The Atlantic Coast Conference is the deepest league in college basketball, and there's a chance that they could have a whopping 12 teams in the NCAA Tournament that begins next week. To accomplish that feat, Clemson must defeat North Carolina State in the opening game of the conference tournament. The Tigers have been so close to big victories this season, losing their recent meetings against Florida State, Virginia Tech, Duke, and Syracuse all by a combined six points. Tipoff is set for Tuesday afternoon at 12:00 PM Eastern time and it can be seen on ESPN2 and online with WatchESPN and the ESPN mobile app.

No. 13 North Carolina State (15-16, 4-14 ACC)

The Wolfpack dropped 9 of their last 11 games in the regular season with head coach Mark Gottfried receiving the axe in the midst of the losing skid. They never were able to continue the momentum of upsetting Duke in late January, and most of their problems have been on the defensive end where they've given up 79.7 points per game (325th nationally).

NC State lost to Clemson 78-74 in their regular season finale less than a week ago. Junior forward Abdul-Malik Abu (11.7 ppg, 7 rpg) led the team with 18 points on 8-of-14 shooting. Freshman guard Dennis Smith Jr. (18.5 ppg, 6.3 apg) has been inefficient from the field making just 15-of-38 field goal attempts in the last three games.

No. 12 Clemson (16-14, 6-12 ACC)

It's extremely weird to see a team so far under .500 in conference play to still be a consideration for the big dance. It helps that they're in a conference that's incredibly deep and having so many close calls against those good opponents. While the team doesn't necessarily excel in any category, their offense should be in position to score at will against their opponents' weary defense.

Keep an eye on sophomore guard Shelton Mitchell (10.1 ppg), who's stepped it up recently with 14 or more points in the last four games and is shooting at a 58.9 percent clip from the field in that stretch. Senior center Sidy Djitte (6.4 ppg, 7.3 rpg) was a beast with 12 points and 9 boards in the near upset against Florida State, and he repeated those same numbers against NC State last time out.

This year's ACC Tournament takes place at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Clemson is a 5.5-point favorite and the O/U is set at 156 points in Game 1.