Austin Rivers and 1st Team All-ACC

[Wheat/"/"/"]

Would you argue that team success shouldn't be a factor?

Well, only as a tiebreaker if two players were considered of equal talent.

[Duvall]

Well, only as a tiebreaker if two players were considered of equal talent.

Shouldn't talent be *completely* irrelevant here? Awards should handed out on performance and accomplishment, never potential.

[Wheat/"/"/"]

Shouldn't talent be *completely* irrelevant here? Awards should handed out on performance and accomplishment, never potential.

Yes, you're right. I should have said performance instead of talent.

[gep]

I saw this Coach K quote in the Feb 27 issue of SI...

************
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said freshman guard Austin Rivers had to grow into the role of taking last-second shots -- like the one that beat North Carolina last week. "He's wanted the ball all season," Coach K said. "He didn't deserve the ball all season."
************
I agree, and for me, I think Austin is now READY His play from the first games in China to the last few... what a difference a "season" makes

[CDu]

Dave Glenn talked about the All-ACC team yesterday on his radio show. He said that in discussions regarding the votes among the ACC Sports Journal voters, the first four are no-brainers: Zeller, Henson, Rivers, and Scott (in no particular order). After that, it's a tough call between guys like Barnes, Marshall, and others. The others he mentioned off-hand were Stoglin (leading ACC scorer a plus, attitude and team success a minus), Green ("unquestionably" among the top-10 talents, but team success a problem again), and Leslie.

In terms of Duke players, he said the only two guys he'd see making the list would be Rivers and Curry. He didn't feel that Kelly or Plumlee quite cut it. And he noted that having a deep, balanced team can be great for team success but also bad for individual accolades. He said that big-time scoring numbers are a plus, but there have been cases when the leading scorer didn't get voted 1st team. He added that sometimes voters will take that into account and "vote up" a player on a top team and penalize players on bad teams. But he didn't personally feel that anybody beyond Curry would get voted up. I'm inclined to disagree on this - I could see Mason getting 3rd team.

What does this mean? Maybe nothing. But his logic on the top four seems reasonable. Zeller is likely the ACC player of the year. Henson is likely to be the ACC defensive player of the year, the leading rebounder, and is among the conference's leading scorers as well. Scott is likely the runner up for ACC player of the year. And Rivers is the top player on possibly the top team in the ACC. If he's right, it will be very interesting to see who joins them to round out the first team.

[hq2]

Don't see anyone besides Rivers on the first team. Now, when they make out the SECOND team, we may have two or three players on it.
That's why we're tied for #1 in the conference (as of today).

[superdave]

Don't see anyone besides Rivers on the first team. Now, when they make out the SECOND team, we may have two or three players on it.
That's why we're tied for #1 in the conference (as of today).

Seth Curry is fairly likely a 3rd team Al-ACC guy but could elevate himself to 2nd team with another good game tomorrow. Mason and Ryan are likely Honorable Mention, but could elevate themselves with a really good game tomorrow.

If we get two players on the 2nd team, that means Austin slipped to 2nd and that's bad.

We're very balanced, like Dave Glenn said, but too many of our guys have no-showed for games to deserve the accolades we might think they deserve. Fortunately from a win-loss perspective, when you have 8 guys who can score the ball, four or five are on and we can endure off nights.

[Bob Green]

Mike Scott went for 35 points and 11 rebounds in Virginia's 75-72 victory over Maryland. I guess he is not willing to concede Player-of-the-Year honors to Tyler Zeller.

[slower]

Mike Scott went for 35 points and 11 rebounds in Virginia's 75-72 victory over Maryland. I guess he is not willing to concede Player-of-the-Year honors to Tyler Zeller.

Refresh my memory - do they select the All-ACC teams before or after the ACC tourney?

[Bob Green]

Refresh my memory - do they select the All-ACC teams before or after the ACC tourney?

Before - the teams will be announced this week before the tournament tips-off.

