okay...that's what i thought, but wasn't sure

10/21/2007 12:56:19 PM

2007-08 ACC Predicted Order of Finish
1. North Carolina (768)
2. Duke (653)
3. NC State (641)
4. Clemson (514)
5. Virginia (492)
6. Maryland (447)
7. Georgia Tech (389)
8. Boston College (332)
9. Florida State (284)
10. Virginia Tech (162)
11. Wake Forest (157)
12. Miami (153)

Pre-Season All-Conference Team
Tyler Hansbrough, Jr., North Carolina
Sean Singletary, Sr., Virginia
Tyrese Rice, Jr., Boston College
Brandon Costner, So., NC State
Ty Lawson, So., North Carolina

Pre-Season Player of the Year:
Tyler Hansbrough, Jr., North Carolina (60)
Sean Singletary, Sr., Virginia (4)

Pre-Season Rookie of the Year:
Kyle Singler, Duke (36)
J.J. Hickson, NC State (15)
Nolan Smith, Duke (5)
5 others with 8 votes

10/21/2007 4:46:56 PM

.

[Edited on October 21, 2007 at 4:49 PM. Reason : posted too slow]

10/21/2007 4:48:06 PM

^^what is that from?

10/21/2007 4:54:23 PM

this is what this poll means

-->

10/21/2007 4:56:59 PM

what does it mean?? I see nothing... oh... ohhhhhh

10/21/2007 4:58:00 PM

it means gray?

10/21/2007 5:11:04 PM

that preseason ranking is from the acc media day, btw.

[Edited on October 21, 2007 at 5:43 PM. Reason : media poll. fags.]

10/21/2007 5:42:32 PM

yeah, and we were picked to finish dead last, last year. the acc media can suck a dong

10/21/2007 5:44:56 PM

...and we finished 10th instead. What's your point?

10/21/2007 5:45:57 PM

We also went to the acc championship game too.

10/21/2007 5:48:24 PM

^^.....how soon you forget what else we accomplished last year

the point is that the poll doesn't mean shit. no pre-season poll does.

[Edited on October 21, 2007 at 5:49 PM. Reason : .]

10/21/2007 5:48:42 PM

which this preseason poll has absolutely nothing to do with

Quote :

"the point is that the poll doesn't mean shit. no pre-season poll does."

Of course not. But you can't use the argument that "OMG they picked us last!!" as an argument, because they were pretty damn close with that one.

You want to point out problems with last year's ranking, try listing Duke, Maryland, or UVA.

[Edited on October 21, 2007 at 5:53 PM. Reason : ]

10/21/2007 5:48:59 PM

duke

maryland

uva

if i had felt like taking the time to find the 06 poll, perhaps i would have, but, i just didnt give a damn

[Edited on October 21, 2007 at 6:00 PM. Reason : ,]

10/21/2007 5:57:37 PM

mmm, i see what you did there.

10/21/2007 6:00:26 PM

we were picked 12th and finished two spots better at 10th so if they're precise then this year we're picked 3rd so we'll finish first.

10/21/2007 6:24:01 PM

Virginia at 5th is bullshit. Maryland and Georgia Tech should be much better than them.

10/21/2007 9:28:43 PM

^I think GT is going to be bad this year

I mean like GT-two-years-ago bad

10/21/2007 9:29:04 PM

GT brings in Gani Lawal who is projected to be nearly as good as J.J. Hickson and the whole thing is that they will need to be able to find a PG. Sounds familiar. Center/Forward Ra'Sean Dickey will be academically ineligible for the Fall semester, but will surely return for the bulk of the ACC schedule. They have a couple of guards on the roster, most of them are shooting guards though. Paul Hewitt is what hurts them. He brings in so much talent and everyone predicts them to have a breakout year, and they seem to always underachieve save the Final Four year. At least he's a level above Leonard Hamilton though.

I just found something funny on the Wikipedia page for the Seminoles. Check this out in the rivalries part.

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

Quote :

"Rivalries in some other sports also exist, including the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in baseball and the Duke University Blue Devils in basketball."

Why does everyone in the ACC think they have a rivalry with Duke or North Carolina in basketball? Besides being in the same conference you are not rivals with them. Playing each other nearly every year for over 100 years is a good start for having a rivalry. Other factors include being within a few minutes drive of each other, having a double digit amount of ACC Championships, some national championships, having both schools fans consider it to be an important game for "bragging rights" such as in the office, family, or just on the local sports radio, etc. Note to Maryland fans, Duke fans do not consider you guys as rivals. They just consider you all to be annoying pricks. Yeah for like two years both teams were the class of the ACC, that doesn't mean you are rivals. That just means the games were really good and exciting, nothing that would really make a permanent rivalry.

