It's been a long time... For those of you who are new to the College Boards this year, you won't recognize the cantona24 handle. I've been on a bit of a hiatus from the BS Boards this season. Some would say that it's because my beloved Tar Heels had a bit of a slump and that I'm finally making it back to talk now that it looks like the team may have turned the corner. Honestly, I haven't been able to watch many of the games this year, but in the last couple weeks I've been sniffing aroudn the boards a bit and have caught the fever again. I've been an observer of ACC soccer for years and have seen the conference ebb and flow in terms of dominant teams and trends of play. From what I've seen and read so far this year, it seems that 2004 has been the year of parity. There is no one team in the ACC that I can say, without a doubt, is a dominant player in the conference, and also the national scene. This is in stark contrast to years past, when UVA used to run the college soccer world. Even in recent years there have been teams (UNC in 2000, UVA reg. season of 2001, Wake and Maryland in the past couple years) that have been the league leaders and at or near the top of the rankings. While the ACC has plenty of top ten/top 15 teams, there isn't the same dominant presence exuding from this year's #1 team (Wake) as in years past. This being said, I think Wake is the best team in the ACC. They are strong in the back, solid in the midfield with Lowry, and have creative and dynamic players up top with Moose and Sealy. Top to bottom they are the best team in the ACC. Solid, sure. But do they have that extra something that it takes to go to the Final Four or win it all? The talent is still in the ACC. For years it's been spreading out among the teams, and I doubt that we'll ever see a period again with a UVA-esque power completely dominating the scene. The ACC was always a league in which every game was a battle, and a .500 record was a strong showing in conference. But there was always ugly stepsister NCSU, who could always surprise, but was seen as little more than an inconvenience. State seems to have turned the corner a bit, and VaTech is probably the nation's best last place team. Clemson has tradition, and will likely rebound from 2nd to cellar finishes the last two years. The questions are these - is the parity in the ACC good? Will it help to make the teams better in NCAA tourney time? Will a mid-level ACC team (UNC, Duke, UVa, etc) make a run in the tourney? Is ACC soccer on the same level as ACC basketball? What is your analysis of the ACC this year? It's great to be back...look foward to chatting with you all as "survive and advance" time arrives. cantona24