ACC Women’s basketball tournament: NC State seeded 2nd, everything else you must know
The 43rd annual ACC Women’s basketball tournament starts Wednesday at the Greensboro Coliseum.
The Louisville Cardinals roll into Greensboro as the top seed for the second time since joining the ACC, and the first time as the league’s regular-season outright champion.
The Cardinals (27-3, 16-2) begin play on Friday at 2 p.m. No. 2 seed N.C. State (25-4, 14-4), No. 3 Duke (18-11, 12-6) and No. 4 Florida State (22-7, 11-7) also received the double bye. That means Wolfpack and Blue Devil fans don’t have to make their way to Greensboro until Friday.
North Carolina fans can get to town on Wednesday to catch the Tar Heels (16-13, 7-11) in action. No. 12 UNC takes on No. 13 Wake Forest (14-15, 7-11) at 1 p.m. In their only meeting of the regular-season, the Demon Deacons defeated the Tar Heels, 82-72, in Winston-Salem.
Here’s what you need to know about the 43rd ACC tourney:
WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE?
The tournament starts Wednesday at 1 PM, with three games on the schedule. Four games will be played on Thursday and Friday, with action starting at 11 a.m. each day. The semifinals start Saturday at noon, with the championship at noon on Sunday. All 14 games will be televised.
TRENDING UP
Louisville is the top team in the league but there might not be a hotter team than Duke. The Blue Devils have won nine of their last 11 games and are coming off a 73-54 win over rival North Carolina.
The Cards, after dropping two straight in league play, come into the tournament on a six-game winning-streak. Only one of those wins, over N.C. State on Feb. 13, was even close. The rest were all by double-digits.
TRENDING DOWN
North Carolina handed N.C. State its first loss of the season on Jan. 9. The Tar Heels have won just three times since and back into Greensboro losers of seven in a row.
Even though the Wolfpack come in as the No. 2 seed, N.C. State lost three out of its last six. The 14 ACC wins was a school record, but going 3-3 down the stretch has to be concerning, not exactly peaking at the right time.
NC DROUGHT
The Triangle ACC schools have been on a tournament drought. The last team from the big three to make a title game appearance was Duke in 2017. N.C. State last made the final game in 2010 and UNC in 2013. The last winner from the Triangle was in 2013. North Carolina has the most tournament titles out of the three, with nine, their last one coming in 2008. The Wolfpack have not won the ACC tournament since 1991.
ALL-ACC
The league announced it’s all conference teams on Thursday, one team voted by the coaches, the other by the Blue Ribbon Panel.
All-ACC First-Team:
Blue Ribbon Panel: Haley Gorecki (Duke); Kiah Gillespie (Florida State); Nicki Ekhomu (Florida State); Dana Evans (Louisville); Jazmine Jones (Louisville); Kylee Shook (Louisville); Elissa Cunane (N.C. State); Janelle Bailey (UNC); Kiara Lewis (Syracuse); Jocelyn Willoughby (UVA).
Head coaches: Emma Guy (Boston College); Aisha Sheppard (Virginia Tech); Haley Gorecki (Duke); Kiah Gillespie (Florida State); Nicki Ekhomu (Florida State); Dana Evans (Louisville); Jazmine Jones (Louisville); Elissa Cunane (N.C. State); Kiara Lewis (Syracuse); Jocelyn Willoughby (UVA).
All-ACC Second-Team:
Blue Ribbon Panel: Emma Guy (Boston College); Taylor Soule (Boston College); Leaonna Odom (Duke); Aisha Sheppard (Virginia Tech); Ivana Raca (Wake Forest).
Head coaches: Leaonna Odom (Duke); Francesca Pan (Georgia Tech); Kylee Shook (Louisville); Aislinn Konig (N.C. State); Ivana Raca (Wake Forest).
This story was originally published March 3, 2020 at 2:35 PM with the headline "ACC Women’s basketball tournament: NC State seeded 2nd, everything else you must know."
