ACC Tournament - Seeds, schedule and thoughts

[OuttaNowhereWregget]

The ACC has significantly changed their playoff structure and schedule. Notre Dame will host the whole show until the final, unless they are the highest seed remaining of the last two teams. Seems overkill, having every team play and stretching the tournament out over eleven days. I prefer the Big 10 format. Only the top 4 of 7 teams make the postseason and it's done and dusted in one weekend. Anyway--this is the schedule. (I put in for the day off on Friday April 29th weeks ago.)

[OuttaNowhereWregget]

I wonder why the ACC decided to change the format this year. I'm glad they did. Spreading the tournament out over a week and a half makes more sense than jamming it into 4 days the way they used to. Too many big games between the best of the best to have it all over in a long weekend. Cool that the games will be in South Bend. (Anyone making the trip?) They have a nice facility. I also find it intriguing that the highest seed of the two teams left gets to play at home. Very cool new wrinkle. So we get 6 days to revel in the hype between the semifinals and the final. The play-in game is also a nice new feature. Next year perhaps they have 2 play-in games with Clemson joining the field, or the top 2 seeds will have byes. In any event--it all starts this week. Some of the games in the quarters will barely be watchable for me. The Tar Heels will stomp whichever team they draw. Yawn. Pretty sure Syracuse will do the same to Ginny. Yawn. BC will crush VT as well but I have to watch that cuz love. Duke/Notre Dame might actually be a close game if the Irish bring their best Fight. Ve shall see, ve shall see...


2022 ACC Women’s Lacrosse Championship
First Three Rounds at Arlotta Stadium, Notre Dame, Indiana

Wednesday, April 27 – First Round
2 p.m. – No. 8 Pitt vs. No. 9 Louisville

Friday, April 29 – Quarterfinals
Noon – No. 1 North Carolina vs. No. 8 Pitt/No. 9 Louisville winner
2:30 p.m. – No. 4 Duke vs. No. 5 Notre Dame
5 p.m. – No. 2 Boston College vs. No. 7 Virginia Tech
7:30 p.m. – No. 3 Syracuse vs. No. 6 Virginia

Sunday, May 1 – Semifinals
1 p.m. – UNC/Pitt/Louisville winner vs. Duke/Notre Dame winner
3:30 p.m. – Boston College/Virginia Tech winner vs. Syracuse/Virginia winner

Saturday, May 7 (at site of highest remaining seed)
6 p.m. – Championship Game

All games televised on ACC Network

[laxagainsthumanity]

I wonder why the ACC decided to change the format this year.

Because they added a team to the conference......

[OuttaNowhereWregget]

I wonder why the ACC decided to change the format this year.

Because they added a team to the conference......

They also stretched the tournament out to 10 days where it used to be 4. They also never had the final game changed to the venue of the team with the best seed remaining after the semifinals. These items are also included in changing the format.

[Essexfenwick]

My opinion is that they should just have the top 4 teams playing or maybe just add a regular season conference game

This is just an opportunity for injuries and doesn’t help at all for winning a natty.

[OuttaNowhereWregget]

My opinion is that they should just have the top 4 teams playing or maybe just add a regular season conference game

This is just an opportunity for injuries and doesn’t help at all for winning a natty.

I agree with you. I never liked the idea of everybody in a conference making the playoffs. It pays to win. Top four teams is plenty.

[laxagainsthumanity]

Need I really remind everyone... in 2015 Syracuse won the ACC tournament as the 6 seed. Took down 3 BC and eventual fellow Final Four contenders 2 Duke and 1 UNC on the way. Without this opportunity, Cuse does not receive the 4 seed in the NCAA tournament, does not gain the confidence that comes from beating three top teams in one weekend, and likely does not make it to championship weekend. And despite 6 regular season losses, once May rolled around, that was a team that belonged at championship weekend.

This is a conference that routinely receives 5-7 playoff bids. The dogfight that is the ACC tournament is actually phenomenal preparation for the first and final weekends of the NCAA tournament. Are there always 1-3 irrelevant teams in the mix? Sure. But given the depth of the conference, IMO this is absolutely not a tournament that should be top-4 only.

They also stretched the tournament out to 10 days where it used to be 4. They also never had the final game changed to the venue of the team with the best seed remaining after the semifinals. These items are also included in changing the format.

