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Mike Miller

Mike Miller has been NBCSports.com's college basketball editor since 2003. It's a position he relishes; no wonder considering he transferred to Kansas to watch Paul Pierce play. Most of his favorite sports memories involve college hoops, usually during March, when every waking moment is spent thinking about March Madness.



ACC is Duke vs. UNC -- everyone else stinks?

Posted: Monday, October 26, 2009 9:05 AM
Filed Under: ,

So Duke and North Carolina are picked to finish atop the ACC. This is new?

Seems like the Tar Heels and Blue Devils are always picked to rule the roost, and usually do. Since 1954, one of those two has either won or tied for the ACC title 44 times.

But this is the first time in the 41 years of the conference’s preseason day that they’re officially co-favorites.


Kevin C. Cox/Getty images
It's Coach K vs. Roy Williams, again.

(Duke garnered more first-place votes, but UNC tied them with 545 overall points. And via ACC Now, this is the 19th time North Carolina has been picked to finish first. The Tar Heels won the league in 11 of the first 18 times they were picked. Duke has been picked to finish first 12 times before, winning in seven of those years.)

Huh. So this means the ACC media guys can’t settle on which team’s gonna be better, either.

The offseason debate of Duke vs. North Carolina – the Devils return more players, but only two of ‘em are guards, while the national champion Heels lost four starters – was a minor point among hopheads, mostly because both teams were still going to be really good. (Seriously. Both are in our Top 10.)

But this could be an issue for the rest of the ACC. In the media’s eyes, everyone else is a loooong way back.

From ACC now:

The 144-point gap between Duke and North Carolina and third selection Clemson is the largest gap between any spots in the poll. Clemson-Georgia Tech (third-fourth, 122 points) and Boston College-Miami (eighth-ninth, 116 points) are the other demarcation points.

OK, the Tigers have a chance, but everyone else is way, way back of the top two. Georgia Tech is slightly better than Maryland, Wake Forest, Florida State, Virginia Tech and Boston College. Miami, Virginia and N.C. State are bottom dwellers.

And this is exactly how it’s gonna play out, right? Right.

(Shakes head, noting heavy sarcasm to avoid angry comments below.)

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Comments

UNC has arguably the best incoming & sophomore class in the country - PERIOD, and the return of defensive beast Marcus Ginyard. Duke has Scheyer, no Paulus, no quick threat (he went to Memphis), and never even tried to get John Wall. Duke, is DONE.

Tom, Raleigh, NC (Sent Monday, October 26, 2009 3:47 PM)

I think folks are going to be very surprised at the pick-up in performance of the rest of the league this year. I expect it to be more competitive than ever. Recruiting has picked up BIG TIME at other conference schools. Just check the rankings of the 2009 and 2010 commit lists for this year and next….you’ve got 5 schools outside of dook and Carolina in the top 25. With that influx of talent into one conference, I’m thinking the Big East clashes of last year….X10.  Plus, a lot of these schools have slowly (but surely) been laying the ground work to get their programs up to par to become more successful. So I think it can be fairly stated that these schools have grown very tired and frustrated with ceding the ACC crown over to Carolina and Duke virtually every year. So in the words of a native born Southern singer, ‘it’s been a long, a long time coming, but I know a change gonna come’. A word of forewarning to the dookies and Carolina, LOOK OUT…should be fun tho!!!

Marcus (Sent Monday, October 26, 2009 6:25 PM)



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