ACC B-Ball Report – 02/21/11

Posted by Brandon Rink on February 21, 2011 under ACC Basketball | Comments are off for this article

Brownell's Tigers had an up and down week on the road. (Per OrangeandWhite.com)

What’s happened and to come in ACC basketball right here with the weekend wrap-up edition of the ACC B-Ball Report…

ACC Standings…

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Weekend Wrap

Clemson shows grit, guile at Miami to keep NCAA hopes alive (OrangeandWhite.com)

With just under five minutes left at BankUnited Center Sunday afternoon, Miami guard Durand Scott stepped back and nailed a near-impossible 3-pointer from the right wing, with Demontez Stitt clipping his arm for good measure.

It was the kind of play which has plagued Clemson away from home this season; in a flash, a tie game was a four-point Hurricanes lead.

Would the Tigers show some guts, or find the road toughness they’d lacked so?

The answer kept their NCAA Tournament hopes alive. Clemson flashed guile, grit and offensive efficiency for a 63-59 win over Miami.

It wasn’t the kind of win which will punch the Tigers’ ticket for a fourth straight NCAA bid, but it certainly keeps them in the conversation.

Most importantly, three days after an inexplicably listless second half cost them at N.C. State, they found the formula for road success. They didn’t look scared. They weren’t rattled.

Williams, Stoglin, and Gregory Lead Maryland Past NC State, 87-80 (Testudo Times)

Having a “Big Three” is a cliche in the basketball world at this point. But I doubt any Maryland fans will complain about it.

The Terrapins rode their newfound Big Three to a much-needed victory over N.C. State tonight in the Comcast Center, 87-80, keeping their NCAA tournament hopes alive in the process. Dino Gregory had a career-high 18 points, Terrell Stoglin tied his career-high with 25, and Jordan Williams came up a point short of tying his, leading all scorers with 26.

That Big three scored 69 of Maryland’s 87 points. 10 more came from Sean Mosley, and all but two of those came in the game’s closing minutes. No one else on the team scored more than 4. But sometimes you take that. This was one of those times.

Three to Look Back On/Three to Look Forward To (ACCSports.com)

North Carolina 48, Boston College 46

The teams combined for 12 fewer points than the Tar Heels scored on their own in a 106-74 blowout the first time the teams played. This time North Carolina had to sweat out a last second Reggie Jackson 3-point attempt for the win. Though the game was marked by its offensive ineptitude, each team had a few moments of glory. For the Tar Heels it was the first part of the second half, when Tyler Zeller scored seven straight North Carolina points, followed by a sequence in which the team scored on four straight offensive possessions. For the Eagles it was the late-game comeback, fueled by timely shooting from wing man Corey Raji, whose back-to-back three-pointers cut the North Carolina lead from 11 to 5 with just under five minutes remaining. Jackson then stroked a 3-pointer with 1:15 to play that cut the lead to two. But his final attempt was squeezed off over the outstretched hand of John Henson, and wouldn’t stay down.

I see you: Tyler Zeller, who scored a game-high 16 points and was one of two players in the game to shoot over 50% from the floor. Zeller also grabbed 5 of his 9 rebounds on the offensive end.

Duke 79 GT 57: Meh, Then Good, Then Meh Again (Blue vs. Blue)

The second half picked up where the first one ended ( always nice to see), as Duke scored on 6 of it’s first 8 posessions, including 2 great assists by Seth Curry who led the team in that category with 6 on the night. All told , it was an impressive 22-9 run in just the first 6 minutes of the half to put Duke up 59-37. Said another way , it was a 14-9 advantage over that span for Nolan Smith, who pretty much abused All-ACC caliber defender Iman Shumpert en route to another de rigeur performance of 28 points 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Duke’s lead ballooned to 67-40, before they decided to take a little stopover in complacency-land, allowing GT to go on separate runs of 10-2 and 8-2 ( actually prompting Coach K to call a timeout with a minute and change left and up 20 to give a lackadaisical Andre Dawkins a little talking to), but the Jackets never got within 19.