Right, because they have an entire additional round to account for. I found it mildly surprising that they're playing Wed-Fri-Sun instead of Thurs-Fri-Sun like in past years. Could be a one-off scheduling issue, we'll see if it continues. Otherwise I suppose you could cram all four rounds into 5 days and only the 8/9 winner is affected - brutal for them but also probably irrelevant. But we also have to take into account that the ACC is about to grow again, meaning the 7-10 seeds would play on day 1, and there are years that the 7 seed is a legitimately decent team.

[OuttaNowhereWregget]

Need I really remind everyone... in 2015 Syracuse won the ACC tournament as the 6 seed. Took down 3 BC and eventual fellow Final Four contenders 2 Duke and 1 UNC on the way. Without this opportunity, Cuse does not receive the 4 seed in the NCAA tournament, does not gain the confidence that comes from beating three top teams in one weekend, and likely does not make it to championship weekend. And despite 6 regular season losses, once May rolled around, that was a team that belonged at championship weekend.

This is a conference that routinely receives 5-7 playoff bids. The dogfight that is the ACC tournament is actually phenomenal preparation for the first and final weekends of the NCAA tournament. Are there always 1-3 irrelevant teams in the mix? Sure. But given the depth of the conference, IMO this is absolutely not a tournament that should be top-4 only.

They also stretched the tournament out to 10 days where it used to be 4. They also never had the final game changed to the venue of the team with the best seed remaining after the semifinals. These items are also included in changing the format.

Right, because they have an entire additional round to account for. I found it mildly surprising that they're playing Wed-Fri-Sun instead of Thurs-Fri-Sun like in past years. Could be a one-off scheduling issue, we'll see if it continues. Otherwise I suppose you could cram all four rounds into 5 days and only the 8/9 winner is affected - brutal for them but also probably irrelevant. But we also have to take into account that the ACC is about to grow again, meaning the 7-10 seeds would play on day 1, and there are years that the 7 seed is a legitimately decent team.

You make good points. I have to agree with you--the ACC should be an exception.

You realize there is a final Saturday in the Wed-Fri-Sun schedule you mentioned. The days and dates of the games are tomorrow for the play-in game, Friday the 29th for the Quarters, Sunday, May 1 for the Semifinals, then a 6 day wait till the final on Saturday, May 7th. That's a huge departure from how they used to structure the tournament.

[JoeMauer89]

Need I really remind everyone... in 2015 Syracuse won the ACC tournament as the 6 seed. Took down 3 BC and eventual fellow Final Four contenders 2 Duke and 1 UNC on the way. Without this opportunity, Cuse does not receive the 4 seed in the NCAA tournament, does not gain the confidence that comes from beating three top teams in one weekend, and likely does not make it to championship weekend. And despite 6 regular season losses, once May rolled around, that was a team that belonged at championship weekend.

This is a conference that routinely receives 5-7 playoff bids. The dogfight that is the ACC tournament is actually phenomenal preparation for the first and final weekends of the NCAA tournament. Are there always 1-3 irrelevant teams in the mix? Sure. But given the depth of the conference, IMO this is absolutely not a tournament that should be top-4 only.

They also stretched the tournament out to 10 days where it used to be 4. They also never had the final game changed to the venue of the team with the best seed remaining after the semifinals. These items are also included in changing the format.

Right, because they have an entire additional round to account for. I found it mildly surprising that they're playing Wed-Fri-Sun instead of Thurs-Fri-Sun like in past years. Could be a one-off scheduling issue, we'll see if it continues. Otherwise I suppose you could cram all four rounds into 5 days and only the 8/9 winner is affected - brutal for them but also probably irrelevant. But we also have to take into account that the ACC is about to grow again, meaning the 7-10 seeds would play on day 1, and there are years that the 7 seed is a legitimately decent team.

You make good points. I have to agree with you--the ACC should be an exception.

You realize there is a final Saturday in the Wed-Fri-Sun schedule you mentioned. The days and dates of the games are tomorrow for the play-in game, Friday the 29th for the Quarters, Sunday, May 1 for the Semifinals, then a 6 day wait till the final on Saturday, May 7th. That's a huge departure from how they used to structure the tournament.

The 6 day break was likely added to remove the disadvantage of the ACC teams having TWO full weeks between the end of the tournament and the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. This way the top two teams at least don't have their momentum killed by having to wait TWO full weeks between games. That's what likely drew the change.

