Tag: ACC tournament

Clemson baseball all over the place in new Top 25 rankings

A look at where the Clemson Tigers rank in the new Baseball America Top 25 and D1Baseball rankings entering conference tournament play.

The Clemson Tigers are finding little in the way of a consensus among the Top 25 rankings as conference tournament play begins.

Clemson swept Boston College over the weekend to close out the regular season 40-13 overall and 20-10 in ACC play.

What did the series sweep of a last-place Eagles team do for the Tigers in the eyes of two prestigious college baseball publications who rank the Top 25 teams in the country each week?

Let’s just say there’s some discrepancy.

Clemson rose one spot to No. 3 in D1Baseball’s weekly Top 25 rankings, released Monday, May 20. Baseball America, which dropped the Tigers six spots to No. 10 last week following their three-game sweep at Wake Forest, kept coach Erik Bakich’s team at No. 10 in its rankings for the second consecutive week.

Only SEC regular-season co-champions Tennessee (46-10, 22-8) and Kentucky (39-12, 22-8) finished ahead of Clemson in D1Baseball’s poll.

While the Tigers are the highest-ranked ACC team by D1Baseball, Baseball America ranks Clemson behind three ACC teams: No. 3 North Carolina (41-12), No. 7 NC State (32-19), and No. 9 Wake Forest (36-19).

The Tigers went just 1-5 against the Wolfpack and Demon Deacons in head-to-head play this season. NC State and Wake Forest are the only two teams that won series against Clemson this season. The Tigers didn’t play North Carolina in the regular season.

Elsewhere in the rankings, No. 4 Texas A&M (44-11) and No. 5 Arkansas (43-12) rounded out D1Baseball’s top five. Oregon State (41-13), North Carolina, Oklahoma (34-18), East Carolina (40-13), and Florida State (39-14) were ranked Nos. 6-10, respectively.

Tennessee was also No. 1 atop Baseball America’s Top 25 with Kentucky at No. 2. No. 4 Texas A&M and No. 5 Arkansas rounded out Baseball America’s rankings as well.

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As the No. 2 seed at this week’s ACC Baseball Tournament in Charlotte, Clemson already knows the first two teams they’ll be facing at Truist Field. The Tigers will open the tournament against Miami on Thursday before facing Louisville Friday. The Tigers took two of three from both the Hurricanes and Cardinals in the regular season.

Every game of the 2024 ACC Tournament will be televised by ACC Network with the exception of Sunday’s championship game on ESPN2. Each game of the tournament will also air live on SiriusXM Channel 371 for subscribers.

Clemson advances to the ACC Semifinals after a big win over Virginia

Clemson advances to the ACC Semis.

In a thrilling showdown at Duke Softball Stadium, No. 21 Clemson emerged victorious with an 8-1 triumph over fourth-seeded Virginia in the ACC Championship. With this commanding win, the Tigers secured their place in the ACC Championship Semifinals for the fourth consecutive year, elevating their season record to 34-16, while the Cavaliers’ record dipped to 32-18.

Clemson wasted no time in asserting their dominance, scoring single runs in both the first and second innings. Valerie Cagle’s RBI single in the first inning set the tone, giving the Tigers an early 1-0 lead. They doubled their lead in the second inning when Arielle Oda’s single paved the way for Alex Brown to score, extending Clemson’s advantage to 2-0.

Despite Virginia narrowing the lead to 2-1 in the fourth inning, Clemson surged ahead with a decisive three-run outburst in the fifth inning. McKenzie Clark’s sacrifice fly and Alex Brown’s two-run single bolstered Clemson’s lead to 5-1.

The Tigers sealed the game in the seventh inning, adding three more runs courtesy of Clark and Cagle, securing the impressive 8-1 victory. Pitcher Regan Spencer delivered a standout performance, earning the win with a complete game two-hitter, while Virginia’s Courtney Layne suffered the loss after conceding two runs in 1.1 innings. With 10 hits in total, Clemson’s offense was led by Alex Brown with three hits.

Next up, Clemson faces top-seeded Duke in the ACC Championship Semifinals on Friday at 1:00 p.m.

UNC softball’s opening round ACC Tournament opponent announced

The UNC softball team’s postseason play begins against a familiar opponent.

It seems like college spring sports started yesterday.

Yet, we’re already here in May and the postseason is rapidly approaching.

