CONFERENCE PREVIEW: #3, The ACC!

Brian and I are in disagreement over the 2 and 3. But he's at one of the Disney places so, tough break, ACC.

DANCING: Dook, North Carolina, Florida State, NC State, Miami, FL

BUBBLING: Virginia, Maryland

The computers don't like Maryland very much putting them somewhere between 100-150 and I like them based on potential. Oddly enough, they may not make the tournament this year but could be Final 4 good next year. Some people in the Maryland family and area were underwhelmed by his hire but like Gottfried at NC State, he's doing a good job rebuilding/reinvigorating Maryland. Maryland has two nice pieces in big man Alex Len and swingman Nick Faust. FROSH big man Shaquille Cleare will team with Len to give the Terps an intimidating post. Good things here and a team worth watching.

The Cavaliers lose do everything Mike Scott but still have Joe Harris and 3 top 100 recruits coming in. I guess they'll hover around .500 in conference and that'll put them on the bubble. They've started strong the last few years but faded. Time to be more consistent.

BC, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech look to bring up the rear of the conference with only Tech seemingly having a bright future. Steve Donahue gutted BC two years ago and has a very young team. Failure to improve could spell trouble for him.

Clemson has only 2 upperclassmen on their roster. While that may fly at Kentucky, it doesn't at Clemson. Nonetheless, Clemson has a very good coach in Brad Brownell and his teams are similar to Virginia in they'll be tough matchups capable of springing an upset or two. Seth Greenberg is out at Va Tech but he didn't leave the cupboard totally bare. Led by PG Erick Green, the Hokies ahould be better than 4-12 in conference play this season and like Clemson could surprise some people this year and play themselves onto the bubble. Or they could both struggle. Taking a stand!

I don't see a true Final Four team in this conference. The Wolfpack are a trendy pick before the season. North Carolina seems a little young to be real national title contenders. Dook will be the conference favorite and if things break right and they can get consistent PG play, they'll have a chance to contend deep into March. If they can't get solid PG play, they'll struggle to get past the Sweet 16.

The ACC is down but trending up. Duke and Carolina are Duke and Carolina but with improved recruiting at Maryland & NC State, it's only a matter of time before the ACC is back on top. Oh, and getting Pitt and Syracuse won't hurt either.