Official 2005-06 Big 10/ACC Challenge Thread

It's that time of year again, folks!

Here are the matchups (all times are Eastern)

<u>Monday</u>

Virginia Tech (5-1) at Ohio State (2-0) 7:30 on ESPN2

<u>Tuesday</u>

Wisconsin (4-0) at #24 Wake Forest (5-1) 7:00 on ESPN

Purdue (2-1) at Florida State (2-1) 7:30 on ESPN2

#14 Illinois (5-0) at North Carolina (3-0) 9:00 on ESPN

Clemson (4-0) at Penn State (3-0) 8:00 on ESPN U

Miami (4-2) at Michigan (3-0) 9:30 on ESPN2

<u>Wednesday</u>

Georgia Tech at #12 Michigan State (3-2) 7:00 on ESPN

Minnesota (2-0) at #21 Maryland (4-1) 7:30 on ESPN2

Northwestern (3-2) at Virginia (2-1) 8:00 on ESPN U

#1 Duke (5-0) at #21 Indiana (3-0) 9:00 on ESPN

NC State (5-0) at #17 Iowa (4-1) 9:30 on ESPN2
______________________________________________________

This year's challenge figures to be especially intriguing, with the ACC forcasted to come back to the pack a bit and the Big 10 appearing to be back on the rise. The key matchups are Duke/Indiana, NC State/Iowa and Illinois/UNC. I hate to say it, but I smell upset at Chapel Hill. The Tarheels just had to get a home game to help during their rebuilding year

Hopefully the Challenge is as good as it looks on paper. Who do you think will win each game? Which matchup intrigues you the most? Let's get it on!

 

Should be good... here's my picks.


Ohio State over Virginia Tech
Wake Forest over Wisconsin
Florida State over Purdue
Illinois over North Carolina
Clemson over Penn State
Michigan over Miami
Michigan State over Georgia Tech
Maryland over Minnesota
Northwestern over Virginia
Indiana over Duke <-- That's right, I said it.
NC State over Iowa

 

Monday

Virginia Tech (5-1) at Ohio State (2-0) 7:30 on ESPN2

Tuesday

Wisconsin (4-0) at #24 Wake Forest (5-1) 7:00 on ESPN

Purdue (2-1) at Florida State (2-1) 7:30 on ESPN2

#14 Illinois (5-0) at North Carolina (3-0) 9:00 on ESPN

Clemson (4-0) at Penn State (3-0) 8:00 on ESPN U

Miami (4-2) at Michigan (3-0) 9:30 on ESPN2

Wednesday

Georgia Tech at #12 Michigan State (3-2) 7:00 on ESPN

Minnesota (2-0) at #21 Maryland (4-1) 7:30 on ESPN2

Northwestern (3-2) at Virginia (2-1) 8:00 on ESPN U

#1 Duke (5-0) at #21 Indiana (3-0) 9:00 on ESPN

NC State (5-0) at #17 Iowa (4-1) 9:30 on ESPN2
_____________________________________________

The match-up that will interest me the most is definitely Illinois against North Carolina. Both programs lost key players during the off season to the NBA yet they have still managed to get off to great starts. Dee Brown has been doing a great job of putting the Illini on his shoulders and carrying them. I can?t wait for this game.

 

My picks

VT
Wis
FSU
Illini
Clemson
Mia
MSU
Mary
NW
Duke
Iowa

ACC wins 6-5

 

I know I like the ACC-Big 10 challenge, but why don't other conferences do something like this? I would like to see a Pac-10-SEC challenge or a Big-12-SEC challenge. Those games would be really good, but I guess they would take away from this.....

 

Wow, for seven years, it's all been the ACC. Things started off pretty even, with the Big Ten losing 5-4, 5-4, 5-4, 5-3, but the last two seasons it's been 7-2 ACC.

Just embarrassing. Last season, the Big Ten redeemed themselves by dominating in the NCAA tournament, and hopefully they'll ride that wave into the challenge this year. In fact, this year's challenge looks like it can go either way. The match ups and the home court advantages line up a little better than last year for our Big Ten heroes as well.

