Last year’s ACC/SEC Challenge was the canary in the coal mine for both a miserable year for the ACC and a historic one for the SEC. The SEC’s 14–2 dominant victory was a key boost to the league’s eventual 14 bids to the NCAA tournament, while that public embarrassment for the ACC continued a nonconference spiral that left the conference with a whopping 10 teams outside KenPom’s top 90.
That backdrop made the ACC’s improved showing (especially on Tuesday night before the wheels came off Wednesday) a key revelation for a league in desperate need of some good news right now. Its two biggest brands, Duke and North Carolina, won high-profile matchups on Tuesday, but perhaps more important was seeing potential bubble teams like Miami (Ole Miss), Syracuse (Tennessee) and Notre Dame (Missouri) pick up key wins. The path for the ACC to stack up a significant number of bids to the NCAA tournament relies heavily on a strong nonconference showing, and having seven teams in KenPom’s top 40 at this point in the season sets the league up to have significantly more quality-win opportunities in conference play. It’s not unrealistic to hope to double last year’s four NCAA tournament bids.
