This Week in the ACC - 11/22-11/28

[pfrduke]

No two ways about it - last week was a bloodbath for the ACC. I said 5 losses would have been a strong performance - instead, the conference went just 15-13. Perhaps most distressingly, we're still o'fer the BCS conferences, with losses to Pitt, Illinois, Rutgers, Minnesota, Vanderbilt, Georgetown, Stanford, and Kansas State. And two weeks into the season, there hasn't been a single good win - when the marquee win for the ACC to hang its hat on is a choice between George Mason, Charleston (by 1), or Wofford, it's been a poor season so far.

The only bright side is that there's a lot of season to go, and things can turn around in as little as a week's time. Plenty of opportunities to do so in the week ahead.

Pomeray ratings through today's games are not yet up; I'll update this in the morning when they get loaded.

Monday brings Duke to Kansas City to take on Marquette (knock on wood, this should end the o'fer the BCS streak). Virginia could also score a huge upset if they can manage to knock of Washington in Maui.

[1]Duke in Kansas City vs. [33]Marquette
[30]Clemson in USVI vs. [49]Seton Hall
[52]Boston College hosts [188]Holy Cross
[68]Virginia in Maui vs. [16]Washington
[138]Wake Forest hosts [232]Winthrop

Tuesday hopefully hosts the possibility of the ACC's first pre-season tourney win in Kansas City, Virginia's second round game in Maui, and three gimme games.

[1]Duke in Kansas City vs. [20]Kansas State/[36]Gonzaga
[68]Virginia in Maui vs. [5]Kentucky/[92]Oklahoma
[27]Florida State hosts [248]Mercer
[13]North Carolina hosts [213]UNC-Asheville
[29]Maryland hosts [304]Delaware State
[138]Wake Forest hosts [301]Marist

Wednesday

[68]Virginia in Maui vs. TBD
[60]Miami hosts [259]McNeese State

Thursday features Virginia Tech and Boston College kickstarting their preseason tournaments in Anaheim and Orlando respectively.

[39]Virginia Tech in Anaheim vs. [256]Cal St. Northridge
[52]Boston College in Orlando vs. [38]Texas A&M

Friday gives us Georgia Tech headed to Atlantic City for the Legends Classic, as well as semifinal matchups in the 76 and Old Spice classics.

[39]Virginia Tech in Anaheim vs. [51]Oklahoma State/[163]Depaul
[52]Boston College in Orlando vs. [15]Wisconsin/[288]Manhattan
[81]Georgia Tech in Atlantic City vs. [64]UTEP
[30]Clemson hosts [267]South Carolina State
[29]Maryland hosts [261]Elon

Saturday I'm personally very excited about as I'm taking a brief road trip down to Portland to see the Devils take on Oregon - my first in person Duke game since 2006. It's also the headline of a generally unexciting Saturday slate

[1]Duke in Portland vs. [121]Oregon
[81]Georgia Tech in Atlantic City vs. [9]Syracuse/[83]Michigan
[37]NC State hosts [333]Fairleigh Dickinson
[60]Miami visits [291]Florida-Gulf Coast

Sunday gives us the final round of the Old Spice and 76 tournaments (potentially a Virginia Tech/Stanford matchup?), a chance for a big win by Florida State as they host Florida. And UNC looks to get some revenge on Charleston.

[39]Virginia Tech in Anaheim (TBD)
[52]Boston College in Orlando (TBD)
[27]Florida State hosts [21]Florida
[13]UNC hosts [111]Charleston

ACC Non-Conference Record: 30-14
Record vs. BCS: 0-8
AEC: 2-0
A-Sun: 5-2
Big 10: 0-2
Big 12: 0-1
Big East: 0-3
Big South: 2-0
Big West: 1-0
Colonial: 3-2
CUSA: 1-1
Ind: 2-0
Ivy: 1-1
MAAC: 1-0
MAC: 1-0
MEAC: 1-0
NEC: 1-0
OVC: 1-0
Pac-10: 0-1
Patriot: 1-0
SEC: 0-1
Southern: 5-0
Sun Belt: 1-0

[juise]

Great summary for the week. Thanks for posting. It's also great to have a central place to talk ACC hoops as the games unfold.


