ACC Tournament Has Horrific Start for Bubble Teams Looking to Cement NCAA Status

It was not a great day for bubble teams on the opening day of the ACC Tournament

Mar 10, 2026; Charlotte, NC, USA; Stanford Cardinal head coach Kyle Smith reacts to a call during the first half against the Pittsburgh Panthers at Spectrum Center. / Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

It’s not typically a good idea for a team that wants to make the NCAA Tournament to be playing on the first day of its conference tournament and it’s even worse if that team were to lose its opening game.

Well, it happened twice in the ACC on Tuesday as Stanford was upended by Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech lost to Wake Forest in overtime.

Each loss will likely see the bubble burst on any NCAA Tournament conversations regarding the two teams.

The Cardinal, after trailing by as many as eight points against the Panthers, took a one-point lead with 26.3 seconds remaining on a 3-point opportunity by Ebuka Okorie before allowing an offensive rebound putback by Damarco Minor with 0.4 seconds left to lose 64-63.

It snapped a four-game winning streak for Stanford which included back-to-back road victories against Notre Dame and NC State. The stretch followed a period that the NCAA Tournament hopes of Stanford hurt with losses in 7-of-9 games and might be its ultimate undoing of missing March Madness.

For Virginia Tech, it was the same story of losing a close game. Like Pittsburgh, the Hokies had a chance to win its game at the buzzer with an offensive rebound putback, but the shot rimmed out and sent the game to overtime where the Wake Forest offense dominated.

Mike Young’s team had countless chances to prove it belonged in the NCAA Tournament after a road win over Clemson but came up short in games against Miam, North Carolina, and Virgina – all away from home.

Wake Forest was 5-for-7 from the field in overtime and 9-for-9 from the free throw line, scoring 20 points in the extra five minutes.

The ACC is still poised to get seven or eight teams into the field but for its two major programs on the bubble, it was a disastrous opening day of the tournament.

SMU, who is still on the bubble defeated lowly Syracuse on Tuesday and will play Louisville on Wednesday while NC State, another bubble team, will take the floor for the first time against Pittsburgh in the 12pm game.