ACC Tournament picks

With all the parity among the teams in the middle of the pack, it wouldn't really shock me to miss all of the first rounders and throw off my whole pick sheet. But for tradition's sake, I'll at least give it a shot.

First round
Wake Forest over Florida State
Miami over N.C. State
Virginia over Georgia Tech
Maryland over Boston College

Quarterfinals
North Carolina over Wake Forest
Miami over Virginia Tech
Duke over Virginia
Clemson over Maryland

Semifinals
North Carolina over Miami
Clemson over Duke

Championship
Clemson over North Carolina

First round: 1-3 - awful.
Quarterfinals: 3-1
Semifinals: 2-0
Championship: 0-1
Final record: 6-5

My take on the championship: The best team clearly won the 2008 edition of the ACC tourney. When the Tar Heels are playing that balanced, they're going to be tough for anybody to beat. Both teams had trouble handling defensive pressure. The Heels committed 20 turnovers, but that was offset as Clemson gave it up 17 times leading to 26 points for UNC. Neither team can afford those kind of turnover numbers in the Big Dance.

Speaking of which, Selection Sunday is always one of my favorite days on the sports calendar and we're about 1:30 away from the picks being announced. UNC looks to be a lock for the No. 1 seed in the East. It'll be interesting to see where they send Duke (likely a No. 2 or No. 3) and Clemson (likely a No. 4 or No. 5). It looks like Miami is safe to get in, but Virginia Tech finds itself floating around the bubble.

I'll have a quick bracket breakdown on the blog tonight after the picks are released.