Yesterday we documented the ACC’s stellar 4-0 start in the post-season. That included NIT wins by Wake Forest and Virginia to go along with North Carolina and Notre Dame wins to open the NCAA tournament.
Friday the ACC added to their strong post-season with a 3-1 Friday.
As predicted Duke handled CS Fullerton, but that was the only game where the ACC was the higher seed.
Notre Dame pulled the biggest surprise knocking off talented, but inconsistent 6 seed Alabama. I thought that the Irish may not have the legs after their 2 OT game with Rutgers, but they thumped the Tide 78-64. This was an Alabama team that had beat Miami by 32, and had wins over Houston, Tennessee, Gonzaga, and Baylor.
If you’ve seen one NCAA SEC team you’ve seen them all. SEC teams look and play largely the same way. They are long, athletic, deep, talented, and completely undisciplined on both ends of the floor. If you can manage to not get overwhelmed by the SEC team’s talent level, and get the game into a half-court one – you have a great chance to beat them.
That is why St. Peters stunned Kentucky, and Iowa State slowed down and beat LSU. Like Notre Dame, they were double-digit seeds.
Now Notre Dame must be ready for a rugged Texas Tech team. The Red Raiders are solid, but their slow-tempo will not stress the Irish’s lack of depth.
I was at the Miami vs USC game today, and I can tell you Miami’s guards controlled large portions of this game. While the Canes couldn’t match USC in the interior their guards consistently went by USC defenders. Miami was 1 for 14 from 3 point range and still beat a top 25 USC team.
They won’t shoot that poorly against Auburn, and that’s why they will have a chance against the deeper more athletic Tigers.
Miami’s guards can’t get into foul trouble as they did against USC either.
Virginia Tech was the lone loss for the ACC in their defeat to Texas, but hey they won the ACC. They are fine.
Saturday UNC faces off against Baylor.
This one is simple if UNC plays as they did against Marquette and the 2nd half of Duke they have a chance.
This one may be too much for the Heels, but I thought that about Notre Dame’s game too.
It’s been a surprisingly good NCAA tournament for the ACC. Let’s see how much further this can go.
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