The ACC Meat
The ACC schedule is underway for the Hokies and it is time to start scrutinizing every game and how it could impact the Hokies’ chances of making it to the NCAA tournament. VT already fell to Duke in an unsurprising rout (which was looking like a ballgame a few minutes in to the second half but quickly deteriorated when the Hokies tried to speed things up). ACC Game number 2 is Saturday when VT takes on UVA. Its a chance to start the tally of all-important ACC wins. The ACC usually sends a good number of teams to the tournament, however last year the conference only managed four teams compared to Big East’s eight, and this year there is a good crop of talent in the conference to return to old trends and get a majority of ACC schools playing in March. Currently ESPN’s bracketology forecasts seven ACC teams in the dance, the Hokies of course are outside looking in.
With the exception of Duke and UNC who are basically constants, ACC teams find a way to at least GET to the tournament every three years or so. A look at the last time each team made the tournament shows that all but two teams have been within the past three years, with Wake Forrest just a year behind that… Florida State hasn’t been in a decade but look like they could return this year. I personally hope they don’t make it and lose to a bad case of measles after trading goods with Coppin State.
So what will that mean for the Hokies, who were considered one of the last bubble teams left out last year? It means with their underwhelming out-of-conference performance they will need to pick up a good number of wins, against good ACC opponents, if they want to return in 2008 after a year hiatus. Our next 5 ACC games should be a good barometer for gauging how hard this battle will be:
Next 5 ACC Games:
Jan. 10, 2009 Virginia
Jan. 17, 2009 Boston College (currently ranked #17)
Jan. 21, 2009 at Wake Forest (currently 13-0 and ranked #4)
Jan. 25, 2009 at Miami-FL
Jan. 29, 2009 Clemson (currently ranked #12)
We will revisit at the end of January and see how tech is doing and whether or not its time to start thinking about baseball season…
The Hokie Guru thinks the best we do in that five game string is 4-1 in the ACC (we will not beat Wake Forest)… the worst we could do is 1-4… we will beat the ‘Hoos on Saturday (and the Hokie Guru is going to that game).
So, where does that leave us? Somewhere in between… either 2-3 or 3-2… we could luck out win all the home games (and a win vs. Clemson woudld be big)… and be 3-2… we could win two home games and steal one (Miami) on the road and be 3-2… or we could only beat Virginia and BC (or Clemson) at home and lose the rest… and the BC win is not a gimmie that people thought it was gonna be after their upset at UNC (but they lost to Harvard?!?!?). We need to steal that game at Miami… do some double-teaming of their guard Jack McClinton (he played right down the street from Malcolm Delaney).
The Hokie Guru has long said that we need a 10-6 record in the ACC to be in the NCAA tournament… the Hokie Guru’s opinion has not changed.
Check out today’s Roanoke Times:
http://www.roanoke.com/sports/vtbasketball/wb/190491
Greenberg is making the team sign a contract again.
Clemson’s RPI is 3!!!
Wake is #1 now, guys… this would be a massive upset.