ACC Discussion

[McCamish Maniacs]

I know someone posted about the Miami win, but I thought we should have a thread for general ACC basketball discussion.

From tonight:

Miami with the huge upset of Florida
-but-
Clemson goes down to Winthrop...

 

[Peacone36]

Ah, UF didnt have Walker, Finny-Smith, just lost a guard to transfer. Not a huge deal.

 

[Stinger90]

I agree @Peacone36 but it does count as a win for Miami (rival game) and the ACC against an early ranked opponent.

 

[kg01]

I watched that UF/UM game down the stretch. Miami got a couple of wild 3's to go late and UF had no answer once they lost momentum. Miami could be a dangerous little team. They're well-coached and have a few of those annoying guards that can make it from deep.

 

[GTrob21]

GT over UGA, Miami over Florida, Louisville over Minn, are there any other "Good" wins by the ACC?? B.C's loss to Umass isn't that bad. UMASS was a tourney team last year, don't know what they got back, but still not a bad loss. Clemson's loss to Winthrop is the first "Bad" loss of the conference.

The ACC has some big games coming up here soon. I however have been impressed by what I have seen. I think Louisville is good, Duke is good, UNC looks improved, Notre Dame looks solid, Virginia is good, Syracuse also looked solid, and then you add into that teams like GT, NCState, PITT, Miami and even Wake, who looks improved.

The pundits who were talking about how great the ACC will be might be right. Our league looks really deep and really tough

 

[Peacone36]

I cant read that last post enough. "ND looks solid" (Auguste making huge strides) and "Wake looks improved. "

Im like the Swami (2 games into the season during cupcake city)

 

[GTrob21]

I cant read that last post enough. "ND looks solid" (Auguste making huge strides) and "Wake looks improved. "

Im like the Swami (2 games into the season during cupcake city)

Call me an optimist then, I can only judge by what I have seen and what I saw last year. I stand by the Notre Dame comment and the wake comment. They Look solid after watching their games.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I cant read that last post enough. "ND looks solid" (Auguste making huge strides) and "Wake looks improved. "

Im like the Swami (2 games into the season during cupcake city)

Ugh, you made me think of Dickie V when I read that.

 

[Peacone36]

@GTrob21

No no, I like it, I said before the season I liked those two teams to exceed expectations. And see, I really (!) enjoy being correct.

Yeah, Im that effing guy......

 

[dtm1997]

FSU will probably exceed expectations also.

 

[Peacone36]

Syracuse takes a loss to Cal
BC gets a nice win over Noodles and NM
Miami beats Drexel

 

[CuseJacket]

I will be surprised if Syracuse makes the NIT this year, let alone NCAA tournament.

 

[dtm1997]

I will be surprised if Syracuse makes the NIT this year, let alone NCAA tournament.

Pundits are calling for them to make the NIT, generally speaking. Tough sledding with minimal PG depth/experience, as we can attest to, but still quite a bit of talent.

So far I'm off on FSU, after they were beat by Northeastern at home.

 

[CuseJacket]

Pundits are calling for them to make the NIT, generally speaking. Tough sledding with minimal PG depth/experience, as we can attest to, but still quite a bit of talent.

So far I'm off on FSU, after they were beat by Northeastern at home.

Pundits probably haven't watched their first 3 games and struggle to look past the name on the front of the jersey. This is the worst Syracuse team I've seen since I remember watching in the 80's.

The only saving grace is that they are young and therefore may improve. Right now there is absolutely nothing they can fall back on offensively, defensively, or individually. I don't think I'm one to generally overreact, but right now they play like a glorified AAU team.

 

[RamblinRed]

FSU almost always loses to someone unexpected early. i expect them to be an NCAA caliber team before the year is over.

Syracuse is suffering from losing both Ennis and Grant early. They really weren't ready to replace them and then with Coleman not getting over his injury that hurt their frontcourt. They have some talent but it is mostly FR/SO. I'm not convinced they will be an NCAA team -especially if Joseph continues to struggle at PG (I think he is more of a SG), but they will not be easy to beat either.

 

[dtm1997]

Yeah. The pundits are still thinking NIT possibilities after last night for Cuse. Upside for them, as Red points out, is they've got a lot of talent already in the door and just signed a great class.

 

[CuseJacket]

I understand everything you guys are saying. I also love that you know what you're talking about.

Still my perspective is that most pundits will not downgrade a preseason prediction from fringe-NCAA team all the way to out of the NIT after three games. It's similar to the behavior of preseason rankings and an established "understanding" of how quickly teams rise and fall from those expectations. Until someone tells me otherwise though, my belief is that few pundits watched their first three games against Kennesaw St., Hampton, and Cal. They were flat bad in all three.

Let's see if Syracuse can overcome favored Iowa tonight at MSG. As a Syracuse fan it hurts to type those words let alone think about the reality of what it means.

Also Georgia Tech is head and shoulders ahead of where Syracuse is right now and it's not close.

 

[dtm1997]

Iowa is very good & talented, so painful as that may be to type, take heart in that.

 

[Peacone36]

Iowa didn't look very good last night against Texas, and Texas didn't look very spectacular either.

 

[RamblinRed]

Iowa didn't look very good last night against Texas, and Texas didn't look very spectacular either.

I don't think the average fan understands how close in parity teams are now. There are a few that are head and shoulders above - KY, Duke. But frankly, most teams have obvious flaws. The key becomes what teams improve the most in-season and which ones do the coaches and players do the best job of playing to their strengths while masking their weaknesses. Those are the teams that will win more than they lose.

GT is in the mix along with probably 100 other teams.
There are things to like about this team (more than i expected actually), and areas to be concerned about. How well does GT play to its strengths and limit its weaknesses? That will determine the wins (along with any unforseen injuries - last year those just killed the team).

RamblinRed