The State of the ACC

As it's about a month into the season, it's a good time to look at how the ACC teams have been progressing thus far this year. So here is the status report:

Boston College (8-2)
The Eagles have surpassed expectations so far. They performed admirably in Orlando, beating a good Texas A&M squad and winning big over California. BC also has a very solid road win over Maryland and an underrated win at UMass. Steve Donahue has to be happy with how his first year has gone so far.

Clemson (5-4)
Clemson lost quite a bit from last year's team, and the transition to both new players and a new coach has been understandably tough. The Tigers have lost all of their games against good teams, with the best victory being against Seton Hall at a neutral site. The home loss to Michigan was disappointing, and they missed an opportunity down the stretch at Florida State.

Duke (10-0)
The Duke Blue Devils have done what everyone expected them to do: win, win, win. They have played a pretty impressive schedule, and have racked up wins against Kansas State, Michigan State, Butler and Marquette. Most of their games have been blowouts. There is some cause for concern with Kyrie Irving's injury, but even if he is out for the year they should be in good shape.

Florida State (8-2)
Florida State has a decent record thus far, but it still feels as if they haven't played up to their potential. The Seminoles have lost two games, both against ranked teams, but they were both at home. In those games, they only scored a combined 95 points. Florida State's best non-conference win is hard to pick out - perhaps a 23 point win at Florida International.

Georgia Tech (5-4)
The Yellow Jackets are another team that has underperformed so far. They started out the year by losing their second game, a 17 point loss at Kennesaw State. Georgia Tech had a good win in Atlantic City over UTEP, but followed that up with three straight losses, including a home loss to rival Georgia. They appear to be one of the weaker teams in the ACC.

Maryland (7-4)
Maryland has shown promise at times this year, despite being very young. I think they are on pace for a solid year, given Gary Williams' track record. The Terps played well in New York, despite losing two games to Pitt and Illinois. They did blow out Penn State on the road, but lost to Temple and at home to Boston College. The jury is still out on Maryland.

Miami (7-2)
Miami has flown under the radar at the start of the year, much as they did last year. They have played decently well this year, with the exception of a 16 point loss to Rutgers. The Canes have two decent home wins, against Ole Miss and West Virginia, but other than that have not been tested. They don't play another road game until January 2nd at Duke.

North Carolina (7-3)
The Tar Heels have taken some time to come into their own. Along the way, they struggled to losses against Minnesota and Vanderbilt. UNC also had a loss at Illinois which wasn't very close. But UNC has put together a good win against Kentucky and appears to be picking up steam with a matchup at Texas up next.

N.C. State (5-3)
The high expectations for NC State this year haven't seemed to filter down to the team yet. The Wolfpack played horribly against Wisconsin and got blown out at a neutral site by Georgetown. Their best win is against George Mason. With a game against Arizona upcoming, NC State needs to get things together. Getting Tracy Smith back would help.

Virginia (6-3)
Virginia has been one of the few teams in the ACC that could be counted as a surprise. The Cavaliers started the season off as most people expected: blowout losses to Stanford and Washington. But they rebounded to beat Oklahoma by 18 and have since piled up road wins against Minnesota and Virginia Tech. The Cavaliers look to be a force to be reckoned with this year.

Virginia Tech (5-4)
It would definitely be fair to say the Hokies have been a disappointment. Their early season struggles have been well documented (including in this blog). The only loss that could be counted as a bad loss was their home defeat to Virginia, but they really should have beaten Purdue. The best win so far is a neutral site victory over Oklahoma State, with a chance at a better one this weekend against Mississippi State.

Wake Forest (6-4)
Wake Forest's record isn't much different from many other teams, but they are clearly the worst team in the ACC. They have already lost to Stetson, VCU, Winthrop and UNC Wilmington, with the first three being at home. In their last game, they won at home by only two points to a UNC Greensboro team that hasn't won a game this season. In fact, UNC Greensboro's previous best loss was by 12 points to NC A&T. Not good in Winston Salem.

To recap, a lot of the ACC teams have some work to do to earn respectability for the conference. Most years, there would be a lot of teams with no more than two losses. Right now, 8 of the 12 teams have at least 3 losses. And time is running out to pile up the non-conference wins.