Most surprising teams so far, both ACC and nationally

[ChicagoCrazy84]

I wanted to hear some people's opinoins on who you think are the most surprising teams so far. For me, in the ACC it is no contest. Miami has been really solid.

14-1 so far. Their 1 loss was by 1 @Boston College. They haven't beaten too many great teams yet except for South Carolina and Minnesota. They have a really balanced team with 8 players averaging at least 5ppg. Dwayne Collins is a force down low similar to Trevor Booker. They have a really athletic team and seems like they play really good team D.

In the country, I have to go with Oregon. Here's why:

10-4 so far and 2-0 in the Pac 10. This was a team that was 8-23 last year and had only 2 conference wins. They have already equalled their conference wins from last year and they were both on the road, @Wash St. and @Washington. They struggled for a bit and had some injuries, but Ernie Kent has really found a lineup combination with Kyle's brother EJ in the starting lineup and playing well. Mike Dunigan has found his niche and Tajuan Porter is a stud.

My runners up were Texas Tech and K State.

Any thoughts?

[uh_no]

syracuse

[burns15]

Convincing victories at Wake and Maryland, close loss @ UCon-victs to open season. With a ten-game winning streak, they've already matched last season's win total. Four weeks in a row receiving votes in AP poll (first time in 32 years); ranked #30 nationally this week by CollegeHoops.net.

Can't say I saw that one coming...

[VaDukie]

William and Mary's coach - Tony Shaver - is a Tar Heel alum. Before W&M he was the head coach at Hampden-Sydney, a small private school in Virginia. I went to their basketball camp for a few years growing up and Coach Shaver is a 100% class act. I'm thrilled to see them doing well.

Also, don't sleep on Tommy Amaker's boys up in Boston. Currently at #27 in the RPI with wins over William and Mary, Boston College, and George Washington.

[marinbobbyduhon]

I wanted to hear some people's opinoins on who you think are the most surprising teams so far. For me, in the ACC it is no contest. Miami has been really solid.
In the country, I have to go with Oregon. Here's why:

10-4 so far and 2-0 in the Pac 10. This was a team that was 8-23 last year and had only 2 conference wins. They have already equalled their conference wins from last year and they were both on the road, @Wash St. and @Washington. They struggled for a bit and had some injuries, but Ernie Kent has really found a lineup combination with Kyle's brother EJ in the starting lineup and playing well. Mike Dunigan has found his niche and Tajuan Porter is a stud.

My runners up were Texas Tech and K State.

Any thoughts?

I live here in Oregon and I have to admit that I was stunned that the Ducks went on the road this week and swept both of the Washington teams - especially since pretty much all the talking heads out here prognosticated that UW will win the Pac-10 with little competition from the rest of the league, with the possible exception of Cal. It is way too early in Conference play to draw any conclusions, IMHO, but if Coach Kent is to retain his job, the Ducks need to finish in the upper echelon of the league this year. I don't expect too many Pac-10 teams to make the NCAA tourney, but I hope Oregon goes back to the dance this year, because I like Ernie Kent and want him to remain their coach.

I can't comment on ACC teams because I have only seen a few ACC games that didn't include Duke. I finally paid for Satellite TV this year and have been able to tape most of the Duke games, so I am pretty blissed out.

I tend to watch Duke and then maybe one or two other Men's BB games each week. I have watched Kansas, Texas, and Kentucky and think they are all excellent teams - but that is no surprise, is it? I have to admit I enjoy watching John Wall but dislike Calipari so much that I find myself rooting for the other team, no matter who they are. The one exception was UNC, of course. UConn is usually my number 2 most despised team each year, but darn if Cal wasn't able to wrestle that title away from Calhoun's team this season. Anyway, I digress...

It will be nice to hear from others who get to watch more ACC teams play.
I know that my biggest surprise in the ACC has been how poorly Maryland has been playing, if I am reading my boxscores correctly.

