Is Syracuse destined for the dreaded 8/9 game for the fourth straight year?
With the ACC Tournament now just two weeks away, we take an early look at where the Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team would sit in the bracket if the season ended today. The ACC Tournament officially tips off on Tuesday, March 12 and wraps up on Saturday, March 16 from Washington, D.C. The league tournament will head back to the state of North Carolina for 2025 through 2029.
Given the current conference standings Syracuse (18-10, 9-8) would play in the second round as the eight seed. Syracuse has played as the eight seed three times in the ACC Tournament since joining the league and has played in the eight/nine seed game for three straight years. Here’s how the tournament would look in bracket form if the season ended today:
There’s still two weeks left of conference play and Syracuse — with three games left — could finish as high as fourth in the league if it wins out and if Wake Forest, Clemson, NC State and Pittsburgh stumble. The Orange could fall to as low as eleventh by losing out and if Boston College wins out.
Syracuse would own the tiebreaker in a head-to-head between Boston College. Both teams split the head-to-head series this year, so the tiebreaker goes to the record against the top team in the standings. That’s North Carolina. Syracuse was 1-1 against the top placed team while the Eagles were 0-1. If Duke wins the league, Syracuse and Boston College were both 0-1 against the Blue Devils. The tiebreaker then goes to the record vs. the second placed team, which could only be North Carolina, meaning Syracuse would still have the head-to-head advantage over Boston College in that scenario.
In other tiebreaker scenarios, Clemson, Pittsburgh and NC State are all currently tied for fifth place in the league at 9-7. But because those three teams are all 1-1 against each other, the ACC uses the following tiebreaker procedure for seeding purposes.
Via the ACC:
c. If three or more teams are tied in the standings, the following procedure will be used:
1) The combined record in conference games between the tied teams involved will be compiled. Ties will be broken and seeds assigned based on the winning percentage of the combined conference records. The higher winning percentage shall prevail, even if the number of games played against the team or group is unequal (e.g., 2-0 is better than 3-1; 1-0 is the same as 2-0; 2-0 is the same as 4-0; 2-1 is the same as 4-2; 1-0 is better than 1-1; 0-1 is the same as 0-2; 0-2 is the same as 0-4).
2) If procedure (1) fails to break the tie, then each tied team’s record shall be compared to the team occupying the highest position in the final regular-season standings, continuing down through the standings until one team gains an advantage by a higher winning percentage.
While the season doesn’t end today and we’re hanging out in the hypothetical, the top team is North Carolina. Clemson beat North Carolina in Chapel Hill while NC State and Pittsburgh both lost to the Heels. That gives Clemson the No. 5 seed.
That leaves only Pittsburgh and NC State still tied.
3) If the tie is broken by (1) or (2) regarding one or more teams, but three or more teams remain tied, then procedures (1) and (2) will be re-applied among those tied teams only. 4) If two teams remain tied, procedures (a) and (b) will be followed.
The Panthers beat the Wolfpack on Feb. 7, thus giving Pittsburgh the No. 6 seed and NC State the No. 7 seed.
That will all become undone when Clemson plays Pittsburgh tonight. Got all that? Ok cool, here’s some stats on Syracuse in the ACC Tournament.
Notes on Syracuse in the ACC Tournament
- Syracuse is 5-8 all-time in the ACC Tournament since joining the league in 2013-14
- Syracuse has never advanced past the ACC Tournament Quarterfinals
- Syracuse’s ACC Tournament seeding by number of appearances:
- No. 2 seed: 1
- No. 6 seed: 2
- No. 8 seed: 3
- No. 9 seed: 2
- No. 11 seed: 1
- Syracuse has faired best in the ACC Tournament as a No. 6 seed, going 2-1.
- Three Syracuse players have earned all ACC Tournament team selections: Frank Howard, Buddy Boeheim and Jimmy Boeheim