Could Duke be in for another late season slide? According to John Gasaway at the Basketball Prospectus it looks very likely. Duke is clearly the best team in the conference but they have shown some weakness, particularly away from Cameron. That makes the potential showdown with Maryland the second to last game of the season very intriguing.
If you want a conference dark horse take a look at Florida State. Sitting at 7-5 with a sweep of Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech the Seminoles have a very favorable remaining schedule with road games at North Carolina and Miami and home games against Clemson and Wake Forest, neither of which are particularly good road teams. The offense has improved the last four games while Michael Snaer and Xavier Gibson are providing more reliable bench scoring that wasn’t there earlier in the season. If Maryland falters you could see the Seminoles finish 2nd in the ACC.
On the other hand Clemson is probably the most likely team to stumble to the finish. Never a particularly great road team Clemson must travel to Maryland, FSU and Wake Forest in their last five games. Throw in a home game against Georgia Tech and that is probably the most difficult remaining slate for any of the teams near the top.
My predicted finish for the ACC:
- Duke (13-3)
- FSU (11-5)
- Virginia Tech (11-5)
- Maryland (10-6)
- Wake Forest (10-6)
- Georgia Tech (8-8)
- Clemson (8-8)
- Virginia (6-10)
- North Carolina (5-11)
- Boston College (5-11)
- Miami (4-12)
- N.C. State (3-13)
I might be a little pessimistic about Maryland’s chances but I wouldn’t want to seem like a homer. It would be nice to finally get a top-4 first round bye in the ACC Tournament and that could set up a rematch of the 85-83 overtime loss to Wake Forest.
