WRAL Best ACC Team Ever - Semifinals

[Brian12215]

Best ever ACC team. Do your thing Duke nation!


http://www.wral.com/sports/basketball/ncaa/page/3146908/

[brevity]

Looks like UNC fans have already skewed this one. The pro-Carolina and anti-Duke sentiments were taken to unreasonable extremes. When I voted:

1982 UNC 70%
1986 Duke 30%

I realize UNC won a title, and they probably should be ahead, but not by this margin.

1991 Duke 58%
2002 Md 42%

This is a little bit closer than it should be. Both won a title, but the 2002 Terps were a weak champion, possibly the weakest of all the ACC squads that won it all. Put it this way: do any of Maryland's NCAA opponents remotely resemble UNLV 1991?

1992 Duke 51%
1977 UNC 49%

This is a poll skewing lie forced upon a disbelieving humanity. Here's where the 70/30 should be.

1983 NCSU 49%
1993 UNC 51%

Arguably, a pair of fluke winners. But NCSU should lead about 60 to 40.

1974 NCSU 58%
1984 UNC 42%

Sanity makes a comeback. No strong objection here.

2005 UNC 59%
1999 Duke 41%

Eh. I can see a slim edge to UNC here, seeing as how they (with the help of officials in the Villanova game) managed to win a title. But an 18 percent spread is too much.

1957 UNC 55%
1974 Maryland 45%

Nice to see both 1974 teams on the list. Probably a fair outcome here.

2001 Duke 23%
1973 NCSU 77%

Are the Wolfpack fans skewing this too, or are the Heels employing the mentality of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend"? There should be at least 15 percent thrown Duke's way here.

[Uncle Drew]

The 99 Duke team, even though they didn't win it all would have run UNC's 05 team out of the building. I consider that team the greatest team to never win a national title. (Yes better than 83 Houston and 85 Georgetown) But I'm sure UNC fans would try to throw in 83 or 95. It's rediculous to try to skew the insanity of those who can't be objective. I'm surprised they don't have UNC's 1924 team a heavy favorite over Duke's 1992 team

[JasonEvans]

The new poll numbers are decidedly favoring almost all the Duke teams. We crush Carolina every time we face them... but we are getting crushed the one time we face an NC State team. I think this is a result not of pro-Duke poll skewing but of anti-UNC poll skewing on the part of NC State fans. I looks like all but one of the Duke teams will easily advance to the second round... where they will come up against several NC State teams that could be hard to beat.

--Jason "props to NC State for a strong poll skewing effort" Evans

[Edouble]

The 99 Duke team, even though they didn't win it all would have run UNC's 05 team out of the building. I consider that team the greatest team to never win a national title. (Yes better than 83 Houston and 85 Georgetown) But I'm sure UNC fans would try to throw in 83 or 95. It's rediculous to try to skew the insanity of those who can't be objective. I'm surprised they don't have UNC's 1924 team a heavy favorite over Duke's 1992 team

Yes sir. Brand would have stooped to May's level just to give him some of his own medicine and eaten him! Avery would have shredded Felton. Chris would have smothered McCants on D.

[hurleyfor3]

Yes sir. Brand would have stooped to May's level just to give him some of his own medicine and eaten him! Avery would have shredded Felton. Chris would have smothered McCants on D.

Oh, I would never bet against Sean May in an eating conest. Unless it's versus Khalid El-Amin.

[Brian12215]

Round 2 is up now so keep voting....!!

[matrix1686]

Bad news everybody, all UNC's teams haven't been eliminated-apparently somebody used a computer program last night to vote like 10,000 times for all UNC's opponents

WRAL will be updating it soon to show the real results-I think 83 UNC beat 86 Duke and 2005 UNC beat 99 Duke

[BlueintheFace]

Bad news everybody, all UNC's teams haven't been eliminated-apparently somebody used a computer program last night to vote like 10,000 times for all UNC's opponents

WRAL will be updating it soon to show the real results-I think 83 UNC beat 86 Duke and 2005 UNC beat 99 Duke

If it's a high schooler, let's offer that kid a scholarship!

[Lord Ash]

What crap.

Anyway, all internet polls are crap, so...

[JasonEvans]

WRAL will be updating it soon to show the real results-I think 83 UNC beat 86 Duke and 2005 UNC beat 99 Duke

Who cares about a fan vote-- put the 1999 Blue Devils on the court against the 2005 Tar Heels and watch the carnage begin!! The 1999 Blue Devils would crush that Carolina team.