Joe

[OuttaNowhereWregget]

The 6 day break was likely added to remove the disadvantage of the ACC teams having TWO full weeks between the end of the tournament and the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. This way the top two teams at least don't have their momentum killed by having to wait TWO full weeks between games. That's what likely drew the change.

That's interesting. Makes sense.

Hey, while we're here Joe--why do you suppose the NCAA has the quarterfinals scheduled on a Thursday (May 19), rather than a Saturday (the 21st) or Sunday (the 22nd)? There would still be enough days to recover and travel as the semis are Friday the 27th. And the sport would certainly get more fans watching on TV and in the stands on the weekend.

[JoeMauer89]

The 6 day break was likely added to remove the disadvantage of the ACC teams having TWO full weeks between the end of the tournament and the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. This way the top two teams at least don't have their momentum killed by having to wait TWO full weeks between games. That's what likely drew the change.

That's interesting. Makes sense.

Hey, while we're here Joe--why do you suppose the NCAA has the quarterfinals scheduled on a Thursday (May 19), rather than a Saturday (the 21st) or Sunday (the 22nd)? There would still be enough days to recover and travel as the semis are Friday the 27th. And the sport would certainly get more fans watching on TV and in the stands on the weekend.

Specifically for this season it was changed to Thursday, so each game is standalone and doesn't have to compete with viewers watching the Men's NCAA Quarterfinals on 5/21 and 5/22. I'm all for it.

Joe

[OuttaNowhereWregget]

The 6 day break was likely added to remove the disadvantage of the ACC teams having TWO full weeks between the end of the tournament and the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. This way the top two teams at least don't have their momentum killed by having to wait TWO full weeks between games. That's what likely drew the change.

That's interesting. Makes sense.

Hey, while we're here Joe--why do you suppose the NCAA has the quarterfinals scheduled on a Thursday (May 19), rather than a Saturday (the 21st) or Sunday (the 22nd)? There would still be enough days to recover and travel as the semis are Friday the 27th. And the sport would certainly get more fans watching on TV and in the stands on the weekend.

Specifically for this season it was changed to Thursday, so each game is standalone and doesn't have to compete with viewers watching the Men's NCAA Quarterfinals on 5/21 and 5/22. I'm all for it.

Joe

It's fine with me as I scheduled the day off from work, but I'll bet it provokes the ire of the women's lacrosse crowd. Once again being moved out of the prime spot for the men. Not going to go over well at all. I've already heard some kvetching about it--and rightfully so.

You think the women's quarters will go back to the weekend next year?

[JoeMauer89]

The 6 day break was likely added to remove the disadvantage of the ACC teams having TWO full weeks between the end of the tournament and the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. This way the top two teams at least don't have their momentum killed by having to wait TWO full weeks between games. That's what likely drew the change.

That's interesting. Makes sense.

Hey, while we're here Joe--why do you suppose the NCAA has the quarterfinals scheduled on a Thursday (May 19), rather than a Saturday (the 21st) or Sunday (the 22nd)? There would still be enough days to recover and travel as the semis are Friday the 27th. And the sport would certainly get more fans watching on TV and in the stands on the weekend.

Specifically for this season it was changed to Thursday, so each game is standalone and doesn't have to compete with viewers watching the Men's NCAA Quarterfinals on 5/21 and 5/22. I'm all for it.

Joe

It's fine with me as I scheduled the day off from work, but I'll bet it provokes the ire of the women's lacrosse crowd. Once again being moved out of the prime spot for the men. Not going to go over well at all. I've already heard some kvetching about it--and rightfully so.

You think the women's quarters will go back to the weekend next year?

Depends on the viewerships numbers this year. All the games are going to be over the air on ESPNU, rather than just available via streaming.

Joe

[OuttaNowhereWregget]

The 6 day break was likely added to remove the disadvantage of the ACC teams having TWO full weeks between the end of the tournament and the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. This way the top two teams at least don't have their momentum killed by having to wait TWO full weeks between games. That's what likely drew the change.

That's interesting. Makes sense.

