BRACKETOLOGY:

• Joe Lunardi of ESPN has VT as a #9 seed in the West Region, playing baylor in the first round (not sure we’d want any part of them after last year’s beatdown in the NIT).  He has seven ACC teams in.
• Jerry Palm has the Hokies as a #10 seed in the East playing old A-10 rival xavier.
• The RPI has Tech sitting at #44 on Monday, seventh best in the ACC.  wake fell to #21 and clemson is #35.  maryland is #36.

ACC POWER POLL:

What can you say about georgia tech?  Not only are they awful on the road, they are also cursed.  maryland hit a banked half-courter at the end of the game to beat the jackets Saturday.  But Gary Williams had called a timeout.  So then they inbounded the ball to a bench player who drained a fadeaway three at the buzzer to win the game for the terps, putting the jackets at 1-6 on the road in ACC play this year and 6-33 over the last five seasons.

Notice the bottom five teams in the poll are the five teams VT plays twice.  Not good for the old strength of schedule.

Note: ^ = moved up a spot since the last poll, – = steady, v = moved a spot down; the number next to that is their RPI.

1. duke (11-2 | 23-4) (-) (RPI #2): beat unc by 10 and then waxed maryland, last week’s #2
2. maryland (9-3 | 19-7) (^) (#36): Won 3 games last week to vault into second all by themselves.  Could they be tired by Saturday with six games in 15 days?
3. VIRGINIA TECH (8-4 | 21-5) (^) (#44): I think all of us were happy with a split last week.
4. wake (8-5 | 18-7) (vv) (#21): Lost at VT and nc state.  Not a good week for them.
5. clemson (7-5 | 19-7) (^) (#35): Throttled uva but it actually hurt their RPI.
6. fsu (7-5 | 19-7) (^) (#40): They swept the jackets so I’ll move them ahead based on that.
7. georgia tech (6-7 | 18-9) (v) (#33): The jackets played one game at home and one on the road.  If you read this site regularly, you already know what happened in those games based on that.
8. uva (5-7 | 14-11) (-) (#108): Something seems strangely normal… ah, there it is, the hoos are sucking it up in a sport people actually care about.  They lost their 3 games last week by a combined 61 points.
9. bc (4-8 | 13-13) (^) (#104): Beat unc at home to give them momentum and confidence heading into their rematch with VT.
10. unc (3-9 | 14-13) (v) (#92): They were chanting “NIT” recently during a unc loss.  Ha, they wish.
11. miami (3-9 | 17-9) (-) (#88): miami led duke by 12 at the half.  If games were 20 minutes, they’d be golden.  Instead, the devils egged them in the second half.
12. nc state (3-10 | 15-13) (-) (#116): Led maryland by 10 at home and choked, but then blew out wake.  Signs of life in Raleigh.  Can Sidney Lowe somehow keep his job?