Those refs in the Maryland game missed a few. Here are a coulpe of examples.GT had a shot clock violation that wasn't called and Vasquez was clearly fouled, in spite of Elmore claimed, on the late 3 point attempt. It is too bad that GT is so bad from the free throw line.

ironman02 wrote: On a bright note, at least for the ACC, Georgia Tech is now definitely in the NCAA Tournament.

The ACC tournament is really looking mediocre this year.

Duke - struggles to put away a cellar dweller missing their best player. still the best team, but still have proven to be underwhelming away from H.I.S.

Va Tech - Losing to Miami with a chance to improve your seeding...really?

Clemson - Is this team schizophrenic? Their style of full court pressing/up-tempo will not work in the NCAA tourny against good guard play

Maryland - Can't beat a 7-9 Paul Hewitt led Ga. Tech team?

Wake Forest - Could a team entering the NCAA tourny be playing any worse?

Fla. State - We'll see if they can put away the mighty NC State Wuffpack tonite.

Lots of parity, so I guess that's entertaining. I'd be surprised if there is more than 1 ACC team that finds itself in the Sweet 16.

slidepiece,

You're right. It's nice to see some upsets to make the tournament interesting, but this doesn't bode well for the ACC in the Big Dance. At this point, it seems like Duke is probably the only team in the conference that will make it out of the first weekend of the NCAAs. Honestly, though, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see them bow out early if they catch a bad matchup. The Blue Devils are a lot better than they've been during their recent March struggles, but I'm still not completely sold on them as a title contender. I'm not just saying that because I despise them either.

Maryland has the potential to make some noise, but today is a perfect example of why that isn't likely to happen. Georgia Tech really is not that good and the Terps couldn't get it done against them. Wake, like you said, has been awful down the stretch. Clemson and FSU aren't consistent enough to do any real damage, in my opinion, and we saw what Va Tech did today as well. For the sake of the conference, I hope that some of those teams step up and play well next week, but I won't be holding my breath.

Conference tournaments mean a lot more to bubble teams than they do to teams already in the NCAA. You can't read too much into some upsets.

NC State leading FSU 48-41 at the under 12 TV timeout. Are you kidding me?

GT over Carolina and Duke over UVA are the only games so far that have seen the higher seeded team advance.

FSU making a run, but State still up 4 with under 3 to go.

NC State knocks off the #3 seed FSU, 58-52. #1 Duke, #12 Miami, #7 GT, and #11 NC State still alive.

Not much offense in this tournament so far. I don't know if that means good defense or just poor offensive execution, but I'm leaning toward the latter.

Miami is the only team to break the 70 point mark, scoring 83 and 70 in their first two games.

As much as I want to see Duke win this thing, part of me doesn't want them to play three games in three days, so it's a double-edged sword. Seems like the seas are parting though in terms of them winning this thing if they play well. Hopefully this will happen in the NCAA's

No double edged sword for this Duke fan. I want this thing. This is the only championship that matters in the ACC, and if we win it this season, we'll have more conference titles than any other school in the league. 18. We are 28-3 in the Duke Invitational since 1999. That's dominance.

I'm not going to get ahead of myself, though. Miami will give us all we can handle tomorrow afternoon.

Funny thing is, of all the teams that could be left in the ACC Tournament, you would think this hodge podge of 12, 7 and 11 seeds still alive would be great for Duke. The Blue Devils are 14-3 so far against ACC teams on the season, and two of those losses came to teams still left in the ACC Tournament (Tech and State). And Miami was one of our toughest games of the year, trailing by doubles at the half in our lone meeting. Weird.

I was at the game today and the Va. Tech/Miami game, Miami has really come together and is playing well. I think Duke wins tomorrow, but they had better show up more than they did most of the game today. Ga. Tech would worry me a bit in the final, would rather play NC State and get some order of revenge after the debacle at the RBC Center earlier this year. However, if they don't show up tomorrow, it's all a moot point, they won't make it to the final. Ga. Tech is probably fairly safe now, but getting to the final would seal the deal.

Honestly I think that scoring is down because no teams in the ACC use spalding basketballs, then all of a sudden in the tournament they throw these out there. Call me crazy, and say it doesn't make a difference. But I can tell you it does. Consider the stink the NBA had when they went to the composite. They feel different, and spalding bballs tend to be lighter. Seeing all those bricks, makes me wonder if the players for all the teams are trying to adjust.