--Jason "silly internet polls!" Evans

[matrix1686]

I know the '05 Holes won the NC but people are kidding themselves if they think that Felton, McCants, Tubby Mays, and Marvin Williams would beat Battier, Brand, Nate, Carrawell, Langdon, Avery, and Maggette. The 99 Duke team would wipe the floor with them. I'm not so sure the 99 Duke team wasn't the best Duke team of all time. I would say really only the 92 team surpasses them for sure.

[Highlander]

Carolina gets all the calls.

I'm impressed at the guy who voted 10,000 against UNC. Hatred like that takes practice.

Nice Job, Ozzie :)

[MarkD83]

I just looked on the poll and the 1991 Duke team is losing to the 1982 UNC team.

We need more votes!!!

[MarkD83]

I think we need to start counting "hanging chads"

[brevity]

The 99 Duke team, even though they didn't win it all would have run UNC's 05 team out of the building.

Maybe, but more to the point, I don't care. I don't look at these things as an opportunity to put two teams from different eras on a court and let them hypothetically fight it out. I'd rather look at it as weighing the strengths of each team given the context of their time. Put it another way: 2004's Duke team could destroy NCSU's 1973/74 teams with JJ Redick at the 3-point line, but how fair is that?

Anyway, I know I'm in the minority by compartmentalizing like this -- even WRAL says things like "Burleson vs. May, Thompson vs. McCants, Towe vs. Felton" -- but the majority is still wrong.

Quarterfinals. The results when I voted:

1982 UNC 53%
1991 Duke 47%

Good pairing. Dean's breakthrough year versus K's breakthrough year. I would prefer the numbers point in the other direction, but a fair poll result should be this close. I'd hate to see UNC get the win here just because of Jordan's NBA career.

1992 Duke 54%
1993 UNC 46%

This should not be close -- 65/35 should be more like it. I will admit that the 1993 Final Four was a tougher draw, and of course had a Michigan team with a year more experience. But the 1992 Duke squad was one of the best of the 64-team NCAA era.

1974 NCSU 72%
2005 UNC 28%

The carnage! Not that I mind so much. This is indeed a mismatch.

1973 NCSU 71%
1957 UNC 29%

Now this is a bit unfair. Honestly, though, the 1957 title team isn't going to get very far in an internet poll.

Keep voting, folks. We need to see 1992 Duke and 1974 NCSU in the final.

[Son of Mojo]

I've been submitting my votes in the matter, pushing forth the (hopefully) eventual showdown between Duke and State. And yes, how in the WORLD could anyone in their heart of hearts believe that unc's 2005 team could come close to hanging with our '99 team. I always say that though the '92 team had the best aura of a winner, the '99 team was the most dominant team I've personally ever seen in college. Lost only two games all year (unfortunately the last being for the NC) by a total of 5 points.....geez, c'mon. That's unheard of. I will say I agree with what I've heard others say and have read about the last game of that year--hard to question Coach but in that game I'll never understand why he didn't play Maggette more but it's a little too late to second guess now. Keep those votes coming!!

[Uncle Drew]

Some of the matchups are down right insulting to a persons intelligence. But regardless, have you ever thought about how good Duke's 2000 team COULD have been. Brand, Avery and Maggette don't go pro and Burgess doesn't transfer. In comes Mikey D, J. Will and Boozer to be added to Battier, James, CC and company! Oh and since I'm dreaming, Kobe Bryant went to Duke and was still donning a Duke uniform. Great team, but yeah they'd lose to UNC's 1993 team :rolleyes:!

[blazindw]

http://www.wral.com/sports/basketball/ncaa/page/3146908/

All UNC teams have been eliminated and it will be an assured Duke-NC State final for the best ACC team ever. The semifinals pit Duke '91 vs. Duke '92 and NC State '73 vs. NC State '74.

We all have to choose between two of our kids, it seems, but hopefully the winner will go on to beat the NC State team in the final!

I believe semifinal voting goes until Thursday at 10am, when the final vote will start and continue until Friday, when we will know the winner.

My vote is for Duke '91 and NC State '73 (which I think was a weaker team than '74 that won the NC). Remember, vote early, vote often!

