Virginia Tech and Stanford have lived up to expectations so far during Atlantic Coast Conference play.
Problem is, neither squad was projected to do much damage against league foes.
Both teams will try to reach .500 in conference play when the Hokies visit the Cardinal on Wednesday.
This season’s ACC preseason poll stretched out to 18 teams after Stanford, Cal and SMU joined the league. After going the previous six seasons without a winning record in Pac-12 play, the Cardinal were forecast to finish second-to-last in their first ACC campaign.
Stanford (9-5, 1-2) started conference play strong under first-year coach Kyle Smith, posting an 89-81 win over former Pac-12 rival Cal in both schools’ first game as members of their new conference.
But the Cardinal failed their first two tests against the league’s more seasoned members, falling 85-71 at Clemson last Wednesday before ending up on the wrong end of an 83-68 decision at Pittsburgh on Saturday.
“I think there’s a lot of pride in (the) programs,” Smith said, referring to what he’s learned about the ACC. “The opportunity to compete in this league and this level is a challenge. Pretty excited about it.”
Picked to finish 14th in the conference in the preseason poll, Virginia Tech (6-8, 1-2) has faced a more challenging slate than Stanford.
The Hokies began league play against two ranked teams, losing 64-59 to then-No. 18 Pitt ahead of an 88-65 setback against No. 4 Duke. They grabbed their first ACC victory on Saturday by beating Miami 86-85, getting a game-winning three-point play from Mylyjael Poteat in the final seconds of regulation.
“Needed it bad,” Virginia Tech coach Mike Young said of the victory against Miami. “Now let’s take this and improve and make it better.”
Poteat, a graduate student, posted a career-high 25 points against the Hurricanes and is second on the team in scoring (10.9 points per game) behind Tobi Lawal (12.1).
Both players will try to limit 7-foot-1 Stanford star Maxime Raynaud, who entered Tuesday with the 10th-best scoring average (20.9 points per game) in Division I and was tied for third in the nation with 11.4 rebounds per game.
–Field Level Media
