ACC Update: 11/19

It was a pretty rough weekend for the ACC.  That was never more evident than in N.C. State's game with Oklahoma State.  The Wolfpack looked outclassed from the beginning and ended up losing by 20 points!  That's pretty pathetic when you are supposed to be the best team in the conference.  Especially since N.C. State had played pretty well up until then.  It was also a rough weekend for the presumed bottom dwellers, Boston College and Wake Forest.  After holding up pretty well against UConn, Wake was down 30 points (!) in the first half to Iona, and ended up losing by 26.  Boston College lost to Dayton by 16 points, and then lost to the College of Charleston in the 7th Place game.

The one team that did perform well was Florida State.  They rebounded in a big way from their opening game loss to South Alabama by blowing out BYU and knocking off St. Joe's.  Those were both games that Florida State could have lost.

Thanksgiving week means a lot of early-season tournaments and some good tests for our ACC teams.  First off, Wake Forest takes on Mercer in the final round of the Paradise Jam.  To put it plainly, Wake needs to win this game.

North Carolina is in the Maui Invitational this year (seems like it's almost always either Carolina or Duke).  Here's how the bracket shakes out: their first game is Monday against Mississippi State, one of the worst teams in the SEC.  Their next game will either be against Butler or Marquette on Tuesday (if I had to pick I would say Marquette).  The last game would likely be against either Texas or Illinois.  This isn't the strongest Maui field, and I think the winner of the potential North Carolina/Marquette game will take it all.

Later this week, Duke, Clemson and Georgia Tech will be in early-season tournaments.  On Thursday Duke plays Minnesota and Clemson plays Gonzaga, both tough games.  I'll be back after Thanksgiving to update those tournaments.

One other game of note on the schedule this week: Boston College plays host to Auburn on Wednesday.  Auburn is one of the worst teams in the big six conferences, and BC needs to win that game to regain a little respectability.