I think we need to start an on-line petition to turn Monday back into “Big Monday” and move the mid-week ACC games back to the Tue through Thurs spot. All of these Monday games play heck with the timeliness of my weekly reviews.
Once again the RPI and Dance Card info covers through Sunday’s games and the ACC records were manually adjusted after the Monday games. (It’s only a matter of time until I screw up the manual updates.) Here’s the ACC sorted by RPI:
Not a lot of surprises, but a few things worth mentioning:
Even though Syracuse won’t be participating in the post-season, I’m going to leave them in just to see if my predictions of doom turn out to be accurate.
Pitt is riding a three-game win streak, including a win over mighty Bryant.
Miami turned back Clemson at home to stop Clemson’s upward climb and stabilize themselves at the top of the ACC bubble teams.
Here are the RPI trend graphs:
The teams in the bubble region are all over the place, proving once again that you are what your record says you are. If you were better than mediocre, then it would show up in the records and the rankings.
Every team on the bubble graph (except the ‘Cuse) could theoretically make the NCAAT and they could all end up “fighting” for a spot in the NIT. As always we’ll see if anyone can step up and claim a spot in the NCAAT.
Before you scoff too loudly, let’s take a look at the Dance Card for a few surprises:
I wasn’t sure if Miami would stay in, but there they are 12 spots ABOVE the bubble. I certainly never thought that State would still be north of the bubble-bursting line (if only barely).
I haven’t really followed Purdue (after all, who does?) and was once again surprised to see them five spots above the bubble with an RPI of 71 (though they do have three Top-50 wins). When you look at the resumes of Miami, Purdue, and State, you are left with the conclusion that the bubble is extremely weak right now…meaning that it shouldn’t take much to move up rather quickly.
Of course, the other obvious conclusion is that if any of the teams within a dozen spots of the bubble were actually any good, they would have already moved up.
So let’s take a quick look at the ACCT Bubbles:
Duke moved a half-game ahead of Louisville (in a surprisingly close win at FSU) and has the tie-breaker advantage with their win over the Cardinals.
With Syracuse withdrawing from the ACCT, the Tues/Wed bubble got a lot less interesting….and right now that’s a good thing. Though there is no reason to think that the 8-9 game on Wednesday is a good spot to be in.
NCSU
State’s season is currently circling the drain with a running three-pointer at the buzzer keeping State from being in a five-game losing streak. If that sounds depressing, then I’ve properly summarized my feelings. In any case, State’s next two weeks are their last chance at another good win before the ACCT:
One thing to keep in mind is that you absolutely don’t want to enter the ACCT with a losing conference record. That would guarantee that a win on Thursday would absolutely be required for an at-large NCAAT bid.
The Week Ahead for the ACC:
With two games again next Monday:
