Tobacco Road Report

Team Rankings Within the Conference Per Rivals.com

1. Duke (6th nationally)
2. Va. Tech (16th nationally)
3. Florida State (20th nationally)
4. Georgia Tech
5. Wake Forest
6. Boston College
7. NC State
8. Maryland
9. Virginia
10. Miami
11. Clemson
12. North Carolina

As usual, Duke was able to deliver a nationally ranked class with three potential McDonald’s All-Americans. The top recruit is Kyle Singler, a small forward out of Medford, Oregon.

Virginia Tech was the surprise five solid recruits. Rivals likes the class, but remember that Virginia Tech had to sign multiple players due to their senior heavy roster this season. TRR believes that rivals is biased toward quantity in their evaluations of team rankings.

Florida State delivered a strong class led by 7-footer, Solomon Alabi of Montverde, Florida. Georgia Tech signed three players led by Gani Lawal (PF) of Norcross, Georgia. Wake Forest signed two four star recruits, led by Jeff Teague of Pike High School in Indianapolis.

For the rest of the league, Sidney Lowe at NC State delivered J.J Hickson out of Marietta, Georgia. Virginia signed Jeff Jones, a highly touted shooting guard. Maryland, Miami, Clemson, and Boston College did not sign any highly regarded players. North Carolina did not sign anyone due to the young roster they currently have in play.

What does it all mean?
Yesterday was interesting for future trends for some teams in the conference. Miami had a good class come in last year, while Boston College has a talented nucleus already. Plus, no one doubts the ability of Haith and Skinner to “coach up” their teams. Lowe was behind in recruiting for this season as a new coach, so next year’s class will be important for him to deliver. Purnell will need more talent at Clemson to compete in league play.

For the upper tier of the conference, North Carolina did not have space to sign anyone. They may have an open scholarship in the spring based on potential early exits from their star-studded roster.

For Duke, Coach K never has to re-build as his steady flow of recruits prevents excessive roster turnover. He seems to have really learned his lesson from the mass exodus of youngsters William Avery and Cory Maggette several seasons back.

For FSU, Hamilton is building a consistent product and this class will only improve his chances of creating a top 20 program. For Georgia Tech, Lawal is a multi-talented player who could be the missing piece for a title run in 2007-2008.

If UNC and Tech can keep their core players, the ACC (along with Duke) could have three national title contenders for next season. So don’t be fooled into thinking that the ACC will have lean years since Rivals.com ranked the ACC class well behind other major and mid-major conferences.

Elsewhere outside the ACC:
Outside of the conference, the Big 10 had a tremendous signing day with four teams in the Rivals.com top 10. The usual suspects, Ohio State and Michigan State, delivered, with Thad Matta once again raiding the state of Indiana for top wingman, Evan Turner.

The surprise classes came from Purdue and Indiana. Matt Painter at Purdue signed four of the top six players from the state of Indiana. All are expected be four-year players for Painter which will lay a great foundation for Boilermaker basketball.

In Bloomington, the Hoosiers signed a solid class even with a new coach under “campus arrest”. Kelvin Sampson was new at the job and could not leave campus to recruit. Despite the mess that Mike Davis left with local recruiting, Sampson was able to sign Eric Gordon of Indianapolis, who is the top signing of any Big 10 class. Now, if Sampson can keep DJ White on campus for one more season, the Hoosiers could be back in the business of hanging up title banners at Assembly Hall.

TRR final analysis
The ACC should be a little concerned that so much talent signed with the Big 10 yesterday. Honestly, it was a great year for Midwest basketball and we know that recruiting runs in cycles. However, top ACC teams did not have many scholarships to give and given the quality of last year’s ACC recruits, no argument can be made for a trend.

Still, the ACC will have competition in the years ahead. The Big 10 has established OSU, MSU, and Illinois as players on the national recruiting stage. With the energetic Painter at Purdue and now a good coach at the helm at Indiana, the Big 10 should have five quality programs going forward.

TRR believes Indiana and OSU are programs on the rise as Matta and Sampson have already proven they can win with less talent than their competition. With quality players (i.e. OSU this season), watch out. Anyone who watched Purdue play last season can attest to how hard Painter had his team play every game.

So what are we saying? Well, finally, the Big 10 may actually be able to compete in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Given recent seasons, one might have re-named the competition to the Big 10 Smackdown. With Miami and FSU on the rise, the ACC looks to have more depth and future ACC/Big Ten Challenges will be exciting.

TRR is a little concerned with Maryland. There’s no question Williams can coach, but we had hoped more recruits would have noticed this, too. Expect the pressure to continue to rise in College Park, fairly or unfairly.