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23 Jan 2013

The ACC Has 4 Champ-worthy Basketball Teams

Peter Tiernan of CBS Sports has an interesting take on whether various teams are capable of winning it all in the 2013 big dance: http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/21598229/champ-check-six-have-inside-track-to-title.  Tiernan notes that the last 8 Champions have shared certain criteria.  This year, only six teams currently share those same criteria–Duke, Kansas, Louisville, Syracuse, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio State,  Florida, Minnesota, and North Carolina State.  Thus, the ACC has four champ-worthy teams.

The article actually has a good discussion of the common criteria among champions.  It is an interesting read.  What do you think?

Posted by acaffrey in Basketball and tagged , , , ,
22 Jan 2013
3 Comments

New Contributor: Syracuse

Hi Everyone!
My name is Tom and I will be contributing to the website on a regular basis. I am a huge college sports fan even though the Northeast is dominated by professional sports. As a Syracuse fan I have followed conference realignment with great interest since the first Big East departures to the ACC a decade ago. I had always hoped Syracuse would eventually wind up in the ACC . In addition to following college football and basketball, I have great interest in lacrosse and the Olympic Sports of the ACC. I think there is more on the conference realignment front coming and hope the ACC comes out stronger. I look forward to responses to my contributions and interaction with the other ACC correspondents!
Thanks,
Tom

Posted by tjcuseacc in ACC only, Conference News, Uncategorized and tagged , ,
22 Jan 2013

ACC Basketball Rankings: January 22, 2013

This is particularly complex with Pitt, Louisville, Notre Dame, and Syracuse not yet in the ACC, but it can still be done.  This is how the Confidential ranks the ACC basketball teams as of January 22, 2013:

1.     Syracuse (18-1) – The Orange eked out two impressive wins over #1 ranked Louisville and plucky Cincinnati, all without their 6th starter, James Southerland. Syracuse may have the #1 spot in the conference right now, but the margin of error is very slim. Next up: @ Villanova.

2.     Duke (16-1) – Duke recovered from their loss against NC State with a win over Georgia Tech, all while missing Kelly from the line-up. Next up @#25 Miami, vs. Maryland.

3.     Louisville (16-2) – Louisville was about 15 seconds away from taking down the Orange and staying atop the rankings, instead their time on top ended prematurely. Next up: @ Villanova, @ Georgetown, @ Pitt.

4.     Miami (13-3) – Miami’s record has been flawless for the first half of January, notching recent wins against Maryland and Boston College and garnering a top-25 ranking. Things are going to get a lot tougher for the ‘Canes when Duke brings their talents to South Beach. Next up: vs. Duke, vs. Florida State, @ Virginia Tech.

5.     North Carolina State (15-3) – The Wolfpack follow-up their monumental win against Duke by losing a heartbreaker to Maryland, but righted the ship by getting the job done against Clemson. Next up: @Wake Forest, @UNC.

6.     Pittsburgh (15-4) – The Panthers were able to move-on from the OT loss to Marquette and picked-up two nice wins against Villanova and UConn and should pick up two more this week. Up Next: @Providence, vs. DePaul, @ Louisville.

7.     Notre Dame (15-4) – The Irish bounced back from tough back-to-back losses against UConn and St. John’s by barely beating a surprising Rutgers team. And then a loss to Georgetown.  Up next: @ USF, vs. Villanova.

8.     Virginia (12-5) –Did you see what Virginia did to Florida State?  Allowing 36 points in a game is just unreal.  Up Next: @ Virginia Tech, vs. Boston College.

9.     Maryland (14-4) – The Terps have been very mercurial since league play started in January, particularly struggling offensively; perhaps just getting ready for their future in the Big Ten. Next up: vs. Boston College, @ Duke, @ FSU.

10.  North Carolina (12-5) – It’s too early to tell if Roy’s Boys are back on track, or if the past two wins over Florida State and Maryland are just an aberration. Up Next: vs. Georgia Tech, @NC State, @ Boston College.