One college spring sports program that faced a lot of early uncertainty was the UNC softball program. North Carolina saw its longtime head coach, Donna J. Papa, retire after 38 seasons. The Tar Heels saw a couple players transfer, plus it brought in a few.

UNC experienced all this with one goal in mind: make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019.

North Carolina crossed a major step off its goal list, recently clinching a spot in the ACC Softball Tournament. To begin tourney play, the Tar Heels will face Note Dame on Wednesday, May 8 at 3:30 p.m.

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Yes, you read that right – the ACC Tournament will be held at Duke Softball Stadium. The Blue Devils won the ACC Regular Season Title and is ranked fifth in ESPN.com’s rankings.

UNC enjoyed success against the Fighting Irish in the regular season, taking two of three matchups back in March at Anderson Softball Stadium.

North Carolina will try and make it a third victory in four tries against Notre Dame. Both teams enter on losing streaks, so a win is much-needed for NCAA Tournament hopes.

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Despite losing in the ACC Championship, Duke lacrosse is No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament

Duke set to open NCAA Tournament play against Utah as the NCAA Tournament’s second seed.

Sunday felt familiar to the Duke Blue Devils. It centered around the fact that Duke could not figure out Notre Dame, cementing their conference rival as far and away the best team in the country.

The Fighting Irish cruised to a 16-6 win over Duke in the ACC Tournament championship game on Sunday, completing the double-dip of the regular season and tournament titles.

Unsurprisingly, they were announced as the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament during that evening’s selection show.

Following that announcement, John Danowski’s Blue Devil team was penciled in as the No. 2 team in the tournament. This NCAA Tournament appearance is Duke’s 26th all-time. Blue Devils will host Utah Utes in the opening round at Koskinen Stadium on May 11 at 2:30 p.m.

The Blue Devils head into the NCAA Tournament with a 12-5 overall record and a runner-up finish at the ACC Championship. Duke is 43-22 all-time in NCAA Tournament play, has advanced to Championship Weekend 14 times, and has won three NCAA titles.

Most notably, Duke made the national championship last season before falling to Notre Dame 13-9 in the national title game.

If the Blue Devils advance, they will travel to Hempstead, NY, to take on the Maryland/Princeton matchup winner. Duke played and beat Princeton 17-8 earlier this season at Koskinen Stadium.

No. 1 Notre Dame Routs No. 6 Duke to Capture ACC Championship

ACC Champs Again!

The sound you heard coming from Charlotte this weekend was the No. 1 Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team sending a warning shot to the nation.

The reigning national champions plowed through the ACC Tournament by routing No. 5 Virginia in Friday’s semi-finals before dismantling No. 6 Duke in Sunday’s championship game.

This is Notre Dame’s third ACC Tournament championship all-time and marks the first time the Fighting Irish have won both the regular season and conference tournament championships.

Notre Dame got things started early as Jake Taylor scored just over 2:30 into the game.  Reilly Gray, Taylor, and Chris Kavanagh combined to put the Fighting Irish up 5-0 before Duke finally scored in the closing moments of the first quarter.

Notre Dame would score three more times in the second to stretch the lead to 8-2 at halftime.

Duke scored twice to start the third period to get within four, but wouldn’t get any closer as Notre Dame would stretch the lead back to six, 11-5, by the third quarters end.

Notre Dame would score five times in the final period to close with a 16-6 victory over the team they beat in last year’s national championship.

Notre Dame now turns to the NCAA Tournament where they’ll be the odds on favorite to repeat as national champions.

Maddy Westbeld will return to Notre Dame for 2024-25 season

Big news for an Irish team expected to do big things next season.

Michael Jordan famously announced his first return to basketball with the iconic fax simply reading, “I’m back.” Well, times have changed, and sports figures can make announcements about their futures on social media. While [autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag]’s two-word tweet Monday won’t become nearly as famous as Jordan’s fax, it nonetheless will thrill Notre Dame fans:

Yes, this means Westbeld will use her remaining college eligibility to return to the Irish for a fifth and final season in 2024-25. There had been questions lately about whether she would do so, but those can be put to rest now. It gives the Irish a veteran presence down low and a mentor for incoming big [autotag]Kate Koval[/autotag].

