When we were coming into the season, the ACC looked to have two, possibly even three, national title contenders in their ranks with North Carolina, Duke, and Virginia bringing up the rear.
After the first month of the season, however, many are beginning to question whether or not any of the three have what it takes–speaking of consistency–to make a run through March and walk away with a championship. Here are three takeaways from the ACC thus far:
Miami will drive everyone crazy: The Hurricanes are going to beat everyone in the league at least once, I think we can feel comfortable with a prediction like that. When they’re on, and at home, they’re so tenacious on the perimeter both defensively and offensively, while also having more of a mean streak inside than they’ve had in recent seasons. The thing about them, as evidenced by their stunning loss to Northeastern, they’re very susceptible to let downs. Basically, they’re probably going to beat Duke at home and then lose to NCSU the next game. Ugh.
No cupcake city: Boston College is as close to terrible as it gets in this league and, while they really are pretty darn bad, the likes of Clemson, Georgia Tech, and Virginia Tech all continue to improve. Road trips through those three may not equal losses for the big boys, but the fights are going to be exciting, especially in Blacksburg, me thinks.
The two best freshman play in…: Tallahassee, actually. Don’t get me wrong, Brandon Ingram has been very good at Duke as of late, but the combo of Malik Beasley and Dwayne Bacon has been lethal, to say the least. The two combine to average 34.3 points and 10.2 rebounds per game, while both shooting more than 50-percent from the field. The Seminoles are going to be an absolute nuisance come March.
