The pairings for the ACC/SEC Challenge were announced Wednesday and some of the matchups are intriguing. Hopefully the results are less traumatic this season than what we saw last year, when only Duke and Clemson managed to win. We’ll make some preliminary notes and picks but it’s way too early to really have much of an idea – some rosters aren’t even complete.
Here are the matchups:
- Florida at Duke
- North Carolina at Kentucky
- Virginia at Texas
- NC State at Auburn
- Clemson at Alabama
- Louisville at Arkansas
- Oklahoma at Wake Forest
- SMU at Vanderbilt
- Texas A&M at Pitt
- Mississippi State at Georgia Tech
- Miami at Ole Miss
- LSU at Boston College
- Virginia Tech at South Carolina
- Tennessee at Syracuse
- Missouri at Notre Dame
- Georgia at Florida State
- Florida at Duke: It’s an interesting matchup, isn’t it? Cameron is a massive advantage but Florida will be tough and they have 7-9 redshirt freshman Olivier Rioux who just finished his redshirt freshman year. He’s a foot taller than Maliq Brown, which is kind of freakish. Literally no one has ever even seen a 7-9 basketball player. We don’t bet against Duke though.
- UNC at Kentucky: This one is interesting. We’re not sure what to think yet but we know this: Hubert Davis is in a tough spot already and UNC sees itself entirely as Kentucky’s equal. A bad loss would be bad for UNC but devastating for Davis’s future in Chapel Hill.
- Virginia at Texas: both have new coaches which makes this one tough to call. We aren’t fully familiar with either roster yet but we think Virginia looks decent. We’ll go with the ‘Hoos for now.
- NC State at Auburn: This would be a spectacular start to Will Wade’s time at NC State and he may have enough talent to do it. Bruce Pearl has had a lot longer to get his system into place and it’s at home, so we’ll take the Tigers here.
- Clemson at Alabama: Speaking of Tigers, Clemson is rebuilding. Alabama, as you know, eschews the mid-range for threes and layups. Our guess is that with a summer to watch video, Brad Brownell will have his team ready, but will it be enough? Hard to say.
- Louisville at Arkansas: We don’t know what John Calipari has and Pat Kelsey has to replace Chucky Hepburn, but it’s doable with Mikel Brown on board. We like the Cards here, plus it’s Louisville vs. Calipari.
- Oklahoma at Wake Forest: We’re going to have to think about this one for a while. No feel at all in June.
- SMU at Vanderbilt: Mark Byington is really good and Vandy is improving but SMU should have more talent. On the other hand, Memorial is one of the weirdest gyms in college basketball and that’s advantage Vandy. We’ll go with the Ponies though.
- Texas A&M at Pitt: We’ll have to look at the rosters, but Bucky McMillan is a rising star and Pitt’s roster is a bit spotty. The Panthers could win on grit, but it’s too early to really take a stand here.
- Mississippi State at Georgia Tech: as of June, we’ll go with the Bulldogs.
- Miami at Ole Miss: Duke fans know that Jai Lucas is a really promising coach but Chris Beard has been at Ole Miss for two seasons, going on three, and he’s a tremendous coach. It’d be a real coup for Lucas to pull off a win here, but we’re not sure it’ll happen.
- LSU at Boston College: we’ll have to go with LSU here, sadly.
- Virginia Tech at South Carolina: Tossup right now. Lamont Paris has had three years in Columbia and while one was really great, the other two were less than stellar. That’s good because the Hokies may suck again and that might make them even, giving VT a shot.
- Tennessee at Syracuse: We can’t see the ‘Cuse winning this one but stranger things have happened. Maybe.
- Mizzou at Notre Dame: we still have faith in Micah Shrewsberry and he should have some solid players including a veteran backcourt. Mark Mitchell and company may go down to the Irish.
- Georgia at Florida State: Anyone got FSU here? No? Okay.
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