This Week in the ACC - 12/13-12/19

[pfrduke]

Last week was quiet, and this coming week will be quieter still (at least until the weekend), as is always the case around finals time. But for two losses by the two worst teams in the conference, it would have been an unblemished non-conference week (at least Georgia Tech's was a close loss to a decent opponent, if frustrating nonetheless). The weekend (incl. Friday) features no fewer than 6 chances for the ACC to get wins over teams in major conferences, the top 50, or both.

Monday and Tuesday are dark

Wednesday features UNC-G taking on yet another ACC opponent, although in name only. Wake is much more similar to UNCG in quality than to the rest of the ACC (although not necessarily according to Pomeroy). Florida State takes on in-state foe Stetson, a 3-5 team with losses to Bethune-Cookman and the non-DI Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish, and a win over Wake Forest.

[155]Wake Forest hosts [322]UNC-Greensboro
[35]Florida State hosts [271]Stetson

Thursday puts the Wolfpack in action against Youngstown State, a perennial doormat in the Horizon conference coming off a 30-point loss to Robert Morris.

[71]NC State hosts [270]Youngstown State

Rare ACC Friday action as Clemson and Virginia take the court. Clemson should have an easy go of it against Savannah State, while Virginia has much more of a challenge (albeit still a very winnable one) hosting Oregon.

[47]Clemson hosts [304]Savannah State
[85]Virginia hosts [94]Oregon

Saturday is filled with difficult matchups in one of the last chances for the conference to assert its relative strength. Texas and UNC complete their two-season "neutral" home-and-home, this year in a much less football friendly environment. Miami takes on a still-undefeated and (somewhat) surprisingly strong Central Florida team that already owns an upset win over the Gators. Georgia Tech hosts Richmond, which looks to be one of the top 2-3 teams in the A-10 this year. Wake has to travel to Xavier - they'll be a double digit underdog (or at least they should be). And Virginia Tech is playing Mississippi State in something called the "Battle at Atlantis," which I think is basketball-speak for a free trip to the Bahamas for both teams. Only FSU has an easy matchup, and even they're on the road, stopping to play LMU on their way to Hawaii for the Diamond Head Classic.

[28]North Carolina in Greensboro vs. [22]Texas
[57]Miami hosts [38]Central Florida
[88]Georgia Tech hosts [32]Richmond
[50]Virginia Tech in the Bahamas vs. [105]Mississippi State
[155]Wake Forest at [65]Xavier
[35]Florida State at [157]Loyola Marymount

Sunday pits UNC-G against their 5th (of 7) ACC opponents as they travel to Clemson to take on the Tigers. Also, NC State gets a chance for a marquee win when Arizona comes to town - if they pull this off, this is a win that may very well look much better in March than it does now (Arizona currently coming in as an unranked, but underappreciated, team).

[37]Boston College hosts [328]Bryant
[47]Clemson hosts [322]UNC-Greensboro
[71]NC State hosts [17]Arizona

ACC Non-Conference Record: 74-32
Record vs. BCS: 18-21
AEC: 3-0
A-10: 2-1
A-Sun: 9-2
Big 10: 6-9
Big 12: 4-1
Big East: 4-5
Big South: 4-1
Big West: 3-0
Colonial: 3-3
CUSA: 2-1
Horizon: 1-0
Ind: 3-0
Ivy: 1-1
MAAC: 2-0
MAC: 1-0
MEAC: 3-0
MVC: 2-1
MWC: 0-1
NEC: 2-0
OVC: 1-0
Pac-10: 2-2
Patriot: 3-0
SEC: 2-4
Southern: 9-0
Southland: 1-0
Sun Belt: 1-0

[Olympic Fan]

Virginia Tech's upcoming game with Mississippi State in the Bahamas could be a lot tougher than MSU's 105 ranking would make it appear.

Coach Rick Stansbury's two biggest talents -- 6-9 forward Renardo Sidney and veteran point guard Dee Bost -- will both make their season debuts in that game.

Sidney, of course, is one of the great AAU talents of all time -- he was a teammate of guys like Brandon Jennings and Taylor King (and was the best player on the team). Bost was the team's starter a year ago (13 points, 5.2 assists a game) who applied for the NBA draft, didn't pull out in time, but won an NCAA appeal that will let him play against this year (after sitting out the team's first nine games).

