Men’s Basketball Picked To Finish Sixth in the ACC
With ACC Basketball Media Day kicking off in Charlotte, NC today, we are all given the gift of the media’s pre-season prognostications. The beauty of these selections is that each year, for the most part, they are wrong. If those who cover the sport could actually go ahead and peg where each and every team would finish before the season started, why would we even play the games? Well, we wouldn’t. And even though these picks might be looked back upon months from now and laughed at for their inaccuracy, they are just so much fun to speculate over during October!
Without further ado…Your 2012-2013 ACC Preseason Poll.
Team Predictions (first-place votes)
1. N.C. State Wolfpack (8) 139
2. Duke Blue Devils (3) 130
3. North Carolina Tar Heels (1) 124
4. Miami Hurricanes 104
5. Florida St. Seminoles 103
6. Maryland Terrapins 78
7. Virginia Cavaliers 68
8. Clemson Tigers 61
9. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 40
T10. Virginia Tech Hokies 32
T10. Wake Forest Demon Deacons 32
12. Boston College Eagles 25
So there you have it folks, the experts think we’ll be slightly better than UVA but in a different tax bracket than the likes of Florida State and Miami. As you can see from the number of votes each team received the league has basically been broken down into four groups. You have the North Carolina schools contingent (UNC, NC State, and Duke) as the cream of the crop of the league. The Florida schools (Miami, FSU) have been bunched together as well, serving as a buffer from the Tobacco Road triumvirate to the “middle class” consisting of our Terps, UVA and Clemson. Then you have the bottom feeders: the technical schools (GT and VT), the forgotten son of NC in Wake Forest and that school above the Mason Dixon line that they allowed in to the league (Boston College).
I, for one, am not drinking the N.C. State Kool-Aid just yet. They do return C.J. Leslie and will be pairing him with stud freshman Rodney Purvis; call me crazy, but I am going to take a wait and see approach with this team. They will have loads of talent but if that talent doesn’t mesh well on the floor that can be more of a hindrance than an asset. They could very well blow the doors off of the league during the regular season, or they could fall back to what has been their usual home behind UNC and Duke the last few seasons. I wouldn’t be surprised by either scenario playing itself out at this point.
Do I agree with the way this was broken down? Of course I don’t; with Pe’Shon Howard, Nick Faust and Alex Len leading the way I am confident that the Terps will be a tough out for any team this year. But like I said at the top, this is half of the fun, and I can guarantee you being chosen as the sixth best team in the league is something that will fuel the Terrapins this upcoming season. Also, if Dez Wells’ waiver is granted and he is eligible to play this season, I see this order being quite different come March when it is time to get down to business in tournament play. Basketball season is here everyone, time to sit back, crack open a cold beverage of your choosing and watch as the rest of the ACC remembers what it’s like to Fear The Turtle.