11.  Florida State (10-7) – It’s a good thing that the Seminoles haven’t played many games lately, because they have just been down-right bad. One expects the football team to score 36 points, not the basketball team. Sheesh. Next up: vs. Clemson, @ Miami, vs. Maryland.

12.  Clemson (10-7) – The Tigers needed a win against North Carolina State to help keep the positive momentum going. Next up:@ Florida State, vs. Virginia Tech, and vs. Georgia Tech.

13.  Boston College (9-8) –  Boston College looks to stem the losing streak and avoid slipping to the bottom of the ACC. Next up: @Maryland, @ Virginia, vs. UNC.

14.  Virginia Tech (11-6) – VPI beat Georgia Tech and Wake Forest, but lost to Boston College. Next up: vs. Virginia, @ Clemson, vs. Miami.

Right/wrong?  Disagree?  If not, let us know.

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Rankings and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
20 Jan 2013
1 Comment

The Confidential’s NCAA Basketball Top 10

The Confidential is going to switch to a new format for its national rankings of the best basketball teams.  Instead of a top 25, it will just be a top 10.  Here it goes:

10. Minnesota – So far this season, Minnesota’s three losses have all come at the hands of the team that was ranked #5 in the country that week.
9. Gonzaga – Gonzaga was an in-bounds pass away from defeating Butler and advancing further in the top-10 after a hard-fought, back-and-forth game that looked every bit like a March Madness game.
8. Indiana – There is no excuse to losing to Wisconsin at home; now Indiana has to take care of business at Northwestern.
7. Ohio State – OSU followed a big time win over Michigan with a tough loss against the always difficult Michigan State. You have to give the Buckeyes credit for having one of the most difficult schedules in the country, hopefully that will pay off dividends in April.
6. Arizona – With only 1-loss on their resume, it’s hard to not put Arizona into the top 5 and it’s not their fault that the Pac-12 is not as good of league as the Big East, ACC, or even the BigTen. But, they haven’t really had a big win since early December.
5. Michigan – It seems illogical to rank Michigan ahead of Ohio State, the only team that have beaten them all season, but unlike the Buckeyes, the Wolverines won their match-up this week against a tough opponent in Minnesota.
4. Louisville – Big win against UConn, tough loss at home against Syracuse. Louisville has the talent to be cutting down the nets in April.
3. Duke – Duke recovered from their loss against NCState and did what they had to do: soundly beat Georgia Tech. With Ryan Kelly back in the lineup, this team could be unstoppable.
2. Syracuse – Their huge comeback win against #1 Louisville on Saturday is certainly worthy of retaking the top position, unfortunately the edge just goes to…
1. Kansas – Kansas’ win over Texas wasn’t impressive, but they keep finding ways to win. We’ll know a lot more about this team after their next test against their in-state rival in Manhattan.

A lot more “future ACC” than current ACC… what is the deal?

 

Posted by acaffrey in Basketball, Rankings and tagged , , , , ,
19 Jan 2013

Big Weekend for ACC Hoops Today

This weekend promises to be an exciting one for ACC basketball fans.

Saturday, January 19, 2013:

The big game will be #1 Louisville v #6 Syracuse.  Syracuse will be playing without its top offensive threat, James Southerland.  Louisville is on quite a roll.  Can Louisville hang on to #1?

North Carolina has not been North Carolina this year.  Maryland is 14-3.  Can Maryland go into the Dean Dome and topple the Tar Heels?

Florida State and Virginia were two of the most surprising teams in basketball last year.  Both have somewhat disappointing records so far.  They play today–some has to win and get momentum.

In other games, Wake Forest and Virginia Tech square off.  14-4 Pitt hosts UConn.  And #20 Notre Dame hosts Rutgers.

