ACC Roundup - Separation Is Getting Clear

In Monday's only ACC game, UNC and Syracuse put on an uneven, sloppy game which UNC ultimately won 93-83.

Bench play was a major difference: Syracuse, like UNC, has some serious injury issues. Unlike UNC, depth is minimal: Syracuse only played two guys off the bench for 23 minutes; neither scored. Tyler Roberson fouled out, Michael Gbinije had four as did Ron Patterson, one of those bench players.

It's no wonder UNC won late. Syracuse ran out of options. First-year point guard Kaleb Joseph had five turnovers - after one butterfingered error Jim Boeheim yanked him immediately but lacking options, put him back in fairly soon.

Backcourt mate Trevor Cooney had 28 and Rakeem Christmas had 22 points and 12 boards.

Marcus Paige had 22 for the Heels, while Kennedy Meeks and Brice Johnson had 17 each plus eight and 11 rebounds respectively.

The big surprise was sore-lipped Nate Britt. Still playing with 15 stitches, Britt shot 5-7 for a career high 17 points.

That was a popular number for Carolina apparently.

With UNC's win, things shake out a bit.

Virginia is still undefeated, Notre Dame and UNC have one loss each, while Duke, Louisville and Miami have two each.

After that tier, it's Syracuse and State, followed by Pitt and Clemson.

After Clemson, we hit .500 and sub .500 teams.

You can find any number of bracketology experts, but for now, let's look at Joe Lunardi's projections.

Lunardi has Duke #1 in the south, Virginia #1 in the East, Louisville #4 in the Midwest, Notre Dame #3 in the Midwest, State in the East play-in game at #11, UNC #3 in the West where they could possibly meet #8 Miami.

Obviously that would leave Syracuse and Pitt out.

We're a bit surprised that he has Maryland not in Duke's regional. The committee always says it doesn't do stuff like that but it happens over and over. Don't think they'll miss that chance.

UNC did something right for a change and scheduled two non-conference football games with Wake Forest.

Why not? They won't count for the conference standings but the ACC wants football schedules upgraded, as do the other power conferences.

Everyone is trying schedule Kansas and the like, but why? There are great rivalries which are being neglected. So we hope Duke and State find a way to play too. Doesn't seem likely any time soon and they're not scheduled in football until 2020.

One game Tuesday night as Pitt and Virginia Tech square off in Blacksburg.

We'd expect Pitt to win, but then again, we expected Virginia to dominate the Hokies and that didn't exactly happen.

Unfortunately for Virginia Tech, Justin Bibbs will sit out another game as he recovers from a concussion.

It's an interesting matchup. Like a lot of ACC fans, we really respect how hard Buzz Williams has his kids playing and for the most part, Pitt has not played with that intensity. So while Pitt should be favored, you can't overlook the heart Virginia Tech shows.

It was easy to despise this team when Seth Greenberg coached a bunch of cheap shot artists, but not now. We really admire the Hokies this season.

Well this is right on schedule.