ACC Is The Best Conference in College Basketball

Many people will say that the Big 12 is the best conference in the country, and to a certain extent, yes they are good, but not quite as good as the ACC. The ACC is a bigger conference, and quite frankly a better conference, although both Louisville and Syracuse cannot participate in postseason play.
Even with those teams not included the ACC is still in contention for the top conference. At the top there is Virginia, North Carolina, Miami, and Duke. Virginia has one of the most impressive resumes with wins over teams like Ohio State, West Virginia, Villanova, Miami, and Louisville. However all of the Cavaliers five losses have come on the road to non ranked teams, this is concerning for the Cavaliers because in the tournament they will be on a neutral site, against probably inferior teams for the first few rounds. Another reason they could struggle in March is because they get into a lot of low scoring, close games. This helps them because they have experience with close games, but also, anything can happen in a close game, so I'm thinking Virginia could lose again in either their second, or third game in the tournament.

North Carolina is a large, experienced, and skilled team that could be an eventual final four participant. The Tar Heels already have accomplished big men, with a trio of Justin Jackson (6-8), Brice Johnson (6-10) and Kennedy Meeks (6-10). Brice Johnson is the main low post threat, he rebounds, defends, and almost always finished around the hoop. But for them to get there I think they need more production from their guards, especially Marcus Paige. Paige is an All-American caliber player, and needs to step up in March if the Tar Heels want to make it to the Final Four.

Miami is a team that I don't know a whole lot about, the Hurricanes are 21-4 and 10-3 in the ACC, which is good for first in the conference. But from looking at their schedule, I can tell that Miami doesn't have a true signature win, but they have chances down the stretch. Their next four games are at North Carolina, home vs Virginia, home vs Louisville, and at Notre Dame. If they can go 2-2 or better in those games I'd say that would be good for the Hurricanes. Ideally they would want to win the two games at home and deal with losses on the road.

The rising team in the ACC is Duke, the Blue Devils are 20-6, 9-4 in ACC, and are fresh off a victory at North Carolina. Many people doubted Duke throughout the season, but it is hard to argue with a four game win streak featuring wins over Louisville, Virginia, and North Carolina. Still I don't think that the Blue Devils will make it very far in the tournament, largely due to depth. Duke has a very limited rotations, which means consecutive games like they will play in March, will take a toll on their players freshness. Next year should be a strong year for Duke, as they bring in three 5-star prospects.