Saturday I'm personally very excited about as I'm taking a brief road trip down to Portland to see the Devils take on Oregon - my first in person Duke game since 2006.

I am in the same boat... well, except for the traveling. My last game was watching JJ and #1 Duke dismantle #2 Texas in NJ. I can't believe it's been 6 years. My freshman year Thanksgiving break (2000) was the last time Duke came to Portland and who knows when it will happen again. This game will be especially fun since my wife is a Duck alumnus (the fun comes in that she will have an interest in the game, but won't care enough to be mad at me afterward). What a treat to have Duke playing a few miles away!

[Namtilal]

I don't see a thread on the first page about the State-Georgetown game. I see it was tied at the half. How did State collapse so bad in the second half? Would having their big man healthy have made a difference?

[Olympic Fan]

I find it hard to believe that barely a week into the season, the ACC has just two unbeaten teams left -- Duke and Florida State.

Both face serious tests this week -- Duke with two games in Kansas City against Marquette and either K-State or Gonzaga; FSU against Florida.

I admit that I am most surprised by Miami's loss to Rutgers and Clemson's loss to ODU. Those were games I thought good mid-level ACC teams sould -- and should win. I thought UNC might lose in Puerto Rico, but I didn't expect them to lose twice.

Wow .. I've been following the ACC for 50 years and I can't remember a season that's gotten off to such a bad start for the league.

[pfrduke]

Now updated with ratings.

[MChambers]

I find it hard to believe that barely a week into the season, the ACC has just two unbeaten teams left -- Duke and Florida State.

Both face serious tests this week -- Duke with two games in Kansas City against Marquette and either K-State or Gonzaga; FSU against Florida.

I admit that I am most surprised by Miami's loss to Rutgers and Clemson's loss to ODU. Those were games I thought good mid-level ACC teams sould -- and should win. I thought UNC might lose in Puerto Rico, but I didn't expect them to lose twice.

Wow .. I've been following the ACC for 50 years and I can't remember a season that's gotten off to such a bad start for the league.

0-8 against BCS teams. That's unbelievable.

[Wander]

It's worth noting that with how bad the ACC appears to be, the next two week stretch - Marquette, Kansas State/Gonzaga, Oregon, Michigan State, Butler - is likely the most challenging part of the schedule until the NCAA tournament for Duke. That's crazy.

[pfrduke]

Edited to add the Clemson-Seton Hall game. Since it tips before Duke-Marquette, it could (hopefully) be the ACC's first BCS opponent win.

[pfrduke]

Edited again to add Wake's two PNIT consolation games against Winthrop and Marist.

[tbyers11]

Thumbs up for Clemson hitting their FTs in OT to beat Seton Hall.

2 big thumbs down for Wake Forest getting handled rather easily at home by Winthrop. How bad are the Demon Deacons going to be this year?

[timmy c]

UVA go throttled by Washington, 106-63. Wake is horrible, but UVA is looking to keep them company.

[JasonEvans]

UVA go throttled by Washington, 106-63. Wake is horrible, but UVA is looking to keep them company.

Dissent. UVA is bad, but they are nowhere near Wake bad.

Wake is bad on historic levels for an ACC team. They will seriously struggle to win 10 games. They are fortunate that Ga Tech and Virginia both look worse than usual for ACC bottom-tier teams, which may give Wake a shot at winning a game or two in the conference. In a normal ACC year, this Wake club would not only go 0-16, they would consider it an accomplishment to only lose by 10 points.

--Jason "yes, I am really, really down on Wake this season" Evans

[devildeac]

Thumbs up for Clemson hitting their FTs in OT to beat Seton Hall.

2 big thumbs down for Wake Forest getting handled rather easily at home by Winthrop. How bad are the Demon Deacons going to be this year?

Winthrop and Stetson may have more acc MBB wins than Weak Forest this year (sic). Maybe I shoul be devil**** for the next several months.

[Slackerb]

State's loss to Georgetown wasn't a bad loss at all.

It definitely exposed their youth, and you could tell the younger guys were rattled. Smith's absence was definitely felt, as that offense is designed to run around him and without him, it forces guys to be the center of an offense when they are not used to it.

