ACC Restructures Format Of Men's Basketball Tournament
5/18/2000 8:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
May 18, 2000
FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. - The ``play-in game'' will return to the Atlantic Coast Conference men's basketball tournament after a three-year absence and the No. 1 seed will once again play its first game on Friday, the league announced Wednesday.
Starting in 2001, the league will return to holding only one game on Thursday night, pitting the No. 8 and No. 9 seeds, with the winner playing the top seed on Friday afternoon.
The brackets announced by the conference at the end of its winner meetings in Florida also mean the ACC will return to playing four quarterfinal games on Friday instead of three.
The first Friday session will start at noon, with the No. 1 seed against the play-in winner, followed by the No. 4-No. 5 game. The night session starting at 7 p.m. will feature a game between the second and seventh seeds followed by the No. 3 and No. 6 seeds.
As over the past two decades, the semifinal winners will play Saturday at 1:30 p.m. and 4 p.m., with the championship at 1 p.m. Sunday.
The 8-9 play-in game had been held from 1992 to 1997 after the ACC added Florida State as its ninth member. But some coaches didn't like it because the game didn't seem to be a part of the tournament.
So beginning in 1998, the league held two games on Thursday night, with the No. 7 and No. 8 seeds playing first, following by the No. 1 and No. 9 seeds playing each other. The 1-9 winner had a bye to Saturday's semifinals, while the winner of the 7-8 game played the No. 2 seed on Friday evening.
Maryland, the No. 2 seed and tournament runner-up in 2000, has played in the "play-in" game on just two occasions: 1992 and 1993. The Terps won both of those contests during the early rebuilding years of the Gary Williams Era, besting Clemson in the first "play-in" game in league history and downing NC State one year later. In the seven years since, Maryland has never been seeded lower than fifth.