Still unknown is the future of fellow Irish big [autotag]Kylee Watson[/autotag], especially given the knee injury she suffered during this year’s ACC Tournament, but at least Westbeld will be on next year’s team. She is coming off her third All-ACC selection and a season in which she averaged 14.4 points, 1.1 blocks and a career-high 8.7 rebounds a game. She has started all 120 games she has played for the Irish over her first four seasons with the program, and there’s no reason to think that will change.

Westbeld clearly wants to be part of an Irish team that is expected to go far. Her presence will make that a lot easier to happen.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Photos of Notre Dame’s first-round NCAA Tournament win vs. Kent State

See how the Irish’s first tournament game looked.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – After Notre Dame wrapped up its final regular-season game, [autotag]Niele Ivey[/autotag] addressed the Purcell Pavilion crowd. While she didn’t say so directly, she more or less pleaded with the NCAA Tournament selection committee to give the Irish a top-four seed so that they could host the first weekend. Just to remove any doubt, the Irish won the ACC Tournament, and it became impossible for the committee to ignore them after that.

The Irish ultimately earned a No. 2 seed, so their fans fans found themselves back where they were three weeks ago. They provided a tough environment for Kent State in this first-round game, and the Irish rode that to an 81-67 win. That means they’ll get to see the team one final time this season in Monday’s second-round game and surely will be no less vocal.

If you missed the start to the Irish’s latest quest for their third national championship, here are a few examples of what it looked like:

BRACKET MADNESS: Enter USA TODAY’s NCAA tournament bracket contest, create a pool and invite your friends!

ACC men’s basketball leaders as of March 17

No Notre Dame players.

The NCAA Tournament officially is here with five ACC teams among those seeking a national championship. The ACC particularly drew attention from the rest of the country after No. 10 seed NC State won the conference tournament for the first time since 1987. Strangely, no one on the Wolfpack concluded the ACC season as a leader in any of the major statistical categories. Some are going to March Madness though, and here they are:

Duke and their Tobacco Road counterparts lead the way as ACC lands five teams in the tournament

Duke and the rest of the ACC ready to roll in NCAA Tournament.

Duke was never in danger of missing the NCAA Tournament, but in the last two weeks, they had the chance to solidify themselves as a No. 2 seed.

That didn’t come to fruition, however, as Duke lost to their rivals, UNC, on senior night and then to NC State in the quarterfinals of the 2024 ACC Tournament.

Those two teams met Saturday night in the ACC Championship game, and NC State pulled off an improbable win to cap off one of the most incredible ACC Tournament runs in the league’s illustrious history. They won five games in five days to punch an automatic ticket to the Big Dance.

All of the Tobacco Road schools are going dancing. UNC is the fourth No. 1 seed in the West region, while Duke is the fourth seed in the South region. NC State is an 11-seed in the South region with Duke.

Clemson and UVA made five teams for the ACC in this year’s tournament.

The ACC was unusually weak this year, with Louisville and Syracuse unable to live up to their usual standards. For stretches of the season, it looked like Duke and UNC were the only locks to make the tournament. Yet, when the dust settled, the ACC still found a way to produce five teams.

The ACC has had at least one team reach the Elite Eight in 34 of 38 tournaments and at least one Final Four team in 26 of 38 tournaments.

We will see which of this year’s ACC participants makes the most significant run.

Notre Dame’s Kylee Watson will miss NCAA Tournament with torn ACL

Tough news.

When Notre Dame’s [autotag]Kylee Watson[/autotag] went down with a knee injury during the Irish’s ACC Tournament semifinal win, many feared the worst. Those fears turned out to be true as Watson posted on Instagram that she tore her ACL and will not be able to play in this year’s NCAA Tournament:

https://www.instagram.com/kylee.watsonn/p/C4op-y6sq9G/?hl=en

This obviously casts a shadow over the Irish earning a No. 2 seed in this year’s tournament. There also will be questions moving forward about her availability for next season as All-American guard [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] has missed all of this season with a knee injury. A medical redshirt figures to be a possibility much like it happened with Miles this past season.

Watson has started every game for the Irish since transferring from Oregon before the 2022-23 season. This year, she averaged 6.2 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.4 blocks a game. Needless to say, the Irish will miss her presence down low.

The loss of Watson also stretches the depth of an Irish roster hit hard already by injuries even further. Questions linger about how far they’ll be able to go this March Madness with so few players available. They got through the ACC Tournament all right, but they’ll facing teams now that might not be so forgiving with every game being an elimination game from here on. But they play the games for a reason, and we’ll see if the Irish can make some magic again.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89