---

SEEDING FOR ACC CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT:

1. North Carolina
2. Wake Forest
3. Duke
4. Virginia Tech
5. Georgia Tech
6. Miami
7. North Carolina State
8. Maryland
9. Clemson
10. Florida State
11. Virginia

Unlike most years, the ACC tournament is not being held in North Carolina. Washington D.C.’s MCI Center will be the scene for one of the most highly anticipated conference tournaments in the country, and the fact that no Tobacco Road team has an “unofficial” home court advantage as in past years could key some surprising upsets.

The two things that jump out at you when looking at these seedings are Maryland at eight and Virginia Tech at four. Not many people thought that Maryland would be fighting for their tournament lives and would have to avoid losing to Clemson for a third time this season to keep NCAA tournament dreams alive. The consistently inconsistent Terps need to make a statement if they want to get through to the selection committee.

Virginia Tech, via their win over Maryland to close the regular season, has a realistic shot at making the NCAA tournament, something many people thought impossible at the beginning of the year. To get in, the Hokies still need at least one win in this tournament, and that is no easy task as they draw defending national finalist, and extremely hungry, Georgia Tech in the quarterfinals.

This bracket should pretty much hold to form with North Carolina, Wake Forest, Duke, and Georgia Tech making it to the semis. However, the calendar does read March, so at least one major upset is bound to take place. That being said, the four wildcards in this tournament are Maryland, North Carolina State, Chris Paul’s one-game suspension, and Rashad McCants’ health.

The Terps went 7-9 in conference last year, just like this year, and then went on that magical run to knock off the top three seeds in the tournament to win it. Even if they’ve barely played like it all year, they are the defending tournament champs, and have shown flashes of their ability to defend that crown. A factor that could greatly help the Terps is the home crowd they’ll be able to play in front of. Maryland was 2-7 on the road this year and feeds off of home fan intensity.

NCST likely needs a win or two to get in the NCAA tournament, and with Julius Hodge leading a healthy Wolfpack, they become a very dangerous seven seed. If they beat Florida State in the first round, they will be facing a Paul-less Wake Forest team, as Paul has been suspended for the—incredibly out of character—“low blow” he dealt Hodge on Sunday night (when the Wolfpack lost on a buzzer-beater by none other than Mr. Paul). Don’t be shocked if NCST makes the semis.

Finally, Carolina proved that they can win without McCants, but can they survive three days in a row without him against the ACC’s best? McCants should return from his ailment (intestinal disorder) to play in the tournament, but without him (or even with him) Wake Forest, Duke, or a surprise team could sneak up and take the ACC’s automatic tournament bid instead of the top-seeded Tar Heels.