Even though the SMU men's basketball team would have liked a stronger finish to the regular season, that doesn't take away from its accomplishments during its first ACC season.

The Mustangs will play in their first-ever ACC tournament starting Wednesday night at 8:30 p.m. CT in Charlotte, North Carolina.

"We're really excited to be fourth, tied for fourth, in the ACC," SMU head coach Andy Enfield said. "I know the top three teams are all ranked in the Top 12 in the country, so our league is very good, especially at the top. And to be tied for fourth, we've won a lot of games, a lot of road games. We're 7-3 on the road (in the ACC), so give our guys a lot of credit."

SMU enters the tournament after losing four of its last seven. It followed a stretch of winning eight of nine games, including a five-game winning streak. The Mustangs arguably weren't the same team without Boopie Miller in the lineup, and even as he got his legs back under him once he returned.

"I know we lost a couple late, especially with Boopie's injury," Enfield said. "It was not an ideal time to have our leading scorer and assists guy, and your point guard, go down for five games, but our other guys handled it pretty well and now he's back. We expect to go into Charlotte and play well, play very hard. We're 22-9 overall and I think it's been a good season so far, but I don't think anybody's satisfied. We want to try to go win some games in Charlotte."

The ACC tournament provides a chance for the Mustangs to hit the reset button. The 31 regular season games got SMU to this point, but all of that goes out the window when it comes to tournament time.

"We've just got to look at it like there is no seeding, there's no wins, losses before when you played previous teams," senior Matt Cross said. "As the saying goes, March Madness. Crazy stuff happens in March. Everybody's kind of on the same page. Anything can happen."

Part of what got Miller through missing those five games, including some key matchups, was being ready for this. From his teammates and coaches telling him to make sure he was healthy before returning to all the work he did with athletic trainer Myles Thornton to get healthy, it was about getting to this point and being ready for the tournament.

"I think it's been good," Miller said of his return. "I've been getting comfortable with myself and playing with my teammates. Tough loss we got last one, but I feel like it's a new season now, starting 0-0, so I'm ready to win it all."

There's no secret sauce when it comes to making a run this time of year. Enfield coached a sixth seed all the way to a conference championship game when he was at Florida Gulf Coast. 

"It's hard to tell. You just never know as a coach or coaching staff," Enfield said. "You just hope that the team shows up and they play together with some excitement, some passion. I think some of the teams that play early sometimes have an advantage because they get a little confidence, they're used to the arena. … It's very hard to predict, but that's what makes March Madness and these conference tournaments so exciting."

Towards the end of the regular season there was a lot of talk about the ACC tournament seeding, the NCAA tournament bubble and everything else. Now, it's all about winning.

And the Mustangs believe they have a team that is capable of doing just that.

"We're confident just because we're pretty sure any team we play, if we play the way we're supposed to play and we play hard, that we can compete and beat anybody in this league and in the country," Cross said. "I think just knowing that it's kind of a reset, we don't have all the worries of win this, lose this, standings and all that. Now it's just like a fresh mind. Everybody's on the same page. It's just win. That's all that matters and I think that's good for everybody's (mentality)"

SMU will face the winner of Syracuse and Florida State in its second round game Wednesday night, teams it played the final week of the regular season. Against Syracuse, the Mustangs got a last-second victory before falling short at FSU.

A win in that game would mean a rematch with Clemson. Another win and a rematch with Louisville.

"I think it's great to play teams that beat you the first time. If Florida State wins, we'll have a chance to do that as well," Enfield said. "Louisville and Clemson had amazing seasons, congratulations to them, both outstanding basketball teams and tough to beat. But we're good too. Our players are very good and we have a good team.We would love to have that opportunity to do that, but first we have to get by (one of) two good teams on Wednesday night."

This group has already had more success than was expected in SMU's first season in the ACC, finishing tied for fourth after being projected to finish 13th. But they aren't done yet.

"I feel like a lot of people doubted us," Miller said. "If we go win this all, when we go win this all, it'll just be a plus for us and I think it'll be great for the team."