Posted by Brandon Rink on February 4, 2012 under ACC Basketball | 
Brian Gregory and the Yellow Jackets are going for their first ACC "home" win this season against BC (Pic per OrangeandWhite.com).
Virginia at FSU headlines the weekend…
(33-11 on the ACC season picks)
Saturday
1:00 PM ET – FSU 64 Virginia 57 – There will be defense. But will there be offense from UVA? That’s the question as FSU has been absolutely smoking in the ACC play since the 63-59 road win at Virginia Tech kicked off a six-game winning streak including the 90-57 win over UNC and 76-73 victory at Duke. Lately, they’ve handled business against Wake (75-52) and Georgia Tech (68-54). But maybe the light has come on for Virginia, too, offensively? They’ll need another big effort from guard Joe Harris, who hit 5-of-6 3-pointers in the 65-61 win over Clemson.
1:00 PM ET – Georgia Tech 70 BC 66 (Atlanta) – The battle to the bottom of the ACC – BC (7-15, 2-6) vs. Georgia Tech (8-14, 1-7). Since the close call with Duke at home (81-74), the Jackets have been awful in their new digs for the season, losing 70-38 to Virginia and 64-49 to Miami. But, flip a coin here.
1:00 PM ET – NC State 74 Wake Forest 59 (Raliegh) – NC State drilled Wake by 36 points in Winston-Salem earlier this season. Don’t think I have to say more.
4:00 PM ET – Clemson 64 Virginia Tech 58 (Blacksburg) – If the result above holds, Virginia Tech might own sole possession of last place in the ACC by the end of the day – yeah, it’s been a tough year to be a Hokie basketball fan. This is definitely their most winnable home ACC contest yet after taking on FSU, Duke and UNC so far, but I need to see some signs of life from Virginia Tech before I pick them again. My more statistical breakdown for OrangeandWhite.com.
4:00 PM ET – UNC 75 Maryland 63 (College Park) – It’s a thin line you walk between being a NCAA-contender and not, and Maryland almost found themselves on the right side of things, falling in double OT 90-86 at Miami Wednesday. Meanwhile, UNC has hit their stride after the crushing loss at FSU – drilling Virginia Tech, NC State, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest in a row. The core of Maryland’s talent is pretty young, and I don’t think they’re consistent enough to pull off the home shocker here.
Sunday
3:00 PM ET – Duke 73 Miami 64 – Miami has a chance to do what its Sunshine State rival did a couple weeks ago – put a major résumé-win on the board in Durham. It’s not going to happen, but they have a chance. And it’s not a talent gap either, the Hurricanes play a complete game where everyone’s on and this could get interesting.
Posted by Brandon Rink on February 3, 2012 under ACC Baseball, ACC Basketball, ACC Football, Other ACC Coverage |
With a change in the ACC map, is coming even more that aren't sitting well with some ACC fans (Pic per OrangeandWhite.com).
Boom – the ACC is going to a 9-game football conference schedule when Pittsburgh and Syracuse join on a date TBD.
It’s an interesting move, following in the footsteps of the PAC-12, and in the end, it’s probably the right one.
If you’re adding teams, adding conference games makes sense – cutting the OOC down to three games.
Obviously, it’ll limit the amount of prime non-conference games, but let’s be honest, that can only help the ACC.
I’ve said for a while that Syracuse to the Atlantic and Pitt to the Coastal makes the most sense. The Orange rekindles the yearly matchup with regional neighbor Boston College, and plays Pitt in cross-divisional action.
It appears that was the main idea from what commish John Swofford told David Teel of the Daily Press:
Swofford said the “overriding factors” in the division assignments were keeping Virginia Tech and Boston College as partners, and rekindling the Boston College-Syracuse and Virginia Tech-Pitt rivalries that waned when the Hokies and Eagles left the Big East for the ACC.
In my estimation, there just wasn’t a way to feasibly blow up the divisional structure and piece it back together North-South or otherwise. They made the right call here.
The other main point of contention from the ACC announcement was the structure of the new 18-game basketball conference schedule, having just one guaranteed home-and-home series and a 14-team ACC Tourney. From the release:
The scheduling model will be based on a three-year cycle during which teams will play every league opponent at least once with the primary partners playing home and away annually while the other 12 rotate in groups of four: one year both home and away; one year at home only; and one year away only. Over the course of the three-year cycle primary partners play a total of six times and all other conference opponents play four times.
This is where most folks are freaking out, mostly in one particular state. How else can you really do it when throwing the ‘Cuse and Pitt into the mix? It’s not Tobacco Road-friendly from a historical standpoint, but there’s 10 other conference schools now.
From Teel again, Swofford says the new basketball-schedule style passed with majority support:
“The (basketball) coaches were very supportive of the one-partner scheduling,” Swofford said, “and as it turned out, so were the athletic directors.”
So, the plan is finally in place – when does this all go down? Looks like we’re not any closer to knowing.
From CBS’ Brett McMurphy…
ACC commissioner John Swofford wouldn’t speculate on Pittsburgh and Syracuse joining the ACC before 2014. “First of all, (that decision) is between Pitt and Syracuse and the Big East,” Swofford said.
However, if the Panthers and Orange can leave before 2014, the ACC will be ready.
“The fact we made our decision how we will schedule and compete certainly helps us (when they join),” Swofford said. “In terms of when that time may come, I don’t want to get into a hypothetical of this or that. Our position continues to be that we want to prepare ourselves when they’re ready and it’s appropriate for them to join us.”
The Big East won’t really still hold Pitt and Syracuse until 2014, right? (Right??) Who knows, but it’s not happening in 2012, and beyond that, the courts and whatever precedent West Virginia sets in its departure to Big XII will determine if there can be epic clashes like Clemson-Syracuse in 2013.
The sooner this will all go down the better, but probably by then, the ACC will get raided or add 10 more teams just to mess with us.
Posted by Brandon Rink on January 31, 2012 under ACC Basketball |
Clemson got a big game from Devin Booker in the 71-60 win over Wake Forest over the weekend - they'll need another one at No. 16 Virginia Tuesday.
Here’s the first installment and we’ll update with the rest…
(27-11 on the season on picks)
Tuesday
7:00 PM ET – Virginia 60 Clemson 53 (Charlottesville) – Both are defensive-minded, run a motion offense and limit possessions…Virginia is just a bit better at it right now than Clemson. The Tigers will be without Milton Jennings due to a suspension for academics, which will hurt in defending Mike Scott. Here’s more of a breakdown on OrangeandWhite.com from me.
9:00 PM ET – UNC 75 Wake Forest 60 (Winston-Salem) – I saw the Deacs in Littlejohn over the weekend, and they, uh, struggled. I just wonder how long Jeff Bzdelik can keep this team interested, as they’re starting to get beat worse and worse and just not playing good basketball. Oh, and they’re playing a hot UNC team right now.
Thursday
7:00 PM ET – Duke 71 Virginia Tech 64 (Blacksburg) – Does Greenberg have any magic left? I’m not sure he does. Honestly, I have no idea what Virginia Tech is doing in ACC play, after a solid out-of-conference season. They look lost, and don’t have the guns to upset Duke.
