ACC Roundup - Conference Play Starts Saturday

07.12.2024 16:00

Dec 4, 2024; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; North Carolina State Wolfpack forward Ben Middlebrooks (34) fouls on Texas Longhorns guard Chendall Weaver (2) during the second half of the game at Lenovo Center. | Jaylynn Nash-Imagn Images

And here we go

ACC competition starts Saturday and it’s a full slate with everyone except for Duke and Louisville playing (they’ll play on Sunday).

Syracuse plays at Notre Dame, followed by Clemson at Miami. Boston College heads down to the Joel to take on Winston-Salem while Pitt visits Virginia Tech. UNC hosts the Yellow Jackets and Virginia gets to break in SMU as an ACC team.

In the late afternoon games, Florida State takes on the Wolfpack in Raleigh while Stanford and Cal start ACC play against one another at Cal.

the ACC/SEC Challenge was deflating to say the least but conference play still goes by the ACC competitive DNA so hopefully we some good games.

We don’t know if JJ Starling will play or not - he missed the Tennessee game with a hand injury - but Markus Burton is definitely out for Notre Dame and will be for some time. We’d probably take the Irish if only because it’s in South Bend.

We don’t really understand why Miami fell off a cliff,but in ACC Logic, it would make perfect sense for Clemson to lose. But we’ll take the Tigers here, though they might be a bit giddy after beating Kentucky. Is Miami reduced to a trap game? Sad.

We’ll take Wake over BC. The Deacs are more talented and probably better coached. Hunter Sallis alone would do it but we don’t think BC has an answer to Efton Reid inside, much less Cameron Hildreth.

Virginia Tech is 3-5 and heat may be coming for Mike Young if that doesn’t turn around. We’re pulling for Jaden Schutt but it won’t be easy with Pitt. The Panthers have a lot to throw at him and surprisingly, he’s not shooting particularly well. Schutt is hitting just 38 percent on threes, 37.9 percent overall and - this is the biggest surprise - just 60 percent from the line.

Pitt also has a lot of size inside and that will hurt too. So we’ll go with the Panthers.

Who figured UNC and Georgia Tech would open ACC play at 4-4 each? UNC’s strength is in the backcourt and it should do well against Tech even though the Yellow Jackets have Naithan George, Lance Terry and a rapidly improving Jaeden Mustaf.

The key for Tech though is probably sophomore Baye Ndongo. He can expose UNC’s weaknesses inside - if he delivers.

We’re taking UNC though. Whatever the struggles, this is a proud program and they won’t be happy about the Alabama loss earlier this week.

Virginia and SMU is a total crapshoot. Who the hell knows? We have no sense of SMU whatsoever, and Bennett Ball is dead: Virginia has given up 64 to Tennessee, 80 to St. John’s and 87 to Florida.

There’s still time, but Ron Sanchez has not done a great job of preserving the tradition. If this keeps up, he’ll be out at the end of the season. This would be a good time to get a win.

We haven’t seen FSU enough to know how well the ‘Noles have recovered, but they’re 7-2, so maybe the late-career swoon has at least paused for Leonard Hamilton. Still, we like State here. They defend hard too but State is probably more coherent offensively.

Finally, Stanford plays at Cal. We’ll have to get a better sense of both to know what might happen.

Saturday’s ACC Action

Syracuse @ Notre Dame || 12:00 || CW
Clemson @ Miami || 12:00 || 12:00 || ESPN2
BC @ Wake Forest || 12:00 || 12:00 || ACCN
Pitt @ Virginia Tech || 2:00 || ESPNU
Georgia Tech @ UNC || 2:00 || ACCN
Virginia @ SMU || 2:15 || CW
Florida State @ NC State || 4:00 || ESPNU
Stanford @ Cal || 4:00 || ACCN

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