ACC Prediction Time

dukiejay

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Well, folks.....the preseason, or whatever you call it, is officially in the rearview mirror for us. Conference play gets started this week/weekend. In fact, tomorrow we get UVA at Louisville just to kick things off.

So how do you feel things will play out the next 10 weeks? I'll give it my best shot.

1.) Duke 14-4 - I don't think we're invincible, and like other seasons we will face more growing pains (as if we haven't had enough already in the first two months).

2) UNC 13-5 - Heels are #2, IMO. I like their veteran leadership.
3) Virginia 13-5 - Even without Nichols the Cavs will be good....they can still shoot it and we know they'll defend.

4) Louisville 12-6 - A very good team, but like other top teams in conference this schedule is hard to navigate without a few slip-ups.

5) Notre Dame 11-7 - Brey just continues to find a way.

6) Clemson 10-8 - Clemson finally gets back to the Dance.
7) Florida State 10-8 - Their size is impressive.

8) Virginia Tech 9-9 - The Hokies won't be an easy one this Saturday in our opener.

9) Miami 8-10 - This might be a little low because Laranaga always seems to overachieve, but I'm not a believer in them yet.
10) NC State 8-10 - I feel like they could and should be better, but won't be.
11) Syracuse 8-10 - They've been a disappointment so far.

12) Pittsburgh 7-11 - One of those ho-hum teams capable of beating the top league teams.

13) Wake Forest 6-12 - How long is the leash for Danny Manning?

14) Georgia Tech 4-14 - Major rebuilding efforts underway for Pastner.

15) Boston College 2-16 - It's been a while since they've been a factor.
 

pisgah101

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Duke-18-0 that's right undefeated, we come out of this break on fire and together and never look back. If we do slip up one or two it'll be to FSU or ND

UVA- no record predictions here on out but Bennett is good

LVille- pitino is the best coach in the nation not named K and has talent

Cryolina- not as good as people think but solid

5. Clemson- good and competitive
6- FSU- them and Clemson are interchangeable

7-12 are all close and could be swapped either which way. Lots of talent and all these are dancing
7- ND
8-NC St- too much talent to be bad hopefully gets it together
9-Miami- great coach falls here because the league is so good
10- Cuse same as Miami
11-VT- I like Buzz
12- WF- Manning can coach too

Pitt, BC, GT- bottom dwellers with two of them being lucky to win a game(BC,GT)
 
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skysdad

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I'm thinking we go 15-3 maybe16-2 if things jell quicker. . I think when we get everybody game ready and Grayson back we are the best team in the ACC. I believe unc will be right on us though. They are a strong experienced team. When pinson comes back they will that much stronger. Still believe they can be a final four team. The rest of the top teams is a guess. U.L., N.D., U.V.A. and the surprise team in my opinion is NCSU. Smith is coming on.
 
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I like us at 16-2 and we win the regular season outright. I think UNC finishes second at 14-4.

My bold prediction is that UVA falls off and doesn't finish in the top 4. The loss of Nichols is huge for them. Now I understand they are a "sum is bigger than the parts" type of team. But I think the lack of elite talent will catch up to them.
Plus UVA's schedule is tough (FINALLY, doesn't it seem like every year they get the cupcake ACC schedule??) they play UL twice and UNC twice. I predict they lose to UL tomorrow night and also go through a 3 game skid along the way. Finish at 10-8.
 
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Quavarius

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1. Duke
2. Louisville
3. UNC
4. Virginia
5. Florida State
6. Notre Dame
7. NC State
8. Syracuse
9. Miami
10. Pittsburgh
11. Wake Forest
12. Clemson
13. Virginia Tech
14. Georgia Tech
15. BC
 

dukedevilz

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NCAA Seeds are in parenthesis

Duke, 15-3 (#1)
UNC, 13-5 (#2)
Louisville, 12-6 (#3)
Virginia Tech, 12-6 (#4)
Pittsburgh, 11-7 (#5)
Virginia, 11-7 (#4)
Florida State, 10-8 (#6)
Notre Dame, 10-8 (#5)
Clemson, 9-9 (#9)
NC State, 8-10 (#12)
Miami, 7-11
Wake Forest, 6-12
Syracuse, 5-13
Georgia Tech, 4-14
Boston College, 2-16
 

Sir Duke Fan

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we have the talent on paper that makes me think we can compete with our 99' squad, who was our only team to go undefeated in ACC play. however, we are nowhere near as good as that team the way we are playing right now, so it really just depends on if everyone can gel and how long that takes.

