davekay1971
02-04-2012, 09:35 AM
Since most ACC teams have played 7-8 games, I thought it was a reasonable time to take a look at the ACC standings at (roughly) the midpoint of the season.
The non-surprises: Duke, UNC, and FSU at the top of the charts. It's probably a surprise to most to see FSU the true leader of this cluster, having beaten (brutalized) UNC and beaten (at Cameron) us. I would have expected FSU to have lost at least one of those two, but, there they are, their only loss being an embarrassment at Clemson, and ahead of us blue bloods on the head-to-head. My suspicion is that Duke, UNC, and FSU will battle for the top seed in the ACC Tournament right down to the wire.
Two big surprises follow: UVa at 5-2 and NCSU at 5-3 (very likely to be 6-3 after Wake comes to Raleigh today). UVa starts the second half of their season by going to FSU. I'd expect FSU to win that, but if UVa does, it puts the Cavs squarely in the top tier of the ACC. Whodathunk that at the beginning of the season? On the flip side, if UVa loses, they also have to face a game at UNC coming up shortly (likely going from 5-2 to 6-4 quickly). NCSU has a good chance to be 7-3 coming to Cameron, but then they have Duke, UNC, and FSU in a 3 game murderer's row. Still, with that tough stretch behind them, if they're 7-6 with three winnable games to go, they're doing better than many would have expected.
The next cluster is Miami, Maryland, and Clemson. Miami at 4-3 (hopefully 4-4 by Monday) is doing okay mainly by beating really crappy teams, but at least they're winning more than they're losing against those teams. Maryland is interesting, improving with Stoglin and Len, but obviously a limited team. Clemson is a bit of a disappointment, but still has signs of life.
Finally, it gets ugly. It was pretty well expected that the bottom of the ACC would be the biggest group of atrocious that the conference has seen in, well, ever. What wasn't expected was for VT to be in that group. But there they are, providing a fourth for Wake, BC, and Ga Tech.
On the whole, I see the biggest surprises as Virginia, NCSU, and (on the flip side) Va Tech.
The non-surprises: Duke, UNC, and FSU at the top of the charts. It's probably a surprise to most to see FSU the true leader of this cluster, having beaten (brutalized) UNC and beaten (at Cameron) us. I would have expected FSU to have lost at least one of those two, but, there they are, their only loss being an embarrassment at Clemson, and ahead of us blue bloods on the head-to-head. My suspicion is that Duke, UNC, and FSU will battle for the top seed in the ACC Tournament right down to the wire.
Two big surprises follow: UVa at 5-2 and NCSU at 5-3 (very likely to be 6-3 after Wake comes to Raleigh today). UVa starts the second half of their season by going to FSU. I'd expect FSU to win that, but if UVa does, it puts the Cavs squarely in the top tier of the ACC. Whodathunk that at the beginning of the season? On the flip side, if UVa loses, they also have to face a game at UNC coming up shortly (likely going from 5-2 to 6-4 quickly). NCSU has a good chance to be 7-3 coming to Cameron, but then they have Duke, UNC, and FSU in a 3 game murderer's row. Still, with that tough stretch behind them, if they're 7-6 with three winnable games to go, they're doing better than many would have expected.
The next cluster is Miami, Maryland, and Clemson. Miami at 4-3 (hopefully 4-4 by Monday) is doing okay mainly by beating really crappy teams, but at least they're winning more than they're losing against those teams. Maryland is interesting, improving with Stoglin and Len, but obviously a limited team. Clemson is a bit of a disappointment, but still has signs of life.
Finally, it gets ugly. It was pretty well expected that the bottom of the ACC would be the biggest group of atrocious that the conference has seen in, well, ever. What wasn't expected was for VT to be in that group. But there they are, providing a fourth for Wake, BC, and Ga Tech.
On the whole, I see the biggest surprises as Virginia, NCSU, and (on the flip side) Va Tech.