ACC Basketball: 3 biggest surprises of the 2017-18 season?

The ACC once again was a strong conference this season. But who were the surprises no one saw coming?

Between Virginia at the very top and Pittsburgh at the very bottom, the ACC was a big cluster with the rest of the teams. Schools like Duke and North Carolina performed as expected, while Wake Forest and Georgia Tech brought up the rear. But who were the biggest unexpected surprises? Here are three that comes to mind.

3. Florida State Seminoles 23-12 (9-9)

After losing a couple of players to the NBA, Leonard Hamilton needed to find a way to make up for the lost production. So he decided to literally use the whole team for this, playing as many as a dozen players in a single game.

The depth, size, and length of the Seminoles proved to be a problem in the NCAA Tournament, taking care of Xavier and Gonzaga in upsets. Florida State proved this season that chemistry and effort are better than pure individual talent.

2. NC State Wolfpack 21-12 (7-7)

The team last year had more talent but was an utter disaster that caused a regime change. But first-year head coach Kevin Keatts was able to squeeze every bit of talent out of this year’s team and had them finish in the upper half of the ACC, as well as a nine seed in the NCAA Tournament. With a great recruiting class coming in, this is just a beginning for NC State.

1. Virginia Cavaliers 31-3 (17-1)

What happened in the first-round against UMBC is a different issue from what was an incredible overall season for Virginia. They dominated North Carolina twice and beat Duke in their only matchup this season, in route to a nearly perfect ACC season.

Next: 10 biggest transfer busts of the season

Considering that the Cavaliers lost a good amount of scoring talent, finishing in the top-4 would’ve been a big deal. But what they did to everyone was a far bigger surprise than I or anyone anticipated