ACCBoards

1. Carolina
1a. Duke

Being Captain Obvious here, these two are clearly the cream of the crop in the ACC. The reason I have Duke 1a is due to youth. By the end of the year, I expect them to be a 1, no less a 2 seed in the tourney.

2. Clemson
Clemson has not only played a better schedule than last year, they have won. Key Wins: Miss ST, Purdue, South Carolina, DePaul, Alabama
Their only loss thus far is Miss

3. Virginia

Virginia has one of the best players in the country in Sean Singletary. They also have a couple signature wins, @ Arizona, Drexel, Northwestern. They have some key losses though, Seton Hall, Syracuse

4. Miami

I know Miami has played a cupcake schedule but they've taken care of business with the few teams that they've played. Key wins: Providence, St John's, @ Miss ST Key loss: Winthrop

5 NC State

Talk about up and down. They haven't blown any doors off, but they have some good wins: @Seton Hall, Cinn, S. Carolina, Davidson, Villanova,
some bad, bad losses though: Mich St (ugly), @ECU, and New Orleans. Those last 2 can come back to haunt them if they don't take care of business in the ACC and that's why I have them below Miami and tied with Wake.

5a. Wake Forest

How can you not pull for Wake Forest after what they've been through? Wake has played well this year, and they're up already up a game in the ACC. The reason I have them tied with State is that they only have 2 key OOC wins: Air Force, @ Iowa. their losses: @ Vandy, @ Charlotte, @ Georgia



6. Boston College

Play somebody, will you? I really can't gauge anything so far except for wins and losses. Key wins: @ Michigan, Rhode Island, Maryland
Key losses: UMass, Providence

6a FSU

FSU has shown flashes of being a very good team to being average. They are a lot like State as far as WTF losses, but they do have some key wins:

Key Wins: @ Florida, Minnesota, @GT
losses: @ Providence, @ Butler, South Florida, Cleveland St

7. Maryland

I figured they would be better, but man, they have some bad losses. American U, Ohio, Virginia Commonwealth and they have losses to UCLA, BC, and Missouri. Their only key win is Illinois.

8. GT

They have a bunch of losses and some are bad. Some of these good teams, they've played very well but then they lose to others and look horrible. UNC-G, @ Winthrop, Kansas, @ Indiana, @ Vandy, FSU. Key wins: Charlotte, ND

9. VT

I've only seen them once this year, and they didn't impress me except for the loss at Wake. losses: @Butler, @ Penn St, Gonzaga, @ODU, @ Wake
Key wins: George Washington, St. John's


Of course, this list will change week to week as we separate the contenders from the pretenders. Admittedly, I've only seen some of these teams a couple of times. I just base it off their losses and wins.

I think you are giving GT too much credit.

Take another look and you might not be as optimistic.

BAJ, I've seen GT look ok against good teams.

Big Sexy Pack Wrote:5a. Wake Forest

How can you not pull for Wake Forest after what they've been through? Wake has played well this year, and they're up already up a game in the ACC. The reason I have them tied with State is that they only have 2 key OOC wins: Air Force, @ Iowa. their losses: @ Vandy, @ Charlotte, @ Georgia

I can't agree that Wake is this high now or will end up this high by the end of the season. I think NCSU & FSU are noticeably better right now.
(Mind you, next year's Wake team will be much improved.)

We will know alot about Wake after these next 3 games.

BYU, @BC, @MD.

DukePride Wrote:

Big Sexy Pack Wrote:5a. Wake Forest

How can you not pull for Wake Forest after what they've been through? Wake has played well this year, and they're up already up a game in the ACC. The reason I have them tied with State is that they only have 2 key OOC wins: Air Force, @ Iowa. their losses: @ Vandy, @ Charlotte, @ Georgia

I can't agree that Wake is this high now or will end up this high by the end of the season. I think NCSU & FSU are noticeably better right now.
(Mind you, next year's Wake team will be much improved.)

Fair enough. I guess we'll see.

Virginia losing by 35? Wow!

yeah, that's crazy about UVA.

I hope you are right about the Jackets. I think they will struggle in the ACC having a new point guard, yet again.

After the Presbyterian game, I think you have us a bit too high.

Denverpacker Wrote:After the Presbyterian game, I think you have us a bit too high.

My comment about NCSU being ahead of Wake might be totally off as well.

GT didn't fair much better against Presbyterian. They won by 13 but nid-way through the second half it was a 1 point game. GT finally won because they tired out. 4 games in 8 days will do that to a team.

Clemson definately deserves to be ranked near the top.

Clemson deserved that game last night...well almost.
You have to make free throws. Everybody on the Eastern Seaboard knew that if UNC has the last shot, they will make it. It is in the "pull it out of their ass" chapter of their playbook. The one I have seen used far too many times.

BC lost to Robert Morris tonight. There is a bunch of blah in the middle of the ACC. It could shake out in a lot of different scenarios.

Right now, is #1

Everyone else is gonna have to play to sort it out.

Duke is up there in the UNC regions.

Clemson is in the same ballpark, i think.

Everybody else is playin' a different game this year.

Yeah, Dook had one rusty game after an inexplicably long 17-day layoff (coming off a tough OT loss), which seems to have some Devils fans depressed, but let's see what happens against a mediocre Temple team in Philly -- I think you'll see the pre-Pitt Dookies whip up.

There could be a bit of a hiccup, I guess, if Dook is really transitionins permanently from Paulus to Smith as the starting PG.

With Zoubek out indefinitely (broken 5th metatarsal again ), I think we're no better than #3 in the conference.

It's tempting to agree 79. The only problem I see is someone else needs to definitively show themselves as worthy of the two spot.

I don't want to turn this into a Duke thread, but I'll say that Smith won't take Paulus' spot often. Smith will get his minutes, but Paulus' experience will keep him playing the point during the clutch moments of the game.

Even with Zoubek now expected back in 3 weeks, it'll only mean we'll have the height back but probably even less foot speed from him.
I hope for his sake it doesn't lead to him actually breaking his foot before the end of the season.

Thomas will have to become more aggressive on the boards, and either Nelson or Henderson needs to become a consistent scorer for Duke to really challenge Carowhina for the top spot.
Otherwise Duke is probably battling for #3.

Back to other parts of the ACC..... Wake seems more and more to have figured out how to win this year. BSP's estimate may prove to be dead on or even low.
Clemson's loss to Charlotte last night is a let down, but it was probably due to lack of focus after taking Carowhina to the last seconds of overtime. I didn't see the game, so I'm only throwing out a theory.

Quote:Wake seems more and more to have figured out how to win this year.

It's mainly because Dino has them buying into playing team defense. If Wake can shore up their 3PT and FT shooting, they should be ok. Teague and Johnson are very nice "unexpected" surprises.

I'd like to hear Mama Smurf's opinion on Clem's son. I wonder if it's a one-game letdown, or the start of the usual death spiral from the Tiggers.

After our stellar game in Chapel Hill, I would like to adjust our rankings to Division 5 High School level.

As bad as the State loss was, the Wake loss to BC may be worse. BC had one of those "Larry Bird vs the Clt Hornets" games where anything they threw at the basket went in. Ouch.

I think it's clear you have to list BC ahead of NCSU or Wake at this point in the season.