[JasonEvans]

Some of the matchups are down right insulting to a persons intelligence. But regardless, have you ever thought about how good Duke's 2000 team COULD have been. Brand, Avery and Maggette don't go pro and Burgess doesn't transfer. In comes Mikey D, J. Will and Boozer to be added to Battier, James, CC and company! Oh and since I'm dreaming, Kobe Bryant went to Duke and was still donning a Duke uniform. Great team, but yeah they'd lose to UNC's 1993 team :rolleyes:!

Boozer only came to Duke after Brand left so I don't think it is fair to picture the two of them on the same team.

Still, merely adding JWill and Dun Jr. to the existing core would have made for a ridiculously good team. Recall that college basketball was waaay down in 2000 and that the Duke team minus all the guys who went pro was still a #1 seed and ranked #1 in the land part of the season. If Brand, Avery, and Maggette had stayed -- we'd have been absurdly dominant.

--Jason "ahhh, to dream!" Evans

[JasonEvans]

Ok, the semifinal matchups are set and it is the most bizarre pairings you will ever see.

On one side is 1991 Duke vs. 1992 Duke. These are essentially the exact same teams -- except one is older and more confident in itself. Predictably, 1992 Duke is currently winning 63% - 37%

On the other side is 1973 NC State vs. 1974 NC State. Whaaa?!?!?! Again, matchups of essentially the same teams (Monte Towe, Tom Burleson, and that dude named David were the key players on both squads). Of course, the 1974 version was older, stronger, wiser, whatever. Plus, 1974 was playing with a chip on its shoulder after 1973 was on probation and not allowed to play in the NCAAs. Again, I am not sure how you vote for 1973 over 1974 (though the 1973 team went undefeated and the 1974 club lost one game -- to a truly great Maryland club, IIRC).

Anyway, as you might imagine 1974 is leading 74% - 26%.

Looking like we are gonna see 1974 NC State against 1992 Duke for the "title." A great matchup. Hard to argue with these two being the two best teams of all-time in the ACC.

-Jason "glad to see none of the panzy Carolina teams make it through -- though the 1957 club was truly great and could be in the conversation here" Evans

[BlueintheFace]

How can a parent choose between two (incredible, amazing, successful, perfect) children... 91' or 92'.... just can't do it

[brevity]

I don't grieve for the 2000 team so much because it led directly to the 2001 campaign, which was exhilarating. On the downside, that 2000 tournament did give Billy Donovan his first taste of coaching success...

Semifinals. The results when I voted:

1991 Duke 35%
1992 Duke 65%

A bit generous to the 1991 team. Not only was the 1992 squad more accomplished and memorable, but it failed to crumble even with the #1 target on its backs all season. I have great adoration for Duke 1991, a very tough team in its own right, but I just don't see how it was superior. (Though I suppose 1991's seniors and Billy McCaffrey were better than 1992's freshmen.)

1973 NCSU 26%
1974 NCSU 74%

Before my time, so it's nearly impossible for me to gauge the comparative strengths here. It's a testament to the Wolfpack fans that a non-title team (whatever the circumstances) got this far.

Stunning to see 4 UNC teams in the quarterfinals and none making it to the next round. I haven't seen Carolina basketball choke like that in, like, months. When they fail again next season -- and I think they will -- they could go far in a nationwide bracket comparing the best teams that lost in the NCAA tournament. (Though they'll face some stiff competition from 3 Duke squads and any number of Kansas squads coached by Ol' Roy.) I'd very much like to see someone do that poll.

[Kdogg]

Since DBR is poll skewin' here's another one:
http://www.sportsline.com/collegebasketball/story/10892112

[brevity]

It appears that July is the time of year for sports websites to beg for visitor hits. (Isn't baseball enough? No? Okay.) Way too many irrelevant polls out there, but let's stick with this one.

Finals. The results when I voted:

1992 Duke 16%
1974 NCSU 84%

I think that, given the bracket positions, the right two teams are in the final. (None of UNC's four champions, nor Maryland 2002, can realistically make the cut here.) And, objectively speaking, the right team is receiving more votes, though the percentage lead is obscenely exaggerated.

Duke's 1992 squad was known and beloved for a lot of things, but amazing comebacks wasn't one of them. (We either played close or were well ahead.) This is a Raleigh-based news agency, with a lot of hometown support, so the Wolfpack were going to win. But let's vote and make this respectable.