Early Impressions of ACC Teams

[gw67]

After watching several of the ACC teams play some early season games, I have the following thoughts:

Top Two - UNC (6-0) and Duke (7-0) appear to be the class of the league. They have more talent, are well coached, and are already playing at a high level.

Contenders - The common thought before the season started was that Clemson (6-0) and N.C. State (4-2) would compete with Duke for 2nd place. Both have a load of experience and several ACC-quality players. Clemson appears to be the 3rd best team in the league although any team that shoots 60% from the free throw line is suspect, IMO. State has not impressed me and they may be passed by Florida State (6-2) and Virginia (6-1). Both teams need to solidify their frontcourt but Virginia is a good shooting team and the Noles have an experienced and talented perimeter.

The Rest - Miami (6-0), Maryland (5-2) and Georgia Tech (3-3) should be competitive and may squeak into the top half of the league. BC (5-0) and Wake (4-0) are still undefeated but I expect them, along with Virginia Tech (2-3) to make up the bottom quarter of the league.

The ACC has an overall record of 60-13 and several of the teams, including the Devils, are better than I thought they would be. Aside from the Duke Freshmen, Hickson and Lawal, several of the unhearlded freshmen and sophs have stepped up to help their teams, including Sanders of BC, Johnson, Teague and McFarland of Wake, Ogelsby and Stitt of Clemson, Baker and Jones of Virginia, Allen, Delaney and Thorns of VT, and Dews of Miami. I expect others, particularly, some of the Maryland freshmen and sophs to play bigger roles as the season progresses. I also expect this to be a good year for ACC teams.

gw67

[sandinmyshoes]

Even in the good old days of a balanced conference schedule team-to-team matchups made picking the middle of the conference difficult. With the hodge-podge scheduling of the current schedules it makes it nearly impossible for me to even guess. I would agree that Duke and UNC are the best right now, but both have issues that could cause them grief with teams closer to the bottom of the conference on any given night.

As for State, I am beginning to get the feeling that Lowe benefited last year from players who had learned discipline under Sendek. Now it seems that some of that discipline is sloughing off. I may be reading too much into their struggles, however.

[ACCBBallFan]

After watching several of the ACC teams play some early season games, I have the following thoughts:

Top Two - UNC (6-0) and Duke (7-0) appear to be the class of the league. They have more talent, are well coached, and are already playing at a high level.

Contenders - The common thought before the season started was that Clemson (6-0) and N.C. State (4-2) would compete with Duke for 2nd place. Both have a load of experience and several ACC-quality players. Clemson appears to be the 3rd best team in the league although any team that shoots 60% from the free throw line is suspect, IMO. State has not impressed me and they may be passed by Florida State (6-2) and Virginia (6-1). Both teams need to solidify their frontcourt but Virginia is a good shooting team and the Noles have an experienced and talented perimeter.

The Rest - Miami (6-0), Maryland (5-2) and Georgia Tech (3-3) should be competitive and may squeak into the top half of the league. BC (5-0) and Wake (4-0) are still undefeated but I expect them, along with Virginia Tech (2-3) to make up the bottom quarter of the league.

The ACC has an overall record of 60-13 and several of the teams, including the Devils, are better than I thought they would be. Aside from the Duke Freshmen, Hickson and Lawal, several of the unhearlded freshmen and sophs have stepped up to help their teams, including Sanders of BC, Johnson, Teague and McFarland of Wake, Ogelsby and Stitt of Clemson, Baker and Jones of Virginia, Allen, Delaney and Thorns of VT, and Dews of Miami. I expect others, particularly, some of the Maryland freshmen and sophs to play bigger roles as the season progresses. I also expect this to be a good year for ACC teams.

gw67

Though still early for the Pomeroy predictor mentioned in a couple other threads to be very accurate, at this point he projects

Duke 14-2 but a favorite in every game
UNC 11-5 (UNC will not lose 5 ACC games again this year)
Miami 11-5 as as I expected much better than the 12th place from ACC media
Clemson 10-6
FSU 10-6, IMO a couple games too high
BC 8-8, more than a game or two too high
MD 7-9
VA Tech 7-9, several games too high
UVA 6-10
Wake 5-11
NC St 4-12, several games too low
GA tech 3-13, at least a few games too low

SO a couple of surprises at the bottom with FSU, BC and Va Tech all quite a bit higher than I expect. I se the bottom 2 being Wake, and VA Tech.

[DukeDude]

As for State, I am beginning to get the feeling that Lowe benefited last year from players who had learned discipline under Sendek. Now it seems that some of that discipline is sloughing off. I may be reading too much into their struggles, however.

El Sid coaches State like an NBA team, i.e. isolation offense, optional defense, and the games before New Year's don't matter.