Duke, you’re exempt from this discussion. The Blue Devils beat arguably the best team in the country in Auburn and despite a couple of hiccups earlier in the season are a legit National Title and Final 4 threat.
Pittsburgh has wins over West Virginia, LSU, and Ohio State but the 33-point loss at Mississppi State has me wondering. For the ACC though you’re exempt. SMU is 9-2 and beat LSU too, but we need to see more.
Clemson has 3 Q1 wins but suddenly can’t close out games. Clemson led Memphis by 5 at home with 50 seconds and froze up and lost in OT. They came out in a fog against South Carolina fell behind by 14, and led late and faded got to OT and lost. Clemson will make the tournament but is rapidly falling towards the 8-9 line.
To go along with Clemson’s Tuesday night loss, UNC led late against a top 10 Florida team and faded late to lose. UNC is a talented team (no inside game), but at 6-5 they’ve lost 3 games (Kansas, Michigan State, and Florida) that would have been massive Q1 wins. They get 1 more shot against UCLA for a Q1 win they must have.
The bottom line even the ACC’s better teams have huge warts. The only one I trust is Duke who are prone to scoring droughts, but they can work on that as they’ll blow through the ACC and win 17-18 conference games.
The rest? Pittsburgh and Clemson should make the NCAAs. SMU, Wake Forest, and UNC are in the mix but it sure feels like no more than 2 of those would make it.
For a 18-team league, and we usually try to find the positive of the ACC it’s looking like a 4 or 5-bid league. Teams that win 12 or 13 ACC games may not make the NCAA’s.
ACC teams just keep losing and losing and losing. I haven’t even got to the middle and bottom of the league which has been a total disaster. This is the top of the league.
The Hall of Fame coaches are gone. Who are the future NBAers on these teams?
The last few years ACC basketball struggled in November and December, but came alive in March. You just watch the teams, and it’s hard to realistically see that happening again this time for anyone not named Duke.
Maybe Pittsburgh becomes more consistent or Clemson can become the team that beat Kentucky. Maybe a Wake Forest or SMU truly takes off. It’s grasping for straws at this point, and those are the best of the bunch. The rest of the league is barely worth talking about at this point.
I’ve never seen ACC be worse.
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