ACC Games - Week of Jan 22nd thru 28th

[Bob Green]

Use this thread to discuss the various non-Duke ACC games for this week. (Jan 22 thru Jan 28)

Sunday 1/22

N.C. State (78) @ Miami (73) - nice road win for the Wolfpack
Virginia Tech @ Virginia

Tuesday 1/24

Miami @ Georgia Tech

Wednesday 1/25

Florida State @ Wake Forest
BYU @ Virginia Tech

Thursday 1/26

N.C. State @ North Carolina
Boston College @ Virginia

Saturday 1/27

Virginia @ N.C. State
Wake Forest @ Clemson
Virginia Tech @ Maryland

This is a big week for N.C. State with games against Carolina and Virginia. I'm looking forward to the Virginia Tech @ Virginia game later this afternoon. Hopefully, the Cavaliers will hand Seth Greenberg his fifth conference loss this season.

[Bob Green]

Halftime: Virginia Tech 23, Virginia 19. I'm not sure if it is good defense or inept offense but these two teams are slugging it out in a low scoring affair in Charlottesville. The difference so far has been Jarell Eddie making a couple of 3-pointers while Sammy Zeglinski missed a couple of 3-pointers.

[SMO]

Critical call late in the UVA/VPI game: big VPI forward throws 2 strong shoulders into set UVA guard in low post. Guard falls down. Contact was significant and fall was credible. Mike Kitts calls blocking foul and it looked to me like a senior moment for Mr. Kitts.

Anyone see this who can explain it?

[Bob Green]

Virginia Tech gets the win 47-45. The story of the game is twofold: first, Virginia shot 1-14 on 3-pointers with Zeglinski leading the way with an 0-6 performance; second, Jontel Evans' inability to finish at the rim. He made two great defensive plays in the second half stealing the ball and breaking to the basket but he missed the lay-up both times. On the second missed lay-up he was fouled and he promptly missed both free throws. On a possession where Virginia should have come away with 3 points they ended up with zero points. With approximately two minutes left in the game, Evans beat his defender, drove the lane and, you guessed it, missed a wide open lay-up!

Crap, Greenberg gets a win. I was hoping VT would go 0-16 in conference.

[Bob Green]

Critical call late in the UVA/VPI game: big VPI forward throws 2 strong shoulders into set UVA guard in low post. Guard falls down. Contact was significant and fall was credible. Mike Kitts calls blocking foul and it looked to me like a senior moment for Mr. Kitts.

Anyone see this who can explain it?

It looked like an obvious charge to me. The ESPN commentator claimed Zeglinski flopped.

[SMO]

It looked like an obvious charge to me. The ESPN commentator claimed Zeglinski flopped.

Even if he did it wasn't blocking because he took himself out of the play.

I was torn on this game. Never like to see Goonberg win but a UVA loss probably helps Duke more in the standings.

[gumbomoop]

The loss of Assane Sene is likely to kill UVa's chances of a top 3 ACC finish, probably even top 4. He might return in time for their late-season home games v. UNC and [more likely, if at all] FSU. Before Sene's injury, I'd have given them a real shot at a win in one or both of those, but not so sure now. Bennett is a fine coach, but he'll be forced to play 4 guards at times, along with Scott.

It looks to me as if UNC, FSU, and Duke are now joined by NCSt as likely top 4 seeds in ACCT. State got a very valuable win at Miami today. I hope the 'Canes can still put things together enough to challenge FSU and UNC in Miami, but not so much as to threaten Duke in CIS. Miami's play today was pretty disappointing.

Looks as if this might be a year in which NCSt might give the Heels a challenge, at least in Raleigh. I'd love to see a contest as exciting as Duke-FSU when the Pack visits CH on Thurs.

[Bob Green]

Today's Virginia @ N.C. State game is a battle for 4th Place in the ACC and according to Joe Lunardi it is a must win game for the Wolfpack:

http://twitter.com/intent/user?screen_name=ESPNLunardi

It will be interesting to see how State rebounds from their embarrassing loss at the hands of the Heels. If State can beat Virginia today, they then have three consecutive winnable games (@BC, WF, @GT) prior to entering a brutal stretch of three games (@Duke, FSU, UNC) against the top teams in the conference. Meanwhile, Virginia still has to play UNC and FSU twice each plus road games at VT, Clemson and Maryland. Obviously, today's game is a game both teams really need to win so it should be a hard fought affair.

