ACC Roundup - Basketball Season Is Going To Be Really Good

Nobody's played more than three games so far, but the ACC season shows signs of great potential.

Think about it.

Duke got challenging games from BC and Wake Forest. Wake also gave Louisville a heck of a game; so did Clemson. State gave Virginia a really tough game at home. Virginia Tech nearly beat Syracuse. Notre Dame won by one in Chapel Hill after beating Georgia Tech in double overtime; the Yellow Jackets just lost to Syracuse by one.

This season could be really, really fun.

On Wednesday, State gave Virginia fits - until the last 9:03.

Trevor Lacey made a three to put State up 42-41.

State's next basket came with 3:03 left and Virginia up 51-45.

State scored again with :46 left and hit two more baskets in the last :27 seconds.

Fundamentally, though, Virginia cracked down on defense and State couldn't pull it off.

But the Pack was in it, and we weren't sure that was going to happen.

State hit nine threes, which helped. Take that out though and State hit just 11 shots inside the three point line and three of those came in the last :27, when the game was essentially over.

Nobody likes moral victories, but last year, State lost to Virginia by 31.

Louisville's first tour around the ACC continues to be tougher than expected: the 'Ville got a game from Clemson, which we don't think many people saw coming.

Clemson, when things are working, forces you into a world of pain. It's a slow, physical game and you can get beaten up pretty quickly.

For Louisville, a team that epitomizes pressing and running and a fast-paced exciting game, Clemson must have come as a bit of a shock.

We remember Brad Brownell's first visit to Cameron and Nolan Smith, in frustration, just turning to an official, putting his palms up, wanting to know why none of the last several fouls were called.

He was like a ball in a pinball machine, and understandably, didn't like it.

Rick Pitino, normally pretty sharp, still doesn't quite get it: "The message I tried to get to the team at halftime was, 'Guys, the (2013) championship team understood styles, and you don't.' We didn't understand it was going to be a dog fight ... Our guys have to understand the ACC and what it's all about."

He's right on the dog fight part, but wrong if he thinks the entire ACC is going to be like Clemson, or for that matter, Wake Forest.

We'll say this: he's really lucky this game wasn't at Littlejohn. It might have turned out quite differently.

Like State, Georgia Tech really struggled down the stretch, but unlike State, could have won the game against Syracuse on a last-second three or a follow-up.

Both missed, and so Georgia Tech has now had very close losses to Notre Dame and Syracuse and next up? A rapidly improving Wake Forest.

That's on Saturday, along with Clemson at Pitt, BC at Miami and the headliners, Louisville at UNC and Virginia at Notre Dame.