(05-30-2014 03:39 PM)TIGER-PAUL Wrote: ga tech isn't complaining which makes it tougher
No one in the Coastal would complain - Coastal folks know they have a good deal with the current strength level of the league's teams. The best two programs are in the Atlantic. The third best program is a toss-up between Miami, VT, and Louisville.
Here's' one way to look at it - for NC State to likely win the Atlantic, we have to beat two of FSU, Clemson, and Louisville, if not all three. That's the ACC's 1st, 2nd, 3rd-5th.
We've beaten FSU quite a number of times since 1998, but beating FSU and Clemson in the same year is something else entirely. In fact the effort expended to beat FSU or Clemson or give them our best game, has often shown up in a loss the next week to a team not nearly as good as those two because State will never have the same depth as FSU or Clemson.
In the last 15 years we have beaten FSU in 98, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2010, and 2012, but we have only beaten Clemson in 1998, 2002, 2003, and 2011. In 2002 NC State was 15 points from an undefeated season, that was our high-water mark for the decade, perhaps the quarter century and we choked three close games in a row to GT, MD, and UVa with ultra conservative play and finished the year 11-3. My point though is that when you look at those wins over FSU or Clemson, you often see a WTF loss the next week to a weaker team like Baylor (Baylor was bad a decade ago), WF, UVa, etc.
Anyone in the Coastal faces starts with the 3rd best ACC program at the toughest. So for Duke they would face at toughest 3rd, 4th, and 6th -UNC - average rating of the top 3 in the Atlantic 2.33, average rating of the top in the Coastal 4.33. You would be nuts to give that up willingly.
