The "new look UNC" thread got me to thinking about how the ACC has changed over the past several years. Duke hasn't been what it used to be and doesn't seem to be making any inroads to getting back. UVA is no where near the quality and dominance of the Arena years. Ibrahims older Clemson teams were pretty strong, Trevor came in with some strong teams, but doesn't seem to be able to get over the hump to dominate the league. Now Maryland has stepped things up along with Wake and the hieracrhy seems to have changed. So how does the ACC look for next year? Is Maryland and Wake at top with possibly Clemson inching in. Then Duke, UNC, UVA fighting over the crumbs with all guaranteed one win against State? Ok, my picks. Clemson - yea out on a limb on this one UMD Wake Duke UVA UNC State Out of conference I see Clemson, UMD, and Wake having good years. The others will struggle unless they fix their schedule with mid D1's. Last thought, and maybe this is another thread. I see the ACC being hurt the most be Prop 40 and MLS. ACC teams could always expect to pick up many of the elite HS players, then have the luxury of filling in with very good players waiting for the call from the ACC. Now many of the elite are by passing college all together or leaving early. A la UNC and UVA problems. Seems to me that until things change we will see more of a cycle in the league with successful teams losing players then having to rebuild. Sorry this was so long, snow on the ground and I haven't seen a live game in awhile, getting a little antsy.
Clemson lost their leading scorer, their best defender and their starting GK, 2 of whom are in the US Olympic pool. That's a lot of talent to lose and still end up at the top of a conference that features a Final Four team that returns everyone. This year, everything in the ACC is Maryland's to lose. State is still at the bottom until they prove otherwise. That leaves Clemson, Duke, North Carolina, Virginia and Wake Forest for spots 2-5. With all they bring back, I think Wake is a solid No. 2 and I wouldn't be that shocked if they topped the Terps. Of the remaining 4 teams, Clemson and Duke bring back the most and both had good recruiting years. Clemson lacks a proven scorer so for that reason alone, I'll pick Duke 3, though to say I'm comfortable with picking John Rennie's team would be misleading. With the Tiggers 4, that leaves UNC and UVa, both of whom will be very young next year, as my preseason 5-6. That's a toss-up but I'll go with UVa just because of the pedigree of the players he brings back like Oliver, Vide, Johnson and Freeman. So, my preseason picks, today, are... 1. Maryland 2. Wake Forest 3. Duke 4. Clemson 5. Virginia 6. North Carolina 7. NC State
Ditto No argument here. Wake will be very strong and I only give UMD a slight edge because they play at UMD this season where the Terps were 13-0 last year. The regular season is only for seeding anyway. I think this will be a down year in the league after the top two indicated above.