2025 ACC Tournament bracket revealed, Duke basketball finishes at top with #1 seed in event

The Duke Blue Devils (28-3, 19-1 ACC) won the ACC regular season title last night after an 82-69 victory in Chapel Hill against North Carolina (20-12, 13-7 ACC), securing the season sweep of the Tar Heels as the Blue Devils won 87-70 at Cameron Indoor earlier this season.

Despite the fact that Duke was far and away the best team in the conference all season, it came down to the last game of the regular season for the Blue Devils to win the regular season title as Clemson (26-5, 18-2 ACC) and Louisville (25-6, 18-2 ACC) both stuck one game behind Duke for the majority of the second half of the season.

Now that the regular season is over, the ACC Tournament bracket has been revealed and Duke knows which of two teams its first opponent will be.

Duke will play the winner of the 8-seed versus 9-seed game between Georgia Tech (16-15, 10-10 ACC) and Virginia (15-16, 8-12 ACC) in the quarterfinals on March 13th at 12:00pm ET on ESPN2. The matchup between the Yellow Jackets and Cavaliers will be on March 12th at 12:00pm ET on ESPN.

The first round of the event will begin on March 11th at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The top four seeds in the tournament who each earned a double-bye until the ACC quarterfinals are Duke, Louisville, Clemson, and Wake Forest (21-10, 13-7 ACC) in that order. If Duke beats Georgia Tech or Virginia, it’s opponent would be one of Wake Forest, 5-seed North Carolina (20-12, 13-7 ACC), 12-seed Notre Dame (14-17, 8-12 ACC), or 13-seed Pittsburgh (17-14, 8-12 ACC).

Clemson handed Duke its lone ACC loss this season at Littlejohn Colliseum 77-71. The Blue Devils beat the Cardinals 76-65 at the KFC Yum! Center back in early December. Duke only met Clemson and Louisville on one occasion each this season.

Both the Tigers and the Cardinals ended the regular season hot, with the Tigers winning their final eight games of the regular season and the Cardinals winning their final nine. Duke ended the regular season on an eight-game winning streak itself.

Only the top 15 teams in the ACC made the postseason, leaving out NC State (12-19, 5-15 ACC), Boston College (12-19, 4-16 ACC), and Miami (7-24, 3-17 ACC).

Joe Lunardi’s Bracketology projects just three ACC teams to make the big dance: Duke as a 1-seed, Clemson as a 4-seed, and Louisville as a 6-seed. Barring a shocking winner in the ACC Tournament, there’s little chance for another ACC squad to earn an at-large bid. Wake, UNC, and SMU have some hope if any of those clubs can make some sort of run in the ACC Tournament, but chances are unlikely for any to earn an at-large bid.

If Duke can go on to win the ACC Tournament, which it is heavy favorites to do, the program will likely earn the #1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2018-19 season when the Blue Devils had Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett, and Cam Reddish.