Some Saturdays just demand a little extra attention. This Saturday certainly qualifies. Aside from the marquee matchup, five other ACC teams are in action early this afternoon.  Most of those games have a certain spice to them, so kick back, relax and see how the teams of the Atlantic Coast Conference play in the middle of the day.

Some Boring Low Stakes Game That No One Cares About

The Cats and Heels Will Tip It Off in Lexington Today

• North Carolina at Kentucky at 12:00 PM on CBS

It’s shocking to me that this game is even on television. I mean, who cares? Do people even know that this game is happening? I’m sure if you look hard you might be able to find some preview of this game.

Mid-Major Heavy vs. Power Conference Lightweight

• Richmond at Wake Forest at 1:00 PM on ESPN3.com

If Richmond pulls of a win, it’s more than likely that the word “upset” will be thrown around. Just so that we are properly oriented, it’s important to note that Richmond is pretty good this year while Wake Forest is still recovering from last season’s disaster. Ken Pomeroy’s ratings put Richmond at #60 while Wake Forest is currently ranked at #162. With the game going down in Winston-Salem, there is a strong chance that the teams will be pretty evenly matched. Also worth watching is the contrast of offensive styles: Richmond plays slow and launches a barrage of threes while Wake Forest has an up-tempo but more balanced attack. I am particularly curious about what happens when Wake Forest misses a shot. So far this year, the Demon Deacons have shown little to no interest in crashing the offensive glass while the Spiders are among the worst in the country at collecting defensive rebounds. The potential is here for the most indifferent battle of the boards on the season.

A Shot At A Rare Win

• Georgia Tech at Tulane at 2:00 PM
• Boston University at Boston College at 2:00 PM on ESPN3.com

Georgia Tech has a real chance at the rare feat of knocking off an undefeated team this Saturday. Tulane has so far managed to win their first eight games. How has such dominance gone unreported in the national media? Tulane has the easiest schedule in the country. Despite future matchups with Syracuse and Memphis, Tulane has managed to dilute the rest of its schedule to a ridiculous extent. The toughest team that Tulane has faced to date? A San Diego team that went 6-24 last season. Of the eight teams that Tulane has faced, none is ranked higher in Ken Pomeroy’s rankings than #260. This isn’t to say that Tulane isn’t good, just that their record is very misleading and that this team hasn’t even begun to be tested. Georgia Tech should knock off this unbeaten, even on Tulane’s home court.

Meanwhile, Boston College has a plausible shot of winning another game. You laugh, but the Eagles are running out of opportunities to get wins. A home date against Boston University is one of a few dates on the schedule where it looks like BC even has a chance. Boston University is still likely to win this one, but it’s worth pointing out that this one is winnable.

For Fans Only

• Longwood at Virginia at 1:00 PM on ESPN3.com
• Massachusetts at Miami 1:00 PM on ESPNU

Longwood is simply overmatched against a Virginia team that was really clicking in the win against Michigan. Miami didn’t get the win at Purdue but still showed that they have the talent to deal with the likes of Massachusetts.

KCarpenter (269 Posts)

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 3rd, 2011 at 7:30 am by KCarpenter and is filed under acc, microsites. Tagged: acc, boston university, georgia tech, kentucky, longwood, massachusetts, miami, north carolina, noston college, richmond, tulane, virginia, wake forest. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.