Back-to-back ACC losses for the Blue Devils? Check. How about 5-6 in their last 11 ACC games?!? Check. (Blame this on JJ Redick getting his jersey retired. That guy looks like the south end of a horse going north these days ...)
The Blue Devils are, in my eyes, a Dave McClure lay-up / referee BJ from being un-ranked. I said it before the season started, and I'll say it again: This team will not make the NCAA Tournament. They'll be a high seed in the NIT, though. If Greg Paulus can hit a wide-open shot, that is. (That's two games in a row he's missed the game-winner, FYI.)
What? You don't buy that? Who have they beaten? Georgetown? They'll be the other top NIT seed. They lost to a ranked Marquette team. They beat a bad ranked Gonzaga team - another NIT team. They screwed Clemson - (who will probably end the season unranked having started a nice ACC skid of their own.)Now this is four losses to unranked ACC teams ... That's bad. Keep in mind they still have to play UNC - twice - Go TO Clemson and Boston College, play Maryland -twice - and a decent Georgia Tech team that already beat them!
This is a ten-loss team; with no quality wins and some bad, bad losses. That's the definition of a poor bubble team, and honestly, with the way those mid-majors stepped up last season, it wouldn't surprise me to see them take a few more risks in terms of picks. That means: Dook Bleu Devils, NIT favorites, baby!
