Syracuse basketball self-imposes post-season ban; ACC Tournament revised

In response to an ongoing NCAA investigation surrounding Syracuse athletes' academics, which affects both the football and basketball program, Syracuse announced today that it would be imposing a post-season ban this year on its men's basketball team.

The ban will bar the team from not only the NCAA and NIT tournaments, but also the ACC tournament.

That, of course, means that the format of the ACC tournament, set to feature 15 teams, would need to be revised to reflect the 14 remaining eligible teams. The league was quick to respond to the news today as it released the updated format, which will feature two play-in games for the bottom four teams on Tuesday. Seeds 5-10 will receive a bye and will start play on Wednesday, will the top four seeds, which currently would include Virginia as the top seed, will receive a double-bye, to begin play that Thursday.

For the visual learners, here's how the tournament looks:

Click to embiggen.

Syracuse, of course, is not having the most stellar of years, but still, this team had the potential to make a splash in the ACC tournament, and could have fought their way in for an NCAA bid.

Virginia will travel to Syracuse on March 2 for a 7:00 p.m. tip.