ACC-Big 10 challenge

[Biggin]

my picks:

#1 Duke (ACC)
#2 Ohio State (B10)
Wake Forest (ACC)
#21 Illinois (B10)
Northwestern (B10)
Michigan (B10)
Boston College (ACC)
Wisconsin (B10)
Purdue (B10)
Maryland (ACC)

that would make it 6-5 Big 10, but it could easily be 6-5 ACC or 7-4 Big 10

[gcdevil22]

the only places where I really disagree are GT/Northwestern and Clemson/Michigan

GT, despite their early struggles, match up really well with Northwestern...and if they're smart they'll use a lot of ball screens and attack off the bounce, they're just much more athletic than Northwestern

Clemson and Michigan are similar in talent and athleticism but Clemson is a really tough place to win

[gcdevil22]

was wrong on both...GT is really having some troubles...if Hewitt keeps his job it'll be the dumbest decision ever

[Biggin]

Tonight, Illinois beat North Carolina, Michigan beat Clemson, Ohio State defeated Florida, Northwestern won over Georgia Tech, and Wake beat Iowa.
now its
big 10=4 (osu, nw, um, ill)
acc=2 (wake, virginia)

well i think northwestern is again an improving team and will end the streak this year. they will build on last years solid season and make that next step, and gt lost their best player and the talent level has dipped dramatically. I felt pretty solid in that one. Hewitt is done, couple years too late IMO

clemson/michigan was almost a pick em, and michigan is not playing with a new coach. clemson is replacing pernell and michigan is athletic, i saw it as a coin flip almost.

[gcdevil22]

the thing i don't get is that GT still has one of the top 3 backcourts in the ACC and with Duke and VT's backcourts to contend with, that's saying somethin

Iman Shumpert, Mfon Udofia, Glen Rice Jr and Brian Oliver...all four of those guys are very good players...they pick up Julian Royal in next year's class and they've got 5 kids who can all play at a high level...if GT gets someone in there who can coach as well as lock up the players in the Atlanta area alone, then GT could be an absolute force...

part of their problem is they only have 3 players over 6'6 and all of them are freshmen...they shoot a very poor percentage from the field (something like 35%) because they can't feed the ball inside to stop runs or make the defense play honest

as it is, they're letting UGA come in and steal some kids that they normally would've gotten

[Biggin]

UGA is on the upswing, with this year's team maybe a tournament/top level SEC team and getting big time players out of the area.
GT had the area on lock for a while, but Hewitt never took advantage of all that NBA talent, aside from the run a couple years ago.

GT should be one of the best teams in the ACC every couple of years. They have talent, are right in the middle of ALL kinds of talent, but you can tell the coaching has not been there the last few years.

and no size this year, but Hewitt knew Favors was a one and done guy, thats bad scouting IMO

[gcdevil22]

you look at the team that took them to the Final Four, and it was probably his LEAST athletic team, it blows my mind...Luke Schenscher for Christ's sake!?!?! Mario West was a freshman at the time and a walk-on...and Jarrett Jack was the leader of the team...but you can't win with Thaddeus Young, Javaris Crittenton, Anthony Morrow, Iman Shumpert and Derrick Favors???

this is the same team who only lost by 4 to 10th ranked Syracuse, 3 days ago...

[1inStripes]

And lost to A-Sun doormat Kennesaw State. That said as nod to the A-Sun they do have the 2nd most wins as a mid-major conference versus the "big 6" conferences. Conference USA has the most going into this week.

Iowa must be terrible too. Wake is another program who is falling off the map in the ACC.