There were no Monday night games, and on Tuesday, only
DePaul against Wake Forest. DePaul is middling so far, at 4-3, but
coached by former Wake assistant Jerry Wainright, the guy who almost engineered
a massive upset of Maryland when he was at UNC-W.
Wake, still trying to sort out the point guard situation, has been off for 10
days. Don't rule out an upset just yet.
An interesting note: Kenny Green led Wake when they upset DePaul in 1984,
retiring Ray Meyer. His kid, Wesley, is playing for DePaul.
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Maryland
has some time off, and to a man they seem happy not to have to put up with
their coach after a loss.
One of the prevailing theories after the ACC expanded was that basketball
would suffer, and conversely, that the new-look Big East would be ascendant.
Hasn't quite worked out that way. Fresh off winning the ACC-Big Ten
Challenge, the ACC has the Big Four all reasonably healthy, Maryland looking
tough, Virginia Tech much improved, Clemson on the rise, Georgia Tech working in
new talent but with definite talent (and a lot more on the way), and potentially solid
programs now in Tallahassee and Miami. B.C. will be tough for
anyone. Only Virginia is weak, and Dave Leitao has stacked up some solid
recruits.
The Big East?
Well, UConn, Villanova, and Louisville are all undefeated and Pitt is as
well. Syracuse is eternal, but after those five, it gets murkier.
Rutgers, Seton Hall, St. John's, Marquette, West Virginia, Cincy, Georgetown,
Notre Dame, South Florida, Providence - it's not an impressive lineup. We love
Mike Brey, but he's not tearing the world up this season.
Rutgers? Have to prove it. Seton Hall? Still
traumatized. Marquette and West Virginia are well coached but not
fearsome. Cincinnati is trying to hire an AD to hire a coach and no one
has any clue how that will work out, but the general sentiment is they'll
decline.
It's really too early to make predictions, but in the ACC, you can draw a
line under Virginia Tech. and arguably every team other than UVa can make an
argument for tournament play.
In the Big East, it's pretty clear that South Florida and P.C. won't go too
far. The line there is somewhere under either West Virginia or
Cincinnati. Georgetown could move up and so could Notre Dame. And
the uneven schedule means someone will look better (and worse) than they
actually are.
And for the ACC, the future is extremely bright. Every school now has
solid coaching, and recruiting continues to go like gangbusters.
It's way too early to make tourney calls, and a lot can and will change
between now and then. But the early hype about the ACC not being able to
keep up seems ridiculous already.