Heck there are teams outside of the ACC that think they have a rivalry with them. There were Michigan State fans that were outraged that they got us rather than UNC in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge this year. They thought that it was their right to get UNC. Last I checked they got rolled by UNC in the NCAA Tournament. There was even a thread over on the MSU board awhile back talking about their rivalries and listing them. A crazy few said that UNC was becoming a rival of theirs just b/c they have met in the NCAA tournament a few times recently (2005 Final Four and 2007 Second Round).

10/21/2007 10:17:08 PM

for out of conference terms, i think kentucky could legitimately claim some rivalry with Duke

10/21/2007 10:18:50 PM

Tennessee/Memphis is turning into one, even though Canada is closer to Knoxville than Memphis is...

lots of recruiting battles (Elliott Williams this year)

10/21/2007 10:21:12 PM

I consider Duke a rival of UConn's. They've played in the NCAA tourney 5 times since 1990 and 3 of those times the winner won the National Championship. Plus the respective fanbases HATE each other...

10/21/2007 10:21:55 PM

I remember being at the Flying Saucer with some Duke students who didn't even know about the '99 championship

10/21/2007 10:24:19 PM

^ eh?

10/21/2007 10:24:42 PM

Ok?

That just means they aren't Duke fans and just go to the school... I highly doubt many Duke fans don't remember '99 or '04 considering they are 2 of the better Final 4/NC games played in recent memory..

10/21/2007 10:27:14 PM

i was at the 99 game

my day

was ruined

10/21/2007 10:28:31 PM

They (Kentucky and Duke) had one outstanding game that was one of the most memorable ever. That doesn't make them rivals, it just means their fans have memories that will never go away. Sure they'd like to beat them moreso than if they were playing Murray State or some other little team, but I wouldn't call it a rivalry. I'd just say it's an intense matchup between the two schools. I don't think we have a rivalry with UCLA just b/c we ended their string of National Championships in a memorable OT game. The thing to consider is the players. If Duke and Kentucky meet up sometime in the season, the coaches and players would just consider it a big game that would be a great test for them. When the four North Carolina schools meet up they know that there is a lot more on the line. Bragging rights, establishing their legacy, the ACC conference race, etc. You can just look at the passion that comes out in those games and know that those Tobacco Road games are important to not just the fans but the players and coaches as well. Heck just look at Rasheed Wallace and Sidney Lowe. Rasheed would rag on Sid nearly every other day. When Sidney got the State job Rasheed called him and said get ready to get your ass whooped. He even wrote CAROLINA really large in baby blue on Sid's board in his office when he was with the Pistons. Sid said he didn't erase it b/c he knew Rasheed would just put it back up there.


I will say that Duke and UConn is a little different and the closest thing to an intersectional rivalry in college basketball. Seemingly every time they have met it has been important to who ended up winning the National Championship game.

[Edited on October 21, 2007 at 10:37 PM. Reason : ]

10/21/2007 10:32:12 PM

Quote :

"That just means they aren't Duke fans and just go to the school"

well they claimed to be big Duke fans as well

10/21/2007 10:34:34 PM

Probably like the UNC fans I knew who couldn't name 3 of their players last year.

10/21/2007 10:36:23 PM

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=katz_andy&id=3066270

Quote :

"The vote had been taken. It was unanimous. John Calipari was leaving. He was going to accept the NC State job. Every assistant on the private jet flying through the spring night in 2006 from Memphis to Raleigh had his hand up. Assistant John Robic, who had been with Calipari at UMass, voted with his leg. It was their way of assuring the coach that they would all make the move to the new school with him. "Yeah, we were gone," Calipari said last Friday as he ate fried chicken in one of his many spots along Beale Street, within eyesight of the FedEx Forum. Calipari was enticed by NC State's commitment to the program, the financial considerations for his staff, and the challenge of facing the blue bloods at Duke and North Carolina."

Quote :

"When Calipari flew back with his staff, he took a midnight walk with the Memphis team minister along the golf course where Calipari resides. He later spoke with some of his new influential friends at FedEx. "The NC State thing was the most emotional thing we've been through here," said Calipari's wife, Ellen."