Ah, Greivis…

Breakfast Buffet: Greivis Vasquez takes one last jab at ACC foe (The Dagger)

Even at a ceremony to retire his jersey during Maryland’s victory over NC State on Sunday afternoon, former Terps star Greivis Vasquez managed to antagonize an old ACC rival. Asked about Maryland’s fading NCAA tournament hopes, Vasquez said he’s confident the Terps can win the rest of their games, adding, “I think we can beat UNC at UNC anytime.”

ACC ignoring “golden goose” of basketball according to Coach K…

Krzyzewski sounds alarm on state of ACC (ACC Now)

Krzyzewski indicated that decisions at the upcoming ACC spring meetings will be critical for the future of the conference. The ACC will debut a new TV contract with ESPN and partner Raycom in 2011-12, and Krzyzewski wants the structure for basketball studied carefully.

“I think this is a very important spring for our league to really concentrate on basketball and the future of basketball in our league, and just how all these things are positioned,” Krzyzewski said. “We’ve taken for granted the golden goose for a long time. You have to look at the old goose and see if it’s still golden, and if not, how to get it there, because this is still the best conference. It’s a classy, classy conference, and people love basketball in this conference. We just have to make sure it’s done properly.”

The coach’s comments on basketball in the ACC came after he was asked about scheduling. Krzyzewski said Sunday games are bad for everybody.

Bubble talk…

ACC Bubble Watch for Week February 20th (All About Sports)

Bubble But In

NONE

Bubble But Out

(45) Boston College Eagles 16-10 (6-6)

BC lost a hard fought game at North Carolina 48-46. I debated putting them on the Bubble But In category. I just couldn’t even with some decent OOC wins. A .500 in conference team  won’t make the NCAAs this year. They’ve also lost 5 of their last 7.

Next Games: 2/23 Miami, 2/26 @Virginia Tech

Good Wins: (27) Texas A&M, (80) California, (94) Maryland, (82) Bucknell, (91) NC State, (64) Virginia Tech, (94) Maryland

Bad Losses: (166) Yale

(64) Virginia Tech Hokies 17-8 (7-5)

The Hokies beat Maryland 91-83, but suffered a devastating 61-54 loss at Virginia. Virginia Tech now has lost 3 games to RPI 125+ opponents. The selection committee won’t miss that. With Duke at home this week, the Hokies have an opportunity at a marquee win.

Next Games: 2/22 @Wake Forest, 2/26 Duke

Good Wins: (59) Oklahoma St, (61) Penn St., (50) Florida St., (94) Maryland, (65) Miami, (91) NC State, (94) Maryland

Bad Losses: (144) Virginia, (168) Georgia Tech, (144) Virginia

Hokies look for strong finish to basketball season (Roanoke Times)

The fourth-place Hokies (17-8, 7-5 ACC) seem like a decent at-large candidate for now, but that will change if they don’t have a strong finish. They certainly didn’t play well in Saturday’s 61-54 loss at Virginia.

Tech has four regular-season games left: at Wake Forest; home against Duke and Boston College; and at Clemson.

“I still think that our tournament chances are still there, but … we can’t have any more slip-ups like this,” guard Erick Green said after Saturday’s loss at John Paul Jones Arena. “On Tuesday when we play Wake, we can’t go down there and pity-pout still about this loss.”

The Hokies certainly don’t want to add another blemish to their resume by losing at Wake (8-19, 1-11), which is No. 241 in the RPI. The Hokies already have three bad losses: two to No. 146 UVa and one at No. 163 Georgia Tech.

Full Mid-Week Slate/Our Picks

(40-13 on picks so far)

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Gut feeling on NCAA bids? Thoughts on the weekend of ACC basketball?

