The 2011 ACC Tournament tips-off on Thursday with four matchups. While plenty of attention will be focused on Duke's run for a #1 tournament seed and North Carolina's defense of the regular season title, the more interesting stories will be found in the games featuring teams fighting to get off of the bubble.
According to SB Nation's Bubble Watch, Virginia Tech and Boston College are solidly in the tournament while Clemson and Maryland still have to work to do. Hokie and Eagle fans shouldn't feel too comfortable however as first-round losses might be enough to knock them out.
We will have previews of the matchups in the coming days on this stream, but here is the full schedule:
Wednesday, March 9 - Open Practice Day
Starting at 11 a.m., all 12 teams have one hour of open practice time. The order from start to finish: Miami, Wake Forest, Maryland, NC State, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Boston College, Clemson, and Florida State. Virginia gets the late practice time at 8 p.m.
Thursday, March 10 - First Round
#8 Virginia vs. #9 Miami, Noon, ACC Network
#5 Boston College vs. #12 Wake Forest, 2 p.m., ACC Network
#7 Maryland vs. #10 NC State, 7 p.m., ESPN2
#6 Virginia Tech vs. #11 Georgia Tech, 9 p.m., ACC Network
Friday, March 11 - Quarterfinals
#1 North Carolina vs. Virginia/Miami, Noon, ACC Network/ESPN2
#4 Clemson vs. Boston College/Wake Forest, 2 p.m., ACC Network/ESPN2
#2 Duke vs. Maryland/NC State, 7 p.m., ACC Network/ESPN2
#3 Florida State vs. Virginia Tech/Georgia Tech, 9 p.m., ACC Network/ESPN2
Saturday, March 12 - Semifinals
ACC Semifinal 1, 1 p.m., ACC Network/ESPN
ACC Semifinal 2, 3 p.m., ACC Network/ESPN
Sunday, March 13 - Championship
Championship Game, 1 p.m., ACC Network/ESPN