Friday, November 14, 2008

2008-09 ACC Hoops Preview

Predictions and thoughts on the upcoming season.

Standings

1. North Carolina
2. Wake Forest
3. Duke
4. Virginia Tech
5. Miami
6. Clemson
7. Georgia Tech
8. NC State
9. Maryland
10. Boston College
11. Florida State
12. Virginia

Awards

COY: Dino Gaudio, Wake Forest
POY: Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina (shocker)
ROY: Al-Farouq Aminu, Wake Forest

All-ACC

Jack McClinton, Miami
Tyrese Rice, Boston College
Ty Lawson, North Carolina
Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina
Kyle Singler, Duke

Pithy Thoughts

- North Carolina is the best team in the country until further notice. However, they'll need to be healthy in order to live up to expectations. A lot of luck is involved in winning national titles.

- I put Duke No. 3 because I just couldn't stand the sight of having UNC No. 1 and Duke No. 2. Something unexpected has to happen.

- I like Wake because I'm a big fan of Dino Gaudio and a bigger fan of their young, gritty players. They'll also get a few newcomers in this year who can make an immediate impact.

- I'm not sold on Miami other than Jack McClinton, who is awesome. McClinton alone is good enough for No. 5 in the conference.

- The Hokies beefed up their non-conference schedule this year. They'll make the NCAA with a No. 4 finish this season.

- There's a big disparity between the Top 6 and the Bottom 6 in the conference, in my opinion. Although Georgia Tech could end up as a "swing" team that goes 8-8 and is on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament.

- While there are some good teams in the ACC this year, there are also some really bad ones that could hurt the conference RPI. The ACC isn't as strong as people think this year.

1 comment:

Winfield Featherston said...

Possible swing team is a good definition of us this year. Not very deep but have some pretty good starters. Next year should be a good year with us if recruiting continues how it's projected. The key to us is keeping our players in the NCAA for more than one year, but that's a complaint for another day.