In the wake of snubs like an undefeated Florida State missing the College Football Playoff and Duke softball just earning the 10th seed in the NCAA Tournament, the ACC spring meetings had some ideas to earn more national favor.
During the conference’s spring meetings on Tuesday, longtime ESPN bracket analyst Joe Lunardi apparently spoke to the men’s basketball coaches for insight on how to earn more at-large bids. The Raleigh News & Observer’s Andrew Carter reported the meeting on social media.
Last year, the ACC earned four at-large bids into the NCAA Tournament. North Carolina, one of the four No. 1 seeds, maintained a steady grip as a top-five team all season, and 4-seed Duke and 6-seed Clemson both made the Elite Eight.
Outside of that, however, only conference tournament champion NC State made the first round. Virginia, who won the national title in 2019, earned a spot in the First Four play-in games.
Pittsburgh and Wake Forest both missed the tournament despite winning 22 and 21 games, respectively, and both sitting inside the top 35 in KenPom’s adjusted efficiency metric. They were the second- and third-highest teams left out.
ACC men’s basketball coaches heard from ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi at spring meetings today, about how league can get more teams in the NCAA Tournament.
(Not a joke.)
Lunardi was an invited guest here to give a talk.
— Andrew Carter (@_andrewcarter) May 14, 2024
Lunardi was apparently invited by the conference to speak with the coaches.