I was bored so I decided to look at how our ACC schedule was set up. I'll put my predicted wins in bold.
UNC - Dec 5th. Early season match up where both teams are likely trying to figure exactly what is going on. I would really like to have Bubba for this game as I think his experience would really help in putting pressure on their back court, At home though I like our chances.
@Cuse - Dec 29th. First real road test and the real start of sustained ACC play. I think we could win but I can't predict it as we no longer have Moses to go off against them.
UL - Jan 1 Gotta have this one. If we can stay around .500 for the early portion of our schedule while the team can gel it would go a long ways. Very tough but winnable game.
@Duke - Jan 4th - First of two tuesday games after saturday games. On the road. @ Duke. Yeah.
ND - Jan 8th - dangerous game as they return a lot, but I like our chances at home.
@BC - Jan 12th Gotta have this one. BC should struggle this year even if I think they could be better than some expect, this is a road win we gotta have.
@UNC - Jan 15th - Same match up of back court vs front court strengths in my eyes. I'm an optimist and calling for our biggest upset of the year here.
Wake - Jan 19th - I think they'll be better than last year but they have a lot of new faces and at home I think we win.
FSU - Jan 26th - I'm predicting an L here for two reasons. I'm not convinced we go undefeated at home. The rep that FSU has gotten the last couple of years. I think we could win, but I'm not predicting it.
Miami - jan 29th Dangerous game as they will have a good back court with Wong, McGusty, and 8th year 17th university player Charlie Moore. Yes the same one many thought would follow Pastner here. In some ways they are similar to us as they have big ?s down low. I give us the edge at home.
@VT - Feb 2nd - I want to believe they are overrated and we get a big win like last year. Unfortunately I don't see it.
Clemson - Feb 5th - Clemson will be solid. Not great. Not bad. By this point in the season we should beat them at home.
@Miami - Feb 9th - I think we certainly could win. But I gave us the edge at home, and am doing the same for them now.
@UVA - Feb 12th - avoiding back to back losses is a big part of being a good team. Unfortunately I think we pick a second loss in a row up here. I just can't predict us winning at their place right now.
NCSU - Feb 15th much like Clemson, Miami, ND at home this is a dangerous game I could see losing. I give us the edge at home, but I wouldn't be surprised with a loss. This is the other tuesday game after saturday game.
@Pitt - Feb 19th Pitt had a rough offseason for sure. This late in the year teams could be very different than at the beginning but I think we get a nice road win here.
VT - Feb 23rd - I do think VT is overrated slightly and by this point won't be quite as highly thought of by most. They'll still be a good team, but I think at home, after we get a chance to gel, we win.
@ND - Feb 26th - I think ND is going to be good. On the road will be too hard IMO.
@Clemson - Mar 2nd - I'm predicting we've hit our stride and ore in the midst of a late season surge like previous years.
BC - Mar 5th - Same story as before.
So that would be 13 - 7 in conference play. That is nearly identical in terms of win % as last year but we have a much more favorable schedule IMO. Playing UVA, FSU, and Duke just once each should help some and getting games like UNC, ND and UL at home early could help ease a bit of the learning curve for some of our young players. I'm expecting some rocking home crowds after last year. Bias is almost guaranteed as I gave us the benefit of the doubt on many games I view as more of a toss up than I would like, but oh well. Let fans of other teams doubt us. Keep in mind while 13-7 is really good, it would have still been 5th two years ago with the standard 20 game schedule for all. So while it is on the homerish side of things, I don't think that is that outlandish.
Along with the OOC that would give my prediction to be 23 - 8.
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