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ACC Roundup

Sunday night’s game was a great illustration of the depth the ACC has this year.

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NCAA Basketball: MD Baltimore Cty at Virginia Tech
Justin Bibbs file photo
Michael Shroyer-USA TODAY Sports

You have to feel for Clemson. The Tigers have the best team Clemson has seen in a while, a team that is an NCAA-level team - and they can’t catch a break.

We watched them play Virginia Tech and we saw a team that’s athletic, smart and highly capable and just barely lost.

They didn’t make the egregious mistakes ACC fans have seen Clemson make in years past.

It’s just a really good team - and they're in last place.

It’s surely not what Clemson had in mind during the non-conference part of the season.

The Tigers finished that stretch 10-2. After beating Wake Forest, Clemson has lost every game.

You can toss out the 32-point loss to Louisville as an outlier. Otherwise, the Tigers nearly knocked off UNC, losing in OT, fell to Notre Dame by just five, lost to Virginia by four and now to Virginia Tech by just one.

What we really liked about Clemson in this game is they never gave up. The Tigers kept going until the very end.

This team has a lot of fight and is much better than your average last-place team. But that’s life in the ACC these days.

Not that many people in Tiger Town are likely to notice. They’re all still happy about the national championship in football. Take a look at the front page of The State. You have to look a long time for a basketball story and even then it works football into the lede.

How do you think FSU fans are enjoying this season? Do you really need to ask? The N&O thinks FSU is in the driver’s seat.

Off-topic question: how is former ACC team Maryland 17-2 and, at #25, barely ranked?

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