ACC Rankings

[gofurman]

I have hopes that Duke can finish third behind Syracuse and UVA. Pitt is really struggling and lucky to not have lost to VT or Miami . And VT was at home - unless VT has changed that has to be the easiest team on your schedule...

In their last sevral games Pitt has lost to Syracuse by 5 (impressive).. beat Clemson by 30 (impressive)..won at Maryland (good)... lost to Duke by 15 (I thought Duke could win but not that easily)..lost to UVA by 3 (no shame in that)... BUT THEN won at Miami in OT and at home in double OT v VT? They are lucky they don't already have another loss. In upcoming games they have the Cuse at home, at UNC, FSU at home, at ND and at Clemson - among others. I think we can finish 13-5 and so I hope Pitt loses 6 total. The way they are playing I can see them finishing with 6 losses..

Thoughts? Strange how they crushed Clemson and not struggle at home vs VT??? Unfortunately I see Pitt and UNC on difft trajectories right now - Pitt falling and UNC risin'

[jimrowe0]

I have hopes we finish first in the conference. Syracuse has a tough stretch with UVA, duke, Pitt, Clemson. Virginia has a much easier road. However, in my opinion they could lose to anyone. Their game today with Gtech was close with a about 6 minutes left. They still have to play Pitt, Maryland twice, Clemson, and a slumping notre dame. We have cuse at home and the UNC games. We should be able to win the others games.

We will see how the chips fall, but I'm betting we finish first or second.

[gofurman]

I have hopes we finish first in the conference. Syracuse has a tough stretch with UVA, duke, Pitt, Clemson. Virginia has a much easier road. However, in my opinion they could lose to anyone. Their game today with Gtech was close with a about 6 minutes left. They still have to play Pitt, Maryland twice, Clemson, and a slumping notre dame. We have cuse at home and the UNC games. We should be able to win the others games.

We will see how the chips fall, but I'm betting we finish first or second.

based on UVAs schedule I just don't see us catching them. And they find a way to win... I would take a solid third. We have UNC twice and the Cuse once more - three very hard games. 13-5 would hopefully get us third behind CUse and UVA. I hope we win all basic games - including today, just ask Pitt how hard every game is... - and can get at least one of what I see as the 3 hardest- Cuse home, UNC away, UNC home

[vick]

based on UVAs schedule I just don't see us catching them. And they find a way to win... I would take a solid third. We have UNC twice and the Cuse once more - three very hard games. 13-5 would hopefully get us third behind CUse and UVA. I hope we win all basic games - including today, just ask Pitt how hard every game is... - and can get at least one of what I see as the 3 hardest- Cuse home, UNC away, UNC home

"At least one" of three games in which we should be favored is a little pessimistic to "hope" for. I think a better expectation is that zero would be very troubling, one disappointing, two about expected, and three very good.

[davekay1971]

"At least one" of three games in which we should be favored is a little pessimistic to "hope" for. I think a better expectation is that zero would be very troubling, one disappointing, two about expected, and three very good.

My fearless forecast: If Duke wins at UNCheat on Wednesday, we will not lose another regular season game. That's our toughest remaining road game, and we're turning into a pretty nasty animal at home.

[BlueDevilBrowns]

My fearless forecast: If Duke wins at UNCheat on Wednesday, we will not lose another regular season game. That's our toughest remaining road game, and we're turning into a pretty nasty animal at home.

Agreed with one slight alteration...

We're turning into a pretty nasty animal no matter where we play.

I see us finishing no less than 3rd in the standings with an outside shot at a tie for 1st if we win out.

It's still hard to believe that our last outright regular season title was 2006.

[CDu]

I think it is going to be incredibly tough to finish better than 3rd. UVa has a very easy remaining schedule and a 2-game lead on us. Syracuse has 3 games on us in the loss column. I would say we have a near certainty of finishing no worse than third with an outside shot at 2nd and little to no shot at first.

If I had to guess the order now, I would say that the UVa/Cuse game will decide first and second with us in 3rd.

[Bob Green]

If I had to guess the order now, I would say that the UVa/Cuse game will decide first and second with us in 3rd.

Finishing in 3rd is important in order to stay on the opposite side of the bracket from the #1 Seed. I'll go out on a limb and predict Syracuse, Virginia and Duke as the top three. Pitt is shaky right now so I'm not at all certain they will end up #4. Lots and lots of basketball left to be played.

[Olympic Fan]

Finishing in 3rd is important in order to stay on the opposite side of the bracket from the #1 Seed. I'll go out on a limb and predict Syracuse, Virginia and Duke as the top three. Pitt is shaky right now so I'm not at all certain they will end up #4. Lots and lots of basketball left to be played.

Long way to go, but it's fun to guess, so let's look at the potential brackets.

Not sure it's a big deal to stay #3 to avoid the No. 1 seed -- who is the No. 1 seed? Virginia is right on Syracuse's heels and they have a much easier schedule remaining. Are you trying to avoid a Duke-Virginia semifinal by playing a Duke-Syracuse semifinal? Either way, the semifinals will be tough.

Where it does made a difference is avoiding the 4-5 QUARTERFINAL ... which could easily match up with UNC or Pitt (if we drop to four, one of those two probably gets three) on Friday ... then the No. 1 seed Saturday ...

The path to the title is tough anyway, but I'd like to start against Clemson/Maryland/FSU (the likely No. 6 seed) than UNC or Pitt. Obviously, upsets can change a lot, but you have to project the worse.

Right now, there's also a pretty good battle going on for 10th place -- and a spot in Wednesday's first round (which means you have to win five games to win the title). It's a pretty safe bet that Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, Miami, Boston College and Virginia Tech will be five of the six teams that play on Wednesday. Who is No. 10? Right now, it's Wake Forest, but a bunch of half-decent teams are right there -- FSU, Maryland and NC State are all within one game of 10th in the loss column.