Georgia Tech will either be the No. 9 or 11 seed in the ACC tournament starting next week in Brooklyn, N.Y., pending the outcome of the Yellow Jackets’ game Saturday at Syracuse.
Beat Syracuse, and the Jackets will earn the No. 9 seed and avoid playing Tuesday in the opening round of the ACC tournament. Lose to the Orange, and Tech will drop down to 11 and the play No. 14 seed Tuesday at the Barclays Center.
As the No. 9 seed, Tech would play the No. 8 seed team, which could be Virginia, Virginia Tech or Miami, at noon Wednesday. The winner of that game would play at noon Thursday in the quarterfinals against top-seeded North Carolina.
Should Tech lose against Syracuse and become the No. 11 seed, the Jackets would face either N.C. State or Pittsburgh at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The winner of that game will play the No. 6 seed, which could be Duke, Florida State, Miami, Syracuse, Virginia or Virginia Tech.
Tech’s chances of reaching the semifinals might be better with a loss Saturday, as the Jackets would avoid top-seed North Carolina as the No. 11 seed. The quarterfinal opponent in that route would be the No. 3 seed, which could be Duke, Florida State, Louisville or Notre Dame.
However, Tech’s NCAA tournament chances likely would be better served with a win Saturday, as it would give the Jackets an impressive road win and avoid a 14th defeat of the season. According to CBS Sports bracket expert Jerry Palm, in the 23 years that he has studied the NCAA tournament selection process, no team has received an at-large berth with 15 losses.
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