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View Full Version : This Week in the ACC - 11/11-11/17



pfrduke
11-11-2013, 09:07 AM
Opening weekend was a bit of a disappointment for the conference. All four games that were supposed to be competitive ended up being losses (competitive losses - two by 1 point, another in overtime - but losses nonetheless). And the Miami Hurricanes did their best to remind everyone that Shane Larkin, Malcolm Grant, Durand Scott, Kenny Kadji, Reggie Johnson, Julian Gamble, and Trey McKinney-Jones aren't walking through that door this year. Yes, they obviously lost a lot of talent, but what's there should still have been able to beat the St. Francis Terriers at home. All told, 12-5 is not really where the conference wanted to be.

In more optimistic news, it's pre-season tournament time! (well, sort of - this week has only host-site action) Last year continued the three-year stretch of not-that-great performance from the conference although it was slightly better than the stink-bomb from two years ago. Again, Duke won its contest, taking the Battle 4 Atlantis crown from an extremely difficult field. FSU turned in somewhat of a surprise victory in Brooklyn, although the field wasn't great; still, getting a second tourney champ was one more than the year before. Here's how last year looked for everyone:

BC was 0-3 in Charleston, finishing 8th. Clemson was 2-1 in Orlando, finishing 5th. Duke was 3-0 in the Bahamas to win. FSU was 2-0 in Brooklyn to win. Georgia Tech was 2-1 in Anaheim, finishing 3rd. Miami was 1-2 in Honolulu, finishing 4th. UNC was 2*-1 in Maui, finishing 3rd. NC State was 2-1 in Puerto Rico, finishing 2nd. Virginia dropped a home game to Delaware and didn't even make the MSG portion of the PNIT (kudos, by the way, to the PNIT for continuing to have all games, including the host-site games, count). The Hokies went 1-1 in Vegas, finishing 2nd. And Wake went 1-2 in the Virgin Islands, finishing 7th. To sum up, in the neutral site games, the ACC went 16-12 (up from 14-16 the year before), went 2-2 in title games, and had 7 of the 11 teams finish in the top half of the neutral court slate (up from 3 the year before).

This year, 13 of the 15 teams play in exempt tournaments - only NCSU and Notre Dame are out.** We've already had one tournament game - Virginia Tech's home loss to USC Upstate was the first round of the Coaches vs. Cancer. That loss will not prevent the Hokies from traveling to Brooklyn to get housed by Michigan State in a couple weeks.

*only 1 D-I win, thanks to Chaminade
**NCSU and Notre Dame play in exempt "events" that I refuse to count as tournaments. They each host 3 games against bad teams (for which losses don't matter for the final matchup) and then play a "Classic" event against a pre-determined neutral site opponent. This is not meaningfully different from, for example, Duke's December game against UCLA - they're just neutral site games between major conference opponents.

Let's see what's on tap for a busy week ahead:

Monday has a couple of cupcake matchups. Miami hopes that Georgia Southern has less bite than the Terriers.

[56]Georgia Tech hosts [275]Delaware State
[95]Miami hosts [293]Georgia Southern

Tuesday brings one of the marquee early season game not just for the conference but for the country as a whole with Duke on Kansas in the nightcap of the Champions Classic in Chicago (the undercard isn't bad either, matching up the teams currently ranked 1 and 2). You may hear a few words about Jabari Parker and Andrew Wiggings. That's not the only good matchup of the day. ACC teams are sprinkled in throughout ESPN's 24 hours of Tuesday hoops with chances for impressive victories - Virginia Tech hosts West Virginia, NC State travels to Cincinnati, and (in another top 25 tilt) Virginia hosts VCU. Wake, Pitt, and Syracuse also have home games against less competitive opponents.

[175]Virginia Tech hosts [78]West Virginia
[67]NC State at [47]Cincinnati
[15]Virginia hosts [13]Virginia Commonwealth
[18]Pittsburgh hosts [128]Fresno State
[103]Wake Forest hosts [275]VMI
[10]Syracuse hosts [189]Fordham
[3]Duke vs. [8]Kansas in Chicago


Wednesday puts FSU on the road against the Central Florida Knights. Maryland gets a cupcake home game, with newly-minted D-I Abilene Christian coming to town (yes, Abilene Christian is at least nominally a Division I basketball team); ditto Clemson

[81]Clemson hosts [275]Delaware State
[88]Florida State at [108]Central Florida
[35]Maryland hosts [328]Abilene Christian

Thursday has Miami looking at another relative cupcake at home (although Texas Southern typically is one of the more competitive SWAC teams). BC starts its tournament play with Toledo coming to town - win or lose, they're headed to the Garden for the 2k Sports' final two rounds.

[95]Miami hosts [197]Texas Southern
[60]Boston College hosts [136]Toledo

Friday has two more conference tournament games, again at host sites. Virginia Tech looks to do better in the second Coaches vs. Cancer matchup than it did in the first, and UNC gets its Hall of Fame tip-off slate started with Holy Cross. In other action, Duke and Wake have home games against what project to be some of their easiest opposition and Georgia Tech hits the road to take on in-state rival Georgia.

[3]Duke hosts [273]Florida Atlantic
[103]Wake Forest hosts [336]Presbyterian
[56]Georgia Tech at [90]Georgia
[175]Virginia Tech hosts [209]Western Carolina
[9]North Carolina hosts [195]Holy Cross

Saturday has Virginia heading to Charlotte for a semi-away game against Davidson. Syracuse a Colgate team that gave Wake a good matchup last Friday. NC State plays a team whose mascot is a Camel.

[15]Virginia vs. [93]Davidson in Charlotte
[10]Syracuse hosts [294]Colgate
[67]NC State hosts [292]Campbell

Sunday has heavy action with three more host-site tournament games and four other teams getting action. UNC, BC, and Pitt all fall into the first category - the Heels' opponent is Belmont, a team that manages to be pesky almost every year. Clemson and Maryland have major-conference opponents, with the Tigers hosting this year's annual matchup with South Carolina and Maryland getting an Oregon State squad that lost at home this weekend to Coppin State.

[28]Notre Dame hosts [108]Indiana State
[88]Florida State hosts [332]Tennessee-Martin
[9]North Carolina hosts [98]Belmont
[81]Clemson hosts [115]South Carolina
[18]Pittsburgh hosts [343]Howard
[35]Maryland hosts [124]Oregon State
[60]Boston College hosts [273]Florida Atlantic

ACC Non-Conference Record: 12-5
ACC Record vs. BCS: 0-2
American Athletic: 0-1
Atlantic Sun: 3-1
Atlantic Ten: 0-1
Big East: 0-1
Big South: 1-0
Colonial: 1-0
Horizon: 1-0
Ivy: 1-0
MAC: 1-0
MEAC: 1-0
Northeast: 0-1
Patriot: 1-0
Southern: 2-0

sagegrouse
11-11-2013, 09:30 AM
thank you for including the Duke games in the ACC Action thread. In past years, other Threadsters have not. And I never seem to be able to remember what night Duke is playing.

sage

pfrduke
11-12-2013, 09:23 PM
Good win for Virginia Tech over West Virginia, but tough losses by State and UVA at Cincinnati and at home to VCU, respectively. The latter needed a 28' 3-pointer with one second left to get the job done, but UVA squandered a late 6 point lead.

Duvall
11-17-2013, 07:53 PM
Has anyone noticed that the new super-ACC isn't that great at winning basketball games?