If that's not enough, MSU has 7-1 John Riek in the middle. Long-time readers of this site will remember the furor about Riek from a few years ago, when Duke was supposedly looking at him. A lot of fans were upset when Coach K elected not to pursue him ... hard to judge that move, since Riek has had knee problems and averaged 3.5 minutes a game last season. He's upped that to 6.5 minutes a game so far this season.

Going to be interesting to see how Va Tech handles them -- the Hokies are fighting to avoid dropping out of contention for an NCAA bid. And, of course, it will be fun to see how the once celebrated Sidney performs in his college debut.

[devildeac]

Virginia Tech's upcoming game with Mississippi State in the Bahamas could be a lot tougher than MSU's 105 ranking would make it appear.

Coach Rick Stansbury's two biggest talents -- 6-9 forward Renardo Sidney and veteran point guard Dee Bost -- will both make their season debuts in that game.

Sidney, of course, is one of the great AAU talents of all time -- he was a teammate of guys like Brandon Jennings and Taylor King (and was the best player on the team). Bost was the team's starter a year ago (13 points, 5.2 assists a game) who applied for the NBA draft, didn't pull out in time, but won an NCAA appeal that will let him play against this year (after sitting out the team's first nine games).

If that's not enough, MSU has 7-1 John Riek in the middle. Long-time readers of this site will remember the furor about Riek from a few years ago, when Duke was supposedly looking at him. A lot of fans were upset when Coach K elected not to pursue him ... hard to judge that move, since Riek has had knee problems and averaged 3.5 minutes a game last season. He's upped that to 6.5 minutes a game so far this season.

Going to be interesting to see how Va Tech handles them -- the Hokies are fighting to avoid dropping out of contention for an NCAA bid. And, of course, it will be fun to see how the once celebrated Sidney performs in his college debut.

John Riek? I thought we were STILL recruiting him.

http://crazietalk.net/ourhouse/images/smilies/24.gif

[gam7]

Virginia Tech's upcoming game with Mississippi State in the Bahamas could be a lot tougher than MSU's 105 ranking would make it appear.

Coach Rick Stansbury's two biggest talents -- 6-9 forward Renardo Sidney and veteran point guard Dee Bost -- will both make their season debuts in that game.

Sidney, of course, is one of the great AAU talents of all time -- he was a teammate of guys like Brandon Jennings and Taylor King (and was the best player on the team). Bost was the team's starter a year ago (13 points, 5.2 assists a game) who applied for the NBA draft, didn't pull out in time, but won an NCAA appeal that will let him play against this year (after sitting out the team's first nine games).

If that's not enough, MSU has 7-1 John Riek in the middle. Long-time readers of this site will remember the furor about Riek from a few years ago, when Duke was supposedly looking at him. A lot of fans were upset when Coach K elected not to pursue him ... hard to judge that move, since Riek has had knee problems and averaged 3.5 minutes a game last season. He's upped that to 6.5 minutes a game so far this season.

Going to be interesting to see how Va Tech handles them -- the Hokies are fighting to avoid dropping out of contention for an NCAA bid. And, of course, it will be fun to see how the once celebrated Sidney performs in his college debut.

The Virginia Tech game will be Sidney's first regular season game, but Bost was academically ineligible until December 10, at which time the clock started ticking on his 9-game suspension. Also, Mississippi State plays four regular games and an exhibition game on five consecutive days earlier in the week, then gets two off-days during which they will travel to the Bahamas and then plays Virginia Tech, so there may be a let-down after that brutal stretch. In addition to their Bahamas trip, the team will be playing in the Diamond Head Classic in Hawaii. Not a bad year to travel with the MSU basketball team. More on Mississippi State's schedule in the thread linked below.

http://www.dukebasketballreport.com/forums/showthread.php?23441-Getting-around-the-rules&highlight=mississippi+state

[pfrduke]

They may go on to win the game, but it speaks volumes of how bad Wake is that they are tied 57-57 with 0-8 UNC-Greensboro, at home, with 6:21 to play. Yech!

[-jk]

Wake didn't finish strong, but they pull it out in spite of themselves.

Ick.

-jk

[DoubleDuke Dad]

Wake didn't finish strong, but they pull it out in spite of themselves.

Ick.

-jk

If you were rooting for the underdog, which team would that be? The team that is truly atrocious, or the team that was 0-8? :rolleyes:

[-jk]

Things are not looking good in Raleigh. At the half, Youngstown St is up, 34-21.

