Updated Predictions for the ACC

Since the season is more than half way thru, I thought I'd give an updated projections on how the ACC season should end.

1. UNC. The regular season championship is within their grasps. However, they still have some crucial games left. Miami is a good team that has not played well until recently. VT will be a major challenge. We have to play Maryland, and I expect the Terps to be ready for us. And then there is always Duke. We should beat NCSU and GT, but nothing is a given.
2. Duke. The Devils have hit a rough spot, losing 3 out of 5. We will learn a lot about the Devils when they play BC this weekend. I'm really interested in their re-match with Maryland. Maryland should perform much better the next time they meet.
3. Clemson. They are playing some great ball. They are strong enough to win the rest of their regular season games, but I don't think that will happen. The last few years Clemson has come back to earth in the 2nd half of the season, but I think their schedule should favor them better this year. Don't be surprised if they actually finish ahead of Duke, or even tied with UNC.
4. Don't count out Wake Forest. Sure, they have lost 4 out of 6, but they have the talent and the depth to recover. A 10-6 record within the ACC would be a major step in the right direction for this team.
5. Virginia Tech is for real. They are hitting their stride and should finish in the upper half of the ACC. A good, but not great team in regards to talent has a great coach in Greenberg.
6. Florida State has the talent, but they tend to be too physical for my taste. I've noticed that the refs are not allowing the Seminoles to get away with as much as they did at the beginning of the season.
7. Miami may be 4-6, but I think they will finish 8-8 in the conference. After UNC, they should have a decent chance of winning the rest of their games. And they can upset UNC.
8. Boston College has a hard schedule for the rest of the season. They could finish 8-8, but they could disappoint their fan base. Give Skinner credit: he's improved the team immensely since the beginning of the season.
9. Maryland has to play VT, Clemson, UNC and Duke the next 2 weeks. They may lose all four of these games. They could surprise and split these games, but I anticipate them going 1-3 in this stretch. They also have to play at NCSU, home against Wake, and at UVA. A 6-10 record is probably where they are heading.
10. Don't count NC State out just yet. They are playing decent ball, and they could finish 9th in the conference ahead of Maryland. This team lacks talent and depth, but they have a lot of heart.
11. Virginia has 5 home games and 2 road games left, so they should have some intangibles in their favor. They lack overall talent, and they have a coach that could be fired at the end of the season.
12. Georgia Tech is a program that has tanked since 2004. This year's team is not as bad as their record indicates, but they cannot split their close games. They've lost to UVA, NCSU, and BC in overtime, lost to MD by 7, and 1 FSU by 4, and VT by 5. They did beat a Wake team by 2, but that is a Wake team that is struggling with their confidence. Chalk it up to a fluke.

At the begining of the season, I predicted the following, with my updated projections in parenthesis:

1. UNC (1)
2. Duke (2)
3. Wake (4)
4. Miami (7)
5. Clemson (3)
6. VT (5)
7. Maryland (9)
8. Florida State (6)
9. BC (8)
10. NCSU (10)
11. GT (12)
12. Virginia (11)

As you can see, the ACC is unpredictable. However, there is not one team that has changed more than 3 positions from my original predictions (Only Miami has changed 3 positions).