ACC in the NCAA

GTNavyNuke

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With Syracuse (3) loss to Dayton (11) and after the unbelievable Dukie (3) loss to Mercer (14) we only have UVa (1) and UNC (6) left.

Doesn't make the ACC look that special. Gotta root for UVa to win it all - just like FSU did.
 

Omahajacket

Georgia Tech Fan
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When NC state was up 16 on SLU I was feeling good about our conference performance. All went downhill from there
 

CuseJacket

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Unlike the rest of Syracuse's losses where you have to give the other team credit, yesterday was a chokejob/meltdown/something uncharacteristic of the entire season. Their offense continued to struggle but was plenty good enough for them to find many barely contested shots within 7 feet of the basket, and it seemed like they missed every one of them until the last few minutes of the game.

Very very disappointed, though they probably weren't going to make a deep tournament run anyway.
 

CrackerJacket

Jolly Good Fellow
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Unlike the rest of Syracuse's losses where you have to give the other team credit, yesterday was a chokejob/meltdown/something uncharacteristic of the entire season. Their offense continued to struggle but was plenty good enough for them to find many barely contested shots within 7 feet of the basket, and it seemed like they missed every one of them until the last few minutes of the game.

Very very disappointed, though they probably weren't going to make a deep tournament run anyway.


What happened to those guys? They were 21-0 then melted down faster than an icecube in the oven.
 

CuseJacket

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What happened to those guys? They were 21-0 then melted down faster than an icecube in the oven.

25-0 actually. Injuries were part of the meltdown, but teams also figured out the recipe that worked to disrupt the offense. The reality is this year's team overachieved after losing 3 starters from last year. They very easily could have been 21-4 without the hype and no one would have lost sleep after a Dayton-esque debacle.

The possible silver lining to the meltdown is that Ennis and Grant may have played their way out of the NBA lottery discussion. If they come back there's no excuse for anything less than sweet 16 next year. And even that might be underachieving.
 

GTJackets

Ramblin' Wreck
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It's the beginning of the shift...

Florida wins it all establishing the SEC's status as the preeminent basketball conference in all the land. Meanwhile the ACC has become a football conference lead by reigning champs, FSU.
 

alaguy

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yes,this speaks really well for our bball team as we muddle AGAIN in a conference that shows little in NCAA, hmmmm
 

CuseJacket

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yes,this speaks really well for our bball team as we muddle AGAIN in a conference that shows little in NCAA, hmmmm

GT's performance this year was subpar but the NCAA tournament is not the way to gauge it. The SEC has 3 teams in the Sweet 16. That doesn't mean the SEC was a good conference all year; it means those three teams are playing well now.
 

alaguy

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GT's performance this year was subpar but the NCAA tournament is not the way to gauge it. The SEC has 3 teams in the Sweet 16. That doesn't mean the SEC was a good conference all year; it means those three teams are playing well now.

--maybe but it sure takes out our argument that we were stronger than our record because we played in such an overwhelming conf
 

jeffgt14

We don't quite suck as much anymore.
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GT's performance this year was subpar but the NCAA tournament is not the way to gauge it. The SEC has 3 teams in the Sweet 16. That doesn't mean the SEC was a good conference all year; it means those three teams are playing well now.
Yea. There’s no denying Florida and Kentucky were/are great teams this year. Kentucky is young and played like it some this year but they are still top 5 in talent. Tennessee played well enough to get in the tournament and drew some nice matchups (I even think they match up well against Michigan this week due to size advantage) but no other team in the SEC was very good at all.
 

Rodney Kent

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Kentucky, Kansas, UCLA, and Michigan are perennials. Their focus has always been on basketball, and they seem to always be near the top. For awhile, the ACC was the definte leader of the basketball conferences, but I have seen a little drop-off in the past few years. We still have some good basketball teams, but our sanction as the leading conference has been dwindling a little the last few years.

When a league has good teams from top to bottom, it makes the whole league become tougher to beat outside the conference. We have some teams lately that are beaten up on pretty regularly.
 

Rodney Kent

Ramblin' Wreck
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GTNavyNuke: Oops! There are some very strong teams left in the tournement which have shown a lot of consistency during the year. As we know, it is extremely hard for a shooter to be accurate every game. Sometimes, when you are in a rhythm, there is nobody that can stop you from scoring, however, when you are out of rhythm, you could not throw a rock in the ocean standing in front of it.

It seems the coaches of the more consistent teams continue to change their offense and defense around during the game to make up for the "out of rhythm" shooters. They will up the defensive pressure, drive to the basket, pass inside to the big men, etal, to overcome the missed outside shots. The good teams do not rely on all outside shots, or all shots inside the paint, they are constantly adapting to the flow of the game. However, the good teams that are left in the tournement appear to have the ability to do it all.

From here on in, the lucky one will win the tournement: that is the team that can maintain their consistency throughout the next few games. Almost any one of them could win it, or almost any of them can lose the next game. The big surprise so far is Dayton. It will be hard for Dayton to take it all the way, because they do not seem to have the overall athleticism as the others, but even Dayton could win if they do not have a bad shooting night. Luck and the call of the referees will have a great influence in the eventual winner.
 

jeffgt14

We don't quite suck as much anymore.
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Dayton is just the team this year that just plays harder than everyone else. I'm not saying it's impossible but when they play a team truly better than them they will most likely lose. It's like last year with FGCU. They played harder than everyone else until they got to Florida who was just physically better in every way and you could tell. I agree with the luck factor too though. They could very easily go play Florida and just shoot lights out and win or Florida could be bricking everything they throw up. I guess it's not really "luck" because you do have influence based on practice, work ethic, etc. but I don't know what else to call it because sometimes teams just go cold or hot for no apparent reason.
 

Rodney Kent

Ramblin' Wreck
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Today's games pretty much sums up the idea that all the teams left in the tournement were pretty good and not much difference between them. A missed shot here, an unneeded foul, a bad call by the ref, etal, and there were only a few points difference between the final results for each team. Each of those games could have easily gone the other way. Yes, when it gets down to the final eliminations a little luck goes a long way.

This is not to say a team who won is just lucky, but there is the element of luck that assists the final winner on the run to the title.
 
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