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Notre Dame Hoops: ACC Tournament Preview

Taking a look at Notre Dame's bracket in the upcoming ACC hoops tournament.

Dropping two of the final three games of the 2019-20 season puts Notre Dame in position where only winning the ACC tournament will get it into the NCAA tournament.

The tournament starts this afternoon, and Notre Dame takes on Boston College tomorrow night.

Notre Dame’s bracket is challenging, but if there’s a path for the Irish to make a run the bracket they are in is the bracket I would have picked for them. (You can see the entire bracket below.

Let’s take a look at teams in Notre Dame’s half of the bracket.

#2 Seed - Virginia Cavaliers — Tony Bennett’s squad is arguably the hottest in the ACC, having won eight straight and 10 of their last 11 heading into the tournament. The victory that got its current eight-game streak going was a 50-49 overtime win over Notre Dame. That might have been the most crushing defeat of the season for Notre Dame, and simply put it was a game the Irish should have won.

Notre Dame is just 2-14 all-time against Virginia. The good news is the last time Notre Dame beat Virginia was during the ACC tournament back in 2017. The Irish earned a 71-58 victory thanks to 21 points and 10 rebounds from Bonzie Colson.

If Notre Dame beats Boston College it will get the Cavaliers, and while this will be a tough matchup it’s one the Irish can win. Notre Dame matches up better against this Virginia team than it has the last two seasons.

#3 Seed - Louisville Cardinals — Notre Dame had its chance to beat Louisville as well. After trailing by 12 at the half, Notre Dame rallied in the second half and took a 62-60 lead with 3:03 left in the game before falling after scoring just two points in the final three minutes. Louisville isn’t playing its best basketball heading into the tournament either, having lost four of its last seven games. That includes a pair of 15-points losses, one to Florida State (82-67) and one to Clemson (77-62).

Had Notre Dame earned the 5-seed it would have faced Duke in its second game, and the Blue Devils are the toughest matchup for Notre Dame, which adds to the belief this was the ideal draw for the Irish.

#6 Seed - Syracuse Orange — Notre Dame and Syracuse played two highly contested games this season, with the Irish winning 88-87 in the Carrier Dome and the Orange repaying the favor with an 84-82 victory in South Bend.

Notre Dame would need to beat Boston College and Virginia to get a shot at Syracuse, and that would only come if the Orange beat the winner of the North Carolina/Virginia Tech game and then defeat Louisville.

The Irish can beat both teams if they are on their game, but if I had to pick a more favorable matchup I’d go with Syracuse. Neither Louisville nor Syracuse are playing great basketball, and Syracuse has lost five of its last eight. Beyond that it’s a matchup that is more favorable and Notre Dame would likely have fewer answers for Jordan Nwora (Louisville) than Syracuse's talented guards.

#10 Seed - Boston College Eagles — I’ll have more on this matchup tomorrow, but Boston College has been a surprisingly difficult matchup for Notre Dame this season. The Eagles beat Notre Dame in South Bend and it took TJ Gibbs hitting a shot with less than a second remaining to pull out a victory in Chestnut Hill.

#11 Seed - Virginia Tech Hokies — Notre Dame ended the regular season with a 64-56 over the Hokies. The Irish didn’t play well and still controlled the game against a Virginia Tech squad that was too young and too small to handle the Irish.

#14 Seed - North Carolina Tar Heels — With Cole Anthony healthy I would argue that North Carolina is one of the toughest matchups for Notre Dame. The Tar Heels have the length and guard play to give Notre Dame problems. The good news is the Tar Heels would need to win three games before they would face Notre Dame.

According to TeamRankings.com, despite being the No. 7 seed the Irish have the fifth best odds to win the ACC tournament, although those odds are quite slim at 2.62%.

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