[chrisheery]

I am most surprised by Kentucky, that they are still undefeated, which I do not expect to last much longer as they start conference play. Second most by Syracuse, they are good, despite the loss this week. I was really impressed with Wisconsin when we played them. So, I am a little surprised they are not as good anywhere but home.

[Dukeface88]

I tend to watch Duke and then maybe one or two other Men's BB games each week. I have watched Kansas, Texas, and Kentucky and think they are all excellent teams - but that is no surprise, is it? I have to admit I enjoy watching John Wall but dislike Calipari so much that I find myself rooting for the other team, no matter who they are. The one exception was UNC, of course. UConn is usually my number 2 most despised team each year, but darn if Cal wasn't able to wrestle that title away from Calhoun's team this season. Anyway, I digress...

I think Kentucky has been surprising in the sense that I'd expected their lack of discipline to result in an upset or two by now. It hasn't, and their main SEC competition has just shot itself in the foot.


It will be nice to hear from others who get to watch more ACC teams play.
I know that my biggest surprise in the ACC has been how poorly Maryland has been playing, if I am reading my boxscores correctly.

I would also pick Maryland. They haven't beaten any of their quality opponents so far.

Nationally, I'd add MSU as surprising-in-the-dissapointing-sense. They've lost to the overrated tar holes and a Florida team that needed two overtimes to beat the feared Wolfpack (and didn't beat South Alabama or Richmond).

[PumpkinFunk]

Surprise team:

Richmond. Look at their wins and losses. Lose @ VCU, South Carolina (the shocking loss) and W&M, lose @ Wake in OT, beat Florida in a neutral site in Florida (a semi-away game), beat Mizzou and Mississippi State in neutral sites. Watch out for the Spiders in the A-10 as more than just a low seed in the tourney.

I'd pick 2 good surprise conferences:

The top of the Colonial - William & Mary, Old Dominion, and VCU, and perhaps add George Mason (my hometown team) in here

The first 3 have all been crazy-good for a CAA team and whoever wins the regular season is in, as is whoever wins the tourney. I think they're a 2-bid league, easily. George Mason is the only one without great non-conference credentials but is a solid, solid team.

The top of the Ivy League - Cornell and Harvard - are also both quite good. I'd rate Cornell better, but Harvard has the best

In terms of bad surprises:

Florida, Maryland, Tarhole computer numbers (these are shockingly bad), the Pac 10 (USC out of the tourney kills them even more than they were before), and the middle-of-the-pack in the Big East (which will knock itself out of contention in what is more mediocrity and good computer numbers right now, which inevitably will blow up as the middle-of-the-pack in the ACC has the past few years with 2 terrible teams and the rest either good or mediocre. Great drama should ensue, though)

[Greg_Newton]

I wanted to hear some people's opinoins on who you think are the most surprising teams so far. For me, in the ACC it is no contest. Miami has been really solid.

14-1 so far. Their 1 loss was by 1 @Boston College. They haven't beaten too many great teams yet except for South Carolina and Minnesota. They have a really balanced team with 8 players averaging at least 5ppg. Dwayne Collins is a force down low similar to Trevor Booker. They have a really athletic team and seems like they play really good team D.

I don't know if I buy Miami yet. They're 14-1, but their schedule has been an absolute joke (for example, their last 6 games have been against SC State, Stetson, Florida Atlantic, NC A&T, Bethune Cookman, and Pepperdine). Aside from South Carolina, Minnesota, and BC, they have not played a single team that should give an ACC team a test... I don't know if anything they've done so far is too surprising.

VT's record is also very good, but their schedule is only a little bit better than Miami's. GT and FSU appear to be have good squads, but haven't really impressed in their big games so far. BC and Maryland have just been flat-out bad.

I wouldn't be surprised if Wake ends up 3rd or 4th in the conference. They've had arguably the best OOC performance out of the above-mentioned teams, and the best inside-outside combo in the league in Smith-Aminu.

[NYC Duke Fan]

It has to be Wash U in St. Louis. Both the men's and women's team were ranked #1 pre season and the men have already lost to Translyvania and the women to Illinois Wesleyan. Both are shockers in my book !!!