Perhaps.

There are a ton of NCAA tournament projections out there, and if you want to see 87 different predictions for the NCAA tournament field, click on Bracket Matrix.

Here is how seven reputable sites project ACC teams in the NCAA tournament:

ESPN (Joe Lunardi, posted March 4)

ACC teams in – 3

Duke – No. 1 seed

Clemson – No. 5 seed

Louisville – No. 6 seed

North Carolina – First four out

SMU – Next four out

Wake Forest – Next four out.

CBS Sports (Jerry Palm, posted March 4)

ACC teams in -- 3

Duke – No. 1 seed

Clemson – No. 5 seed

Louisville – No. 7 seed

North Carolina – First four out

SMU – Not included

Wake Forest – Not included

NCAA.com (Andy Katz, posted March 4)

ACC teams in -- 4

Duke – No. 1 seed

Clemson – No. 5 seed

Louisville – No. 5 seed

North Carolina – No. 11 seed, play-in game

SMU – First four out

Wake Forest – Next four out

USA Today (Eddie Timanus, Erick Smith, Paul Myerberg, posted March 4)

ACC teams in -- 3

Duke – No. 1 seed

Clemson – No. 5 seed

Louisville – No. 6 seed

North Carolina – First four out

SMU – Not included

Wake Forest – Not included

Fox Sports (Mike DeCoursy, posted March 3)

ACC teams in – 3

Duke – No. 1 seed

Clemson – No. 5 seed

Louisville – No. 6 seed

Wake Forest – First Four out

North Carolina – First four out

SMU – Next four out

The Sporting News (Bill Bender, posted March 4)

ACC teams in – 4

Duke – No. 1 seed

Clemson – No. 3 seed

Louisville – No. 6 seed

North Carolina – No. 11 seed, play-in game

SMU – First four out

Wake Forest – Not included

T-Ranketology (Posted March 4)

ACC teams in – 3

Duke – No. 1 seed

Clemson – No. 6 seed

Louisville – No. 7 seed

North Carolina – No. 3 team out

SMU – No. 4 team out

Wake Forest – No. 7 team out