067: Is 2024 the year of the Big Four?

Wake Forest, North Carolina, NC State, and Duke are atop the ACC standings in men's basketball as of now.

The plot is thickening for the 2024 ACC men’s basketball season. The “Big Four” are atop the table so far.

Wake Forest, North Carolina, and NC State are all 3-0 in league play. It’s the best start to conference play for all three teams since . . .

• Wake Forest was last 3-0 at the start of the 2008-09 season

• North Carolina was last 3-0 at the beginning of the 2015-16 season

• NC State was last 3-0 at the start of the 2012-13 season

While Duke is 2-1, the Blue Devils are tied for the third best point differential in the league.

Below are records by location and point differentials for the start of this season:

Conference pride is silly

While the ACC continues its strange evolution as a league, I found it curious that there are a couple other leagues with lopsided results today.

The Big 12 and SEC both had a pair of games decided by 25 points or more.

• Big 12

  • Houston beat West Virginia 89-55

  • Kansas State beat UCF 77-52

• SEC

  • Auburn beat Arkansas 83-51

  • Tennessee beat Mississippi 90-64

Through January 6 games, here is the average point differential in conference games only amongst the “power six” leagues:

conf    avg
Big 12   14.8
SEC      12.7
Big East 12.4
Big 10   11.5
ACC      11.4
Pac-12   11.0

In general, I think the conference pride or this conference has this record against that conference is a silly way to assess leagues. Nevertheless, no one in the ACC has got thumped by 25 or more points yet. Not even Louisville¹.

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1. Louisville did lose by 24 to Virginia earlier this season. The Wahoos point differential is bonkers.