Read 'em and weep, Duke fans! July 24, 2002 VIRGINIA TOPS ACC COACHES PRE-SEASON POLL GREENSBORO, N.C. - Virginia, the 2001 ACC regular-season champions, have been selected as the favorite for the upcoming 2002 ACC Men's Soccer season, as determined by a vote of the leagues seven head coaches. The Cavaliers finished the 2001 campaign with a 17-2-1 overall record, including a 6-0 league mark and competed in the NCAA Championship for the 21st consecutive year. Heading into 2002, Virginia collected 45 points in the pre-season balloting, edging out defending National Champion North Carolina, who finished second in the poll with 43 points. The Tar Heels ended last year's season on a five-game winning streak, a 21-4 record, including a 4-2 league mark as well as the program's first NCAA men's soccer national title. Finishing third in the poll was Clemson with 36 points. The Tigers were the 2001 ACC Tournament Champions and finished last year with a 19-5 record. Completing the pre-season poll in order of finish is Wake Forest (26), Maryland (22), Duke (17) and NC State (7). Duke returns 15 letterwinners and eight starters off of last year's 8-10-1 squad. The Blue Devils will be led by junior Jordan Cila (8 goals), senior Trevor Perea (3 goals) and senior Donald McIntosh (8 points). Considered by many to be one of the top soccer conferences in the nation, ACC schools have won 10 national championships in men's soccer over the last 18 years. Below is a listing of the preseason coaches' poll with 2001 records and regular season finishes. 2002 PRE-SEASON ACC MEN'S SOCCER POLL School Points 2001 Record/Finish 1. Virginia 45 17-2-1, 6-0 ACC/1st 2. North Carolina 43 21-4, 4-2 ACC/2nd 3. Clemson 36 19-5, 4-2 ACC/3rd 4. Wake Forest 26 13-6-2, 3-2-1 ACC/4th 5. Maryland 22 11-9-1, 1-4-1 ACC/6th 6. Duke 17 8-10-1, 2-4 ACC/5th 7. NC State 7 4-15, 0-6 ACC/7th **Release provided by ACC Media Relations and Duke Sports Information
I'd flip-flop 2-3 but otherwise I can't disagree. Of course, come the tournament, my Cavs will likely just choke again and the regular season championship will go for not!
I spent a little time examining the schedules, and from what I can tell, Clemson and Duke have the most favorable schedules when it comes to number of home games, etc. UNC's schedule is pretty favorable as well. It looks like both UNC and Duke scheduled as many sure non-conference wins as possible, while UVA, Clemson and Wake play a pretty tough non-ACC schedule. Since it's becoming tougher and tougher to get a bid to the NCAA tournament, does it make more sense to schedule a "sure" win, or, does it make sense to schedule tougher opponents because strength of schedule is so important for getting an NCAA berth? In the ACC right now, you know you're going to have at least 5 tough games, maybe 6, if NC State gets its head out of its a__. I have to hand it to Rennie...he has something like 13 out of 19 games at home. Thoughts on scheduling?
Florida State needs to get a team so I can watch live soccer here. Leon High and Tallahassee United just don't do it for me.
Turnaround posted this back in July sometime so with the regular season winding down, thought it would be interesting to see how the predictions sit so far.
Overachievers and Underachievers Let's give credit where credit is due - Wake Forest, Maryland and Duke have all finished much higher than predicted in pre-season. Virginia and North Carolina have been the big disappointments this season in regards to ACC play. You would hope that both UVA and UNC have done enough to get themselves into the post-season, and having six teams from the ACC in the tourney should be commonplace now that there are 48 bids available.