I say we are definitely capable of 18-0, but very hard to call that after watching our last 2 games. I say 16-2 or 15-3 based on the conservative, trying to be realistic school of thought, but in my heart I feel we go undefeated
 
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hpnole

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we have the talent on paper that makes me think we can compete with our 99' squad, who was our only team to go undefeated in ACC play. however, we are nowhere near as good as that team the way we are playing right now, so it really just depends on if everyone can gel and how long that takes.

I say we are definitely capable of 18-0, but very hard to call that after watching our last 2 games. I say 16-2 or 15-3 based on the conservative, trying to be realistic school of thought, but in my heart I feel we go undefeated
good post, will be interesting to see how they come out the next few games. One thing that I noticed the last game was the lack of rebounding on the offensive boards. Need to shore up there. I also hope the chemistry of the team improves.
 
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Dukesince90

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1 Duke 15-3
2 Virginia 14-4
3 Louisville 13-5
4 Notre Dame 12-6
5 UNX
6 Fla St
7 Clemson
8 NC St.
9 Va Tech
10 Pitt

I'm still not sold on UNX, especially vs good defenses. Hopefully it will turn out to be a season like 2009-2010 and Ol Roy has to talk about his massage therapist.
 

OldasdirtDevil

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I think this Duke team has a chance to be exceptional, but at this time I'm not sure when that will be this season. We're going to have to use ACC conference play to get our guys accustomed to playing together plus dealing with Grayson's suspension, whatever how many games that will be, and the resulting hangover.

If Duke doesn't stumble right out the gate, then I think we win the conference...with maybe 2 or 3 losses. If it takes awhile for the team to gel together then UNC. Louisville, and Virginia will fight it out for the top spot.
It's going to be an interesting season.

OFC
 
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dukehokie

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Those who aren't impressed with Virginia Tech, Wake, NC State and Pitt will be surprised how they fair this season.

I also think with the right motivation, FSU has the talent and size to be a top 3 ACC team this season.

Syracuse, UVA and Notre Dame may fall farther than many think.
 

Dukesince90

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Virginia looked very good tonight. They played lights out the first half.
You have to play the full 40 minutes to beat them. Bennett is doing a helluva job.
 

dukiejay

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The final score was eight points in that game. It wasn't that close. UVA dominated and completely destroyed Louisville.
 

Testkid

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4 0r 5 acc losses for us. IMO.
If we play the way we have over the last couple of weeks sure we will lose 4 or 5. We haven't seen the real duke team yet. If we wake up this team will go 16 and 2 or 15 and 3. I still believe we will be the best team in the country when it is all said and done.
 

gottagonow

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I cannot see how we are ready to play great ball which will be required for us to only lose a game or two. I wish we could somehow replay the season so far and redo everything we've had go against us. It's going to take much better play early on in the ACC than we have demonstrated thus far. I feel confidant that we can and will overcome all the crap thats bitten us in the *** but it better happen starting this week.
 

Sir Duke Fan

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You guy who have us undefeated in ACC play this year are in for a rough road.