10/21/2007 11:28:09 PM

http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=275638

Quote :

"I first began to feel it last Friday at N.C. State’s basketball media day before the start of fall practice. By the time I got to Greensboro on Sunday for the league’s annual Operation Basketball gathering, the symptoms were in full bloom. They were most noticeable on the ballot I was given to offer my predicted order of finish for the coming season. There, on line two, right beneath the one reserved for preseason favorite North Carolina, I scribbled in the words “N.C. State.” I even took a second look once all the spaces were filled just to make sure I really wanted to do it. Is the Wolfpack really that good, I asked myself? Or am I just feeding into the frenzy started by senior forward Gavin Grant this summer when he proclaimed that his team should only lose a maximum of four games. All it took was one look into coach Sidney Lowe’s passionate eyes, illuminated by the glow of his Pied Piper-like smile and the answer no longer mattered to me. And he wasn’t even wearing that fever-inducing red blazer of his. I was in, hook, line and sinker. Mark me down as a believer."

10/22/2007 9:15:09 AM

^great article. i almost cried. let's get this season started!

10/22/2007 3:16:35 PM

http://collegebasketball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=729742

Rivals.com Top 10 Impact Transfers

7. Farnold Degand, So., G, N.C. State, 6-3, 170 (from Iowa State)

The Wolfpack is in dire need of someone to step forward at the point guard position, and the former Iowa State player looks like the favorite to land Engin Atsur's spot. The Boston native redshirted his first season for the Cyclones, so he has yet to take the floor in a college game. But the coaches in Raleigh seem to believe he handles the ball well enough to be the guy who gets it inside to potentially one of the nation's best frontcourts with Brandon Costner, Ben McCauley and J.J. Hickson.

10/23/2007 12:17:57 PM

bball cant start soon enough after this debacle of a football season


fire philmer

10/23/2007 6:46:56 PM

Down year in the ACC? Not this again
http://collegebasketball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=729623

10/23/2007 7:12:11 PM

...and the media frenzy continues:
http://www.collegehoopsnet.com/new/story/chn_top_100_players_preseason_edition41183

Costner is #18 in their top 100 players and McCauley is #45

10/23/2007 10:25:51 PM

Quote :

"Its depressing to know that JayBee has 27961 posts. That is really sad. I mean even 9000 something - it really is sad. I bet yalls arms are strong from holding onto the back of them garbage trucks all day."

10/23/2007 10:30:44 PM

how do you live w/ yourself?

btw, i laughed very hard at your dude! picture.

10/23/2007 10:33:09 PM

^^^how the fuck does that no talent ass clown hansborough the "#1" player. He's good as suckering the refs into calling fouls on him but other than that, he's meh. No midrange and outside shot, suspect post-up game (when he's not getting bailed out by the refs) and meh passing skills.

I dont get it.

10/23/2007 10:52:05 PM

^ it's because of his "will"

10/23/2007 11:05:49 PM

tyler hansbrough does not beat you w/ his skill.

it's his will to put the ball in the basket.

10/23/2007 11:07:40 PM

#2 bitches!


and adding the #40 player... and Ramar Smith should be on there


its on sluts

[Edited on October 23, 2007 at 11:11 PM. Reason : d]

10/23/2007 11:11:06 PM

I think we can all agree that this list is ridiculous (even though our front court is well represented). There is no way you could justify putting Eric Gordon ahead of DJ White on this list(this freshman class is NOT as good as last year), not to mention Dominic James at a preposterously high 16...fucking clown shoes.

[Edited on October 24, 2007 at 2:38 AM. Reason : /]

10/24/2007 2:33:31 AM

Derrick Low is not the 74th best player in the country... that's absurd.

10/24/2007 4:23:22 AM

Quote :

