Last season John Gasaway began tracking how conference teams performed against each other. If you don't know why that's important then read this. The ACC doesn't play an evenly distributed schedule, so some teams have played three games and some have played four. FSU has played four, this is a Seminoles site, and so this is the end of the first quarter of league play. The results so far look like this:
The ACC after three-four games apiece Conference games only, through January 16 - Pace: possessions per 40 minutes - PPP: points per possession - oPPP: opponent points per possession - EM: efficiency margin (PPP - oPPP) (For a primer on tempo-based stats read this).
Record | Pace | PPP | oPPP | EM | |
Clemson | 2-1 | 65.7 | 1.19 | 1.06 | 0.13 |
Virginia Tech | 2-2 | 66.5 | 1.05 | 0.92 | 0.13 |
Duke | 3-1 | 70.8 | 1.00 | 0.88 | 0.12 |
Boston College | 3-1 | 67.0 | 1.16 | 1.07 | 0.09 |
Florida St | 3-1 | 70.3 | 1.01 | 0.97 | 0.04 |
Maryland | 1-2 | 73.0 | 0.97 | 0.94 | 0.03 |
NC State | 1-2 | 68.0 | 1.11 | 1.12 | -0.01 |
North Carolina | 2-1 | 69.7 | 0.88 | 0.91 | -0.03 |
Georgia Tech | 1-2 | 71.3 | 1.00 | 1.08 | -0.08 |
Miami | 1-2 | 64.0 | 1.08 | 1.17 | -0.09 |
Virginia | 1-2 | 62.0 | 0.93 | 1.03 | -0.10 |
Wake Forest | 0-3 | 69.7 | 0.90 | 1.23 | -0.33 |
Come inside to take a brief look at each ACC team in conference play.
Clemson: The Tigers are part of the triumvirate at the top of the standings who are clearly outscoring their opponents. They lost a close game to FSU and then put on offensive clinics against
Virginia Tech: The most unlucky team to this point, with two single possession losses combined with two comfortable wins. To this point they’ve been efficient on both ends of the court.
Duke: Duke is winning with defense. They have the 6th ranked offense in the country, though not because of conference play where they’re only scoring a point per possession. They’ve compensated by being the best defensive team in the ACC, just like last year.
FSU:
NC State: The reverse of
Georgia Tech: Another of the 1-2 squads who are exactly where they should be. Being outscored at all in conference play spells trouble. Being outscored by .08 per trip makes for another painful season in