ACC Roundup - Another Busy Saturday

SMU at Louisville looks like the game of the day

DALLAS, TX - JANUARY 14: SMU Mustangs guard Kevin "Boopie" Miller (#2) drives to the basket for a layup during the ACC college basketball game between the SMU Mustangs and the Virginia Tech Hokies on January 14, 2026, at Moody Coliseum in Dallas, TX. (Photo by Matthew Visinsky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

In Saturday’s ACC Roundup, Pitt is at Clemson, NC State travels to Wake Forest, where they might get a solid bit of snow, Virginia is off to Boston College, UNC jets down to Hotlanta to take the measure of the Yellow Jackets, SMU checks in at Louisville, Cal gets some sunshine at Miami, Stanford makes perhaps its first visit ever to Florida State and Notre Dame drops into the Dome to play Syracuse.

Busy day, in other words.

We can’t see Pitt pulling an upset at Clemson. We’d like for them to do it, but can they? Seems unlikely. Brad Brownell has made Clemson into a tough out and even more so at home. Pitt would have to have a great game to pull that off. Trivia: Pitt hasn’t beat Clemson since 2014.

As noted previously, Wake Forest lives or dies with the perimeter game and State should be able to defend that fairly well and we’re not sure they have an answer for Ven-Allen Lubin inside. Just seems like a stretch. With a loss here, Wake Forest will be at .500 for the season.

Speaking of inside play, the Wahoos have far too much for BC to control. That would be a bigger upset than…well, than if Notre Dame had held on to beat Virginia the other night.

Point taken.

However, BC has limited talent. It’s hard to see an upset here.

UNC is favored by about a dime at Georgia Tech and oddsmakers know their business. However, UNC has had an up-and-down season and the Yellow Jackets periodically punch above their weight. We don’t necessarily expect an upset but could GT beat the spread? Well, yes they could. It won’t surprise us a bit if they do.

After last year’s beautiful revival at Louisville, it’s hard to believe that the fans are pitching a fit this season and questioning whether Pat Kelsey deserves the job. Spoiler alert: yes he does. It’s hard to believe they’re this fickle, but then again, Cardinal fans mostly live in Kentucky, where expectations are usually totally out of whack with reality. The only difference between Louisville fans and BBN, apparently, is the color of the uniforms. De-Lu-Sions are us!

This could be the best game of the day and SMU is certainly capable of pulling an upset. That said, we like the Cardinals here.

In the West Coast-Sunshine State games, we’ll take Miami over Cal and Stanford over Florida State.

Miami is just a tough out and while FSU has absolutely gotten better, Stanford is a smart and disciplined team.

Finally, the Syracuse and Notre Dame game is interesting. We’re not sure that Micah Shrewsberry is under pressure in South Bend, but Adrian Autry seems to be at Syracuse. That’s going to be a theme going forward for the rest of the season unless the Orange really get going. It’s probably a bit early yet for hot seat talk, but Autry, Pitt’s Jeff Capel, possibly Wake’s Steve Forbes, BC’s Earl Grant and UNC’s Hubert Davis could all be feeling some pressure and we wouldn’t rule it out for Damon Stoudamire at Georgia Tech.

But for Kelsey? It’s ludicrous. That guy turned in an all-time great job last season and revived that program. The local yahoos who aren’t satisfied can go back to the Kenny Payne era – and remember a lot of of them pushed for Payne, of “their own.” Well, look what that got them.

Maybe shut up and support your team? And give your coach more than a year to build his program. Geez.

Saturday’s ACC Action

  • Duke at Virginia Tech || 12:00 || ESPN
  • Pitt at Clemson || 12:00 || ACCN
  • NC State at Wake Forest || 12:00 || ACC Extra
  • Virginia at Boston College || 1:30 || CW
  • UNC at Georgia Tech || 2:00 || ACCN
  • SMU at Louisville || 2:00 || ESPN
  • Cal at Miami || 4:00 || ACCN
  • Stanford at FSU || 6:00 || ACCN
  • Notre Dame at Syracuse || 6:00 || CW

ACC Standings

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Category: General Sports