ACC Basketball: Midseason recap, awards, and observations

Bracketology – ACC teams on the bubble

Virginia Tech – Next Four Out (Need more than UNC)

The Hokies are back in the discussion after finally getting a win over an NCAA tournament team in North Carolina. They’ll have even more opportunities coming up with two games against Duke and Miami, along with a bout with Virginia. Win a couple of those and now we’re talking.

NC State – Last Four In (All or nothing resume)

The Wolfpack have three of the best possible wins one can ask for in Arizona, Duke, and North Carolina. Problem is, there’s really nothing else positive. They need a few more wins against some good teams so they can move up in the seed lines. Bad losses will put them back to square one.

Syracuse – 11 (Last Four Byes)

Mid-majors are usually what cost power conference teams an at-large bid. But in the Orange’s case, those teams are boosting their resume. Teams like Iona, Buffalo, Eastern Michigan, Oakland and Texas Southern have great RPI numbers because they’ve been dominating their respective leagues. Now it’s up to Syracuse to get that signature win because this resume is as soft as it gets

Florida State – 8 (Weaker resume than originally thought)

The Seminoles might not be as safe in terms of securing a bid as we originally thought. The Oklahoma State and Boston College losses are looking worse than expected and beating North Carolina is the only big win. Florida State should be fine barring a collapse and gets the benefit of playing a weakened Clemson team twice down the stretch.

Miami – 7 (Landmines await)

The Hurricanes have just one bad loss (Georgia Tech) thanks to New Mexico State moving into the RPI top-50. The problem is the upcoming schedule. One one hand, it’s very easy, with only three games left against projected tournament teams. But the Georgia Tech loss proved that Miami is vulnerable and so will their bid be if they lose a couple of games to bad teams.