Syracuse men’s basketball: Orange an eight seed in updated ACC Tournament bracket

The Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team went 1-1 at home last week, splitting games with a win over N.C. State and a loss to Duke. With that, we’ve taken an updated look at the ACC Tournament picture based on conference standings.

The bracket looks slightly different than last week’s, but the essence of the top, middle and bottom remains mostly the same. Here’s how the bracket would look if the season ended today:

We’ve had a shakeup at the top as Virginia now claims the top spot and Miami has slid into the No. 2 seed. Miami beat North Carolina and Wake Forest last week, while Pittsburgh falls to the No. 3 seed after losing at Virginia Tech. Clemson remains as the No. 4 seed after somehow losing to Louisville and N.C. State maintains position as the No. 5 seed. Duke moves into the No. 6 seed after beating Notre Dame and Syracuse while Wake falls to No. 7.

Syracuse moves up one seed after beating N.C. State but still would be in the 12 p.m. second round game. Wake Forest and Syracuse are tied for seventh, but because the they haven’t faced each other yet, the higher seed goes to the better regular season record holder. Wake is one game up on Syracuse at 17-10 overall while the Orange sit at 16-11. A late season meeting at the JMA could decide the seeding outcome.

Meanwhile, N.C. State evened the series with a win at North Carolina on Sunday, moving the Heels to the nine seed. The potential second round matchup between Carolina and Syracuse remains, however.

Further down the seeding list, Notre Dame takes the No. 14 spot because it beat Louisville head-to-head despite both teams having a 2-14 conference record. Shoutout to the Cardinals for knocking off Clemson over the weekend. And who could forget Georgia Tech’s massive win over Florida Tech? The Yellow Jackets sit at the No. 13 seed.

All in all, a rather unfavorable draw for a team in Syracuse that will need to win the ACC Tournament to get into the field of 68. The Orange has had trouble with North Carolina and even if it pulls off a performance against the Heels like it did in 2020, Virginia sits in the second round. Fortunately for the Orange the season doesn’t end today.

The ideal path probably exists in the No. 6 or No. 7 seed while avoiding a second round matchup with Virginia Tech. What do you think? Weigh in below in the comment section.