A preliminary look at this year's ACC picture has proved to be a little hazy. In years past, fans and commentators alike could choose the front-runners with much more ease. Duke and Maryland are names that often came to mind when dreaming of the Big Dance in March.
But now we are at a stage where the ACC is riddled with uncertainty and change.
One might as well call the ACC men's basketball picture obscure.
Remember Maryland's (not Duke's)victorious run for the NCAA title last year? With three star players all in the pros now, don't expect the Terrapins to coast through the conference again this year. After the departure of Juan Dixon, Lonny Baxter and Chris Wilcox, Maryland can be expected to drop down a notch in their level of play. Coach Gary Williams and point guard Steve Blake are among the only grizzled veterans left on a team that will prove to be solid,if not necessarily brilliant.
Similar to Maryland, Duke had to say goodbye to one of the best performers in the league last year. Duke's praised guard Jay Williams has moved on to the pros to help rebuild the Chicago Bulls. But Duke's losses did not stop at Williams. The Blue Devils also lost Williams' two sidekicks
Carlos Boozer and Mike Dunleavy. However, they return with a not-so-shabby freshman class, whose development will be crucial to the turnout of pivotal ACC games and certainly could keep the Devils grounded for at least a year.
Looking at the ACC teams who failed to make last year's Final Four, it seems that the summer yielded improvemet for all but those clubs still in the cellar.
Of the four teams that went to the Big Dance last March, N.C. State lost the least talent. The Wolfpack will miss leading scorer Anthony Grundy, but Julius Hodge intends to take everyone by surprise yet again. The standout freshman has said he will try to fill any gaps the team may need throughout the year
even if that doesn't mean being the leading scorer.
Just a few miles west of Raleigh, things will be firing up in the lovely tobacco sponsored town of Winston-Salem. There, Wake Forest eagerly awaits the return of last year's ailing star forward Josh Howard, an event that promises to completely shuffle the lineup and help fill the void after the loss of forward Darius Songaila, another NBA prodigy.
Last year's teams that missed out on post-season play will run the gamut of talent and have new faces who should dominate play.
Do not take too much stock in Virginia's preseason ranking as it is tough to predict how the season will turn out in the end. With all the new faces on the Virginia bench, no one can know what is in store for the Cavaliers. The advantage Virginia has over other contending teams is that its key fresh faces are already Division I ballers. Transfers Todd Billet and Nick Vander Laan have had a year to practice with the team, and Majestic Mapp needs no explanation. If he can run, then so will the show.
Looking back down on Tobacco Road you'll find a revamped team in Chapel Hill that many sports fans believed would be taking a trip to the Tournament last year. Instead, the Tar Heels went 8-20 after losing Ronald Curry and Julius Peppers to the school's football team. This year, enter Raymond Felton, a 6-foot guard who even impressed NBA scouts with his scoring rants. Along with Felton, Carolina also will look for a big return from All-American Rashad McCants; bulky forward Sean May and 7-foot-1center Damion Grant also will shine some new light on that Tar Heel Blue.
But let's be honest, young talent doesn't always buy victories, which is why we can't definitively put the Tar Heels ahead of last year's established teams just yet.
Georgia Tech could not get into a winning rhythm last season, but certainly came close to making up for its 0-7 start. While they lost the leadership of point guard Tony Akins, the Yellow Jackets welcome freshman guard Jack Jarrett to alleviate the situation. Along with Jarrett, top 50 recruit Chris Bosh gives Georgia Tech a highly desirable freshman class. Sound familiar?
On the other side of the court, Clemson and Florida State are still deep in the rebuilding process, with the Seminoles even replacing their coach with former Washington Wizards' coach Leonard Hamilton, a Divison I veteran.
Clemson will be the usual bottom dweller in the ACC rankings
-- a certainty we've gotten used to for a while. Or so it should seem.
With the whirlwind of uncertainty present in the ACC, the Tigers could be the champs with a stroke of good luck.
I'm joking, of course, but it sure beats hearing Dick Vitale rave about someone other than Duke and the Terps.
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