ACC 2024-25 Season

[WBBTakeover]

I think that Duke has shown more than enough to position itself as the clearcut #2 team in the ACC and may be the only team, at the moment, that can at least challenge ND.

No surprise that Boston College and Wake Forest are as bad as they are.

As for the other 14 teams, we'll see what they're about after the Thanksgiving tournaments and SEC/ACC challenge (the bottom 1/3 of the SEC is terrible, but everyone else above them is solid to outstanding and could be better than their ACC counterparts not named ND). I don't want to say too much about the other ACC teams because I don't think they're all that good--but we'll see.

 

[CalWBBfan]

The ACC finished the day going 2 - 3 so over the last 5 days overall the conference was a respectable 20 -7 (74% win rate).

WF gave a good fight but bowed in the end to a decent Fairfield team with a good new coach(Carly Thibault-DuDonis).

BC was a disappointment losing to a re-built Oregon State team. Coaching matters.

A predictable outcome for an NC state squad that is both offensively and defensively challenged in the post area. If they continue to shoot 40% of their shots as 3-pointers they better hit more of them with that kind of offensive imbalance. Trouble ahead for the Pack.

Cal lost to Vandy their previous game due to their big fouling out with 5 minutes left. This time it was Arizona's turn as their best player Jada Williams was sitting early in the 3rd quarter with 4 fouls. Cal took care of it from there although it was very competitive till late in the game.

Duke surprised by getting in to an offensive scoring fest with Oklahoma which is their strength and I would have thought favored the Sooners. But apparently Oklahoma plays no defense to speak of and Duke's duo of Richardson and Jackson made them pay. Duke left the door open a crack and what should have been a win in regulation went to OT. Duke finished on a tear in OT.

A few thoughts. Duke had no answer for Beers on the inside or even really for Verhulst. They were a combined
17/26(65%). If not for one of Oklahoma's starters going 0-for-7 there may have been a different outcome. I also don't expect Duke to have many games where they shoot a blistering 55% from 3(11/20). I have not seen the overall stellar defense that Duke has become known for under Lawson much in evidence this year.

Having said that I think at this point Duke is further along than we thought they would be. They beat the #9 and #8 teams in successive games on a neutral court. Can the pollsters please stop screwing them over and put them ahead of both KSU and Oklahoma where they belong?!!!

Cal lost to MSU, not Vandy. They defeated Arizona the following day 74-62.

 

[Rooster C.]

Cal lost to MSU, not Vandy. They defeated Arizona the following day 74-62.

Yeah, my bad. And I even watched the games so I must have been thinking about Turkey.

 

[Rooster C.]

So the ACC finished the day 2 - 1 bringing their total over the past 6 days to 22 - 8 overall. Not bad.

Virginia over Green Bay in a very competitive game. Virginia's bigs didn't have the dominant game I expected them to have (a combined 14 points). Not sure what to make of that since they were 7/15 and not in any foul trouble either.

Pitt played much better against Kansas than expected. Either Pitt is better than I thought or Kansas is worse than I thought.

FSU hasn't changed much. Up and down from game to game. They only outscored Texas Tech in one quarter - the first. I've seen too many games where the team that gets off to a fast start in the first quarter goes on to hang on the next three quarters and win. FSU ultimately won it as they do most of their games at the free throw line. They are entirely too dependent on Latson and a lesser degree on Timpson and Gordon. Timpson had a bad game but Gordon picked up the slack. Outside of those three they are offensively challenged. And since they don't play much defense they need all three to perform well nearly every game in order to win.

 

[Rooster C.]

Fridays slate:

Charlotte(3 - 3) vs Miami(5 - 0) Miami win
Auburn(4 - 2) vs Pitt(5 - 2) Edge to Auburn
NC Central(0 - 8) at #16 NC(6 -1) Good practice I guess?
VT(5 - 1) vs Davidson(3 -3) VT should win
#3 ND(5 -0) vs #17 TCU(6 - 0) Big advantage inside for TCU but ND is just too good overall. ND wins big.
UC San Diego(1 - 6) at Stanford(6 - 1) Good practice?
Wash.St.(3 -3) vs Virginia(6 -1) Virginia win but close
FSU(6 - 1) vs Missouri St.(4 - 1) FSU should win but ??
UT Arlington(2 - 4) at SMU(4 - 3) SMU

The ACC should have another good day losing only one or two games at most. I will be keeping an eye on the big game between ND/TCU