Early Look at ACC Basketball

A preview of conference season in college basketball comes in early December in the ACC, with most teams playing one early season non-conference game before a break for finals and the holidays ahead of the resumption of conference play in early January. Here is a quick snapshot of five of the ACC teams in action and what to expect in the first conference games of the season in the ACC.

 

The Favorite – Duke: Replacing a legendary coach is not an easy task and John Scheyer’s first season leading Duke featured 27 wins and an ACC tournament title. Duke lost to Tennessee in the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament in a difficult 4/5 game, however. The Blue Devils often cycle through NBA prospects, but this year’s team returns a great deal of last season’s production with Kyle Filipowski, Mark Mitchell, Tyrese Proctor, and Jeremy Roach all back in action alongside four talented freshmen additions. Duke split big early tests losing to Arizona and defeating Michigan State and will be favored to start 1-0 in ACC play playing at Georgia Tech. The Blue Devils have a rather favorable early season ACC schedule before what could be a challenging February and March. 

 

Prove It Game – Pittsburgh vs. Clemson: Pittsburgh basketball was a regular force in the 2000s under Jamie Dixon, but the program hit a tough patch and returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016 last season. Now in his sixth season at Pittsburgh, Jeff Capel has been given time to build the program back up, delivering a 24-12 season in 2022-23 that included a 14-6 ACC record. The Panthers barely made the field as a First Four #11 seed but won that game and then beat Iowa State in the Round of 64 for a successful run. Only two starters return this season led by Blake Hinson, but transfer Ishmael Leggett (Rhode Island) has stepped into a big role while Carlton Carrington could be one of the top freshmen in the ACC. A 5-2 start has featured losses in both major conference tests vs. a pair of SEC teams and Pittsburgh needs to take care of business at home in the ACC opener vs. a good Clemson team to be taken seriously an ACC threat again this season. 

Breakthrough Team – Virgina Tech: When Mike Young was hired at Virginia Tech it was considered a great pick-up for the program that had performed well under Buzz Williams. Young had been very successful at Wofford, and it seemed like his system would work well in the ACC. Young’s teams have been steady but his ACC results have been marginal, outside of going 9-4 in the abbreviated 2020-21 season. Young’s only career NCAA Tournament win was at Wofford as the Hokies lost in the Round of 64 in 2021 and 2022, with the 2022 appearance only granted by a surprise run to win the ACC Tournament. Last season’s team was a great disappointment, going just 19-15 overall and just 8-12 in ACC play despite looking like a higher quality team in an 11-1 start and picking up high-profile wins over North Carolina, Duke, and Virginia early in the ACC season. This year’s team has experience and continuity from last season and while the team ran out of gas in its third tournament game in Florida last week, losing badly to Florida Atlantic, wins over Boise State and Iowa State have provided a solid non-conference base. If the 3-point shooting numbers improve slightly towards the typical levels of Young’s teams, this could be a very competitive team in ACC play. 

Transition Team – Georgia Tech: Josh Pastner was once considered one of the great up-and-coming coaches as an assistant with Arizona. His seven years at Memphis delivered a few highlights but his seven seasons at Georgia Tech were a great disappointment, only making the NCAA Tournament in the shortened 2020-21 season. The program moved on after last season and brought in a high-profile hire in former NBA star Damon Stoudamire who coached at Pacific for five seasons before returning to the NBA as an assistant with Boston the past two years. The hire did allow the Yellow Jackets to keep a few quality players from last season’s team, notably Miles Kelly and Kyle Sturdivant while a mix of transfers also gives the roster a solid group with good size and experience. So far this season the results have been mixed with an unfortunate loss to Mass-Lowell while blown out at Cincinnati, but last week Georgia Tech beat Mississippi State. The transition for the Yellow Jackets gets a major test this week hosting Duke in the ACC opener.  

The Sleeper – Clemson: Brad Brownell has been at Clemson since 2010-11 for rare longevity in today’s era of college basketball. The Tigers made the Sweet 16 in 2018 but haven’t won a tournament game in any other season, only making the field two other times as the administration has been incredibly patient. In fairness, last season’s 14-6 squad had a legitimate gripe about being a bubble casualty as finishing tied for 2nd in the ACC and not making the tournament was a rare occurrence. Four of this year’s starters were on that team including PJ Hall and Chase Hunter who are all-ACC caliber players. Syracuse transfer Joseph Girard is also a great addition and all three of those players have hit over 40 percent from 3-point range so far this season. There is great size, depth, and experience on this group and the 6-0 non-conference start has been impressive, facing only one team outside the nation’s top 150 and capping off the strong November with a road win at Alabama this week. Brownell teams are usually very good defensively but have been marginal on offense in recent years. This year’s team has been a great outside shooting team and is a group that has the chance to reward Clemson’s wait for Brownell to elevate the program to a big postseason run.