From CollegeHoopsNet.com, State represents the ACC's best chance among teams unlikely to make the NCAA tourney to run the table in their conference's tournament, thus robbing an at-large bid from a bubble team:
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So I don't expect you to get too amped up by this. But I think it's a bit ambitious to think that there are four bubble teams from the ACC at this point. There's no way Virginia Tech finishes above .500 in the league at 6-6 with Clemson, Duke, Carolina and FSU remaining, and the best Miami can do is finish at 8-8 with only one decent OOC win (Kentucky).
So adding Virginia Tech and Miami to the pile of need-to-win-the-tourney-to-get-in teams, I think it makes it a bit tougher to make that same argument. McClinton can keep you in any game and if he gets Randolph Childress hot for four games, Miami can win it. Virginia Tech is dangerous, but I think State would stand a better chance to go all the way than the Hokies who always seem to struggle in the ACC tournament.
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ACCNow granted, this doesn't really mean a whole lot. It's basically saying out of the group of three teams at the absolute bottom of the league--State, Virginia and Georgia Tech--we have the best chance to win four games in four days. I also have a better chance of blocking a dunk from Shaquille O'Neal than do either Verne Troyer or Danny Devito.
North Carolina State: With five teams looking like locks to go to the Dance, and four teams on the bubble, North Carolina State certainly looks like the best of the rest. The Wolfpack have knocked off Wake Forest and Miami (Fl.) in conference play this season, and played some other teams very close. Brandon Costner is difficult to defend and Ben McCauley has bounced back after a down year. Courtney Fells is the most potent scorer in the backcourt. NC State can shoot the ball, both inside and outside the arc, and it also offensive rebounds at a high rate. They also slow the pace of the game down and force teams into tough shots.
So I don't expect you to get too amped up by this. But I think it's a bit ambitious to think that there are four bubble teams from the ACC at this point. There's no way Virginia Tech finishes above .500 in the league at 6-6 with Clemson, Duke, Carolina and FSU remaining, and the best Miami can do is finish at 8-8 with only one decent OOC win (Kentucky).
So adding Virginia Tech and Miami to the pile of need-to-win-the-tourney-to-get-in teams, I think it makes it a bit tougher to make that same argument. McClinton can keep you in any game and if he gets Randolph Childress hot for four games, Miami can win it. Virginia Tech is dangerous, but I think State would stand a better chance to go all the way than the Hokies who always seem to struggle in the ACC tournament.
7 teams is the most that the ACC could get in, and frankly, I think we'll beat Maryland which will most likely knock them off the bubble. So, I'd say 6 teams are in (with BC being the 6th) (Duke, Wake, UNC, Clemson and FSU) .. anyone else will have to win the tourney to get in.
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