Hokies dominate ACC, not first round

The ACC has produced 35 first-round picks since expansion.

Virginia Tech has won 32 ACC games since expansion and three conference titles — nobody has won more in either category.

Do you know how many Virginia Tech players have been drafted in the first round since 2004?

One.

That's one more than Duke and less than nine other teams (and the same as Georgia Tech). What does that tell you?

You need a smart coach. You might also conclude talent is slightly overrated. Given the narrow prism we're looking through — just the first round — put an emphasis on slightly.

You need talent, but more importantly, you need the right coach. Good coaches can win without elite talent. Average coaches can lose, or not win enough, with elite talent.

Pick your own comparison to Beamer's model at Virginia Tech: Virginia, Florida State or N.C. State.

While Virginia Tech tears up the ACC, Virginia tears up the draft. Al Groh has produced five first-round picks since expansion, only the Florida schools have had more.

Groh has won 21 ACC games (with 19 losses) since expansion and had two losing conference seasons.

Florida State can match Virginia Tech's conference title count this decade (three) but with the benefit of four extra years and the Noles have won only one title since expansion.

The Noles have had an ACC-best 12 first-round picks this decade (20 of Miami's 26 first-rounders this decade were before the Canes joined the ACC).

Actually, FSU's problem is it can't buy an offense. Of the 12 first-rounders, only two were on the offensive side of the ball and only one was a skill player (receiver Peter Warrick in 2000).

Former N.C. State coach Chuck Amato produced five first-rounders this decade and four in the expansion era. State had three first-rounders in the 2006 draft, including the No. 1 overall pick (Mario Williams).

With all that defensive talent, Amato went 3-5 in the ACC in 2005 — one first-rounder per conference win.

How the teams break down since expansion on the field and in the first round of the draft:

	1st	ACC	Div	Conf
FSU	7	23-17 (4)	1	1
Miami	6	20-20 (7)	0	0
Virginia	5	21-19 (6)	0	0
BC	4	21-11 (2)	2	0
Maryland	3	18-22 (T9)	0	0
N.C. State	3	15-25 (11)	0	0
Clemson	2	22-18 (5)	0	0
UNC	2	18-22 (T9)	0	0
Georgia Tech	1	25-15 (3)	1	0
Virginia Tech	1	32-8 (1)	3	3
Wake Forest	1	19-21 (8)	1	1
Duke	0	2-38 (12)	0	0

Notes: 1st=1st round picks since joining the ACC; ACC=Conference record since joining the ACC (conference rank by winning percentage in parenthesis); Div=Division titles; Conf=Conference titles. Miami and Virginia Tech joined the ACC in 2004 and Boston College in 2005.

Postscript:

A sad by-product (for the Big Four) of crunching the post-expansion numbers is where the four ACC teams in this state rank in the "new" ACC.

Of the five ACC teams with a losing conference record since expansion, four are in this state. The bottom three teams are Duke (12), N.C. State (11) and UNC (tied with Maryland for ninth).

To look at the winning percentage in sobering chart form:

	W-L	Pct.
Virginia Tech	32-8	.800
Boston College	21-11	.656
Georgia Tech	25-15	.625
Florida State	23-17	.575
Clemson	22-18	.550
Virginia	21-19	.525
Miami	20-20	.500
Wake Forest	19-21	.475
Maryland	18-22	.450
UNC	18-22	.450
N.C. State	15-25	.375
Duke	2-38	.050

-- J.P. Giglio