interesting night last night in the conference.
After scoring 24 points over the weekend, NC ST scored 4X that (96) and still lost by almost 20 points - in a game that wasn't that close. UNC was getting serious home cooking, but would have won without it. If you can handle NCST's press you can get alot of easy buckets - that doesn't bode well for GT.
FSU pummeled Syracuse in the Dome. Syracuse only had 4 guys score and one of those - Buddy Boeheim had 6.
Duke, like against GT, was down 2 at half to BC and then remembered who they are and pummeled BC 52-25 in the second half.
Wake and Pitt was the most interesting. Wake basically had the game won, then did a typical Wake fade late and was down 2 in the closing seconds. Pitt failed to corral a defensive rebound, Wake got it and scored at the buzzer to send it to overtime. Wake managed to hang on in OT by 2. Their win makes Miami temporarily the last place team in the conference.
ACC looks like it has 5 teams that are not only locks for the NCAA, but likely Top 4 seeds - Duke, UVA, UNC, VT and L'ville.
FSU and Syracuse both look like solid NCAA picks. They have solid numbers against Quadrant 1 and 2 teams. FSU would likely be ahead of Syracuse on the bracket, despite having a worse conference record.
The #8 team in the conference right now is NCST. They are an interesting team to look at. Their NET rating is high - #35 (higher than Syracuse) - but right now i think their chances of making the Tourney are really low. They have an awful SoS (352 OOC, 261 overall), they played 8 games against teams ranked 280 or worse - including 6 below 300 (in comparison GT played 3 below 280 and 2 below 300 and its SoS is 213 OOC and 52 overall).
They are 1-7 against quadrant 1 (home win over Auburn), with only 2 quadrant 1 games left. They could easily win 20 games and go 9-9 in the ACC and still have very little shot because their record is just so full of fluff. Clemson probably has a better shot than NCST and they don't have much of a shot either. But at least their SoS is good (98 OOC, 25 overall), but they are 0-6 against Quadrant 1.
if you want to see the team sheets the NCAA keeps them at this location
https://extra.ncaa.org/solutions/rpi/SitePages/Home.aspx
FWIW, the winner of the GT game tonight will be in 8th place in the current ACC standings. if Clemson wins they will be in 8th by themselves at 4-5. If GT wins it will be in a tie for 8th with NCST at 4-6.