In the only game today, Ohio State is an 8.5 point favorite this is a must-win for the Big Ten. We saw how well VT did in the ACC last season, so a win against them could be good but not easy for OSU. VT did lose to Bowling Green by 1 to open the season this year, and OSU, returning most everyone from a team that should have made the NCAA tournament last year, took OT to beat Butler.

I think this year could be the time the Big Ten finally wins one. This year features 11 games since the ACC added new teams. The winner'll come down to a few key swing games.

VT at Ohio State
Purdue at Florida State
Clemson at Penn State
Illinois at UNC
Miami at Michigan
Minnesota at Maryland
Northwestern at Virginia
Georgia Tech at Michigan State
NC St. at Iowa

If those games go the way I'm guessing (in bold), the Big Ten will lead 5-4 with two games up in the air. If any of those teams I predicted to win blows it, it'll throw a big wrench into their conference's chances. A few notes, Minnesota's best player is hurt, NW and UVA suck, PSU sucks but does have Clemson at home.

The remaining games:
Wisconsin at Wake Forest - I have no idea!!
Duke at Indiana - Duke should win this, but they've looked vulnerable so far and Indiana might be tough at Assembly Hall.

I think I lean toward the ACC in both those games, so I should say ACC 6, Big Ten 5, but I think even though the ACC teams are favorites in each the Big Ten can snatch one there or elsewhere for the WIN. In the end, the story is the Big Ten doesn't look to be huge dogs this year and anything is better than 7-2. So let's all hope OSU gets things off on the right foot tonight!

<div class='codetop'>CODE</div><div class='codemain'>Monday, November 28, 2005 <br/>7:30 p.m. ETVirginia Tech at Ohio StateESPN2 <br/>Tuesday, November 29, 2005 <br/>7:00 p.m. ETWisconsin at Wake ForestESPN <br/>7:30 p.m. ETPurdue at Florida StateESPN2 <br/>8:00 p.m. ETClemson at Penn StateESPNU <br/>9:00 p.m. ETIllinois at North CarolinaESPN <br/>9:30 p.m. ETMiami at MichiganESPN2 <br/>Wednesday, November 30, 2005<br/>7:00 p.m. ETGeorgia Tech at Michigan StateESPN <br/>7:30 p.m. ETMinnesota at MarylandESPN2 <br/>8:00 p.m. ETNorthwestern at Virginia ESPNU <br/>9:00 p.m. ETDuke at IndianaESPN <br/>9:30 p.m. ETNorth Carolina State at IowaESPN2</div>

 

So far so good for OSU, VT is not giving up though. Starting to trap/press

 

Good win for OSU. VT played tough except for the last few minutes of each half but that totally killed them. I really liked the way OSU responded and iced the game at the end there but they let VT get way too close. Overall, both teams looked okay but not too impressive. I feel ripped off that the cameras didn't show or replay VT's intentional foul near the end.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post">Exciting 2nd half last night in the OSU-VT game. The Buckeyes got in trouble when they stopped going inside to Dials and momentum swayed back to VT. Ron Lewis came up big down the stretch for OSU, and put the game out of reach. Coleman Collins was the best player for VT last night, even though he got away with travelling on a couple of his baskets. He's really good at using the backboard and gets after rebounds.</div>

Good call on Collins, I think he's one of the most underrated players in the nation. It would be no shock to me if he averaged 15 and 10 this year; they have little else in the post for an offensive option, and he's got some slick moves. VTs guards were a bit of a let down IMO last night. I was expecting big things from Dowdell and Gordon.

 

Ohio State over Virginia Tech
Wake Forest over Wisconsin
Florida State over Purdue
North Carolina over Illinois ()
Clemson over Penn State
Miami over Michigan (Going to be close though)
Michigan State over Georgia Tech
Maryland over Minnesota
Northwestern over Virginia
Indiana over Duke
Iowa over NC State

6-4 ACC AGAIN!

 

This years will be pretty good,i dont kno if this will happen,but ima say it now,i got my GT jackets upsettin MSU on wednesday baby!