Sunday, January 20, 2013:

Sunday’s lone game features North Carolina State, now ranked #14, hosting Clemson.  These are the games that the Wolfpack need to win going away to show that they are worthy of a top 4 seed in March.

 

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
15 Jan 2013

ACC Basketball Rankings: January 15, 2013

This is particularly complex with Pitt, Louisville, Notre Dame, and Syracuse not yet in the ACC, but it can still be done.  This is how the Confidential ranks the ACC basketball teams as of January 8, 2013:

1.  Duke (15-1)–The Blue Devils lost.  But they have beaten Louisville–so how can the Cardinals slide up to #1.  Yet.

2. Louisville (16-1)–The ACC’s newest addition is now #1 in the country.  They beat UConn on Monday and get Syracuse this weekend.

3.Syracuse (16-1)–The Orange have another academic casualty–James Southerland.  They still did pretty well without Fab Melo last year though.

4.North Carolina State (14-2)–The Wolfpack did what nobody else could do this year–beat Duke.  Still, with two losses, hard to move them into the top 3.

5. Notre Dame (14-2)--The Irish were on a roll, but then they ran into UConn.  The Irish will hold onto a top 5 spot for now.

6. Miami (12-3)–Miami has nice wins over Michigan State, North Carolina, and Maryland.  3-0 in the ACC is a great start.

7. Maryland (13-3)–The Terps do not have many good wins.  The losses to Miami and Florida State do not help the resume either.

8. Pittsburgh (13-4)–The Panthers were looking good at 12-1 with its only loss being to Michigan.  They have now lost 3 of 4 Big East games.  The win over Georgetown is nice though.

9. Virginia (11-5)–The Wahoos do not have a more impressive resume than North Carolina.  But they did beat North Carolina, whose resume is not that great either.

10. North Carolina (11-5)–North Carolina is not looking great this year at all.  It is going to be a battle to make the Big Dance.

11. Florida State (10-6)—The Seminoles are looking decent at 10-6, at least compared to how the season started.  A win over UNC would have been nicer though.

12. Wake Forest (9-6)–The Demon Deacons were #16 a week ago.  But now they are 2-1 in conference, with the only loss being to Duke.  12-16 is a crapshoot anyway.

13. Clemson (9-6)–The Tigers have the best win among the bottom 4–Virginia.  Better than nothing.

14. Boston College (9-7)–The Eagles have a win over Virginia Tech.  So that gets them the #14 spot this week.

15. Virginia Tech (10-6)–After starting 7-0, the Hokies have lost 6 of 9.  They even lost to Boston College.

16. Georgia Tech (10-5)–The Yellow Jackets are 0-3 in conference play, so that means the cellar.

Right/wrong?  Disagree?  If not, let us know.

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Rankings and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
11 Jan 2013

ACC Releases College Football Schedule for 2013.

The Atlantic Coast Conference, set to expand to 14 teams for 2013, has released the football schedule for this fall.

First, the divisions.  The ACC insists on eschewing the geographical split, instead opting for this setup:

Atlantic Division Coastal Division
Boston College Virginia Tech
Clemson Georgia Tech
Florida State Miami
Maryland Virginia
NC State North Carolina
Syracuse Pitt
Wake Forest Duke

Obviously, each team plays every team within its division.  Then, in order to get to 8 total games, each team has a primary crossover and a rotating crossover.  The team’s primary crossovers are listed in the above chart, with Boston College being paired with Virginia Tech, etc.  Syracuse and Pitt will be primary crossovers.

The secondary, rotating  crossovers are not as straightforward.  For 2013, the secondary crossover pairs are: Boston College-North Carolina; Clemson-Virginia; Florida State-Pittsburgh; Maryland-Virginia Tech; NC State-Duke; Syracuse-Georgia Tech; and Wake Forest-Miami.

Pittsburgh begins ACC conference play with home games against Miami, North Carolina, Virginia, and Florida State.  It will travel to Syracuse, Georgia Tech, Duke, and Virginia Tech.  Syracuse begins conference play by hosting Boston College, Wake Forest, Clemson, and Pitt.  Syracuse will travel to Florida State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, and North Carolina State.