"Sorry Duke - State Will Finish Second Operation Basketball: Sidney Lowe By Dane Huffman Posted: 19 minutes ago Updated: 4 minutes ago For all the talk about N.C. State’s point guards, you’d think the Wolfpack will play four on five this season. That’s not the case at all. The Wolfpack doesn’t need Chris Corchiani to suit up and play. All it needs is adequate play at point guard – a steady hand bringing the ball up, a reliable outside shot – and this team is off and running. North Carolina will sweep through the ACC in the regular season, but the Wolfpack will be right behind, a solid second in a league that will be Triangle-centric. The focus on the Wolfpack’s point guard play overlooks the fact that at four positions, N.C. State is as good as anyone. Brandon Costner? He’s better than Cedric Simmons and he’ll play in the NBA. Gavin Grant? He shines when he’s not at point guard and was marvelous in State’s ACC Tournament run. Ben McCauley? You have to love a guy who hustles like he does. Courtney Fells? You can’t help but wonder what his numbers would be on a lesser team. Add J.J. Hickson to this and you’ve got a team that looks like a Final Four contender. State will find a decent point guard, and that’s all they need. If the Baltimore Ravens can win a Super Bowl with Trent Dilfer, N.C. State can thrive in the ACC with even modest play at point. N.C. State was picked Sunday to finish third in the ACC, with North Carolina first and Duke second. But at season's end, you'll see the Pack right there at No. 2. In Durham, they’ll argue that Duke is still Duke, and if there’s any rightful rival to Carolina, it’s the Blue Devils. Duke has won seven of the last nine ACC Tournaments, and sure, the Devils will be one of the ACC’s better teams. But Duke is no juggernaut, as last season showed. To say “Duke is Duke” is to create the expectation that what happened in previous years flows into future performance. Just pull on the jersey, crank up the Crazies and the wins will come. Well, no they won’t. Last year, the Devils turned the ball over so much the statue of Washington Duke on East Campus dropped its head in disbelief. And the toughness so evident on the best Duke teams was missing. The Blue Devils lacked the muscle of their rivals and were overmatched by burly opponents. All the talk of Duke’s youth overlooked the essential fact that the Blue Devils really weren’t that good. The Blue Devils will be better this year, even without Josh McRoberts. Kyle Singler might be great as a freshman, and the rest of the team will be improved. But better than the Pack? No. State's run through the ACC Tournament last season was a taste of what's to come, when the Wolfpack will threaten Carolina and finish a solid second in the ACC. Duke may be Duke, and Carolina may be Carolina, but N.C. State is on the rise in West Raleigh."

10/24/2007 10:46:34 AM

^link?

[Edited on October 24, 2007 at 12:02 PM. Reason : .]

10/24/2007 12:02:00 PM

http://www.wral.com/sports/

10/24/2007 12:09:29 PM

I'm not sure why everyone in the media is so willing to concede that Carolina is going to be #1 in the ACC. Are they the best team top to bottom? Yes probably, but the best team doesn't always finish first. And as Carolina fans love to lament, they get everyone's best shot. I can see them losing one to us, one to duke, and probably two other ones they shouldn't lose to someone else in the league. I mean they are Carolina, aka the team that loves to choke.

And if we're going by what Gavin Grant promised, we aren't going to lose more than four games all year. I say that w/ tongue in cheek, but still it's not that unbelievable that we or Duke would edge Carolina out in the end. They didn't take first last year, and what have they gained/lost since then? They've gained a walk-on and a transfer and lost a lottery pick, a solid second rounder, and a good 3 point shooter. I don't see one year's worth of experience as making them that much better. I mean Tyler Hansborough was an All-American last year and the year before, so I don't see him being that much better than he already is. And maybe Wayne Ellington will actually play up to his potential this year, but then again maybe not. The same thing could be said about Courtney Fells. Thompson and Stephenson will provide quality minutes inside, but so did Wright and Terry.

Basically I see UNC being a little better than last year, and IMO it's going to take more than being a little better to sweep through the conference like all of the sports commentators are predicting.

Here's to hoping State lives up to our own lofty predictions this year.

10/24/2007 12:45:16 PM

You answered your own question in the first sentence. Carolina is predicted to be #1 because they are the most talented team top to bottom. Wouldn't it make sense for the most talented team to be predicted to finish 1st?

It's not like predictions matter at all anyway once the season starts.

10/24/2007 12:48:58 PM

^ I realize preseason predictions don't matter. It's just annoying to see every writer willing to hand the ACC crown to Carolina.

And for the sake of good reading, it seems some writer somewhere would try to make an argument for another team to finish first. I can't be the only one who is sick of seeing "It'll be Carolina and everyone else this year in the ACC." What about the intangibles needed to have a winning team? Does Carolina have those? We weren't the second most talented team (at least in terms of depth) last year in the ACC, yet we took second in the tournament. More goes into a pick than just total team talent. Otherwise Connecticut should have won the tourney two years ago instead of Florida.

[Edited on October 24, 2007 at 12:56 PM. Reason : sp. error]

10/24/2007 12:55:55 PM