If You Were Wondering Why The ACC Ranks Highly, Look No Further Than Defense

Sometimes, the ACC often gets a bad rep for being a soft conference. When coaches and fans alike think soft, they think that a team cannot play defense. Au contraire, mon frere.

Entering Monday's play, the ACC had a whopping 7 of the 20 best defensive teams (by adjusted defensive efficiency).

Florida State 1st
Clemson 3rd
Georgia Tech 6th
Virginia Tech 11th
Wake Forest 16th
Duke 17th (despite committing zero stops against Georgetown on Saturday)
Maryland 20th

In comparison with other conferences using the same standard, the Big XII (Kansas, Texas, Missouri - all in the top 9) and the Big Ten (Wisconsin, Purdue, Minnesota) have 3 teams each.

Tournament Schedules for the Power Conferences

With the tournament matchups set for all of the power conferences, I have included the matchups and schedules below. Those games with clear bubble implications are in red font.

ACC (Georgia Dome -- Atlanta)

FIRST ROUND
Thursday, March 12
Game 1: No. 8 Virginia Tech vs. No. 9 Miami, noon
Game 2: No. 5 Clemson vs. No. 12 Georgia Tech, 2:30 p.m.
Game 3: No. 7 Maryland vs. No. 10 NC State, ESPN2, 7 p.m.
Game 4: No. 6 Boston College vs. No. 11 Virginia, 9:30 p.m.
QUARTERFINALS
Friday, March 13
Game 5: No. 1 North Carolina vs. Game 1 winner, ESPN2, noon
Game 6: No. 4 Florida State vs. Game 2 winner, ESPN2, 2:30 p.m.
Game 7: No. 2 Wake Forest vs. Game 3 winner, ESPN2, 7 p.m.
Game 8: No. 3 Duke vs. Game 4 winner, ESPN2, 9:30 p.m.
SEMIFINALS
Saturday, March 14
Game 9: Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, ESPN, 1:30 p.m.
Game 10: Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner, ESPN, 4 p.m.
CHAMPIONSHIP
Sunday, March 15
Game 11: Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner, ESPN, 1 p.m.

BIG EAST (MSG - New York City)

FIRST ROUND
Tuesday, March 10
Game 1: No. 9 Cincinnati vs. No. 16 DePaul, noon
Game 2: No. 12 Georgetown vs. No. 13 St. John's, 2 p.m.
Game 3: No. 10 Notre Dame vs. No. 15 Rutgers, 7 p.m.
Game 4: No. 11 Seton Hall vs. No. 14 South Florida, 9 p.m.
SECOND ROUND
Wednesday, March 11
Game 5: No. 8 Providence vs. Game 1 winner, ESPN, noon
Game 6: No. 5 Marquette vs. Game 2 winner, ESPN, 2 p.m.
Game 7: No. 7 West Virginia vs. Game 3 winner, ESPN, 7 p.m.
Game 8: No. 6 Syracuse vs. Game 4 winner, ESPN, 9 p.m.
QUARTERFINALS
Thursday, March 12
Game 9: No. 1 Louisville vs. Game 5 winner, ESPN, noon
Game 10: No. 4 Villanova vs. Game 6 winner, ESPN, 2 p.m.
Game 11: No. 2 Pittsburgh vs. Game 7 winner, ESPN, 7 p.m.
Game 12: No. 3 Connecticut vs. Game 8 winner, ESPN, 9 p.m.
SEMIFINALS
Friday, March 13
Game 13: Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner, ESPN, 7 p.m.
Game 14: Game 11 winner vs. Game 12 winner, ESPN, 9 p.m.
CHAMPIONSHIP
Saturday, March 14
Game 15: Game 13 winner vs. Game 14 winner, ESPN, 9 p.m.

BIG TEN (Conseco Fieldhouse -- Indianapolis)

FIRST ROUND
Thursday, March 12
Game 1: No. 8 Minnesota vs. No. 9 Northwestern, noon
Game 2: No. 7 Michigan vs. No. 10 Iowa, ESPN2, 2:30 p.m.
Game 3: No. 6 Penn State vs. No. 11 Indiana, ESPN2, 5 p.m.
QUARTERFINALS
Friday, March 13
Game 4: No. 1 Michigan State vs. Game 1 winner, ESPN, noon
Game 5: No. 4 Wisconsin vs. No. 5 Ohio State, ESPN, 2:30 p.m.
Game 6: No. 2 Illinois vs. Game 2 winner, 6:30 p.m.
Game 7: No. 3 Purdue vs. Game 3 winner, 9 p.m.
SEMIFINALS
Saturday, March 14
Game 8: Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 1:40 p.m.
Game 9: Game 6 winner vs. Game 7 winner, 4:05 p.m.
CHAMPIONSHIP
Sunday, March 15
Game 10: Game 8 winner vs. Game 9 winner, 3:30 p.m.

