2016 ACC Basketball Tournament Seeding Tiebreaker Rules and Procedures

With the ACC Basketball Tournament less than a week away, everyone is busy calculating all the possibilities of how Virginia can still be a top seed. The teams to keep an eye on outside of Virginia (12-5) at this point, of course, are Miami (13-4), North Carolina (13-4), and Duke (11-6).

ACC Basketball Tournament Seeding Tiebreaker Procedures:

1. When two teams are tied in the standings, regular season head-to-head results are used as the tiebreaker.
   
   
2. If the tied teams played each other twice in the regular season and split their games, then each team's record vs. the team occupying the highest position in the final regular season standings (or in case of a tie for first place, the next highest position in the regular season standings) and then continuing down through the standings until one team gains an advantage.
   
   a. When arriving at another pair of tied teams while comparing records, use each team's record against the collective tied teams as a group (prior to their own tie-breaking procedures), rather than the performance against the individual tied teams.
   
   b. When comparing records against a single team or a group of teams, the higher winning percentage shall prevail, even if the number of games played against a team or group is unequal. (i.e., 2-0 is better than 3-1; 1-0 is the same as 2-0; 2-0 is the same as 4-0; 2-1 is the same as 4-2; 1-0 is better than 1-1; 0-1 is the same as 0-2; 0-2 is the same as 0-4). If the winning percentage of the tied teams is equal against a team, or a group of tied teams, continue down through the standings until one team gains an advantage.
   
   
3. If three or more teams are tied in the standings, the following procedures will be used:
   
   a. The combined record of conference games between the tied teams involved will be compiled. Ties will be broken, and seedings assigned, based on the winning percentage of the combined conference records. The higher winning percentage shall prevail, even if the number of games played against the team or group is unequal (i.e., 2-0 is better than 3-1; 1-0 is the same as 2-0; 2-0 is the same as 4-0; 2-1 is the same as 4-2; 1-0 is better than 1-1; 0-1 is the same as 0-2; 0-2 is the same as 0-4).
   
   b. If procedure (a) fails to break the tie, then each tied team's record shall be compared to the team occupying the highest position in the final regular-season standings, continuing down through the standings until one team gains an advantage by a higher winning percentage.
   
   c. If the tie is broken by (a) or (b) regarding one or more teams, but three or more teams remain tied, then procedures (a) and (b) will be reapplied among those tied teams only.
   
   d. If two teams remain tied, procedures (1) and (2) will be followed.
   
   
4. If there is more than one tie in the standings, and when utilizing the tie-breaking procedures there are a pair of teams tied, a team's record against the combined tied teams (prior to their own tie-breaking procedures) is used, rather than performance against the individual tied teams.
   
   
5. If procedures (2) and/or (3) fail to establish an advantage, a coin flip to break the tie will be conducted by the commissioner after the final regular season game before the Conference Championship.

Although Louisville is not eligible for postseason play, they will be included in all tiebreaker procedures.

For their season finales, Miami will play Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, North Carolina and Duke square off at Cameron, and Virginia plays host to Louisville this weekend.

We'll keep you updated all weekend long and throughout the tournament.