More Thoughts On The ACC/SEC Challenge

We could be wrong, but it’s not going to be like last year

Over at CBS, David Cobb took a run at the ACC/SEC Challenge pairings. Here’s his take:

1. Duke vs. Florida - Duke
2. Louisville vs. Arkansas - Louisville
3. UNC vs. Kentucky - Kentucky
4. NC State vs. Auburn - Auburn
5. Missouri vs. Notre Dame - Notre Dame
6. Tennessee vs. Syracuse - Tennessee
7. SMU vs Vanderbilt - Vanderbilt
8. Clemson vs Alabama - Alabama
9. Virginia vs Texas - Texas
10. Oklahoma vs Wake Forest - Wake Forest
11. Miami vs Ole Miss - Ole Miss
12. Texas A&M vs. Pitt - Texas A&M
13. Mississippi State vs. Georgia Tech - Mississippi State
14. Georgia vs. Florida State - Georgia
15. LSU vs. Boston College - LSU
16. Virginia Tech vs. South Carolina - Virginia Tech

Here are the ones we think he might be wrong about. We’re focusing on the ACC side because we just don’t know enough about the SEC teams yet.

Could UNC take Kentucky in Lexington? It’s a stretch, but here’s an argument for it.

First, Caleb Wilson turns out to be a prodigy. Second, Isaiah Dennis turns out to be a terrific point guard. And third, the other players snap into their roles nearly perfectly. It’s a reach but maybe. And maybe the bloom is slightly off the Pope rose. Honestly though, it’d be a surprise.

Look, we’ve expressed some serious reservations about Will Wade but give him some credit. The guy is not just an outstanding floor coach, he really, really wants to be good. His ego is going to push him to push his team to a different level.

Keep in mind that he competed against Bruce Pearl when he was at LSU with some success, finishing with a 2-3 record overall, including a 104-80 win before his time in Baton Rouge went south. Auburn is no mystery to Wade.

As of now, we like SMU over Vandy mostly because Andy Enfield is a really good coach. So is Mark Byington, but Vandy is not an easy place to sustain success. We’ll see. Incidentally, Byington was the coach who took over at Charleston when Bobby Cremins had to step away.

Clemson is probably a little low on talent to compete with Alabama, but consider this: Alabama famously wants threes or layups. That should allow a solid defensive coach like Brad Brownell to scheme out a way to cut down ‘Bama’s options. We expect Clemson to defend well enough to make it a game, which gives them a puncher’s chance.

We’ll have to look into Sean Miller’s roster but our hunch is that Ryan Odom is a better coach. We’d feel better if this was Year 2, but we still think there’s a solid chance he just out-coaches Miller.

Georgia Tech has a lot of work to do, not least of all replacing Naithan George at point, and it’s going to be a young team too.

If Damon Stoudamire can get his young puppies organized (sorry, Raft) Georgia Tech might have a chance.