There is still a long ways to go but the regular season is already separating the 13 competing teams (no softball at Miami or Wake Forest) into the contenders and the also-rans. There are 7 teams that should play a role in the final standings. They are listed below in order of the current standings:
1) Duke 8-1
2) Clemson 8-2
3) VT 7-3
4) UNC 6-3
5) FSU 4-2
6) L-ville 3-2
7) NC ST 7-6
The remaining teams have no shot at winning the conference and anything more than 2 cumulative losses to these lesser teams is a big setback for a team hoping to win the regular season crown. NC State has no chance at winning the crown but they, in my opinion, are unique in that they are capable of beating anyone on a given day. I also suspect that UNC will fade and don't put that much stock in Louisville either. Duke has not played anybody of note inside the conference but does have two wins over good SEC teams.
It should be noted that there every team misses playing two other teams in the regular season. We do not play UNC or UVa (we play UVa but the games don't count in the standings).
The real beneficiaries of the schedule are FSU and Clemson since they do not meet in the regular season. Also benefiting is UNC since they miss both VT and State. On the other hand, both Duke and Louisville play every other team in the Top 7.
What is important to note is the strength of the remaining schedule for each team. We have only 8 games remaining against the other Top 7 teams (Duke and Louisville). State has 12 but they already have 6 losses. FSU, Clemson and UNC each have 16 Top 7 games, Louisville has 20 games and Duke has a tough 24 games. They finish the season with series against Clemson, VT, FSU, Louisville, UNC and State. The remaining schedule clearly favors the Hokies. Hopefully our 4 missed games against BC don't hurt us in the standings.
My way-to-early prediction for the tournament seeding: 1-VT, 2-FSU, 3-Duke, 4-Clemson, 5-Louisville, 6-State, 7-UNC, 8-ND. A lot of softball to be played before the tournament May 12-15 in Louisville.