NCAA Tournament Bubble Watch, Pt. II: The ACC

The good: Overall conference record, but they do not have a noteworthy win. Their biggest non-conference win was against St. John’s. They lost to Butler 78-84 in OT and Gonzaga 64-82 in the Great Alaska Shootout. They defeated Maryland 67-66, 69-65 at Maryland. The Hokies have won three straight. 
The bad: 61-66 loss at Penn State, 49-52 loss at Richmond, 69-72 loss at Old Dominion
Outlook: Virginia Tech needs to win one of their final games vs. Wake Forest or Clemson. They are in a precarious position, like Syracuse was last year, a strong conference record, but a relatively weak non-conference record. A win against Clemson would bolster their RPI. If the Hokies were able to get it done in the non-conference by beating Penn State, Richmond and Old Dominion they would be a lock. Update: Virginia Tech defeated Wake Forest 80 to 58 on March 4th.

Maryland 18-13 overall, 8-8 ACC #64 RPI

The good:  69-61 win over Illinois, 76-72 win over Charlotte (a team other ACC foes could not beat), 82-80 win over North Carolina.
The bad: Maryland struggled earlier this year losing to Ohio University (55-61) and American University (59-67). They also lost to Missouri (70-84) and needed overtime to beat Northeastern (a 74-72 Terps win). 
Outlook: The 2002 National Champions are in grave danger of missing the NCAA Tournament as they have lost 2 straight to other ACC bubble teams (Miami and Virginia Tech). They have the weakest RPI ranking (66^th) of all ACC bubble teams. Two of their final three games are on the road (at Wake Forest, at Virginia,  Clemson). Like other teams from the ACC in position for an at-large berth, Maryland’s fate will most likely be determined by their showing in the ACC Tournament. 
Update: Maryland defeated fellow bubble team, Wake Forest, 74-70 on Feb. 28th. Best case scenarioMaryland ends the year with 20 wins and an at-large berth (10 seed). Maryland let one slip away against Clemson, losing 70-73.  

Florida State 18-13 overall, 7-9 in ACC #62 RPI 

Florida State freceives consideration this week after fiinishing the season strong winning 4 out of their last 5 games. The Seminoles most likely will be NIT bound.   

Wake Forest 17-12 overall, 7-9 ACC #84 RPI (Last week #62)

The good: They have won three out of their last four games. Included during this stretch was a 86-73 victory over Duke. Other noteworthy wins: 70-68 win over Miami, 79-62 over BYU, 56-47 over Iowa,  74-61 over South Florida.
The bad: 73-112 loss to Boston College,  64-71 loss to Maryland, 50-72 loss to Georgia.    
Outlook: Without the win over Duke we probably would not even talking about Wake Forest being a bubble team. The problem is that they beat Duke and they are 6-6 in conference. Their remaining schedule is: Maryland,  @ Georgia Tech, @ Virginia Tech, North Carolina State. Even with an 8-8 record in the ACC Wake is in trouble. They will need another big victory in the ACC Tournament over Duke or North Carolina. The Demean Deacons are most likely bound for the NIT. 
Update: Wake Forest is in serious trouble after losing to Maryland 70-74 on Feb. 28th.  They followed the lost to the Terps with a 79-87 loss to Georgia Tech.  The Deamon Deacons will probably have to win the ACC Tournament in order to secure a bid on Selection Sunday.  They fell 22 spots in the latest RPI rankings.  Wake Forest is off the Bubble Watch after losing to Virginia Tech 80-58 on March 4th. 

Remember: Only 34 teams receive at-large berths. This is a down year for the ACC. Are they worth of more than 4 or 5 bids?

Terms: RPI: Ratings Percentage Index

For more information on the selection process go to:

http://www.ncaasports.com/basketball/mens/story/9183455

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selection_Sunday 

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