Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/200019
Learning The New Landscape During Notre Dame's transition from the Big East to the ACC, the challenge doesn't get any easier A By Andrew Owens fter more than a year of anticipation, it's just about time for Notre Dame's inaugural Atlantic Coast Conference season to begin. Some of the faces are familiar (Syracuse and Pitt join the conference with the Irish this year, with former Big East foe Louisville set to join next year), some are old acquaintances (Boston College, Miami and Virginia Tech were Big East members until a decade ago), and others are fresh opponents for the Irish. Here's a preseason look at the 15 ACC teams, ranked in the order that Blue & Gold Illustrated projects them to finish in conference play. 1. Duke Blue Devils (30-6, 14-4 ACC, in 2012-13) Duke is the class of the conference, and that rarely changes. Even after three decorated seniors (forwards Mason Plumlee and Ryan Kelly, and guard Seth Curry) departed, the Blue Devils are still projected to finish atop the conference this year. Expect the Devils to opt for a more versatile look this season after their top forwards graduated. Freshman Jabari Parker arrives with as much hype as any player in recent memory and can play small forward or power forward for head coach Mike Krzyzewski. 2. Syracuse Orange (30-10, 11-7 Big East, in 2012-13) Head coach Jim Boeheim will depend on forward C.J. Fair much more this season after losing Michael CarterWilliams, Brandon Triche and James Southerland. The team reached the Final Four after losing four of its last five regular-season games a year ago, but should be more consistent this year. Notre Dame guard Jerian Grant's younger brother, sophomore Jerami Grant, is expected to have a breakout