In notable games, Florida State will travel to Clemson in 2013.  Florida State will host Miami.  Miami will travel to North Carolina.  North Carolina will travel to Georgia Tech.  Georgia Tech will travel to Clemson.  With the ability to host both Florida State and Georgia Tech, Clemson has to be considered the early favorite.  The return of Tajh Boyd helps that too.

The Confidential does not know about you… but football cannot come around again soon enough!!!

 

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Conference News, Football and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
08 Jan 2013
1 Comment

ACC Basketball Rankings: January 8, 2013

This is particularly complex with Pitt, Louisville, Notre Dame, and Syracuse not yet in the ACC, but it can still be done.  This is how the Confidential ranks the ACC basketball teams as of January 8, 2013:

1.  Duke (14-0)–The Blue Devils are either loved or hated.  But you have to hand it to this team–they are really taking care of business.

2. Louisville (13-1)–The ACC’s newest addition’s only loss came to Duke.  Louisville has better wins (Missouri, Kentucky) than Syracuse (Arkansas).

3.Syracuse (13-1)–The Orange overcame a scare against South Florida.  Only blemish on the season remains Temple.

4.Notre Dame (14-1)--The Irish have the same record as Syracuse, but Syracuse went on the road to beat Arkansas.  Notre Dame’s best win is over Kentucky–impressive, but just slightly behind the Orange.

5. Maryland (13-1)–The Terps have the worst resume of the four 1 loss teams.  The best win is over Northwestern, who has never made a Big Dance.  Yep, never.

6. North Carolina State (12-2)–The Wolfpack have not lost in a long, long time.  Sunday’s game against Duke will be a big one.

7. Pittsburgh (12-3)–The Panthers were looking good at 12-1 with its only loss being to Michigan.  Then Pitt lost to Cincy and (gasp) Rutgers.  What happened to Pitt hoops?

8.Miami (10-3)–Miami has nice wins over Michigan State and now Georgia Tech.  Only losses were to Arizona and Indiana.  Looking pretty good.

9. Virginia (11-3)–The Wahoos would have been behind the Tar Heels, but Sunday’s head-to-head win solves that.  A nice win over Wisconsin helps offset some bad early losses.

10. North Carolina (10-4)–North Carolina has not looked like a typical North Carolina team this year.  10th place?

11.Georgia Tech (10-3)—The Yellow Jackets are rebounding nicely after a poor 2011-2012.  Still looking for a high quality win though.

12. Virginia Tech (9-5)–After starting 7-0, the Hokies have lost 5 of 7.  Not exactly murderer’s row either.

13. Florida State (9-5)–The Seminoles seem  to have righted the ship slightly.  Still hard to explain losses to South Alabama and Mercer.

14. Clemson (8-5)–The Tigers are going to have a tough season, end of story.  Playing for a NIT bid.

15. Boston College (8-6)–The Eagles already look better than last year’s version.  Will it be enough to get farther away from the cellar?  We’ll see.

16. Wake Forest (7-6)–The Demon Deacons do not have a truly awful loss.  But they should have a few more wins, given the schedule.

Right/wrong?  Disagree?  If not, let us know.

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Football, Rankings and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
07 Jan 2013

ACC Football Rankings: January 7, 2013

This is particularly complex with Pitt and Syracuse not yet in the ACC, but it can still be done.  Next year, we’ll add in Louisville too.  Anyway, this is how the Confidential ranks the ACC football teams as of January 7, 2013:

1.  Florida State (12-2)–The Seminoles took care of business against Northern Illinois.  Only Florida and North Carolina State were able to trip up the Seminoles.

2. Clemson (11-2)–Clemson had itself a nice little season too, losing only to South Carolina and Florida State.  Improved on a very good 2011 season.

