ACC March Madness Bubble Watch: Will North Carolina Join 3 Teams in Field?

The latest March Madness bracket projections have Duke, Clemson and Louisville as the only ACC teams in the field of 68. Bubble teams will have some work to do to make it into the March Madness field as they look to defy the college basketball odds in the next several days.

The ACC tournament gets underway on Tuesday with three games beginning when Pittsburgh faces Notre Dame. Bubble teams will start hitting the court in Charlotte on Wednesday. The title game is set for Saturday at 8:30 p.m. ET.

Duke (+325) has the shortest NCAA March Madness odds. Clemson (+6500) and Louisville (+10000) are the other top ACC teams in the championship odds.

ACC March Madness Analysis

Carolina Sitting on Bubble

North Carolina used a strong finish to make college basketball news and end up in a three-way tie for fourth place in the ACC standings. While a win over Duke in the regular-season finale would have worked wonders for the Tar Heels. Perhaps a couple of wins in the ACC tournament will be enough to get North Carolina into the field of 68.

Despite a 1-11 record in Quad 1 games, the Tar Heels are 40th in the NCAA NET rankings. The only win over a ranked team came less than a week before Christmas with a two-point victory over UCLA at Madison Square Garden. North Carolina has covered against the college basketball spread in only two of its 10 games as the underdog.

Let March officially begin 🏆

The bracket for the 2025 T. Rowe Price ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament is set!

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— ACC Men’s Basketball (@accmbb) March 9, 2025

The NCAAB odds had North Carolina tied for the seventh shortest odds of winning March Madness when the season began. The Tar Heels have seen their championship odds move from +2000 to +40000.

SMU is 49th in the NCAA NET rankings with five Quad 2 losses likely being a deal-breaker. The Mustangs don’t have a win over a ranked team and two of the three losses came at home, per NCAAB betting trends.

After being blown out by Duke, Wake Forest rebounded with an impressive win over Georgia Tech to move inside the top 70 in the NCAA NET rankings. Wake Forest and North Carolina could meet in the ACC tournament quarterfinals. With the loser of that game likely being knocked out of consideration for a March Madness at-large bid.

Will Duke Be a No. 1 Overall Seed in March Madness?

Duke won its last eight games and recently moved ahead of Auburn and into the top spot in the NCAA NET rankings. I’m not sure Duke deserves the top seed in the NCAA tournament even with a win in the ACC tournament, considering how bad this league has been. The NCAA basketball futures have Duke as the overwhelming ACC title favorite.

Duke is 7-3 in Quad 1 games and will garner plenty of attention with freshman star Cooper Flagg leading the way. With Louisville and Clemson being on the other half of the bracket, the Blue Devils won’t see a ranked team until the ACC title game.

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— Joe Lunardi (@ESPNLunardi) March 8, 2025

Clemson is 22nd and Louisville is 23rd in the NCAA NET rankings. Even though both the Tigers and the Cardinals have just four Quad 1 wins. They shouldn’t be on the bubble if they stumble in the conference tournament.

Pitt Heads Also-Rans Needing a Miracle Run

It is pretty safe to say that the rest of the ACC is in survive and advance mode as anything short of winning the ACC tournament title will keep them out of the March Madness field.

Pittsburgh leads the “best of the rest” by checking in at No. 58 in the NCAA NET rankings.

Odds and information are accurate at the time of writing. Please check with official sources for the latest updates before placing any bets.

Check Out Last Week’s ACC March Madness Bubble Teams Stats

• ACC March Madness Bubble Watch: Will Surge by North Carolina Earn Bid?

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