Degrees of separation.
Clemson and Maryland Assert Themselves: Both went on the road and scored big wins. Maryland avenged a December loss to Boston College thus establishing themselves as a legit contender for #3 in the ACC. Clemson did the same by smoking UVa by 41 in Charlottesville. Both will have their hands full this weekend with MD hosting NC State and Clemson traveling to Chapel Hill. Obviously the Terps have an opportunity to claim sole possession of third with a win Saturday night and a Clemson loss on Sunday.
The Four Loss Teams: NC State, Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech make up the next grouping of teams all with four losses. NCSU got the best of VT while Georgia Tech pushed Wake Forest out of the mix with a win in Winston-Salem. VT has the more daunting schedule ahead hosting Miami then traveling to UNC and MD. There is a good chance the Hokies will look like Mitt Romney in about 10 days. NCSU faces a big game at MD. Should the Pack win and UNC beat Clemson it moves NCSU into a tie for third alongside MD, Clemson and GT who will be off losing to UConn over the weekend.
Faltering Hope: Wake Forest and Boston College who had promising starts but see the sand beneath them eroding faster than you can say NIT. Wake missed a huge chance in losing to GT at home and BC could have stopped the bleeding against MD at home but apparently have entered a phase of playing mediocre basketball.
Yes Virginia, Your Team Sucks and the Same is True in Florida: How does a team with an All-ACC guard ended up last in the conference. Does anyone know? Anyone? Also, Miami and FSU played each other and no the basketball version is about as entertaining as watching paint dry.
Weekend Schedule: BC travels to Duke praying like mad during the whole flight the Blue Devils decide to have a letdown game. Virginia Tech and Miami battle for relevance in the ACC, the same can be said for Wake Forest hosting Virginia. Georgia Tech steps outside the conference to play UConn which in no way promises to end well for them. And the two games with the greatest implications for the ACC standings are MD hosting NCSU and Clemson at UNC. UNC is looking at must win the rest of the season to squeeze past Duke for the #1 seed in the East. Clemson would like to stop losing in Chapel Hill and maintain 3rd place in the standings. Should Clemson lose and NCSU beat MD, we got a big old pot of mess after you get past Duke and UNC...again.
Saturday, February 9th
BC at Duke, 1 PM
Miami at VT, 2 PM
UVa at Wake, 3:30 PM
GT at UConn, 4 PM
NCSU at MD, 8 PM
Sunday, February 10th
Clemson at UNC, 6:30 PM