3. Syracuse (8-5)–The Orange demolished a good West Virginia team in the Pinstripe Bowl.  The five losses all came to bowl-eligible teams.

4. North Carolina (8-4)–The Tar Heels did get a bowl bid due to sanctions.  Still, this team looks to be on the rise.

5. Miami (7-5)–The Hurricanes once again missed out on a bowl to due self-imposed penalties.  Al Golden has the team pointed in the right direction though.

6. Virginia Tech (7-6)–The Hokies win over Rutgers in the Russell Athletic Bowl gives Virginia Tech the edge over North Carolina State.  The two schools did not play this year.

7. North Carolina State (7-6)–At 7-5, the Wolfpack fired their coach, Tom O’Brien.  And now they are 0-1 in the post-O’Brien era.  Nicely done.

8. Georgia Tech (7-7)–The Yellow Jackets were able to beat USC and its stable of NFL-ready talent.  A nice way to end the 2012 season.

9. Pittsburgh (6-7)—The Panthers were relegated to the BBVA Compass Bowl for the second year in a row.  Ole Miss handled them pretty well, winning 38-17.

10. Duke (6-7)–The Blue Devils beat North Carolina to move to 6-2 and bowl-eligibility.  They would never win again.

11. Wake Forest (5-7).

12. Virginia (4-8).

13. Maryland (4-8).

14. Boston College (2-10).

Do you agree with these rankings?  If not, let us know.

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Football, Rankings and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
18 Dec 2012

ACC Basketball Rankings: December 18, 2012

This is particularly complex with Pitt, Louisville, Notre Dame, and Syracuse not yet in the ACC, but it can still be done.  This is how the Confidential ranks the ACC basketball teams as of December 18, 2012:

1.  Duke (9-0)–The Blue Devils are sitting pretty at 9-0, with plenty of good victories.  An easy choice for #1.

2. Syracuse (10-0)–The Orange are 10-0, which is great.  Next up, Temple.  Congrats to Jim Boeheim on win #900 too.

3. Louisville (9-1)–So far, only #1 Duke has toppled Louisville.  With wins over Missouri and Memphis, Louisville has an argument to be #2.  But undefeated trumps one loss.

4.Notre Dame (10-1)—The Irish have now beaten Purdue and Kentucky.  That’s good enough for #4 here.

5. Pittsburgh (9-1)--The Panthers are off to a good start, but lacking a real quality win yet.   Only loss is to a very very good Michigan team.

6. Maryland (7-1)–The Terps have been good, losing only to Kentucky.  Still waiting on an impressive win though.  Northwestern is it right now.

7. Miami (6-1)–Not sure why Miami only has 7 games, but they have won 6 of them.  A bad loss, but a nice win over Michigan State.

8.North Carolina State (8-2)–The wins over Stanford and UConn look good.  The two losses are reasonable. 

9. North Carolina (8-2)–At 8-2, the Tar Heels really lack a quality win.  Losses to Butler and Indiana are understandable though.

10. Virginia (8-2)–10 through 12 are a toss-up.  The Wahoos have terrible losses early, but now have wins over Tennessee and Wisconsin.

11. Virginia  Tech (8-2)— Va Tech has ugly losses, but a great win–over Oklahoma State.  Gives them the slide edge over Georgia Tech.

12. Georgia Tech (7-2)–No shame in the two losses, but it’s hard to find even a decent win for the Yellow Jackets.  The worst of the two loss teams so far.

13. Clemson (6-3)–The Tigers have tough losses–Gonzaga, Illinois, and Arizona.  Clear edge over the rest.

14. Florida State (6-4)–At 6-4, the Seminoles are still the ACC’s disappointment so far.  Not sure what the deal is.

15. Wake Forest (5-5)–At least Wake is at .500.

16. Boston College (5-5)–At least BC is at .500.

Right/wrong?  Disagree?  If not, let us know.

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Football, Rankings and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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