I’ve tried. I really have.

I’ve tried to use my loud, obnoxious voice – on this soap box, the platform formerly known as Twitter and on talk shows both local and national – to stick up for the ACC and rebut its many critics.

I still believe that the league is better than it’s being portrayed and that the balance from top to (almost) bottom some view as a deficiency is actually a strength.

That having been said, it’s becoming more and more difficult to keep defending the conference and its basketball teams as the 2023-24 season reaches its climax.

Especially those on or near the NCAA Tournament bubble.

Exhibit A is Saturday.

No disrespect intended toward Notre Dame and Virginia Tech. But if you want to shut up Joe Lunardi and his fellow bracket geeks and prove your postseason worthiness, those are the teams you’re supposed to beat this time of the year.

Even on the road. Especially when, in the case of Wake Forest, you’re leading by 11 at halftime.

To make matters worse, Alabama and Florida also lost Saturday. That’s important because early-season wins against the Crimson Tide and Gators are a big reason the Tigers and Deacons are rated so highly by the metrics that weigh most heavily in the NCAA selection process.

Then there’s Virginia.

It doesn’t matter that you’re playing Duke at Cameron. Losing by 25 or more for the 2nd time in 2 weeks and failing to score 50 points for the 4th time in the past 5 games isn’t the kind of impression you want to leave with the Tournament committee.

It’s not a very convincing closing argument. With only 1 week remaining in the regular season and the ACC Tournament coming up after that, there isn’t much time left to create a more positive perception.

That’s above and beyond the negative perception the conference is already fighting to overcome.

“I try not to look at (bracket projections) because it doesn’t make sense to me,” Pitt coach Jeff Capel said last week. “I don’t understand it. I don’t, for the life of me. Our league is really good. The teams in our league are really good, the players, the coaches … it’s way more than North Carolina and Duke.”

The good news is that the bubble trouble isn’t limited to just the ACC.

Michigan State in the Big Ten has lost 4 straight to fall to 18-12. Providence in the Big East, Kansas State in the Big 12 and Mississippi State in the SEC also suffered damaging defeats on Saturday.

There just aren’t any dominant teams out there this year. Even with their recent stumbles, Clemson and Wake have reason to still be confident about their NCAA chances.

The Tigers, who are 20-9 and have 5 Quad 1 wins to their credit, fell only 3 spots in the NET from 22 to 25. The 18-11 Deacons fell out of the top 20 to No. 31. Like their ACC rival, their hit was also minimal.

And yet, neither can feel completely comfortable because of recent disappointments.

It can be argued that despite winning 23 regular season games and finishing 5th in the league in 2022, Wake’s NCAA fate was sealed with an overtime loss to 13th-seeded Boston College in its conference tournament opener.

Clemson, under similar circumstances, might also have gotten in last year had it just been able to offset an unsightly loss at Louisville by winning 1 more game and getting to last year’s ACC Tournament final.

Virginia, which is teetering on the edge of the NET top 50 at No. 49, can also ill afford to lose to a double-digit seed in its postseason opener, especially with Pitt quietly sneaking up from behind.

The Panthers have recovered from a 1-5 ACC start to win 7 of their past 9. Not only are they still in contention for a double bye as a top 4 seed in the conference tournament with 2 winnable home games remaining, but their No. 44 NET ranking has them at least within shouting distance of the bubble.

So what does everyone other than frontrunners North Carolina and Duke have to do to keep from becoming Selection Sunday casualties?

The best advice is to not give the committee a reason to leave them out of the 68-team field.

Short of taking the decision completely out of its hands by going to Washington DC, running the table and cutting down the nets as ACC Tournament champions the way Virginia Tech did 2 seasons ago, there’s only 1 way to accomplish that goal.

Win.

Win as many of the remaining games as possible. And in the process, make it a lot less difficult to keep defending the conference.