[CDu]

Seth Curry is fairly likely a 3rd team Al-ACC guy but could elevate himself to 2nd team with another good game tomorrow. Mason and Ryan are likely Honorable Mention, but could elevate themselves with a really good game tomorrow.

If we get two players on the 2nd team, that means Austin slipped to 2nd and that's bad.

We're very balanced, like Dave Glenn said, but too many of our guys have no-showed for games to deserve the accolades we might think they deserve. Fortunately from a win-loss perspective, when you have 8 guys who can score the ball, four or five are on and we can endure off nights.

Yup. Balance is great for the team perspective, not so great from an individual awards perspective.

With yesterday's result and the performances of Henson and Marshall in that game, I think the 1st team will be Zeller, Scott, Rivers, Henson, and Marshall.

It gets trickier with the 2nd and 3rd teams. But here's my guess:
2nd team: Leslie, Barnes, Snaer, Green, Stoglin
3rd team: some combination of Curry, Brown, Harris, McKie, Kadji, James, and Anderson

Honorable mention would include the leftovers from above plus some of Kelly, Mason, D. Scott, and R. Johnson

I would be surprised if anybody jumped up from the 2nd/3rd team list to the 1st team, and I'd be surprised if anyone jumped from the honorable mention list to the 2nd/3rd team.

[Dukehky]

Has anybody heard anything on Austin's decision for next year? No mock draft that I've seen has him on the list, if they thought he may come out, I assume they would have put him on there since they have Davis, Drummond, etc freshmen on there. I don't see Austin leaving unless he has just a dynamite tournament and plays his way into the top 10, which would take a lot. He has a lot of stuff he can improve on, and can do so more easily in college while playing, instead of having to work on it in practice and maybe not getting much time in the pros. This is all wishful thinking, I don't think he can make a bad decision in this regard, but the only reason for him to go pro is because he doesn't want to wait. I think his stock isn't going to change very much, he doesn't need the money, its all about when he wants to go.

Mason has been playing his way out of the first round, and since we've been winning other than last night, when he played really well in the second half, hasn't really affected us. Again, i think Mason's decision will be largely affected by how he closes out the season in these tournaments, but also, probably more than most players, he will want to follow Miles in staying 4 years and having that experience, and hopefully getting to play with Marshall this year. Mason's draft stock rests solely on his potential and athleticism, and that's not going to change, and in my mind, it can only go up with more polished offensive game, god forbid an injury.

Miles is playing his way into the league and I'm pumped for him.

I really don't think Austin's going to get 1st team all ACC, I still think they're going 4 Heels and Mike Scott, can't say I disagree with that decision.

[Bob Green]

Has anybody heard anything on Austin's decision for next year? No mock draft that I've seen has him on the list, if they thought he may come out, I assume they would have put him on there since they have Davis, Drummond, etc freshmen on there.

DraftExpress has him being selected at #15:

http://www.draftexpress.com/nba-mock-draft/2012/

MyNBADraft has him going #21:

http://www.mynbadraft.com/2012-NBA-Mock-Draft

but it is too early to worry/discuss such things. Let's all enjoy the ACCT and NCAAT.

[watzone]

The teams will be annouced at 2:30. I have vote and here is how my ballot looked and some reasoning behind the picks - corrected link - http://bluedevilnation.net/2012/03/m...vidual-awards/

[ncexnyc]

Thanks for sharing this and I really appreciate it when a writer takes the time to share their reasoning with us.

[superdave]

DraftExpress has him being selected at #15:

http://www.draftexpress.com/nba-mock-draft/2012/

MyNBADraft has him going #21:

http://www.mynbadraft.com/2012-NBA-Mock-Draft

but it is too early to worry/discuss such things. Let's all enjoy the ACCT and NCAAT.

When Duke's season is done in April, I'd expect Austin to announce his plans within a few weeks. So maybe some news will come in mid-April.