Hey, while we're here Joe--why do you suppose the NCAA has the quarterfinals scheduled on a Thursday (May 19), rather than a Saturday (the 21st) or Sunday (the 22nd)? There would still be enough days to recover and travel as the semis are Friday the 27th. And the sport would certainly get more fans watching on TV and in the stands on the weekend.

Specifically for this season it was changed to Thursday, so each game is standalone and doesn't have to compete with viewers watching the Men's NCAA Quarterfinals on 5/21 and 5/22. I'm all for it.

Joe

It's fine with me as I scheduled the day off from work, but I'll bet it provokes the ire of the women's lacrosse crowd. Once again being moved out of the prime spot for the men. Not going to go over well at all. I've already heard some kvetching about it--and rightfully so.

You think the women's quarters will go back to the weekend next year?

Depends on the viewerships numbers this year. All the games are going to be over the air on ESPNU, rather than just available via streaming.

Joe

I don’t agree with the decision, but I understand it from the network’s perspective. You know your stuff, Joe. Thanks again.

[Seacoaster(1)]

Pittsburgh wins the play in game (and the right to play UNC). Congrats to them. A really great inaugural year.

[wlaxphan20]

Pittsburgh wins the play in game (and the right to play UNC). Congrats to them. A really great inaugural year.

Pitt's goalie also set an ACC tournament record for saves with 19. They have far exceeded my expectations this year

[laxagainsthumanity]

Pittsburgh wins the play in game (and the right to play UNC). Congrats to them. A really great inaugural year.

Pitt's goalie also set an ACC tournament record for saves with 19. They have far exceeded my expectations this year

Certainly helps to be loaded with transfers and 5th year players who know what it takes to win at this level. Not many first year programs get that benefit! Hopefully next year's team can keep the momentum going. Good for Pitt lacrosse, good for this team. I'm sure they'll bring their best game on Friday, as they have all season regardless of who they're playing.

[Laxfan500]

Pittsburgh wins the play in game (and the right to play UNC). Congrats to them. A really great inaugural year.

Pitt's goalie also set an ACC tournament record for saves with 19. They have far exceeded my expectations this year

Certainly helps to be loaded with transfers and 5th year players who know what it takes to win at this level. Not many first year programs get that benefit! Hopefully next year's team can keep the momentum going. Good for Pitt lacrosse, good for this team. I'm sure they'll bring their best game on Friday, as they have all season regardless of who they're playing.

I only was able to watch about 20 minutes of game but was really surprised with how poor Louisville played. It must be a tough flight home when you are the first team eliminated in a tourney. Kudos to Pitt what a great year they are having!!

[Dr. Tact]

Pittsburgh wins the play in game (and the right to play UNC). Congrats to them. A really great inaugural year.

Pitt's goalie also set an ACC tournament record for saves with 19. They have far exceeded my expectations this year

Certainly helps to be loaded with transfers and 5th year players who know what it takes to win at this level. Not many first year programs get that benefit! Hopefully next year's team can keep the momentum going. Good for Pitt lacrosse, good for this team. I'm sure they'll bring their best game on Friday, as they have all season regardless of who they're playing.

I only was able to watch about 20 minutes of game but was really surprised with how poor Louisville played. It must be a tough flight home when you are the first team eliminated in a tourney. Kudos to Pitt what a great year they are having!!

Only game I see as competitive tomorrow is ND/Duke. I am going with the upset....

[OuttaNowhereWregget]

Pittsburgh wins the play in game (and the right to play UNC). Congrats to them. A really great inaugural year.

Pitt's goalie also set an ACC tournament record for saves with 19. They have far exceeded my expectations this year

Certainly helps to be loaded with transfers and 5th year players who know what it takes to win at this level. Not many first year programs get that benefit! Hopefully next year's team can keep the momentum going. Good for Pitt lacrosse, good for this team. I'm sure they'll bring their best game on Friday, as they have all season regardless of who they're playing.

I only was able to watch about 20 minutes of game but was really surprised with how poor Louisville played. It must be a tough flight home when you are the first team eliminated in a tourney. Kudos to Pitt what a great year they are having!!

Only game I see as competitive tomorrow is ND/Duke. I am going with the upset....

Ditto—but I’m not sure about the (certainly possible) upset. It depends on how Duke has recovered from being on the receiving end of that demolition job. Every time I see the score I think, “Was it really that bad?” Indeed it was. I’m guessing it was a good wakeup call. Duke 17 Irish 12