Tobacco Road Report

By Michael

We would have posted some comments on the brackets earlier, but the server was down for several hours. Of all days for that to happen...

North Carolina wins a share of the regular season conference title and wins the ACC Tournament outright...and what is their reward? Possible games against Marquette, Texas, and Gerogetown in the toughest regional bracket. Thanks, but don't do us any more favors.

That and other thoughts in this post.

As we expected, North Carolina was awarded a No.1 seed in the east regional for their "body of work" this year. The Tar Heels face Eastern Kentucky in Winston-Salem, N.C. Should the Tar Heels advance, and we think they will, they will play the winner of 8-9 matchup between Marquette and Michigan State.

Potential games with Texas and Georgetown await the Tar Heels after that. Although we're positively giddy about having the Tar Heels square off against Kevin Durant and Hibbard, we wonder what the selection committee was smoking when they "rewarded" the Tar Heels with this route to Atlanta. If the Tar Heels make it, they deserve some serious kudos. If there is a squad that has the depth and versatility to do this, it's Carolina.

Maryland's No. 4 seed was fortunate given their early exit from the ACC Tournament. The Terrapins square off against Davidson from the Southern Conference, winners of 17 of 18 in conference and the Southern Conference Tournament. Davidson is led by Stephen Curry, son of NBA-er Dell Curry.

Virginia was also given a No. 4 seed and will face Albany in the South Regional in Columbus, Ohio. A win would set the Cavaliers against Tennessee from the SEC, who absolutely destroyed Florida several weeks ago. The Cavaliers will have to bring thier A-game to get into the round of 16.

Virginia Tech received a No. 5 seed and will square off against the Illini. This should be a good matchup for Virginia Tech since Illinois is also a defensive minded squad who has trouble putting points on the board. Illinois looked particularly weak in their all-ugly contest with Indiana on Friday night in the Big Ten Tournament. A win against Illinois would send the Hokies against the winner of Southern Illinois-Holy Cross game. Southern Illinois can't be overlooked...just check out their road and neutral court wins.

The Duke Blue Devils were awarded a No. 6 seed, which we believe is fortunate since we thought the Devils could be seeded as low as 8 under some circumstances. Duke will take on VCU in Buffalo, NY. The return of Gerald Henderson and an early bump from the ACC Tournament should make the Devils hungry. A win over VCU would set up a classic matchup with Pitt. It's a winnable game for the Dukies, but they have to play 40 minutes of serious defense.

Boston College limped into the tournament field with losses in 5 of its last 7 games, but still managed a No. 7 seed in the East Regional. The Eagles will square off against Bob Knight's Texas Tech squad. Texas Tech has won 6 of its last 8, but may have some matchup problems with BC as long as Dudley is aggressive from the start. If Dudley waits until the second half to get his offense going, BC may get bumped early.

Rounding out the ACC's bids is Georgia Tech, who received a solid No. 10 seed and will take on UNLV in Chicago. Should Tech be able to generate a small upset here, they will then take on Wisconsin. Though the Badgers play some of the toughest D in the country, Tech matches more favorably against Wisconsin than they do against the other No.2s (Georgetown, Memphis, and UCLA).

The ACC recieved 7 bids in total, versus 6 for the Big East, Pac-10, and Big Ten. The SEC received 5 bids. We think this was reasonable and have no bones to pick with the selection committee in this regard. FSU and Clemson had significant warts and missed several opportunities to bolster their resumes. FSU will likely be headed to the NIT with NC State and perhaps Clemson.

How far can the ACC go in this Tournament? Maryland has a nice route to the Sweet 16 and UNC has the talent to make it to the Final Four. Everyone else has to pull out an upset or overcome some difficult matchups.