The Atlantic Coast Conference is coming off of the high of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and heading into a lull between that and conference play beginning later this winter. This weekend, the matchups are not nearly as enticing as we had during the week, but there is still excitement to follow out of this conference, especially with the top teams.
Heading into the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, three of the top six teams in the country and five of the top 25 were members of the ACC. The best of the best remain North Carolina and Duke. The Tobacco Road matchup won't take place until February. The scheduling masters have once again stuffed both UNC/Duke games into the final month of the regular season.
After a trio of highly talented opponents, the Tar Heels take a step down to play Radford on Sunday afternoon. Since the outcome is likely not in doubt, this game will be used in two ways: to get the back of the rotation more minutes and to make sure the team isn't looking ahead to its juicy December 17th game against Kentucky, one of the best teams in the country. The latter is obvious; as for the former, North Carolina, under Roy Williams, routinely uses 10 men. This year, there are 10 guys playing at least 11 minutes per game, and that doesn't even include the injured Theo Pinson, who was projected as a starter in the preseason.
Duke should have a similar cake walk this weekend against Maine on Saturday. Unlike UNC, Duke has been playing very shorthanded. Coach K has relied heavily on his starting five and has used just two guys off the bench in spurts. It hasn't mattered, as the Blue Devils have looked excellent, but fans are growing impatient, awaiting the returns of high school All-Americans Jayson Tatum, Harry Giles, and Marques Bolden. All three are possible 2017 first-round draft picks, and none have played yet this season. The game against Maine is a great opportunity for Duke to extend its bench a little deeper as it awaits three of its top players to return to good health.
The best ACC game of the weekend is surely Virginia's matchup against West Virginia. The Cavaliers are the only ACC team playing a ranked opponent this weekend, and the Mountaineers double as the first ranked opponent UVA has faced.
Virginia has been clowning teams to this point, holding its first six opponents of the season to 52 points or fewer. West Virginia has been playing fast and furiously, so it will be interesting to see who budges. WVU has topped 80 points five times and topped 100 points three times already. Of course, UVA will be its toughest test.