Didn't know that, swami. You could be on to something because I believe it could definitely make a difference.

Maybe the offensive output will pick up during today's semifinal matchups.

reclegend22 wrote: No double edged sword for this Duke fan. I want this thing. This is the only championship that matters in the ACC, and if we win it this season, we'll have more conference titles than any other school in the league. 18. We are 28-3 in the Duke Invitational since 1999. That's dominance.

I'm not going to get ahead of myself, though. Miami will give us all we can handle tomorrow afternoon.

Funny thing is, of all the teams that could be left in the ACC Tournament, you would think this hodge podge of 12, 7 and 11 seeds still alive would be great for Duke. The Blue Devils are 14-3 so far against ACC teams on the season, and two of those losses came to teams still left in the ACC Tournament (Tech and State). And Miami was one of our toughest games of the year, trailing by doubles at the half in our lone meeting. Weird.

Maybe I'm misinterpreting your post, but are you saying NAtional championships are lower than ACC Tourney titles?

LTrain23 wrote:Maybe I'm misinterpreting your post, but are you saying NAtional championships are lower than ACC Tourney titles?

Not at all. I meant that the regular season cloth winner holds no weight (per the ACC bylaws) to the conference tournament champion. And I don't change my mind on that just because UNC or someone else might win the regular season more often than Duke (which would be the case in the last few years). Duke won the cloth regular season thing this season, and I don't consider Duke a champ yet. They still have to earn it.

And they "Earn It" by defeating 3 teams with either 14 or 16 league wins combined. AND 2 of these teams, Virginia and Miami, don't have their best player available for the tournament.

This exactly why conference tournaments are almost meaningless.

prescott wrote:And they earn it by defeating 3 teams with either 14 or 16 league wins combined. AND 2 of these teams, Virginia and Miami, don't have their best player available for the tournament.

I guess that goes to show you then that those higher seeds that fell early didn't deserve an ACC title. After all, they all lost to the lowly teams (in some variation or another) you mention above, no?

Win or go home.

Actually, it shows that winning the ACC tournament doesn't require duke to defeat a team with anything close to a .500 record and that is PATHETIC and exactly why these tournaments are fun to watch, but prove very little..

But rules are rules....the ACC only crowns one champion...good or bad.....its the tourney champ....

Honest question...how do the majority of major conferences recognize their official yearly champion. What are the rules for the Big East, Big 10, Big 12, etc.

But rules are rules....the ACC only crowns one champion...good or bad.....its the tourney champ....

Stupid and bad.

Ironman(I think) claimed he had seen a regular season championship trophy. Why have a trophy for the regular season winner.

.how do the majority of major conferences recognize their official yearly champion.

They recognize a regular season and a tournament champion.

Back in the day tournament championships could have been very important. Since only league champions made the NCAA tournament, the designation of a champion meant something. That isn't true any more for the major conferences.It is true for many of the mid-major conferences since the league tournament champion gets the automatic bid.Maybe, the ACC considers itself a mid-major.

Lodging your protests to other basketball fans isn't going to change it. Try writing the ACC commissioner or Presidents.

Lodging your protests to other basketball fans isn't going to change it. Try writing the ACC commissioner or Presidents.

I don't really care what the ACC does. I am merely pointing out the idiocy of designation.

I have always believed that a three or four day tournament should not be a better indicator than an entire season of conference play, but the official ACC champion is the winner of the ACCT. That's just the way it is, whether it's right or not. It's nice to finish first in the ACC regular season, but it's technically not a "championship", and I'm fine with that. All ACC schools (to my knowledge) hang banners for winning the regular season, and they should, but the Atlantic Coast Conference recognizes the ACCT winner as the conference champion for that year...end of story.

Duke, if they do happen to win it, will have had a pretty easy road this year. However, that means that they won the games they were supposed to win, and took care of business. I hate Duke as much as anyone on the planet, but you can't discount an ACCT title just because they beat lower seeded teams, in my opinion. Maybe Miami will play a good second half and send the Blue Devils packing anyway, but I'm not going to count on it.

Duke taking over in the second half as I expected. Turning the channel because this makes me sick.

Duke wins it 77-74. Apparently Miami saw no point in fouling with about 3 or 4 seconds left, but oh well. I guess there might not have been enough time to end up getting a shot if Duke missed the FTs.