ACC Tournament: Three fringe NCAA aspirants take the court on Tuesday

Stanford, SMU and Virginia Tech are all technically in the running for NCAA Tournament at-large bids, but they’ll have to notch wins on Tuesday in the first round of the ACC Tournament to keep their faint hopes alive.

Me personally, I don’t see any of the three having their names called on Selection Sunday, but notably, the latest CBS Sports bracketology has Stanford and SMU both in the Last Four In, and the latest On3 bracketology has Virginia Tech among the First Four Out.

My latest bracketology has none of the three anywhere close, but I’m not CBS or On3; I’m just a guy covering March Madness from home this year, because I don’t like SIDs yelling at my wife.

ACC Tournament Tuesday preview

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#10 Stanford (20-11, 9-9 ACC) vs. #15 Pitt (12-19, 5-13 ACC), 2 p.m. ET (ACCN)

Stanford defeated Pitt, which needed OT to punch its ACC Tournament ticket, with a 71-69 win over Syracuse on Saturday, in the regular season, 75-67, on the Left Coast, not that long ago, back on Feb. 25.

KenPom and BartTorvik have Stanford as a four-point favorite; ESPN BPI has the game at Stanford +1.9.

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#11 SMU (19-12, 8-10 ACC) vs. #14 Syracuse (15-16, 6-12 ACC), 4:30 p.m. ET (ACCN)

‘Cuse beat SMU in whatever they’re calling the Carrier Dome now, 79-78, back on Feb. 14.

KenPom has this one SMU +5; BartTorvik has it SMU +4; and ESPN BPI splits the difference, at SMU +4.5.

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#12 Virginia Tech (19-12, 8-10 ACC) vs. #13 Wake Forest (16-15, 7-11 ACC), 7 p.m. ET (ACCN)

Wake won at Tech on a late three, 81-78, back on Jan. 3, an eternity ago.

That one was one of four losses in the final seconds for this Hokies team; if they get two of those in the win column, they’re nowhere near the NCAA bubble.

Alas.

KenPom and BartTorvik both have this one as Tech +2; ESPN BPI has it Wake +0.4.

Video: ACC Tournament Tuesday

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