Larry Shyatt, a Florida assistant, had examined Miami's game against Xavier on Nov. 27, so he knew the Hurricanes were quick and could shoot well. What he didn't anticipate when the Gators hosted Miami a week later was this: Miami 72, Florida 65.
The two most noteworthy nonconference games involving ACC teams occurred in Gainesville, Fla., and Charlottesville. Miami, expected to be a bottom-rung ACC team, beat one of the Southeastern Conference's top-tier teams. And Virginia, a supposed middle-of-the-pack ACC team, beat Arizona, the Pacific-10 favorite, by 18 points.
In an early indication of the ACC's strength this season, Eric Wilkins and visiting Miami shot down Matt Walsh and SEC power Florida, 72-65.
(Phil Sandlin -- AP)
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Before the season, ACC coaches likened the league, which returned 20 of last season's top 25 scorers, to the 1985 Big East, from which three teams reached the Final Four. Judging from the aforementioned upsets, ACC play, which will begin tomorrow with two games, could be even more competitive than originally thought.
"It's here," said Coach Gary Williams, whose Maryland team will host Florida State tomorrow. "And there's no easy way out in this conference."
Even with a sprinkling of upsets -- Santa Clara beating North Carolina, then-unranked George Washington beating Maryland, and Florida State losing to Florida International and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi -- ACC teams have won more than 83 percent of their nonconference games, the best mark of any league.
Not only are five teams ranked among the top nine in the coaches' poll, eight ACC teams are ranked in the top 50 of the Ratings Percentage Index, which accounts for strength of schedule and is weighed as part of the NCAA tournament selection process.
Duke and Georgia Tech reached last season's Final Four after Maryland won the league tournament. Those teams returned a combined 11 of 15 starters, yet none is even considered the league favorite. The strength of the league is unquestioned, but the determination of the regular season champion will no longer be a cut-and-dried, completely equitable process.
When the conference expanded, adding Miami and Virginia Tech this season, the ACC eliminated the double round robin schedule in which every school played every other twice. Instead, schools will retain a 16-game schedule but will play four teams only once, giving some distinct advantages.
"I'd prefer to play everyone twice, but college basketball is changing," Virginia Coach Pete Gillen said. "I think [expansion] is the right way to go. Some years you might get a bad break; some years you might get a good break."
Some coaches, such as Wake Forest's Skip Prosser, said they believe there will always be a question mark regarding the regular season champion. Others, such as Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, say that fans will suffer because they won't get a visit from every conference opponent (i.e., Duke doesn't play at Virginia this season).
"Virginia fans are great," Krzyzewski said. "We had great games."
Where the scheduling change could most affect schools is in seeding for the NCAA tournament. The strength of a school's conference schedule could prove as important as a school's nonconference schedule, according to some.
"You could have a team finish 12-4 and another finish 11-5 in the ACC," RPI analyst Jerry Palm said. "And the 11-5 team could wind up with the better seed because of its conference schedule."
ESPN analyst Jay Bilas, a former Duke player, said the changes due to expansion have introduced subjectivity into the evaluation of ACC teams. "You can't tell anything just by looking at the conference record," said Bilas, adding that expansion largely has "taken something completely pure and contaminated it. I'm not saying ACC basketball won't be great, because it will, but it will never be as great."
