In what on paper looked to be a chalky week/end in the All... err Atlantic Coast Conference, we got the closest thing to chaos. Bubble teams finding losses they shouldn't take, a top team getting clocked, and teams putting out sirens that they may not be ones to take seriously when it gets to tournament time.

Oh and NC State tried to maul Cam Boozer?

Kings of Tobacco Road

While this is being written, Duke is up 30 points on the road at NC State while about to sub in Cameron Sheffield and Jack Scott with three minutes left in the game. They finished this game with a 91-61 win over the Wolfpack just two short days after devouring UVA. The Blue Devils didn't even have time to pick their last meal out of their teeth, but that's par for the course for the Death Star

It's felt as if the upper echelon teams in college basketball are just that far ahead, and that looks to be true of Duke beating two NCAAT teams by a combined 55 points. Getting the ACC Digital Network to post an in-state opponent's wedgie is to be a unique form of basketball bullying that I have to do nothing but respect.

Paper Tigers or is the ACC just that good?

The other side of the coin when you see blowouts is question how good some of the teams are. It doesn't mean that the ACC as a whole is bad, it's markedly better than last year in every way possible. But that doesn't mean there aren't some teams that are living off the fat of some of the teams who didn't take steps forward.

The grouping? Louisville, NC State, and SMU. When you look through their schedule, what's the best win for each of these teams in conference play? For Pat Kelsey's squad, probably one of SMU or NC State. For NC State, is it Clemson coming off of the west coast trip that just about everyone loses after? SMU has the UNC win with a healthy Wilson, but after getting swept out west this team has lost a ton of goodwill.

Again, these aren't indictments of these teams, just more of ones who may be susceptible to an upset early on. They've all shown the signs of teams who can explode for an offensive performance you have to watch. They've also shown to consistently throw up duds in big games, with them being a coming 2-19 in Q1A games. Not great!

Maybe it's not the best sign for one of these teams that they essentially were getting demolished running a zone and refused to stop doing it

Bubblicious

We've got two different ways to play this one:

When it comes to the NCAA Tournament, three teams are fighting for their lives. Cal got a win they absolutely had to have over SMU at home, but followed it up with a nasty loss at home against Pitt. The epitome of one step forward, one step back. Stanford might be clinging onto the faintest of hopes, avoiding the loss to Pitt and dismantling the Mustangs. Virginia Tech is the most likely one to be dancing out of the three but lost yet another game where they led in the second half.

All three of these teams need a 2-0 week in different manners. Can they get them?

There's also some drama with seeding! Clemson, Louisville, Miami, UNC, and NC State can all find their way to a double bye if things break their way. Florida State all the way down to Wake Forest is a mess that could break a bunch of different ways with actually fairly straightforward tiebreakers. Right now, Boston College versus Notre Dame on March 7th is barreling towards a "loser doesn't make Charlotte" match.

This is what March is supposed to be about.

Rankings

18) Georgia Tech (11-18, 0-1 last week)

17) Notre Dame (13-16, 1-1 last week)

16) Pitt (11-18, 1-1 last week)

15) Boston College (10-19, 0-2 last week)

14) Syracuse (15-14, 0-2 last week)

13) Stanford (18-11, 2-0 last week)

12) Wake Forest (15-14, 1-1 last week)

11) Virginia Tech (18-11, 0-1 last week)

10) Cal (20-9, 1-1 last week)

9) NC State (19-11, 0-3 last week*)

8) FSU (15-14, 1-1 last week)

7) SMU (19-8, 2-0 last week)

6) Louisville (20-9, 0-1 last week)

5) Clemson (21-8, 1-0 last week)

4) Miami (23-6, 2-0 last week)

3) Virginia (24-3, 2-0 last week)

2) UNC (23-6, 1-0 last week)

1) Duke (28-2, 2-0 last week*)

*includes 3/2 Big Monday