BIG 12 (Ford Center -- Oklahoma City)

FIRST ROUND
Wednesday, March 11
Game 1: No. 8 Nebraska vs. No. 9 Baylor, 12:30 p.m.
Game 2: No. 5 Texas vs. No. 12 Colorado, 3 p.m.
Game 3: No. 7 Oklahoma State vs. No. 10 Iowa State, 7 p.m.
Game 4: No. 6 Texas A&M vs. No. 11 Texas Tech, 9:30 p.m.
QUARTERFINALS
Thursday, March 12
Game 5: No. 1 Kansas vs. Game 1 winner, ESPN2, 12:30 p.m.
Game 6: No. 4 Kansas State vs. Game 2 winner, 3 p.m.
Game 7: No. 2 Oklahoma vs. Game 3 winner, 7 p.m.
Game 8: No. 3 Missouri vs. Game 4 winner, ESPN2, 9:30 p.m.
SEMIFINALS
Friday, March 13
Game 9: Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, 7 p.m.
Game 10: Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner, 9:30 p.m.
CHAMPIONSHIP
Saturday, March 14
Game 11: Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner, ESPN, 6 p.m.

PAC-10 (Staples Center -- Los Angeles)

FIRST ROUND
Wednesday, March 11
Game 1: No. 8 Oregon State vs. No. 9 Stanford, 9 p.m.
Game 2: No. 7 Washington State vs. No. 10 Oregon, 11:30 p.m.
QUARTERFINALS
Thursday, March 12
Game 3: No. 4 Arizona State vs. No. 5 Arizona, 3 p.m.
Game 4: No. 1 Washington vs. Game 1 winner, 5:30 p.m.
Game 5: No. 3 California vs. No. 6 USC, 9 p.m.
Game 6: No. 2 UCLA vs. Game 2 winner, 11:30 p.m.
SEMIFINALS
Friday, March 13
Game 7: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 9 p.m.
Game 8: Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, 11:30 p.m.
CHAMPIONSHIP
Saturday, March 14
Game 9: Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner, 6 p.m.

SEC (St. Pete Times Forum -- Tampa)

FIRST ROUND
Thursday, March 12
Game 1: E4 Kentucky vs. W5 Ole Miss, 1 p.m.
Game 2: W3 Mississippi State vs. E6 Georgia, 3:15 p.m.
Game 3: W4 Alabama vs. E5 Vanderbilt, 7:30 p.m.
Game 4: E3 Florida vs. W6 Arkansas, 9:45 p.m.
SECOND ROUND
Friday, March 13
Game 5: W1 LSU vs. Game 1 winner, 1 p.m.
Game 6: E2 South Carolina vs. Game 2 winner, 3:15 p.m.
Game 7: E1 Tennessee vs. Game 3 winner, 7:30 p.m.
Game 8: W2 Auburn vs. Game 4 winner, 9:45 p.m.
SEMIFINALS
Saturday, March 14
Game 9: Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, ESPN2, 1 p.m.
Game 10: Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner, ESPN2, 3:15 p.m.
CHAMPIONSHIP
Sunday, March 15
Game 11: Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner, 1 p.m.

PER - February 8, 2009

To say that the day job has been a hindrance to blogging regularly the last two months is like saying it's cold. As an attempt to be somewhat sustainable over the next month or so and later on when the day job really does not want to cooperate, I am establishing the PER: Point, Evidence, Relevance.

I make a point. I provide the best evidence on this fine net. Then, I state why it's relevant.

If you disagree with my thoughts, let me know why.

********

Please Stay Off Of Your Sandbox - A Message to Fans of Nebraska, Kansas State and Duquesne

In spite of big wins this week and/or strong play for each team this week, I will be surprised if any find your way into bracket projections this week.

Let's start off with the Dukes. First, congratulations on your program-building win against Xavier. My thoughts about head coach Ron Everhart aside, their only other win against a team currently in most fields is basketball powerhouse Robert Morris. Winning two-thirds of your games in the A-10 nine games into the season and ranking in the 200s in defensive efficiency will result in February losses.

On Kansas State and Nebraska, both have entered the conversation for an at-large bid, but I will be very surprised if either enters the PHSports Field of 65 tomorrow. Since both compete in the weaker Big XII North with one-win squads (Colorado, Iowa State), it is imperative that each team wins 5 of their 7 before the Big XII Tournament to reach the magical 10-win mark and ensure at-large bid.

While Kansas State (@ Cleveland State, v. Missouri, @ Texas, @ Texas A&M) and Nebraska (v. Creighton, v. Missouri, v. Kansas State, v. Texas) have some good wins, neither has a signature win and they rank 291st and 322nd in non-conference SOS. If you recall last year on Selection Sunday, a certain team from a stronger conference with better wins did not make the tournament. They were Arizona State and the Selection Committee was quick to point out that Arizona State's non-conference SOS (i.e. the games they scheduled with their free will) was in the 300s.