ACC Bubble Watch: March 15, 2013
As the ACC tournament shifts into Day 2, the fortunes of the two ACC “bubble” teams, Virginia and Maryland, remain alive. For Maryland, defeating Wake Forest was simply a necessity to stay in the discussion.
ESPN has updated its bubble watch for Maryland as follows:
Maryland [21-11 (8-10), RPI: 82, SOS: 118] The Terps survived an NIT-guaranteeing potential loss against the typically dismal Wake Forest Demon Deacons Thursday, a win which nonetheless still leaves them outside serious bubble contention. After all, the Terps do have just four wins against teams ranked better than 150 in the RPI; that two of them came against Duke and NC State doesn’t really matter, given the utter softness of Maryland’s nonconference schedule (No. 297), ugly RPI and a sheet full of cupcakes. It’s easy to pick on, say, Southern Miss when we’re talking about the mediocrity on the bubble, but really, the fact that the Terps are even still in fringe contention for an at-large bid says it best. And with all of that discouragement out of the way, Maryland’s win Thursday did one thing: It gave them another crack at Duke. I’m not sure I?’d slot Maryland in the tournament even if they do win Friday, but that win obviously couldn’t hurt.
The commentary on Virginia is not all that positive either, noting Virginia’s glut of “bad losses.”
But the great thing about the conference tournaments is that teams can control their own destinies by winning it all. The late, great Jimmy Valvano proved that with North Carolina State. And both Virginia and Maryland can still do so.
The Confidential 
God bless Jimmy V and his brother Bob as well.