2007 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament
The 2007 Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Basketball Tournament took place from March 8-11, 2007, in Tampa, Florida at the St. Pete Times Forum. The tournament was held in the state of Florida for the first time in its 54-year history. The quarterfinal games were televised nationwide on ESPN2. Semifinals and the championship game were televised on ESPN. The tournament was also televised by Raycom Sports in ACC markets. For the first time ever, Raycom broadcast the tournament in high definition.
The top four regular season teams (North Carolina, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Boston College) received first-round byes and played their first game in the quarterfinals. Both North Carolina and Virginia finished the regular season tied for first place with an 11-5 record. North Carolina received the #1 seed by virtue of the head-to-head tiebreaker against Virginia.
All four opening round games were won by the lower seeds. This tournament was the lowest Duke had been seeded (seventh) in the ACC tournament since 1995, when they were the ninth seed. Their on-court struggles were compounded by the suspension of freshman Gerald Henderson. By defeating Duke, NC State ended Duke's 8-year domination of the ACC tournament. Prior to this loss, Duke was 23-1 in ACC tournament play over the last 8 years, losing only the 2004 finals to Maryland. The final round this year was identical to the final round of the Women's ACC Tournament, with North Carolina beating NC State for the title. This is the first year a 10th seed has won a game in an ACC tournament, much less three in a row (although 12th seed Wake Forest won two games in the 2006 Tournament.) It is only the second time a team has played 4 games (NC State in 1997), and the first time a team seeded as low as 10 reached the championship game. Previously the lowest seed to reach the title game was #8 seed NC State in 1997, when the conference had only nine members.
By winning the ACC championship, North Carolina received an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and is now tied with Duke for most ACC championships with sixteen. North Carolina's Brandan Wright won the tournament's Most Valuable Player award.
Read more about 2007 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament: Bracket
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