Conference play is approaching quickly for the ACC. What questions are there for some teams and how might they be answered in the coming weeks?
1. How does Louisville look after all the drama in the off-season?
All things considered, pretty good. David Padgett has been solid as a head coach and the interim tag should be coming off really soon. The credit should really go to the veteran-led squad for staying together and keeping the Cardinals in the ACC picture, though.
The team did lose the two biggest games of the season against Seton Hall and Purdue but have yet to suffer a bad loss, something many others can’t say.
2. Can Georgia Tech survive without two of their best players?
Unfortunately, they didn’t. While the Selection Committee will certainly take into account the losses of Josh Okogie and Tadric Jackson, it’s never acceptable to lose to Grambling State team from the SWAC. Another loss to Wofford hurt the resume even more. Unless the Yellow Jackets go on a tear in the ACC, early December will haunt them in March.
3. Will Pittsburgh win a game?
This question pertained to ACC play, and the answer is absolutely yes. Pitt has not been particularly good to start the season but they should be more competitive than what was originally expected.
After struggling out the gate, the Panthers have won against weaker teams and played competitively against tougher foes. Ryan Luther, Marcus Carr, and Jared Wilson-Frame form a good enough trio to win at least a few games in conference play.
4. How many bids will the league get this time around?
Last season, nine out of 15 teams got in with another few going into the NIT. As a league as a whole, so far so good. Only Pittsburgh, Wake Forest, and Georgia Tech have somewhat played themselves out of the tournament picture, leaving 12 left. It’s hard to tell how good some of these teams are with a few playing lackluster schedules, but January should give us a better picture.
5. Which will be harder for Duke: winning the ACC regular season or the NCAA Tournament?
I’ve said before that playing 18 difficult games (half on the road) would be a tougher task than winning maybe four hard neutral site games. Right now, Duke is technically in last place after losing to Boston College in the first ACC conference game of the year.
Next: ACC Rankings (Dec. 11-18)
I’ve actually argued that the Blue Devils shouldn’t even be the favorites to win the league, which is completely separate from how they might do in the NCAA tournament. If nothing else, the Duke-BC game showed that anyone, at any time, can lose.