Look, let’s face it: while Duke made the Final Four last spring, the ACC regular season, and most of the tournament too, sucked. The conference was just basically helpless. Almost everyone sucked. Only
Clemson was a real, consistent threat.
It’s going to be very different this year. UNC is back on track, Louisville is looking like trouble, Will Wade has State feeling sassy and just about everyone is better or, at least, not as dreadful as last season.
However, this article suggests that Virginia might be Duke’s biggest threat. Is that the case?
Well…could be.
Ryan Odom has done a tremendous job to rebuild that program so quickly. It’s easier now when transfers don’t have to sit out and you can just pay players, but even so, it’s impressive.
He’s found two European bigs who are both formidable, Chance Mallory isn’t starting but he’s having a huge impact, and Virginia likes to move up and down the court.
Needless to say, this is a huge change from the Tony Bennett era, but our guess is that Virginia fans don’t mind. Bennett Ball was fun when it worked and he’s a good man – no one challenges that – but the last couple of years his style didn’t work as well and it was never particularly exciting other than the magnificent hand-to-hand defense.
Whatever happens, watching Duke and Virginia tangle now will be fun. They play on February 28th in Cameron, which is an advantage, but Odom knows the ACC very well and has been to Cameron many times. Nothing is going to surprise him about that visit.
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