-jk

[pfrduke]

Things are not looking good in Raleigh. At the half, Youngstown St is up, 34-21.

-jk

Tied now with 12:17 to play. Youngstown has 3 points so far in the second half.

[Devilsfan]

Shouldn't this thread read "This weak in the ACC".

[devildeac]

Things are not looking good in Raleigh. At the half, Youngstown St is up, 34-21.

-jk

Yea, it's 33 degrees and still raining on top of the wintry mix we had this AM. Oh, you were talking about hoops;). Wolfpack wins going away, 67-50, as the Penguins score 5 points in the last 9 minutes according to the espn summary and 16 points total in the 2nd half.

[Slackerb]

Just going on memory of the game, so bear with me:

CJ Leslie pretty much just decided to take over and completely turned this game around.

At one point he scored like 9 consecutive points for a 9-0 run. It was crazy.

He had 19 rebounds including 7 offensive, and mostly in the second half.

Basically, State came out flat and basically was forcing shots, not playing D, and not respecting this team.

A few minutes before the second half, Leslie went on his run, and the team came out fired up in the second half and played like it was a real game.

Harrow and Gonzalez combined for like 25 points with only a few turnovers, which is good to see. Harrow continues to play very well, scoring around 11 points in 14-15 minutes.


Yea, it's 33 degrees and still raining on top of the wintry mix we had this AM. Oh, you were talking about hoops;). Wolfpack wins going away, 67-50, as the Penguins score 5 points in the last 9 minutes according to the espn summary and 16 points total in the 2nd half.

[-jk]

Well, Miami lost to UCF, 84-78.

It's going to be a long season for the ACC.

-jk

[Kedsy]

Well, Miami lost to UCF, 84-78.

It's going to be a long season for the ACC.

-jk

That may not end up looking like a bad loss when all is said and done.

[-jk]

That may not end up looking like a bad loss when all is said and done.

Don't disagree at all - Miami was only about a point favorite, and UCF is well ahead in Pom. But still, you gotta win at home...

-jk

[Duvall]

Don't disagree at all - Miami was only about a point favorite, and UCF is well ahead in Pom. But still, you gotta win at home...

-jk

They were about 45 minutes from home in Broward County, at the Panthers' arena. But it's still not a good loss.

[Indoor66]

They were about 45 minutes from home in Broward County, at the Panthers' arena. But it's still not a good loss.

They played at the Bank Atlantic Center in Sunrise, FL. I doubt they play more than one more game there all year. Miami and Florida are the "home" portion of the Orange Bowl Tourney.

[JasonEvans]

That may not end up looking like a bad loss when all is said and done.

It is not about a bad loss, it is about the ACC once again blowing a chance to get an even mildly impressive win. The conference is really running out of opportunities to impress. Aside from Duke, it is looking like a conference that (mostly) folds when facing quality opposition.

-Jason "our record against the other BCS conferences is just plain bad right now" Evans

[Olympic Fan]

A mediocre day for the ACC -- 3-3 with a loss in the most high profile game of the day -- UNC's semi-homecourt loss to Texas.

Balancing that, Virginia Tech got a surprisingly easy win over Mississippi State (even though I was mistaken in thinking they would get Bost back for this game. They did get Sidney, but in the first game he's played in two years, he was ... mediocre).

Make no mistake -- that was a vital win for a team that had not only dropped out of the top 25, but had dropped out the NCAA field (if you buy Lunardi and company).

I'd rate Georgia Tech's win over Richmond as a solid victory too. The Spiders are solid ... interesting to me that the Jackets won with Shumpert mostly on the bench. Think about that one.

I watched most of FSU's win over a bad Loyola Marymount team. It was on the road and LMU had a great atmosphere, but it wasn't that impressive a performance by the Seminoles. They're headed for Hawaii and three games over Chri9stmas (if I'm reading the schedule right, they play on Christmas Eve AND Christmas Day.

As for the three losses, there's a thread to talk about the UNC loss, so I won't go there. But I did watch the Miami loss to CFU ... played on what looked to be a fairly neutral court in Sunrise, Fla. (it was part of a doubleheader with Florida-K-State in the second game). Not a great showing for the 'Canes. They blew a double figure lead early in the second half and simply melted down the stretch. When Reggie Johnson got in foul trouble they lost an semblance of an inside game.

