Miami Basketball should be the frontrunners to win the 2017-18 ACC title

While Duke may still be the national title favorite after losing to Boston College, Miami basketball should be the frontrunner to win the ACC and here’s why.

Last season, Duke was the heavy favorite to win both the ACC and March Madness. As far as the regular season went, Duke struggled at times and finished in the middle of the road. They did make history by winning four games in four days to win the ACC Tournament, but flamed out in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

This season is more of the same, with the Blue Devils expected to win both the ACC and the NCAA. I’m just not a believer into that line of thinking. I think sometimes we look at league play and March as the same thing, but, in my opinion, they’re totally different.

The NCAA tournament is six straight elimination games compared to an 18-game marathon against players and coaches that are completely familiar with their opponents. That’s why although I may have been surprised in the moment when Duke lost to Boston College, but there is decades of experience that shows why we should never be truly shocked.

When it comes to solely conference play, the ACC is by far the most difficult conference to win games in. In contrast to other power conference leagues where there may be a couple of top end teams, there’s at least four teams who could reasonably win the league every year in the ACC. That doesn’t even include another five teams likely to make the Big Dance. In terms of Final Four caliber, the ACC is still tops.

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So how do you win this league? Defense and experience for one is key. That was the reason I picked Louisville in the preseason power rankings (before the FBI investigation came out). As of right now, Duke lacks severely in both of those departments. Even before then, teams were able to score on a team who has great length and athleticism. The Blue Devils can win each game, but certainly can lose a few as well.

That leads me to discussing who the “true favorite” should be. Right now, there’s four teams in the elite category: Duke, North Carolina, Notre Dame and Miami. I’ve already mentioned Duke’s concerns, but the defending National Champs have some flaws as well. They’ve looked at times like an offensive juggernaut, but that 45-point effort against Michigan State was rough. It could very well be just one off game, but the Tar Heels don’t have much else inside besides Luke Maye.

The Fighting Irish have looked both impressive and confusing, winning the Maui Invitational against Wichita State despite trailing almost the entire game. Then came last week’s defeat at home to Ball State, where they were handled on the boards. They also rely primarily on three guys to score, and off games from any of them puts them in danger.

That leads me to Jim Larranaga and the Miami Hurricanes. Coming into the season, they already had one of the best perimeters in the country. With such a depth of talent in the basketball world in both the pros and college, it’s easy to overlook a guy like Ja’Quan Newton who won’t wow you on the stat sheet, but the senior is as productive and consistent as they come.

Bruce Brown is the overall best player, who at 6’5″ brings down nearly nine boards a game and dishes out five assists. Dejan Vasiljevic has had a breakout sophomore campaign, scoring almost 12 a game while shooting 42% from three-point range. This doesn’t even include freshmen Lonnie Walker and Chris Lykes, both of whom are over 40% from deep and have been incredibly efficient coming off the bench.

What’s been the biggest revelation has been former McDonald’s All-American Dewan Huell, who has gone from a reserve from last year’s squad to possibly the most important player on defense. He leads the team in scoring at 13.1 ppg, and had his best game at top-15 Minnesota, scoring 23 points in the big road win. His defense in particular has been key, giving the Hurricanes a top-five scoring defense and efficiency rating.

Compared to other teams, there isn’t a glaring weakness for teams to expose. They also have the advantage of flying a bit under the radar, with the defending national champs and the favorites to be the national champs in the league. Miami also doesn’t either have an All-American or a top five draft pick on the roster, so they’ll be a hunter rather than the hunted.

The Hurricanes also has the makeup to navigate the conference for the next couple of months, with the depth and talent to beat any team. They also have the experience to limit the bad losses needed to stay at the top.

Next: Ranking ACC from best to worst (up to Dec. 11)

I’ve said before that Duke should still be a favorite to win it all, but that it should be separate from winning the conference’s regular season title. The number of losses may have been fluky, but that fact that the Blue Devils didn’t win the title wasn’t, and I expect them to do the same this year. That means that someone else will be the No. 1 seed in the ACC tournament, and my money right now would be on the Hurricanes.