My boy 49ways doesn’t need a juicy plot or an unusual story line to follow the ACC with regularity. However, I need a little extra something to look their way. Personally, I am loving this year’s balance. I look at the ACC standings and it is wide open, which I think is awesome as we near the midway point of conference play. The Maryland Terrapins might be playing the best basketball of any team, just one overtime loss away from an unblemished conference mark. As is, the Terps are the only team with just one loss.
Three games this weekend have dominated the national headlines. They are Duke @ Georgetown, Vanderbilt @ Kentucky, and Kansas @ Kansas State. You could add a fourth game too: Louisville @ West Virginia. It’s very hard to argue the magnitude and personality of those games. But perhaps the most intriguing game b/c of the nature of the ACC’s balance, and what a win could mean for the Terrapins, is Maryland @ Clemson. Despite Clemson’s home setback to Duke a week ago, the Tigers still have one of the best home-court advantages in college basketball. Clemson will look to rebound and defend homecourt and stay in the thick of the ACC race. Maryland, with another win, could use a victory over Clemson to springboard a very winnable three-game stretch following Clemson: @FSU, UNC, and UVA. See what I’m saying? Beat Clemson @ Clemson and you’re first in the conference and have a nice three game stretch to potentially pad the lead. At that point Maryland would then travel to Duke, where no team has handled the Dukies in Cameron Indoor over the past several years quite like Maryland. Anything can happen.
I see this matchup and I’m drawn to it because Maryland is hot and dangerous right now, but Clemson has a lot of pride in defending their turf. On one hand Maryland is playing the better team basketball, but on the other hand they’ll have to contend with a Clemson team that is still seething over the dud they laid at home against Duke in their most recent home game. Something has got to give and I’m most interested in seeing how Maryland handles it. How hot are the Terrapins??
College Courtside 