I'm hopeful that Duke's great win against GT (a needed shot of confidence and adrenalin) will spur the team on to improvement and drawing closer to its potential.
That said, there really is quite a home court advantage in the ACC (there always has been, but Duke has often overcome that) especially in the early going this season. Just look at some of these scores (all home team wins) and what a difference it made in comparing team's home play vs away play:
Miami 81, NC State 63
Syracuse 70, Miami 55
BC 96, 'Cuse 81
NC State 104, Virginia Tech 78
Virginia Tech 89, Duke 75
Duke 109, Georgia Tech 57
Georgia Tech 75, UNC 63
UNC 89, Clemson 86
Notre Dame 77, L'Ville 70
UVA 61, L'Ville 53
Pitt 88, UVA 76
One big exception is FSU beating UVA at UVA (60-58). Which is telling as to how dangerous FSU is going to be this year.
And, though it is early, the ACC looks to be an incredibly strong and deep league. Clearly the best conference in the nation. Some teams may still surprise and others may falter, but these teams would almost surely be tournament teams right now:
Duke, UNC, FSU, UVA, Va Tech, L'Ville, Notre Dame, NCSU, Miami and one could throw in Clemson and Pitt as teams that could make it.
It is going to be a real war of attrition this year. A team could be really, really good and still have 5-6-7 losses in the conference.
That said, there really is quite a home court advantage in the ACC (there always has been, but Duke has often overcome that) especially in the early going this season. Just look at some of these scores (all home team wins) and what a difference it made in comparing team's home play vs away play:
Miami 81, NC State 63
Syracuse 70, Miami 55
BC 96, 'Cuse 81
NC State 104, Virginia Tech 78
Virginia Tech 89, Duke 75
Duke 109, Georgia Tech 57
Georgia Tech 75, UNC 63
UNC 89, Clemson 86
Notre Dame 77, L'Ville 70
UVA 61, L'Ville 53
Pitt 88, UVA 76
One big exception is FSU beating UVA at UVA (60-58). Which is telling as to how dangerous FSU is going to be this year.
And, though it is early, the ACC looks to be an incredibly strong and deep league. Clearly the best conference in the nation. Some teams may still surprise and others may falter, but these teams would almost surely be tournament teams right now:
Duke, UNC, FSU, UVA, Va Tech, L'Ville, Notre Dame, NCSU, Miami and one could throw in Clemson and Pitt as teams that could make it.
It is going to be a real war of attrition this year. A team could be really, really good and still have 5-6-7 losses in the conference.
