ACC Turned to ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi for NCAA Tournament Advice

A special guest spent some time at the ACC spring meetings Tuesday, meeting with ACC coaches at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Amelia Island, Florida.

Joe Lunardi — an ESPN bracketologist who has done himself no favors with fans of ACC teams — was invited to speak to ACC men’s basketball coaches Tuesday, according to a report by Andrew Carter of The News & Observer. He spoke to the coaches about what the conference could do to get more teams into the NCAA Tournament.

As Carter alluded, it was certainly a surprise to see Lunardi invited to the ACC spring meetings.

ACC men’s basketball coaches heard from ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi at spring meetings today, about how league can get more teams in the NCAA Tournament.

(Not a joke.)

Lunardi was an invited guest here to give a talk.

— Andrew Carter (@_andrewcarter) May 14, 2024

The ACC received five bids in the 2024 NCAA Tournament, including North Carolina as a No. 1 seed and North Carolina State as a No. 11 seed, earning a place courtesy of an ACC Tournament title. However, the ACC dominated headlines all season for its supposed weakness.

But aside from an embarrassing performance by Virginia in the play-in round, the ACC went unbeaten in the Round of 64. While UNC bowed out in the Sweet 16, Clemson, Duke and NC State reached the Elite 8 and NC State reached the Final 4.

Three of eight Elite 8 teams ain’t bad.

The ACC has been one of the strongest conferences when the calendar turns to March, going 12-5 in the 2024 Tourney alone (a .706 win percentage checking in behind only the Big East), but the national narrative has continued to center around a “weak” ACC.

Jeff Capel has been one of the most outspoken proponents of ACC basketball in recent seasons, and he doubled down on that sentiment in a recent interview with Pittsburgh Sports Now. But he also brought up how the ACC as a whole needs to figure out what it’s going to take to get more teams in the Big Dance.

“I think everyone in our league knew how good our league was,” Capel told PSN in April. “I wish I could give you a reason or give you an understanding of why this national narrative is what it’s been. I have some thoughts on what I think it is or what I think the reason is, but I don’t know if it’s true.

“It’s easy to pile on a person or a talking head and say whatever or that this person is being like this against the league. Well, these talking heads don’t have anything to do with the selection committee. I think it’s really important for us as a league to get on the same page and to figure out as a league; what we have to do collectively to get more teams in the NCAA Tournament.”

Pitt missed the 2024 NCAA Tournament, just missing out after falling out of the conference tournament in a loss to North Carolina, but the Panthers won a couple of games in the 2023 NCAA Tournament.