Almost halfway thru conference play (Wake has played 3 games, State 5 the others 4) and here's how the ACC standings look. Virginia --- 8-1-2 - 4-0-0 NC State --- 8-3-1 - 3-1-1 Maryland --- 8-3-0 - 3-1-0 Duke --- 7-2-1 - 2-1-1 Virginia Tech --- 5-3-3 - 1-1-2 North Carolina --- 8-2-1 - 1-2-1 Wake Forest --- 8-3-0 - 1-2-0 Boston College --- 4-5-1 - 0-3-1 Clemson --- 5-4-1 - 0-4-0 Obviously, the big surprise is State, which is looking like they could really make some noise in November. UVa being undefeated in the conference is also a bit of surprise given they lost all of their starting backline from last year. And Clemson being winless is also a head-turner and BC's inability to do better in their virgin year in the conference would be more eyebrow raising if Charlie Davies was healthy. Have to figure he's worth a win or two. As always, the stretch run of conference play should be very interesting and even more so with more teams on board now. Here's who each conference team has to play in the ACC (or ACC Conference, if you're the moronic Sean Wheelock, who can't seem to figure out the second C in ACC stands for, ya know, Conference, thus making ACC Conference a tad redundant. But I digress...) the rest of the way. BOSTON COLLEGE: Wake Forest, Maryland, Clemson, @North Carolina, CLEMSON: @Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Boston College, @ Duke DUKE: virginia, NC State, @North Carolina, Clemson MARYLAND: North Carolina, Virginia, @Boston College, virginia Tech NORTH CAROLINA: @Maryland, @Wake Forest, Duke, Boston College NC STATE: virginia Tech, duke, Wake Forest, VIRGINIA: Duke, @Maryland, Virginia Tech, @Wake Forest VIRGINIA TECH: NC State, Clemson, virginia, Maryland WAKE FOREST: Clemson, @Boston College, North Carolina, @NC State, Virginia UVa @Maryland looks like it might decide the regular season winner while BC's trip to Clemson might be to see who avoids last place. BTW, with nine teams in the conference now, what is the ACC doing with it's tournament format? Is their a play-in game between 8-9 or does 9 not make it or is there something else?
I'm pretty sure that I saw somewhere that the tournament was going to be played in classic ACC basketball fashion. Not sure when the play-in game would be though.
I think it's No. 8 vs. No. 9 on that Tuesday in Cary, and then the winner playing the top seed (the next day). Essentially, it is a play-in type.
Looks like a play-in game on Tuesday ... from the ACC website: Schedule First Round - Tuesday, November 8, 2005 Game 1: 2:00 pm Quarterfinal Round - Wednesday, November 9, 2005 Game 2: 12:00 pm Game 3: 2:30 pm Game 4: 5:30 pm Game 5: 8:00 pm Semifinal Round - Friday, November 11, 2005 Game 6: 5:30 pm Game 7: 8:00 pm Championship Final - Sunday, November 13, 2005 (TV: Fox Sports Net South, Comcast Sports Net, SunSports) Game 8: 1:00 pm linky
Maybe it just shows how weak things really are in the Big East? BC used to be top dog there not too long ago.
Yannick Reyering, baby! UVa finally has two strikers up top who can score (Christman), this is turning out to be a much more balanced attack that we could've predicted at the start. It helps that the defense has only been scored on in three of our 11 games (1 ACC game, the BC game). Can't be happier with how they are doing. If we can run the table in the ACC maybe we'll get some mention with the "big" teams out in the midwest/west (Indiana, Santa Clara, etc). Now if they can just carry that into the NCAA's..
I was told early on this year that Clemson would be hard-pressed to score a goal in the ACC and so far that is true. 0-3 @ Maryland 0-1 L @ North Carolina 0-2 L vs. NC State 0-1 vs. Virginia What gives in Tiger Town?
The cavs have great team chemistry right now. The duo of Cristman and Yannick Reyering has been great and their starting 11 has really come together.
Here are the updated standings after this weekend's games. Virginia --- 10-1-2 - 5-0-0 Maryland --- 10-3-0 - 4-1-0 NC State --- 8-4-1 - 3-2-1 Virginia Tech --- 7-3-3 - 2-1-2 Duke --- 8-3-1 - 2-2-1 Wake Forest --- 8-3-2 - 1-2-2 North Carolina --- 9-3-1 - 1-3-1 Boston College --- 4-5-2 - 0-3-2 Clemson --- 6-4-1 - 0-4-1 How many of you correctly had NC State and Tech as 3-4 in the conference with three games to go? Yeah, me neither! Remaining Conference Games BOSTON COLLEGE: Maryland, Clemson, @North Carolina, CLEMSON: Virginia Tech, Boston College, @ Duke DUKE: NC State, @North Carolina, Clemson MARYLAND: Virginia, @Boston College, virginia Tech NORTH CAROLINA: @Wake Forest, Duke, Boston College NC STATE: duke, Wake Forest, VIRGINIA: @Maryland, Virginia Tech, @Wake Forest VIRGINIA TECH: Clemson, virginia, Maryland WAKE FOREST: North Carolina, @NC State, Virginia Obviously, the big game for the regular season crown is Virginia@Maryland Wednesday. Suffice to say, it's a real shame that game isn't on TV. UVa can basically wrap-up the reg. season crown with a win while a victory by the Terps would leave the teams tied but give Maryland, obviously, the tie-breaker.
It's not inconceivable that the BC/UNC game on the last day of conference play could be to avoid the play-in game. Who would have thought that would be the case at the beginning of the year?
BC didn't play any Big East teams so you really can't comment on how they would stack up in the the Big East this year. UCONN and St. John's are the top dogs now and they have blemishes on their conf. records. BC can only win against weak out of ACC competition this year. Fairleigh D(Teaneck) (8-4-1) L 1-3 Boston U (6-6-1) W 1-0 Quinnipiac (4-6-0) W 3-0 Northeastern (1-6-6) W 2-1 Virginia Tech(23) (7-3-3) T 1-1 Saint Peter's (6-5-3) W 5-0 Virginia(07) (10-1-2) L 3-4 Duke(15) (8-3-1) L 0-3 Brown (8-3-1) L 0-3 NC State(11) (8-4-1) L 1-3 Wake Forest(14) (8-3-2) T 1-1
It should be pointed out that BC's best player, striker Charlie Davies, blew out his knee in the first game of the season. I suspect the Eagles would be doing better if Davies, the MVP of the Milk Cup in Ireland this summer with the U18 national team, were on the field.