[Bob Green]

Virginia 38, N.C. State 31. Mike Scott is leading the way with 10 points and demonstrating why he is a leading candidate to win ACC Player-of-the-Year honors. State is destroying Virginia on the boards, but they have twice as many turnovers (8) as the Cavaliers (4). It was a good 1st half and I'm looking forward to the rest of the game.

[Bob Green]

Final score: Virginia 61, N.C. State 60. State had a chance to win at the end, but Virginia executed a hedge on a high pick-n-roll to disrupt the offense and Lorenzo Brown missed a last second shot. A very entertaining game that I thought would have created some discussion here, but oh well, next up for me is the 2nd half of the Saint Mary's/BYU game. The West Coast Conference plays some competitive basketball.

[sagegrouse]

Final score: Virginia 61, N.C. State 60. State had a chance to win at the end, but Virginia executed a hedge on a high pick-n-roll to disrupt the offense and Lorenzo Brown missed a last second shot. A very entertaining game that I thought would have created some discussion here, but oh well, next up for me is the 2nd half of the Saint Mary's/BYU game. The West Coast Conference plays some competitive basketball.

I watched the 2nd H, and I usually don't comment during games. State is self-destructive to an inordinate extent. Howell fouled out in the last two minutes on a reach-in when there was only 10 secs. on the clock. Think, McFly, think!! Woods was only 2-8 and stood around most of the night, although his 3 in the last minute put State in a position to win. Hey, guy, if you are a serious scoring option, why don't you move to get open?

No way a solid State team should lose at home to an offensively challenged UVa team.

sagegrouse

[Duvall]

No way a solid State team should lose at home to an offensively challenged UVa team.

State is solid?

[sagegrouse]

State is solid?

That is the question about State. It looks like the Pack has enough talent to be in the top 4-5 teams in the conference and, if so, should certainly win at home against UVa.

sage

[Newton_14]

State is solid?

They are close, but not there yet. Front line lacks size, which is why they will struggle against Duke, UNC, and FSU. They are much better than the last few years though, but even with that, they will be a bubble team in the end. CJ Williams is vastly improved though. He is solid. Just needs a little more help.

I didn't like the play Gottfried called and wish he would have never called the timeout. They likely get a better shot attempt if he just allows the players to make a play with UVA getting back on defense vs calling timeout and facing a set UVA defense. Them's the breaks as they say...

[Olympic Fan]

I didn't like the play Gottfried called and wish he would have never called the timeout. They likely get a better shot attempt if he just allows the players to make a play with UVA getting back on defense vs calling timeout and facing a set UVA defense. Them's the breaks as they say...

I tend to agree that I'd rather have my players attack in that situation. State had the ball in the hands of Lorenzo Brown, who is a very good driver -- strong with the ball. There was under 10 seconds left. I'd want to see him take it into the lane and try and get the shot, the foul or at least the kickout.

However, watching it live, he got the ball and took it right to Coach Gottfried, where he called the timeout with 7.5 seconds left. He was not looking to drive or attack.

I know it's ancient history, but in 1967, Duke had just rallied to tie UNC wth seconds left. Dean Smith stood up and tried to call timeout. Larry Miller ignored him and took the inbounds pass and drove the length of the court and made a driving shot for a game-winner. Dean later said he was glad Miller turned a blind eye to his signal (at the time, only a player on the floor could call timeout).

In the 1982 championship game, Dean wanted his team to attrack after Georgetown took the lead in the final minute. He said in his autobiography that he only called timeout (to set up MJ's game-winner) because his players looked confused.

As a Duke guy, the one I remember was Chris Duhon's reaction when UNC tied the game late in overtime in Chapel Hill in 2004. He took the inbounds and went the distance, winning the game with a reverse layup. Of course, calling the timeout in the final seconds used to be more necessariy -- it was only in 1994 that the clock stopped automatically after a made basket in the final minute. When Duke called timeout after Sean Wood's prayer was answered in the '92 Kentucky game, it was vital -- without the timeout, the clock would have run out wit Duke scrambling to make the inbounds.