ACC Roundup - Clemson Rising?

In Wednesday’s ACC action, Clemson beat Georgia Tech 65-42 and Miami knocked off Notre Dame 62-47.

Clemson has won three straight and is getting back on track towards a possible NCAA bid. There are never any guarantees obviously but they’re almost back to .500 in the ACC and that certainly helps.

Georgia Tech helped. The Yellow Jackets have struggled offensively all season and it’s gotten worse lately. The 42 points against Clemson followed 49 against Florida State, 54 against UNC and 53 against Duke.

Georgia Tech’s ACC three point percentage is now just 26.7%. That’s truly bad.

Things are just not going well for Josh Pastner’s team and he knows it. Can they get it back together?

Possibly, but don’t bet on it.

The schedule is favorable for Clemson for a while. Virginia Tech is suffering with injuries and will be a home game. Miami at Miami is winnable. Louisville (A) and FSU (H) will be tough but then it’s Boston College and a trip to Pitt. UNC is a home game and Clemson always gets up for them then it’s a trip to Notre Dame before closing out with Syracuse.

We could see the Tigers making a major late push and with Virginia Tech and Syracuse struggling a bit, not to mention NC State, there may be room to move up.

Miami has had a tough season but Wednesday night was a welcome relief as the ‘Canes dominated Notre Dame, winning by 15 and holding the Irish to just 32% from the floor.

Notre Dame shot a ton of 3s - 28 - and hit just four.

With the loss, the Irish fall to 12-11 and just 2-8 in the ACC. Miami is also 2-8 and 10-12.

Currently, Georgia Tech, Miami and Wake Forest are under .500 and Notre Dame, BC and Pitt are getting close.

Some of that is short term. Miami will bounce back as long as Jim Larranaga is there. Same for Notre Dame and Mike Brey. And we fully expect Pitt to improve quickly with Jeff Capel there - and he’ll get players soon too.

That leaves questions about BC, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest.

We think you can reasonably give BC a bit of a pass. First, Jim Christian has at least made his program competitive. And second, he clearly has an eye for talent others have overlooked. The Eagles would be better now if Wynston Tabbs hadn’t been injured. He’s missed six of the last nine games and BC has won just one of the six he missed.

As for the other two, there’s less patience. Danny Manning has already seen calls for his ouster and the Atlanta paper is clearly dismayed with Georgia Tech’s recent performance.

The thing is both are great jobs - for the right guy. If neither Manning nor Pastner turns out to be the right guy finding that guy is really key. With 15 teams, the ACC is even more unforgiving than it used to be.

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