I don't think anybody here necessarily expects to go 18-0, but rather feel that we are capable of it and are just giving their hopeful projection. same reason why most of us (at least I know I do) probably put Duke to win every year in the bracket, regardless of if we are truly the best team that year. and I'd be lying myself if I didn't say that most years I truly do feel that we could go undefeated, even though I know it most likely won't happen

it's the pride, hope and excitement that gives any fan a little bit of a bias for their own team, but I think that most of us here are not completely disillusioned to the point that we actually feel with certainty that we sweep the conference this year. we definitely are capable, but man its a gauntlet this year in the ACC, we have a lot of growing to do and it will take a heck of a lot more effort than we've given so far if we can really expect to win the next 18 games
 

BluePhil

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UVA right now does not scare me as much as last year, neither does Louisville. I believe we have too many offensive weapons for them to stop for 40 minutes while at the same time both of them lack a real offensive weapon. If we get through to FSU on Jan 10th with ease I see Louisville as being able to catch us by surprise with their defense. We have to work in those four games leading up to contest with Louisville I think it is a game we win solidly.

UNC always scares me regardless of talent level. This year I am scared of their offensive rebounding. We have to make a concerted effort to keep them out of the paint and rebound well.

UND has been solid but has lost the games it should have lost this year - so far. But Brey has K on speed dial right now. Their success against us has made them the new Maryland. They think they are our rival and play like it. I think we are a bad matchup for them this year and we beat them in our single matchup and in tourney if necessary.

We have a relatively easy ACC schedule this year - RELATIVELY.

UVA - Louisville - VT and UND we play only once (however all are away games) - I think we take one loss in this series

Clemson and NC State we play once - and they are home games - I think we win these

FSU and UNC we play twice. I do not see us sweeping both UNC and FSU I think we take one loss in those 4 games with a possibility of two.

Pitt, VT (especially VT since it is our kick off game) , Wake, Syracuse, and Miami all worry me, and are all top 50 Kenpom teams with Miami being a top 30 Kenpom team. We make it past VT early I think we take this group.

I'm going to say 15-3 with a hopeful scenario of 16-2 and pie in the sky 18-0.
 

Showenuff

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I don't see what you guys see. I see what we once saw. Had Giles, Tatum and Bolden came into the mix healthy and Grayson hadn't effed up momentum flow such as he has, yep, I'd bet money we only lose one or two and even the possibility of undefeated in conference. We have a lot of adjustments and issues still ahead with this team and we are here. Now. We are gonna lose 4 or 5 and that's extremely optimistic with what's going on. Giles has a way to go. Grayson is a huge question mark right now. A couple cold shooting streaks from Luke and we could be in serious trouble. Now, just the opposite I guess is possible. Grayson may come out firing on all cylinders, Tatum gets into form and we start playing like a team, we may be okay. But this is the first time in 6 or 8 years I've been scratching my head this late in a season about team chemistry.
 
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skysdad

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Funny how as time goes by how things can change so much. Just a few months ago we were all excited and couldn't wait til the season started. Then the injuries to 3 of our freshman, Grayson's injury and others with their minor injuries, then Grayson's problems and we started having doubts and questions about how the team will respond to a couple of dismal showings against teams we should have blown out. Despite all of this we have only lost 1 game to a highly ranked team and with a couple of breaks we could still be unbeaten. It's still a long season but the injured are making their way back. Allen has the time to figure some things out and we have the G.O.AT. which we seem to have overlooked his ability to rally the troops. We are still the team to beat and I don't envy any team in the nation. I believe starting Sat. we are going a roll and pity any team that underestimates Duke. OFC
 

timo0402

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I predict health for the Duke Roster. Honestly that is all I want right now.
Agreed there. I think we lose 3-4 in conference. That will put us around 26/27-4/5. Should be enough to win the conference and get a one seed, which at the end of the day is all we want to do as far as the tourney is concerned.
 

df64

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This team has so much room for improvement. What other top 15 team can say that? Lets not forget that Chase and Frank have missed practice time too with injury. Many were screaming for Frank to play over Matt when he wasn't even able to practice. Even without Grayson, any or all of Tatum, Jackson, Giles, or Bolden could explode over the next two weeks. Chase also has had time for his ankle to get better. Duke has had a week plus to get ready for VT. VT plus the next two are extremely winnable. If we take those three, start to gel, and get healthy look out. We are do for some good news and I think we get it.