ACC B-Ball Report: 2/19/11

Posted by Brandon Rink on February 18, 2011 under ACC Basketball | Comments are off for this article

NC State blocked Clemson out of a needed win to get their second win in a row Thursday. (Per OrangeandWhite.com)

What’s happened and to come in ACC basketball right here with the weekend preview edition of the ACC B-Ball Report…

ACC Standings…

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Weekend Preview

Previewing Maryland Terrapins (Backing the Pack)

Maryland’s defense ranks 7th nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency, but it has not been an elite unit in conference play. Allowing a point per trip, as they have, is good work, but nothing special.

The main reason for that, as you can see, is FG% defense. They rank in the top half of the league in the other three factors, but they’ve had a hard time forcing conference opponents to miss shots. Fortunately for them, they’ve been good enough in the turnover and rebounding categories to avoid a real issue at this end of the floor.

The Pomeroy Predictor likes Maryland by 13. For reasons that escape me, the Ratings love this team. They’re #19 despite a 16-10 record. No doubt the highly-ranked defense has a lot to do with it, but I don’t know how well that reflects reality given their in-conference performance.

game preview: Virginia Tech (From Old Virginia)

HOW WE CAN WIN

- Attack the basket. Remember, Tech has nobody over 6′8″ in their rotation. There won’t be any galoots like Duke’s Ryan Kelly running around, no seven-footers camped out in the lane to turn every layup into Cirque du Soleil. Plus, their notoriously short rotation has gotten even shorter as the season drags on. Manny Atkins, Tyrone Garland, and Jarrell Eddie have seen their minutes dwindle, and they’re not real useful anyway: since New Year’s Day, Eddie has hit five baskets against teams not named Wake Forest. Jeff Allen still dominates when he feels like it and fouls when he doesn’t – lately, he’s been feeling it more often, but a leopard don’t change his spots. The strategy should be to send Farrakhan, Harris, and Evans at the rim as often as practicable and tell them to dish to the outside only if they see a wide-open man. Otherwise, attack and try and get the foul. (The basket would be nice, too.) Tech is the most vulnerable team in the league to foul trouble because of their short rotation.

Weekend Preview, Feb. 18 (ACCSports.com)

Key for the Eagles

Reggie Jackson’s supporting cast. Getting Jackson to score around 30 again won’t be enough. Three other Eagles – Joe Trapani (14.7 ppg), Corey Raji (12.1 ppg) and Biko Paris (10.3 ppg) – average double figures in scoring. Each may have to exceed his scoring average for the Eagles to win.

Key for the Tar Heels

Crash the glass. Rebounding is one of the Tar Heels’ biggest strengths and one of the Eagles’ biggest weaknesses.

Numbers Game

Jackson is averaging 29.0 points and shooting 61 percent (22-of-36) from the floor … Boston College walk-on John Cahill made three 3-pointers in the Eagles’ win over Maryland last Saturday … Over his last six games, UNC power forward John Henson is averaging 14.5 points, 11.7 rebounds and 3.3 blocks a game … UNC is 7-1 since freshman point guard Kendall Marshall became a starter.

Prediction

North Carolina 89, Boston College 77

Game Sim Previews This Weekend’s ACC Games (SCACCHoops)

Georgia Tech @ Duke Sunday 7:45 PM

As a coach once told me, on some nights your the bug and some nights your the windshield.  In this one, Georgia Tech was the bug and Duke was the windshield as the Blue Devils defeated the Yellow Jackets 88-56.  Duke jumped out to 24-7 lead in the first 8 minutes and never looked back.  Nolan Smith led Duke with 24 points and added 7 rebounds and 5 assists.  Seth Curry (19 pts), Kyle Singler (15 pts), and Andre Dawkins (10 pts) also reached double-figures for Duke.  Duke’s defense held Georgia Tech to 33% shooting from the floor.  Iman Shumpert led Georgia Tech with 15 points in the loss.

Sim Georgia Tech @ Duke Here

Mid-Week Wrap

Tigers lack grit, toughness in crucial 69-61 loss at N.C. State (OrangeandWhite.com)

Clemson badly needed toughness and grit for an important ACC road win. It didn’t get enough, and fell to 17-9, 6-6 in league play. State improved to 14-11, 4-7 in ACC play.