 

how is it gonna work now that the ACC has 12 teams, is BC going to be left out every year or are they gonna rotate what's the deal?

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting babybulls:</div><div class="quote_post">how is it gonna work now that the ACC has 12 teams, is BC going to be left out every year or are they gonna rotate what's the deal?</div>

They will rotate, I hope it won't be UNC next year (nor any NCAA fan should) because the potential matchup of UNC's recruiting class and Ohio State's recruiting class would be a sick matchup. I can only hope that they make that a matchup next year

 

While Boston College is not "officially" in the challenge, they'll play Michigan State later on, so that should put a new perspective on things. I don't know why Boston College and Michigan State just didn't get matched up for the challenge in the first place. Why don't they put the top teams in the Big Ten (Michigan State, Illinois, Iowa) up against the top teams in the ACC (Duke, Boston College, Maryland)? They always come out with a schedule that favors the ACC.

Predictions -

Virginia Tech at Ohio State
Wisconsin at Wake Forest
Purdue at Florida State
#14 Illinois at North Carolina
Clemson at Penn State
Miami at Michigan
Georgia Tech at #12 Michigan State
Minnesota at #21 Maryland
Northwestern at Virginia
#1 Duke at #21 Indiana
NC State at #17 Iowa

Big Ten wins - 8-3

The horrible part of it all is that these challenges usually aren't decided by games like Wisconsin @ Wake Forest but rather by games like Clemson @ Penn State. If it was just the Big Ten's best versus the ACC's best, then I think the Big Ten would have a few wins in the challenge by now.

 

Wake Forest leads Wisconsin 37-32 at the half

Justin Gray has 20 points already, and Eric Williams had 7 early before having to sit with 3 fouls. We've got NO ANSWER for Williams inside; we're playing frosh and sophs on him in there, and he's just killing them. The biggest problem for Wisconsin has been horrible shot selection for Kam Taylor (8 points, but he's missed 3 shots that were just wild chucks) and the fact that Alando Tucker is 1/7 from the field with just 4 points. If he can't find his stroke in the second half, we're screwed. On the plus side, we've forced some turnovers and Brian Butch is 5/9 from the floor with 12 points and 6 boards. Tucker needs to get on track now and we've got to find some kind of an answer for Gray or this game is over

 

Ohio State over Virginia Tech
Wisc. over Wake Forest
Florida State over Purdue
North Carolina over Illinois (homer pick)
Clemson over Penn State
Michgan over Miami
Michigan State over Georgia Tech
Maryland over Minnesota
Viginia over Northwester
Duke over Indiana
Iowa over NC State

6-5 ACC

 

I don't want to call Wisconsin a one man team, but they sure as hell rely on Alando Tucker for a lot, and Wake Forest has absolutely shut him down so far. Butch's numbers look impressive, but I'd like him to be more aggressive. It's great that he can hit long range shots, but I wouldn't like my post player to be hanging around the perimeter if I were Wisconsin. The Badgers did a great job of keeping their composure though. Before they got five or so straight calls in their favor, the momentum was really high for Wake Forest. That stadium was rocking when they were up by ten, but they were pretty quiet towards the end of the half.

 

Wake Forest looked lost without Eric Williams during that seven minute span he was on the bench, due to foul trouble. A 10 point lead faded quicker then you could imagine. They have regained the lead now though due to Williams great play ever since coming back into the game. Wisconsin is hanging tough though only down by four, and at the line as I type this.

 

What the hell was Tucker thinking when he threw up that three pointer with a hand in his face with 40+ seconds left on the game clock and plenty of time on the shot clock? Tucker really lost the game for Wisconsin. They don't have a legit second option that can step up and fill the void when Tucker's having a horrible game. They're a really weak team in that regard.

By the way, was anyone else annoyed as hell when that moron announcer kept saying stuff like "Looks like Wake Forest comes away with the win" when it was a four point game and about a minute left? That guy wouldn't quit it. "It would take a miracle for the Badgers to come back". Ten seconds later it's a one point game. Moron...