Also, here are the Pomeroy odds (this is based on full-season performance and relative strength with respect to college basketball as a whole, not conference-only and relative strength within the conference):
Before we get into the bracket, here's the final standings by conference-only efficiency margins (unadjusted):
Virginia: +18.5
Duke: +16.1
North Carolina: +7.3
Louisville: +4.3
Clemson: +3.9
Notre Dame: +1.3
NC State: +1.0
Miami: +0.8
Florida State: -0.7
Virginia Tech: -1.0
Syracuse: -1.1
Boston College: -4.4
Wake Forest: -7.6
Georgia Tech: -8.7
Pittsburgh: -29.4
Notre Dame continues to show its considerable bad luck - even without Colson for most of the conference season (and without Farrell for a chunk of it), Notre Dame put up the 6th best margin in conference play, more consistent with a 10-8 outcome than the 8-10 that they ended up with.
Louisville also played better on a points basis than Clemson did, even though Clemson finished two games better in the standings - although, I think that is largely due to playing Pittsburgh. The Cardinals won by 60 combined points in 2 games (totaling +43 points per 100 possessions); Clemson also stomped Pitt (+39 points per 100 possessions) but only played them once. A non-Pitt version of the conference margin standings would better reflect how the teams stack up against legitimate competition.
On to the brackets (higher seed listed first - will update this daily):
Tuesday
[79]Boston College (-4) vs. [113]Georgia Tech (12:00, ESPN2)
[28]Notre Dame (-15) vs. [236]Pittsburgh (2:00, ESPN2)
[51]Syracuse (-4) vs. [90]Wake Forest (7:00, ESPNU)
Wednesday
[35]Florida State (+1) vs. [34]Louisville (12:00, ESPN)
[41]NC State vs. BC/GT (2:00, ESPN)
[31]Virginia Tech vs. ND/Pitt (7:00, ESPN2)
[7]UNC vs. Syracuse/Wake (9:00, ESPN2)
Thursday
[1]Virginia vs. FSU/Louisville (12:00, ESPN)
[18]Clemson vs. NCSU/BC/GT (2:00, ESPN)
[3]Duke vs. VT/ND/Pitt (7:00, ESPN)
[36]Miami vs. UNC/Syracuse/Wake (9:00, ESPN)
Friday
Semi-final #1 (7:00, ESPN/ESPN2)
Semi-final #2 (9:00, ESPN/ESPN2)
Saturday
Final (8:30, ESPN)
Just be you. You is enough. - K, 4/5/10, 0:13.8 to play, 60-59 Duke.
You're all jealous hypocrites. - Titus on Laettner
You see those guys? Animals. They're animals. - SIU Coach Chris Lowery, on Duke
Also, here are the Pomeroy odds (this is based on full-season performance and relative strength with respect to college basketball as a whole, not conference-only and relative strength within the conference):
Just be you. You is enough. - K, 4/5/10, 0:13.8 to play, 60-59 Duke.
You're all jealous hypocrites. - Titus on Laettner
You see those guys? Animals. They're animals. - SIU Coach Chris Lowery, on Duke
I'll take Tech over BC. I think the JLO trio is better than the duo of Bowman and Robinson. As much as I like Robinson, the kid has taken several nasty falls on the same elbow and I'm not sure he's completely healthy.
The Irish should roll and I like the Syracuse backcourt to carry the day for them.
Al Featherston has an ACC Tournament article up on the front page:
https://www.dukebasketballreport.com...l-championship
A couple of short quotes to whet the appetite:
Mike Krzyzewski has always approached the tournament with respect – and not coincidentally has more ACC titles than any ACC coach.It's a long article - most Featherston articles are - but it is well worth taking the time to give it a read.BTW: That’s something to look for this week – first-year coaches at N.C. State usually do very well in their first ACC Tournament. Will that work for Kevin Keatts?
Bob Green
Well, Duke got a difficult draw. Not much else to say besides that. Of course, nothing will touch Duke's run last year (I'm not sure if that will happen for the rest of my life as a Duke basketball fan). 5 of the 7 best teams in the ACC, in my opinion, are in the bottom half of the bracket.
I know Pitt is completely useless, but if they ball-out and keep it a ~10 point game through the second half, Bonzie will need to log some minutes. That's all we can hope for -- Bonzie to play and be tired. When watching ND/VT, I'll be rooting for whoever is losing to score a quick bucket. Perfect world has VT win in 18 overtimes, but realistically, I'd feel better facing VT than Bonzie/Farrell - led ND. But, if we do get Bonzie, I'll hope that he played 40 minutes the night before and at least 25 minutes against Pitt. Not holding my breath.
I don't think Miami beats Carolina twice, so we'll probably get our tiebreaker. We seem to fare well against the Cheats in neutral site games (I can't remember the last time we lost to them in the ACCs, though I'm sure it's more recent than my memory indicates.) I also see UVA getting a relaxing stroll to the championship game, made ever-so slightly less relaxing if they go through Louisville in their first game -- it's difficult to beat that team three times in a single season, especially on the heels of a national-embarrassment that won't soon be forgotten.
In the end I think - and hope - that Duke will get a second crack at UVA. And I think we've got a pretty good shot at giving them a run for their money.
I'm curious to see how Bonzie looks in the open scrimmage that Notre Dame scheduled for this afternoon.
I like State's draw. First, we stay away from Duke or the Cheaters. I like playing GT or BC with them having played the day before. Clemson is a team I think we match up well with. UVa doesn't scare me the way they have been playing. I think State is capable of beating them...and we can figure out how to beat ND in the finals
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
Dan Dackich is doing the ACC Tournament?? Ugh.
Oddsmakers/prognosticators wrong already.
"We are not provided with wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can take for us, an effort which no one can spare us, for our wisdom is the point of view from which we come at last to regard the world." --M. Proust
Thanks, y'all! Little Tony De'Andre Darkstar is a very lucky boy to be coming into a world with so much encouragement from such a broad swath of ACC schools. (His maternal grandfather is - gasp! - a Tar Heel, albeit one who had largely renounced the hoops program even before the academic scandal hit.)
Here’s a somewhat obscure question: now that we’re underway, I’m noticing that tomorrow #5 NC State will play the winner of the game that started at noon, #6 UNC-CHeat play the winner of the 7pm game and #7 VT play the winner of the 2:45 game. This seems off to me. You would think the higher seeded teams would get to play the opponents coming off the least amount of rest. Also, why are there two afternoon games and only one evening game today? Surely more people want to watch games at night.
I would have expected the BC/GT game to be at 9pm, Cuse/WF at 7, and ND/Pitt at noon. Could someone explain this to me?
Good advice there.
Also, I would tell you to pick up Garcia/Grisman's Not For Kids Only although betting you already have it. Good music early is an investment in character development.
Oh, and never too early to get moving on a 529 college plan.
Last edited by OldPhiKap; 03-06-2018 at 02:59 PM. Reason: typo