On the other hand, Wake didn't look horrible in their loss at Xavier. I know this isn't a vintage Xavier team (they're more likely to end up in the NIT than the NCAA), but the Deacs looked better in their loss in Cincinnati than they did earlier in the week in a two-point win over winless UNC Greensboro. Terrell was hot again -- when he's on, he's one of the most deadly 3-point shooters I've ever seen ... and when he's not on, he's absolutely useless on the basketball court -- a terrible defender, a weak ballhandler and a non-effort guy.

[ice-9]

It is not about a bad loss, it is about the ACC once again blowing a chance to get an even mildly impressive win. The conference is really running out of opportunities to impress. Aside from Duke, it is looking like a conference that (mostly) folds when facing quality opposition.

-Jason "our record against the other BCS conferences is just plain bad right now" Evans


I don't think UCF was a bad loss -- UCF will likely be in the NCAA tournament and is arguably the best team in all of Florida. They defeated South Florida, Florida and Miami already and have just to face Florida State to make it unanimous. Kenpom projects them to lose only against Southern Mississippi away (by one point) and a ranked Memphis team away.

I'd characterize it more as a lost opportunity for a good win by Miami and the ACC.

[JasonEvans]

I don't think UCF was a bad loss -- UCF will likely be in the NCAA tournament and is arguably the best team in all of Florida. They defeated South Florida, Florida and Miami already and have just to face Florida State to make it unanimous. Kenpom projects them to lose only against Southern Mississippi away (by one point) and a ranked Memphis team away.

I'd characterize it more as a lost opportunity for a good win by Miami and the ACC.

Yup, I may not have been clear but that was exactly my point.

Same thing happened today with NC State and Arizona. State lost to a good opponent and there is really nothing wrong with losing to this Arizona club (that looks to be among the best in the Pac Ten), but it was yet another opportunity lost for the ACC and for an ACC team that figures to be around the bubble.

--Jason "sigh, I cannot remember the league being this mediocre" Evans

[sagegrouse]

--Jason "sigh, I cannot remember the league being this mediocre" Evans

That's only because you weren't around in 1963 and 1964. In that era it was mostly the Big Four as contenders in the ACC, and Duke was the only one with a really good team. Duke was cumulative 27-1 in the ACC and a 76-point edge in going 4-0 against UNC.

sagegrouse
'Dean's early teams were not strong, and some of us were surprised he survived'

[Newton_14]

Yup, I may not have been clear but that was exactly my point.

Same thing happened today with NC State and Arizona. State lost to a good opponent and there is really nothing wrong with losing to this Arizona club (that looks to be among the best in the Pac Ten), but it was yet another opportunity lost for the ACC and for an ACC team that figures to be around the bubble.

--Jason "sigh, I cannot remember the league being this mediocre" Evans

I agree with you on the state of the league Jason. I have been an avid follower of ACC Basketball since the early 70's, and I do not recall a year where the league was this weak top to bottom. Totally putrid.

In fairness to NC State though, missing Tracy Smith is hurting them badly. Not only is he the best player on the team, he is also the Senior Leader. He would be making a difference I believe. If State can get him healthy and back in game shape, they will become a much better team than they are right now.

Right now it is Duke and the "also-rans" but there are 3 or 4 teams that can get it together and improve. As of today I like FSU, as the next best team, and believe they will improve as the year progresses. Va Tech is likely to turn it around in conference play, as will Maryland. Virginia is very well coached and improved but their ceiling is not very high due to talent.

UNC-CH is at a crossroads and have to choose which path they will take. Given their guard play and lack of bodies on the interior, I feel they will have an up and down year. They will win a few games they shouldn't and lose a few they shouldn't. They could finish anywhere from 3rd to maybe 7th. They are better than they were last year, but not by a lot.

The bottom of the league is embarrassingly weak. Wake is just an awful basketball team. Ga Tech is not a heck of a lot better. Miami, Clemson, and Boston College will fight it out with UNC-Ch, Va Tech, State, and Maryland for the upper middle to lower middle of the conference.

Sadly, if the NCAA tourney were to start today, I would not feel comfortable picking any of our teams outside of Duke to win a game.

[RoyalBlue08]

So what was the best win the ACC got, Virginia over Oregon? Va Tech over Miss St? Seems like another disappointing week. I have a hard time remembering a time when I am less looking forward to conference play.