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Big Four balance

Chasing St. Mary’s

St. Mary’s is the lone undefeated team within a major conference at 20-4 and 10-0 in the West Coast Conference. The ACC, Big 12, Big 10, SEC, American, Big East, and other conferences are all beating up on each other and usual conference leaders including North Carolina, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan St, and others are looking to have six or more conference losses before the end of the season. Relaxed transfer rules and the extra year of eligibility granted to all players on teams during the first season affected by the Covid-19 pandemic have changed the way rosters are shaped. Some players that had been granted a fifth year of eligibility also got a sixth year to complete their playing time. This has helped to narrow the talent gap as teams that traditionally attract the best high school players are also having to adapt to recruiting experienced transfer players to compete with teams that are having success recruiting more mature players through the transfer portal.

ACC Big Four

The Big Four ACC college basketball teams (North Carolina, Duke, NC State, and Wake Forest) provide a good example of how different teams are put together and how balanced the conference is. North Carolina has one transfer and relies heavily on multi-year players. Wake Forest and NC State reshaped their rosters with as many as 8 transfer players, and Duke has seven freshmen plus transfers on its roster. The results have been somewhat surprising. North Carolina easily beat Wake Forest and NC State at home but struggled with Duke in a loss on the road. NC State beat Duke soundly at home, won a tight matchup against Wake Forest on the road, and had the previously mentioned loss to North Carolina on the road. Duke suffered double-digit losses to Wake Forest and NC State on the road but held off North Carolina at home. Like the rest of the major conferences the ACC is balanced. Results from Big Four play provide a good example of what we should expect from other conferences this college basketball season.

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NET no measure of excitement – Florida State tops Virginia

Florida State battled back from eight points down with 5:38 to play for a 64-63 win at Virginia. Armaan Franklin made one of two free throws to put Virginia ahead by two points with 14 seconds left. Matthew Cleveland rebounded Franklin’s missed free throw, then scored 7 seconds later to tie the game at 61. Franklin felt some redemption after getting the inbound pass, dribbling down court, and scoring to put Virginia up by two with less than one second showing on the clock when the ball cleared the net. After a quick review of the time, officials added .6 seconds, giving Florida State one second to make a miracle play. Harriston Prieto inbounded the ball by moving down the baseline to his left and floating a pass over halfcourt to Cleveland who turned as he caught the ball and put up a 3-pointer for the win! The ACC may be down in the NET rankings and only have one team ranked in the top 25 of most national polls, but conference play has been as entertaining as any in the country!