ACC Tournament 2018: 3 things to watch for in Wednesday’s games, including on-the-bubble Louisville

The 2018 ACC tournament tipped off Monday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn with Boston College, Notre Dame, and Syracuse all emerging victorious over Georgia Tech, Pitt, and Wake Forest, respectively.

Now, things will heat up Tuesday for the first full day of action.

Florida State and Louisville will begin the day at noon, followed by Boston College and N.C. State at 2 p.m., Notre Dame and Virginia Tech at 7 p.m., and Syracuse and North Carolina capping the day off at 9 p.m. You can see the full schedule and bracket here.

There are a few things to keep an eye on as the action unfolds.

In our latest Bracketology, the ACC is predicted to get eight teams into the NCAA Tournament. Virginia, Duke, North Carolina, Clemson, Miami (Fla.), Virginia Tech, Florida State, and N.C. State are all fairly secure.

The first game of the day features the Seminoles squaring off against a team that is so very on the bubble in Louisville. The Cardinals had an opportunity to cement their spot in the tournament when they had the No. 1 Virginia Cavaliers on the ropes in the KFC Yum! Center last week, but watched the win slip through their fingers as DeAndre Hunter banked in a three at the buzzer.

Now, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has the Cards as one of his “First Four Out” teams. A win for Louisville is an absolute must, but the Cavaliers loom in the second round. Will one win be enough, or will they have to knock off the top-dogs (or Wahoos in this case) to make the tournament?

Syracuse’s win over Wake Forest on Tuesday night was Jim Boeheim’s first ACC Tournament win since the Orange joined the conference in 2014. The Orange join Louisville in Lunardi’s “First Four Out” section, and they have a great opportunity to move themselves to the right side of the bubble if they can somehow upset the Tar Heels. The two squads met just once during the regular season with UNC winning 78-74 at the Carrier Dome.

North Carolina ended the season on a slide, dropping their last two regular season games on a buzzer beater to Miami and at Cameron Indoor against Duke. While the Tar Heels will be just fine if they lose this game, it may be nice to get some mojo or confidence back before the NCAA Tournament starts.

Watch for Marek Dolezaj, Syracuse’s freshman forward who put up a career-high 20 points in their Tuesday win over Wake Forest. UNC’s Joel Berry struggled in his last outing, going 3-for-11 from the field against the Blue Devils.

Whoooo that was not good, Irish. Notre Dame, the 10-seed in the tournament, led by as many as 16 points against the hapless Panthers before Pitt closed within two with 51 seconds remaining.

The Irish are a very dangerous team with a fully healthy Bonzie Colson and Matt Farrell. Unfortunately for Mike Brey’s squad, they amassed too many losses in their absence (and one puzzling loss to Ball State at full strength) to be a tournament team right now. In order to put themselves in good position to hear their name called on Selection Sunday, the Irish need to beat Virginia Tech AND Duke in the quarterfinals.