(Due to a problem with TypePad, this post, originally written Thursday morning, did not appear until Thursday evening.)
Before I talk about the ACC, how about ESPN doing some more WAC games? Last night, UTEP visited the Biggest Little City in the World(tm) and jumped out to an early 24 point lead on Nevada. Nevada outscored the Miners by 31 over the next 15 minutes or so to take a 7 point lead mid-way through the 2nd half. This is when the sleep gods took me hostage. A see-saw finish to regulation ended when UTEP forced OT on a last-second three pointer by Filiberto Rivera, and then won in the extra session.
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Another night of hoops on ESPN, another celebration of the Atlantic Coast Conference. While the ACC is the best conference in America this season – I don’t care what the RPI says – it actually hasn’t been as good as expected.
There are so many ways one can evaluate the quality of a conference, and fans of any particular one will use the method that suits them best. The reason the ACC is the best is because they have four great or nearly great teams. The other seven in the conference are rather ordinary. The average Pomeroy rating of the bottom seven would put it between the Big East and the Missouri Valley in conference rankings. Let’s look a sampling of those teams:
Maryland – The Terps best win was in overtime at home against Florida State. The Washington Post’s Eric Prisbell has more.
Florida State – After two solid recruiting classes, the ‘Noles are fighting it out with Memphis for title of biggest disappointment in the nation.
Virginia – The Cavs have been lost without leading scorer Devin Smith. He returned to action with 21 points in 28 minutes in a loss to Miami last night. After an initial splash, Sean Singletary is looking very freshman-like, going 7 of 33 from the field in his last four games.
Miami FL – The ACC is lucky to have these guys. So far, the ‘Canes have the best claim to an at-large bid after the Fantastic Four.
Clemson – The Tigers are making steady progress under Oliver Purnell. This could be the year they make a move in conference.
NC State – They have had some issues with injuries recently, but they were totally healthy when they suffered the embarrassing 10 point half against St. John’s.
Virginia Tech – Got a big win over Bethune Cookman last night. No, seriously. It was a big win. Trust me.
A couple of links to check out today…
SI.com’s Luke Winn has bravely perched himself on the statistical analysis limb, mentioning things like tempo and efficiency (gasp!) to explain UNC’s offensive greatness.
You also need to check out this post at HawkeyeHoops. Ryan has made the hideously complex calculations of individual offensive parameters invented by Dean Oliver. These numbers are the most accurate thing out there for assessing individual offensive performance. They don’t address the thorny issue of quality of competition, but you’re not going to see these figures anywhere else any time so give Ryan some feedback.
One comment on the figures: in major college basketball it appears the one player who has more impact on his team than Arizona State’s Ike Diogu is Marquette’s Travis Diener. Diener provides an extremely rare combination of making a lot of three pointers and a lot of free throws.