Oct
03
2021
Could 2021 end up as a relatively chalk-like football season? Sure. But it’s definitely not looking like it will. So what does that mean for the Eliminator? Well, for starters, it means that we’re slowing down with eliminations of two-loss Power 4 teams. Yes, I say Power 4, because the Pac 12 isn’t quite in …
Sep
23
2020
Eliminating Power Five teams early in the season is always a question for me. Sure, it’s a mostly irrelevant question–we’re usually pretty sure which P5 teams won’t be winning out. Still, my principle here at the Eliminator remains the same: losses will come when they come, and I have no need to assume them. I …
Feb
08
2020
Give author @MattZemek a twitter follow and check out his musings on college sports at https://www.patreon.com/Zemek. ACC QUESTION of WEEK : Who was the single-season ACC basketball team of the past decade? The Louisville Cardinals won a national basketball championship this past decade, but not as a member of the ACC. Three ACC programs won a combined …
Oct
02
2019
Give @MattZemek a twitter follow and check out his musings on college sports at https://www.patreon.com/Zemek. ACC fans know how football works: Clemson wins everything. Florida State’s offensive line can’t pass protect. Boston College runs out of steam. Dave Clawson overachieves at Wake Forest. North Carolina State exasperates its fan base. North Carolina: almost. Those are just some of …
Aug
22
2019
It’s weird to talk about the ACC’s Playoff contenders this year. Mostly because there is one team that is so far out ahead of the league that it’s considered a Playoff near-lock, something we have yet to see in the CFP era. Different betting markets have the line on Clemson reaching the CFP anywhere from …
Apr
04
2019
Give @MattZemek a twitter follow and check out his musings on college sports at https://www.patreon.com/Zemek. This story about Duke and North Carolina at the 2019 Final Four begins with a tennis connection. I cover tennis at another Twitter account — @mzemek — and at a site called Tennis With An Accent, which you can follow at @accent_tennis during …
Apr
04
2019
Give @MattZemek a twitter follow and check out his musings on college sports at https://www.patreon.com/Zemek. Bracket nerds and college basketball historians — from Jim Nantz to your nextdoor neighbor — pay attention to these things. The Duke Blue Devils have repeated their national championship journeys over the years, and anyone who follows Duke closely knows this. In 1992, …
Mar
24
2019
Give @MattZemek a twitter follow and check out his musings on college sports at https://www.patreon.com/Zemek. ACC QUESTION of the WEEK : How many ACC teams will make the Final Four? In ACC country, the Final Four is serious business at Duke, North Carolina and Virginia. It would be a dream come true for Florida State and Virginia Tech. …
Mar
19
2019
Give @MattZemek a twitter follow and check out his musings on college sports at https://www.patreon.com/Zemek. The ACC Tournament ended on Saturday, March 16. This is an empirical fact. We saw it with our own eyes: Duke defeated Florida State in the ACC final. There was a celebration. There was a trophy ceremony. Players were happy. No games were …
Mar
19
2019
Give @MattZemek a twitter follow and check out his musings on college sports at https://www.patreon.com/Zemek. “Duke always gets the calls.” It is a tale as old as the Scriptures… even if it’s wrong. Some ideas are so deeply baked into the national imagination that it is impossible to extract them from the minds of millions of Americans. One …
Mar
17
2019
Give @MattZemek a twitter follow and check out his musings on college sports at https://www.patreon.com/Zemek. ACC QUESTION of the WEEK : Who should be the NCAA Tournament’s No. 1 overall seed — Duke, Virginia, or another team? I will keep this very short and simple, since we will be reviewing brackets on Sunday night and will have much more …
Mar
02
2019
Give @MattZemek a twitter follow and check out his musings on college sports at https://www.patreon.com/Zemek. ACC QUESTION of the WEEK : Can the ACC get three No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament? The short answer: Yes, it can. The other short answer: It can, but it probably won’t. The slightly longer answer: It probably won’t, but it’s still …
Feb
21
2019
Give @MattZemek a twitter follow and check out his musings on college sports at https://www.patreon.com/Zemek. Many people are understandably worried about Zion Williamson. The Duke Blue Devils could worry about Zion if they choose to, but with Mike Krzyzewski using the word “stable” to describe the possible No. 1 pick in the upcoming NBA Draft, it seems that …
Feb
18
2019
Give @MattZemek a twitter follow and check out his musings on college sports at https://www.patreon.com/Zemek. ACC QUESTION of the WEEK : Is Duke-North Carolina really college basketball’s best rivalry? Some questions seem simple but demand a more complex answer. Some questions seem complicated but don’t require a complex answer. Some questions are complicated and demand an accordingly complicated response. …
Feb
09
2019
Give @MattZemek a twitter follow and check out his musings on college sports at https://www.patreon.com/Zemek. ACC QUESTION of the WEEK : What did we learn from the Duke-Virginia rematch? Good questions generally require complex answers, and I have had to answer a lot of good questions over the past several months in both football and basketball. This week’s …