Gary Williams

**pvfan** · February 7th, 2008, 01:24 AM

Lost in all the UNC/Duke talk Gary Williams won his 600th game tonight on the road at Boston College. The win gave Maryland sole possession of third place in the ACC and imo allows Maryland to play just .500 from here on out to make the NCAA Tournament. Maryland has far fetched as it may be is also only one game out of second place and would hold a tiebreaker over UNC if it came to that. Should be a fun second half of the ACC.

Duke 8-0
North Carolina 6-2
Maryland 5-3
Clemson 4-3
Virginia Tech 5-4
North Carolina State 4-4
Georgia Tech 4-4
Wake Forest 3-5
Boston College 3-5
Florida State 3-6
Miami (FL) 2-6
Virginia 1-6

**1inStripes** · February 7th, 2008, 02:22 PM

How many ACC teams do you think will make the tournament? This may be the weakest the ACC has been as a whole in a long time.

**CoeburnCane** · February 7th, 2008, 03:37 PM

Congrats to Williams--he's already one of the best in the game and will likely go down as one of the greatest ever.

I think the ACC ultimately gets 5 in. There's a lot of mid-majors overachieving right now, and specifically, the A-10 as a whole is overrated. Lunardi's predicting 4 teams in from the A-10 and only 3 from the ACC. I think eventually, once we see how all the teams have played thru their conference seasons & tourney's that the committee will give credence to how competitive the ACC is this year. I think you'll see either VT/NCSU/GT make a run in the 2nd half of the ACC play, and the top 4 will stay as-is. That fifth team will be a bubble team, but if it comes down to one of those 3 teams against a mediocre A-10 team, I think the ACC squad gets the nod.

**gcdevil22** · February 7th, 2008, 03:40 PM

if the ACC is the weakest its been then the entire nation is the weakest its been as well...ACC was still #1 in terms of rpi

the only problem is 3-10 are dead even, so they've beaten each other up all year...IMO ACC gets 5

**1inStripes** · February 7th, 2008, 03:43 PM

I am thinking 4 or 5 as well depending on how the tourney goes.

I am not saying the ACC is horrible, Im just saying it isn't as strong as it has been in the past. You really have 2 teams this year and then everyone else it seems like. Parity has leveled the playing field across the nation in basketball. The Big East isn't as good as it used to be. The Big Ten is awful to be honest.

**gcdevil22** · February 7th, 2008, 04:21 PM

at the top it isnt as strong, but i don't think i've ever seen it as strong from 5-12 (or 5-9)

**1inStripes** · February 7th, 2008, 04:31 PM

I don't know if I would put it like that though. These 5-9 teams in a lot of years would finish 8-12 in the ACC.

**gcdevil22** · February 7th, 2008, 04:37 PM

not really...typically in the ACC you have about 9 good teams

3 of those teams are the Elite group (UNC, Duke, and whoever it is in that year)

3 of them are teams who would be locks for a tourney bid in another conference

and 3 of them are really good but get beat up by the top 6 and lose to each other

then you have 3 teams who are in a rebuilding year and aren't very good

this year you have 2 teams who fall in the top category, 5 teams who fall in the 2nd category and 5 teams who fall in the third...there aren't any gimmies in the ACC this year...UVa, the "worst" team in the ACC has an NBA guy in Singletary and some other scoring options around him, they just have lost some very close games

**1inStripes** · February 7th, 2008, 05:18 PM

Maybe so, I just don't feel like those teams are as strong as usual. I don't think Miami, Wake, FSU, BC, or GT are really that good. Generally I think those teams would if they were in the ACC in years past would have been in that bottom 3.

**pvfan** · February 7th, 2008, 05:22 PM

The worst team in the ACC beat the RPI number 7 on the road from the Pac Ten. ACC gets 5 minimum if lower than that I'll scream on selection Sunday. Right now it's Duke/UNC/Clemson and then 4 teams fighting for two spots. I'm a Maryland fan but they are getting a raw deal in my opinion. In the first 8 ACC games Maryland played @UNC/@VT/@BC/@GT/Duke/UVA/BC/WF they have yet to play the lower tier at this point. If not for early season loses to American and Ohio, the Terps would be ranked in the top 20 right now. Took a while to get any rotation down (especially when in the middle of the year your best incoming recruit is ruled inelgible). Maryland has already won 3 ACC Road games and they still go to Miami/WF/UVA they have a legit shot to win 5 ACC road games. In Lunardi's last bracket projection he had Maryland/VT both out in the last 4 and that is a complete joke. VT is in worse shape than Maryland right now, they have by far the easiest ACC Schedule of any of the teams challenging for a bid. VT needs 10 wins total (ACCT included) in ACC play to get in unless they can score a win over UNC. NC St. is in do or die mode right now, they still have Duke and UNC if they lose to Maryland Saturday they are in a very bad spot. I think you'll see this in the end
1.Duke
2.UNC
3.Clemson
4.Maryland
5.VT

I can see Maryland finishing 3rd if they contiune to play as they have. Wouldn't suprise me if VT finished 4th either and Clemson hit rock bottom, injuries and a really rough last 6 games for the Tigers.