This Week in the ACC - 12/29-1/4

[pfrduke]

Louisville is very difficult to score against. They took the #1 team in the country, held it to 41% from the floor, and forced 18 turnovers. They lost because a) Kentucky is impossible to score against and b) Louisville is not so good at half court offense. But mostly a). It looks like the Wildcats have 6 guys on the court sometimes. Louisville took 58 shots from the floor and made 15. 15 field goals in a 40 minute game is rough. In other news, Wake picked up a nice road win, but Miami and Georgia Tech both suffered double digit losses away from home. Miami is going to be fits this season - they'll have days when the shooting is hot and Angel Rodriguez is on where they look like they could beat anybody, but if the shooting is cold, it could all fall apart in a hurry.

This week features a few last chances for marquee non conference wins before ACC play gets underway in earnest on the weekend.

Monday

[136]Boston College hosts [293]UMass-Lowell (2:00, ESPN3)
[3]Duke hosts [98]Toledo (7:00, ESPNU)

Tuesday has an ACC mini-marathon on ESPNU to take you through your afternoon, with games of increasing ease to the conference as the day progresses. The single impressive thing Virginia Tech did last season was beating the Mountaineers in Blacksburg in November. Repeating the task in Morgantown this year will be a tall order. The Wolfpack put together a tough December schedule and a win over Cincinnati, even if the Bearcats are not as imposing as in year's past, would be a helpful bonus for NC State as it heads into 2015. Virginia rounds out the ESPNU portion of the day hosting Davidson. 8 other ACC squads are in action throughout the day as well.

[177]Virginia Tech at [19]West Virginia (2:00, ESPNU)
[52]NC State hosts [54]Cincinnati (4:00, ESPNU)
[6]Louisville hosts [115]Long Beach State (4:00, ESPN3)
[2]Virginia hosts [64]Davidson (6:00, ESPNU)
[124]Florida State hosts [15]Florida (7:00, ESPN2)
[9]UNC hosts [132]William & Mary (7:00, ESPN3)
[127]Clemson hosts [262]Robert Morris (7:00, ESPN3)
[89]Georgia Tech hosts [102]Charlotte (7:00, ESPN3)
[77]Miami hosts [183]Charleston (7:00, ESPN3)
[23]Notre Dame hosts [192]Hartford (7:30, ESPN3)
[61]Pittsburgh hosts [130]Florida-Gulf Coast (7:30, ESPN3)

Wednesday

[123]Wake Forest hosts [165]Princeton (1:00, ESPN3)
[3]Duke hosts [88]Wofford (3:00, ESPN3)
[31]Syracuse hosts [196]Cornell (6:00, ESPNU)

Thursday is dark - Happy New Year!

Friday

[124]Florida State at [141]Mississippi State (8:00, ESPNU)

Saturday is the real start of conference play (Notre Dame and NC State just got a bit of a head start). Virginia opens up on the road in Miami - the Cavs are already 5-0 away from home this season, including 3-0 in true road games. UNC travels to Clemson, where Littlejohn likely will be more imposing than the opponent. NC State hosting Pitt also figures to be an interesting contest - the Panthers dismantled State in Raleigh last season (the 12-point final margin does not reflect the true difference between the teams that day) but the Wolfpack look to have the better team so far this season.

[52]NC State hosts [61]Pittsburgh (12:00, ESPN3)
[177]Virginia Tech hosts [31]Syracuse (12:00, ESPN3)
[23]Notre Dame hosts [89]Georgia Tech (2:30, ESPN3)
[3]Duke hosts [136]Boston College (4:00, ESPN3)
[77]Miami hosts [2]Virginia (5:30, ESPN2)
[127]Clemson hosts [9]North Carolina (8:15, ESPN)

Sunday

[123]Wake Forest hosts [6]Louisville (8:00, ESPNU)

ACC Non-Conference Record: 130-42
ACC Record vs. BCS:* 25-24
America East: 4-0
American Athletic: 7-0
Atlantic Sun: 4-1
Atlantic Ten: 10-4
Big 12: 1-2
Big East: 1-7
Big South: 7-3
B1G Ten: 13-8
Big West: 2-1
Colonial: 5-1
Conference USA: 8-0
Horizon: 4-1
Ivy: 1-0
MAAC: 6-1
MAC: 3-0
MEAC: 11-1
Missouri Valley: 0-1
Mountain West: 3-1
Northeast: 4-0
Ohio Valley: 2-1
Pac-12: 2-2
Patriot: 7-0
SEC: 8-5
Southern: 7-1
Southland: 1-0
Summit: 1-0
Sun Belt: 2-1
SWAC: 4-0
WAC: 1-0
Non D-1: 1-0

*refers to Big XII, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-12, and SEC. The AAC is just a completely mediocre basketball conference and crediting wins over the likes of Tulane and South Florida as wins over major conference caliber opponents is just silly. And yes, BCS is now a completely outdated reference derived from an entirely separate sport, but it's handy shorthand.

