There haven’t been a ton of surprises in the ACC thus far, with Duke and North Carolina standing out as the premier teams and everyone trying to chase them down.
At the bottom of the standings, Wake Forest and Boston College are in full-fledged rebuilding mode, which was expected heading into this season. Coach Jeff Bzdelik is knee-deep in a mess that has the Demon Deacons starting almost from scratch. In Boston, coach Steve Donahue is coming off a season in which he lost nearly his entire roster to graduation or the NBA Draft.
For the eight teams between the top and bottom, the rest of the season will be spent jockeying for position within the conference and with other teams competing for a bid to the NCAA Tournament. With final exams quickly approaching, ACC teams have an important week ahead before getting some time off to focus on their studies. Here are some the noteworthy upcoming games.
Sunday Dec. 4: Kansas State at Virginia Tech
The Hokies are 5-2 and have decent wins against Oklahoma State and St. Bonaventure. A home win against undefeated Kansas State is necessary as the Hokies don’t have many remaining opportunities to pick up quality nonconference wins. The only solid match up remaining for Virginia Tech before ACC play is a rematch with Oklahoma State in Stillwater. The two met in the third-place game of the 2K Sports Coaches vs. Cancer Classic in New York City Nov. 25.
Sunday Dec. 4: Maryland vs. Notre Dame
Maryland probably won’t be contending for much this season, but at 3-3, the Terrapins don’t have any bad losses yet. A win against Notre Dame in the BB&T Classic at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., would help Maryland hang on to postseason hopes for a few weeks — until conference play starts at the losses start to pile up.
Tuesday Dec. 6: Memphis at Miami
This might be the biggest match up of the week. Miami’s best wins so far have been against Rutgers and Massachusetts, which won’t cut it come Selection Sunday. If the Hurricanes can knock off Memphis in Coral Gables, they will have a quality win that should look only better as the Tigers plow through Conference USA.
Wednesday Dec. 7: Georgia Tech at Georgia
Like Maryland, Georgia Tech likely will fade sooner rather than later. But this game against local rival Georgia is huge for Brian Gregory’s team, which played hard at undefeated Tulane today in a loss that dropped the Yellow Jackets to 4-4. Georgia Tech also gets a home game against Alabama. Realistically, the Yellow Jackets need to beat every SEC team they play before ACC play gets into full gear.
Saturday Dec. 10: Clemson at Arizona
Clemson has been a mild disappointment thus far in dropping two home games to Charleston and Coastal Carolina. Those teams are no slouches, representing the Southern Conference and Big South, respectively, very well. However, for a team that figured to be in contention for an NCAA at-large bid, the Tigers have some work to do, and a tough road game at Arizona could be a must-win. It’s the last chance for Clemson to pick up a nonconference win to boost its résumé.
Saturday Dec. 10: Miami at West Virginia
The Hurricanes have another chance this week to pick up a noteworthy win when the team travels to Morgantown to play the Mountaineers. West Virginia doesn’t figure to finish near the top of the Big East standings, but a road win against a solid team from one of the premier conferences would go a long way toward building a case for Jim Larranaga’s crew to receive an invitation to the Big Dance.
A few other ACC teams have big nonconference games looming on the horizon.
- NC State has a massively important home game against Syracuse Dec. 17.
- Virginia travels to Oregon Dec. 18 in the team’s toughest remaining nonconference road trip.
- Florida State travels to Gainesville to battle the Seminoles’ in-state rival, Florida, Dec. 22.
