Bracket set for 2021 ACC men’s basketball tournament

Louisville has earned the No. 7 seed for this week’s ACC men’s basketball tournament. The Cards will open postseason play at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday against the winner of Tuesday’s game between 10-seed Duke and 15-seed Boston College.

Here’s a look at the full bracket:

Louisville had a chance to earn the 3-seed with a win over Virginia, and then it had a chance to have a really solid draw if Duke beat North Carolina, so naturally, neither of those things happened.

Now the Cards find themselves in the position of having to (more than likely) beat Duke for a third time (de-valuing their only Quad 1 win in the process, and then having to face a Florida State team they’ve had no answers for in recent years. Less than ideal.

This will be the second time in three years that the Cards have been the No. 7 seed for the ACC tournament. In 2019 (Chris Mack’s first season), Louisville took care of 15-seed Notre Dame in the second round before falling to 2-seed Florida State in the quarterfinals.

On the other hand, sometimes beautiful things can happen when Louisville is the 7-seed for its conference tourney. Just look at 2012 for proof.

Here’s hoping this team can find some magic this week in Greensboro.