[Wahoo2000]

Louisville is very difficult to score against. They took the #1 team in the country, held it to 41% from the floor, and forced 18 turnovers. They lost because a) Kentucky is impossible to score against and b) Louisville is not so good at half court offense. But mostly a). It looks like the Wildcats have 6 guys on the court sometimes. Louisville took 58 shots from the floor and made 15. 15 field goals in a 40 minute game is rough. In other news, Wake picked up a nice road win, but Miami and Georgia Tech both suffered double digit losses away from home. Miami is going to be fits this season - they'll have days when the shooting is hot and Angel Rodriguez is on where they look like they could beat anybody, but if the shooting is cold, it could all fall apart in a hurry.


That Kentucky D is just phenomenal. Nobody is going to beat them by having individuals "making plays". The only way anyone is going to score even SOMEWHAT effectively against that team is with FLAWLESS execution and really, REALLY good shooting. There's not a team in the country that will shoot over 35% against them by just trying to take guys off the bounce and either shoot or make one pass and shoot......

Then even if you can score at a halfway decent clip, you have to find a way to keep 7'0, 7'0, 6'10 elite athletes off the offensive glass. It's a tall (pun intended) order.

[Duvall]

Come on, State. Buoy can't let a team from a mid-major league come in and push you around like this.

[brevity]

Come on, State. Buoy can't let a team from a mid-major league come in and push you around like this.

Hey now. If you believe the rumors after TCU and Baylor got jilted by the College Football Playoff, Cincinnati and Memphis are Big XII bound. Which makes mathematical sense, at least.

Also, this will put Cincinnati in the same league as Kansas State and West Virginia: Bob Huggins' past, present, and future past.

Speaking of, West Virginia and Virginia Tech scheduled a fight today and a basketball game broke out, but not a close one. Bad news for the ACC; the Fightin' Garners won by 31.

[Bob Green]

Saturday is the real start of conference play (Notre Dame and NC State just got a bit of a head start). Virginia opens up on the road in Miami - the Cavs are already 5-0 away from home this season, including 3-0 in true road games. UNC travels to Clemson, where Littlejohn likely will be more imposing than the opponent. NC State hosting Pitt also figures to be an interesting contest - the Panthers dismantled State in Raleigh last season (the 12-point final margin does not reflect the true difference between the teams that day) but the Wolfpack look to have the better team so far this season.

[52]NC State hosts [61]Pittsburgh (12:00, ESPN3)
[177]Virginia Tech hosts [31]Syracuse (12:00, ESPN3)
[23]Notre Dame hosts [89]Georgia Tech (2:30, ESPN3)
[3]Duke hosts [136]Boston College (4:00, ESPN3)
[77]Miami hosts [2]Virginia (5:30, ESPN2)
[127]Clemson hosts [9]North Carolina (8:15, ESPN)


Bumping this thread back to the top as the first full Saturday of ACC action is upon us. I intend to watch the Miami/Virginia game after the conclusion of Duke/BC. I would watch the State/Pitt game, but I'm taking my grandson to the movies.

[sagegrouse]

Just tuning in, where L'ville has a ten-point lead at the half. I note that the FT shooting is dreadful -- 1-9 for Wake and 5-12 for the Cardinals. Both teams have higher 3-pt percentages.

[OldPhiKap]

Just tuning in, where L'ville has a ten-point lead at the half. I note that the FT shooting is dreadful -- 1-9 for Wake and 5-12 for the Cardinals. Both teams have higher 3-pt percentages.

12-0 run for Wake, might be time to ake-Tay this to th Inx-jay thread.

[sagegrouse]

Wake opened the second half on a 10-0 run, so the lead is down to one point.

[dukelifer]

Wake opened the second half on a 10-0 run, so the lead is down to one point.

I was impressed with both of Wake and Louisville. Wake played very hard - and will be a tough out when they are focused. Louisville's guards are really hard to play. They both have great midrange games. Duke will need to play much better D than they have recently to deal with them.

[Duvall]

Common sense prevails! (http://www.theacc.com/news/acc-basketball-player-of-the-week-announced-01-05-2015)


Duke freshman center Jahlil Okafor has been selected as both the ACC Player of the Week and the ACC Rookie of the Week in a vote by a select media panel.

The ACC Player of the Week honor is the first of the season for the 6-foot-11 Okafor, who was voted the ACC Rookie of the Week for the fifth time. He is the first player during the 2014-15 season to sweep both ACC weekly honors.