Howell and Painter have played with in Smith's absence, but they aren't primary scorers. The Pack started settling for jump shots in the second half, and started bombing 3 point attempt after 3 point attempt in order to try to claw back in.

In short, they panicked a bit and with no real leadership on the floor...got dusted in the second half.

But they also played with Georgetown for the first half, and played well.

[Olympic Fan]

Obviously, Duke-K-State is the headliner, one that will tell us a lot about the Blue Devils.

But there are five other ACC games on the docket tonight. Three SHOULD be easy ACC wins (I hesitate to be too confident the way things are going so far this season): Mercer at FSU, Delaware State at Maryland and UNC-Asheville (which has actually been playing pretty well) at UNC.

Two games will be a little tougher ... well, everything is tough for Wake these days, but they have a real good chance to get win No. 3 tonight when 0-4 Marist, a truely dreadful team, visits Joel Coliseum.

BTW: did anybody see the news that Melvin Tabb, one of their top recruits, has taken a temporary leave of absence from the Deacon team -- reportedly to concentrate on his academics ... maybe also to recover from mono. We already have Chennault out 8-10 weeks ... with the season already swirling down the toilet, maybe they redshirt both of them?

Final game of the night is Oklahoma vs. Virginia in Maui ... this isn't a vintage Oklahoma team, so maybe it's an opportunity for the Cavs to give the ACC a rare quality win ... but I'd be surprised if Capel's boys blow it.

[Bob Green]

UVA go throttled by Washington, 106-63. Wake is horrible, but UVA is looking to keep them company.

Washington has a really good team.

[94duke]

Dissent. UVA is bad, but they are nowhere near Wake bad.

Wake is bad on historic levels for an ACC team. They will seriously struggle to win 10 games. They are fortunate that Ga Tech and Virginia both look worse than usual for ACC bottom-tier teams, which may give Wake a shot at winning a game or two in the conference. In a normal ACC year, this Wake club would not only go 0-16, they would consider it an accomplishment to only lose by 10 points.

--Jason "yes, I am really, really down on Wake this season" Evans

Seriously, when was the last time a team in the ACC won less than 10 games overall? A team would have to be pretty bad to go something like 8-20 for the season.
:p

[Olympic Fan]

It's not over yet, but Virginia is SMOKING Oklahoma in Maui.

Sorry for Jeff Capel and I know Oklahoma has slipped a long way in the last two years (they barely beat NCCU at home a week ago), still this is a surprising game.

In fact, I'd consider it the first positive surprise for an ACC team this season.

And, whatever else, it demonstrates that while Virginia might not be that good this season, they are no where near as bad as Wake Forest.

[gw67]

I watched my first game on a computer last night as the Terps easily handled Delaware State. Not much of note except that Gregory had his second good game in a row (14 points, 8 rebs, 3 assists, 3 steals and a block) and the backup center, Weijs, continues to improve with 6 points, 4 rebs and 2 blocks in a handful of minutes. Oh, and the Terps made 14 of 17 free throws. If they had done that against Pitt, the outcome may have been different.

gw67

[Wander]

Sorry for Jeff Capel and I know Oklahoma has slipped a long way in the last two years


Putting it lightly. Oklahoma 64, Chaminade 68.

[-jk]

Putting it lightly. Oklahoma 64, Chaminade 68.

I don't put too much into Maui results. Too many time-zones away for everyone. When I went, there were too many players getting cramps, from all teams - well except Chaminade.

It was a fun trip - I had a blast, and the team seemed to, too. I'm just not sure what conclusions can be drawn from it.

-jk

[Kedsy]

Putting it lightly. Oklahoma 64, Chaminade 68.

What does that say (if anything) about Kentucky, who was only beating Oklahoma by 6 with a minute and half to play?

[Wander]

I don't put too much into Maui results. Too many time-zones away for everyone. When I went, there were too many players getting cramps, from all teams - well except Chaminade.

It was a fun trip - I had a blast, and the team seemed to, too. I'm just not sure what conclusions can be drawn from it.


I see your point, but all you're saying is that Chaminade has a bigger home court advantage than is normal (and I agree with you). I don't care if you're playing on Mars, you shouldn't be getting routed by UVA and losing to Chaminade. I know exactly what conclusion to draw from this: Oklahoma sucks.