“We expected it at their home place, pretty much knew they were going to give us a fight,” said Grant. “We just didn’t give them one back.”

The Tigers were simply out-toughed, especially down the stretch. State outrebounded Clemson 46-38, smacking them 30-18 on the boards after halftime.

They had 19 second-chance points to Clemson’s 13, and 19 offensive rebounds to the Tigers’ 17.

Total Team Effort Leads Tech Past Maryland 91-83 (The Key Play)

Trailing by one with just over five minutes to go, Malcolm Delaney and Erick Green went on a 9-0 run over the next four minutes to help push the Hokies past Maryland 91-83 on Tuesday night at Cassell Coliseum. Delaney and Green combined for 42 points as the Hokies won for the 13th time in their last 16 games to improve to 17-7 on the season and 7-4 in the ACC, a full game ahead of Boston College and Clemson for fourth place in the ACC.

Duke Thrashes UVa, Final Score 56-41 (Streaking the Lawn)

Well that just about went as expected. When No. 5 Duke shoots 50% from the floor and you only shoot 28.6%, you’re going to lose. And that’s exactly what happened, as Virginia only managed to put up 15 points in what can only be called an abysmal second half.

It was an ugly game for both teams, start to finish, which this season has tended to favor Virginia. Duke committed 18 turnovers, but UVa was only able to score 12 points off of that. That’s only one in three, at best, leading to points.

Full Weekend Slate/Our Picks

(35-12 on picks so far)

From the ACC…

ACC Baseball Countdown: One Day!

Posted by Brandon Rink on February 17, 2011 under ACC Baseball | Comments are off for this article

Hultzen's Hoos might just avenge the early exit from the NCAA Tourney last year that kept them from Omaha.

Ranking the ACC, picking a champion and doing some postseason projections…

We’ve covered preseason polls/previews, top ACC players and series to watch, and divisional picks and team-by-team breakdowns so far…

ACC Overall Rankings

1. Clemson Tigers
2. Florida State Seminoles
3. Virginia Cavaliers
4. NC State Wolfpack
5. North Carolina Tar Heels
6. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
7. Miami Hurricanes
8. Duke Blue Devils
9. Wake Forest Demon Deacons
10. Boston College Eagles
11. Virginia Tech Hokies
12. Maryland Terrapins

ACC Tourney Outlook

(Has a round-robin format with a single-game championship between the teams with the best record in each division in case you’re new to the ACC baseball scene)

Division A

1) Clemson
4) NC State
5) UNC
8) Duke

Division B

2) Florida State
3) Virginia
6) Georgia Tech
7) Miami

ACC Champion: Clemson

NCAA Tourney-Bound Teams

National Seeds

Clemson

Hosts

Clemson
Florida State
Virginia

Traveling

NC State
UNC
Georgia Tech
Miami

CWS-Bound

Clemson
Virginia

Notes: Looks like another strong, but not quite great year for the ACC nationally – no real top 5 threats, and therefore a small chance of bringing home the ever-elusive CWS crown. We really won’t know too much about this season until the games are played due to the new bats – I know Clemson’s Leggett thinks it will have a dramatic effect on the game. With the Tigers, Leggett seems to have an advantage if there’s a power outage or not with a balanced lineup and solid pitching which brings them back to the CWS. Virginia loses a lot from the lineup, but I’m still high on their chances to advance further with a little less hype surrounding them. FSU will be right there in the Atlantic and are a little underrated themselves losing their top hitter and a little depth pitching. After Virginia, the Coastal is a little murky with questions marks surrounding UNC, Georgia Tech and Miami. In the Atlantic, NC State could be a sleeper team if they can backup what was a strong year in ‘10.

How many ACC teams make the CWS? Can any of them take it all? Happy Opening Day folks – hope you enjoy your baseball this weekend…