ACC Hoops Midseason Report

Back in November, Chop Culture made its preseason ACC predictions.  I made the following league predictions:

1) Duke
2) NC State
3) UNC
4) Miami
5) FSU
6) Maryland
7) UVA
8) Virginia Tech
9) Wake Forest
10) Clemson
11) Georgia Tech
12) Boston College

Through games on February 10, the league standings are as follows:

1) Miami (10-0)
2)  Duke (8-2)
3) Virginia (7-3)
4) UNC (6-4)
5) NC State (6-5)
6) FSU (5-5)
7) Maryland (5-6)
8) Clemson (4-7)
9) Wake Forest (4-7)
10) Georgia Tech (3-7)
11) Virginia Tech (2-8)
12) Boston College (2-8)*


I don't think anyone expected Miami to be quite this good, although CC did make this comment in the November post -- "If you're looking for a sleeper in the ACC, look no further than the U."  But I picked them to finish 4th in the league so I can't say I called it.  I expect the Canes to lose two conference games and then get upset in the ACC tourney.  I see the Canes as a 3 seed in March.

Duke needs Ryan Kelly to get healthy if they have any Final 4 aspirations.  Even without him, they are good enough to finish 2nd in the regular season and potentially win the ACC tourney.  Duke looks like a solid 1 or 2 seed in the NCAA tournament.

UVa is a strange team.  They play tenacious d and shoot the three ball well, but their three conference losses are to bad ACC teams and their three non-conference losses were to bad CAA teams.  They play up or down to the competition, which means they don't often get blown out but they also don't have any guaranteed wins left on the schedule.  In my opinion, they need to get to 12-6 in league play to get an invitation to Madness.  To get there, they need to learn to close out games on the road.

UNC has one of the laziest teams I've seen in awhile.  By UNC standards, they are not as talented as usual, but McAdoo and Bullock could start for any team in the nation.  UNC plays sloppy and selfish on offense, and their defense is even worse.  McAdoo could've been a top 5 NBA pick last year (despite not starting last season) -- his uninspired play this season has hurt his draft stock.  The Heels will win enough games to make it to the Big Dance, but it will not be a long trip.

NC State has struggled more than I expected, but some of the losses can be attributed to Lorenzo Brown's injury.  Even still, they lost to Wake with Brown in the lineup.  The Wolfpack could be a factor in the ACC tournament.  State has all the pieces to be great, but they haven't quite put it together this season.  They are in danger of missing out on Madness, which would be shocking after their top 10 preseason ranking.

FSU has struggled.  They have a lot of ground to make up if they want to play in the postseason.  I don't see it happening -- which means that the ACC could end up with just 3 or 4 teams dancing.

Maryland started off the season on a tear, but conference play has not gone as well as expected.  They are young and talented, and right now the youth is outweighing the talent.  They could be preseason top 15 next season if Alex Len passes up the NBA for one more year.

Clemson's two best players -- Devin Booker and Milton Jennings -- can both disappear for long stretches during games.  They're both also seniors so next season will be worse for the Tigers.

Wake Forest has some talent, but they also have the worst coach in the ACC.  They have been competitive in most of their games and will be better next season.

Georgia Tech is young -- I think Brian Gregory has that program going in the right direction.

Virginia Tech had a promising start to the season, but they have fallen back to reality in conference play.  Erick Green leads the nation in scoring -- he is a fun player to watch.  Unfortunately for him, he gets no help whatsoever.  Green has excelled in new coach James Johnson's uptempo offense, but his teammates can't keep pace.

Boston College is a really good Patriot League team.  The only problem is that they don't play in the Patriot League.

Midseason All-ACC teams
1st Team
Mason Plumlee - Duke
Erick Green - VT
Shane Larkin - Miami
Joe Harris - UVA
Seth Curry - Duke

2nd team
James Michael McAdoo - UNC
Michael Snaer - FSU
Richard Howell - NC State
Lorenzo Brown - NC State
Reggie Bullock - UNC