Another huge series this weekend as Tech travels to Durham. We are still a struggling team in all areas... nothing is easy for us. My wish: Win this series... get to 11 conference wins (minimum) and comfortable ahead of Duke, Pitt, & VT should tie-break scenarios come into play for seeding in the ACC tournament.
"We are still a struggling team in all areas... nothing is easy for us."
Evidence A: We barely beat a bad Pittsburgh team at home.
Evidence B: We got swept by one of the worst georgia teams in a long time.
Evidence C: We held UIC to 1 single run in the entire series and still didn't win the series.
Now, having said that, going 2-1 against Duke and 1-2 against Virginia at a minimum (3-3) should be enough to finish (12-18 in this scenario, we're 9-15 right now)) as high as #11. It would put us ahead of Boston College (currently 8-19), Virginia Tech (currently 8-16), Duke (currently 9-15), and Pittsburgh (currently 8-16). We already have tie breakers against Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh, so going at least 2-1 against Duke would cement that one too. All these teams finish with at least 1 difficult series left and 1 manageable series, just like us. So I think a 3-3 finish would put us at #11. Virginia has really fallen off this year, so winning more than 1 game at home against them seems a lot more reasonable than it would have a month ago.
Seeds #13, #14, #15 miss the ACC Tournament. So we have gotta finish ahead of 3 of these 4. Boston College is all but a lock to be last (why are they last in EVERY SPORT). And we already have tie breakers against 2 of the remaining 3. SO THERE IS A LOT LEFT TO PLAY FOR, just to make the tournament.
In the tournament, unfortunately I have bad news, whether we finish the #11 seed or the #12 seed. 1 of those 2 seeds will draw Louisville (they will either finish #1 or #2) at home, since the tournament is in Louisville. That is a disaster. North Carolina's remaining 2 series are against terrible Virginia Tech and Duke. Louisville is only up 1 game over North Carolina (with no direct head to head) and finishes @ Clemson and home against Florida State. I don't know what the head to heads look like, but its going to be a crap shoot for #1 and #2.
Seed #12 gets put into a round robin in the ACC Tournament with the #1 and #8 seed. That is possibly #1 Louisville AT HOME (the tourney is in Louisville) and someone like NC State or Miami. Obviously NC State or Miami are winnable. Louisville at home would be awful.
Seed #11 gets put into a round robin with the #2 seed and #7 seed. That is possibly North Carolina and again someone like NC State or Miami, or possibly Florida State.
And the more I think about it, drawing North Carolina is only marginably better. But given homefield advantage, I would choose to play them over Louisville 10 times out of 10. Louisville has 20 ACC wins and North Carolina has 19. Then you go all the way down to 16-8 Clemson before you get to the next team. So those 2 are it, and both will suck to play. But better to have a chance by being in the tournament than having no chance.