This Week in the ACC - 11/4-11/10

[pfrduke]

Basketball! It's back! And unlike most seasons, with the expansion of conference play and the league's commendable decision to open up the season with conference games, there's a host of good ACC games this week (of course, with such heavy emphasis on ACCN broadcasts so early in the season, many viewers won't actually be able to watch). The Cupcake State games will come soon enough (including in the back half of the week), but what a start to the season. So let's see what's on tap for the week (as always, all times Eastern and all ratings and spreads Pomeroy as of time of posting).

Monday is dark - the last college basketball free day of the season

Tuesday
[65]Miami (+8) hosts [3]Louisville (6:30, ACCN)
[4]Duke (-4) vs. [10]Kansas in Madison Square Garden (7:00, ESPN)
[79]Clemson (-1) hosts [54]Virginia Tech (7:00, ESPNU)
[28]NC State (-8) hosts [66]Georgia Tech (8:30, ACCN)

Wednesday
[119]Boston College (+1) hosts [80]Wake Forest (6:00, ESPNU)
[6]North Carolina (-11) hosts [42]Notre Dame (7:00, ACCN)
[67]Pittsburgh (+2) hosts [14]Florida State (8:00, ESPNU)
[51]Syracuse (+4) hosts [5]Virginia (9:00, ACCN)

Thursday
[79]Clemson (-17) hosts [290]Presbyterian (7:00, ACCN)

Friday
[4]Duke (-23) hosts [159]Colorado State (7:00, ACCN)
[6]North Carolina (-22) at [266]UNC Wilmington (7:00)
[65]Miami (-13) hosts [177]Florida Atlantic (7:00, ACCNX)
[54]Virginia Tech (-28) hosts [328]Coppin State (7:00, ACCNX)

Saturday
[42]Notre Dame (-22) hosts [306]Robert Morris (12:00, ACCNX)
[67]Pittsburgh (-20) hosts [294]Nicholls State (12:00, ACCNX)

Sunday
[119]Boston College (+8) at [76]South Florida (12:00, CBSSN)
[14]Florida State (+4) at [12]Florida (1:00, ESPN)
[3]Louisville (-26) hosts [213]Youngstown State (2:00, ACCNX)
[80]Wake Forest (-9) hosts [151]Columbia (2:00, ACCNX)
[79]Clemson (-7) hosts [115]Colgate (3:00, ACCNX)
[28]NC State (-22) hosts [253]Detroit (4:00, ACCNX)
[5]Virginia (-24) hosts [224]James Madison (6:00, ESPNU)

[pfrduke]

Three conference games, three road wins. Louisville was an expected result but the other two not quite as much.

[TheOldBattleship]

Three conference games, three road wins. Louisville was an expected result but the other two not quite as much.

Can cut NC State a bit of slack, as they were missing Markell Johnson, but still not an auspicious start to the season for the Keatts crew. Any word on the Funderburk situation? I've pretty much missed everything there except that he's suspended; is he likely to return at all? (The classic NCState despair of the Backing the Pack article (https://www.backingthepack.com/nc-state-basketball/2019/11/5/20951019/nc-state-georgia-tech-score-final-game-recap-wolfpack-basketball-yellow-jackets) about the game is pretty fantastic, by the way.)

Good performance for both Techs, regardless.

[PackMan97]

Can cut NC State a bit of slack, as they were missing Markell Johnson, but still not an auspicious start to the season for the Keatts crew. Any word on the Funderburk situation? I've pretty much missed everything there except that he's suspended; is he likely to return at all? (The classic NCState despair of the Backing the Pack article (https://www.backingthepack.com/nc-state-basketball/2019/11/5/20951019/nc-state-georgia-tech-score-final-game-recap-wolfpack-basketball-yellow-jackets) about the game is pretty fantastic, by the way.)

Good performance for both Techs, regardless.

Funderburk should be back in a handful of games. He's already practicing with the team. Basically he parked in a few spots where he shouldn't. Got his car booted and then attempted to drive off with the boot...on multiple occasions. While the Tarheels will award you a degree in Criminal Justice for such activity, State frowns on it...so he was suspended.

We also were without freshman guard, Dereon Seaborn who was out with an ankle injury as well. 4* recruit who went to a post-grad prep school.

So, without two starters and a freshman who might have been able to contribute....we still should have won the game if not for our own bad decisions and the refs. OMG the refs. I didn't watch or listen to the game, but we lost so they must have been awful. Have we ever won a game Jamie Luckie was reffing?

[arnie]

Funderburk should be back in a handful of games. He's already practicing with the team. Basically he parked in a few spots where he shouldn't. Got his car booted and then attempted to drive off with the boot...on multiple occasions. While the Tarheels will award you a degree in Criminal Justice for such activity, State frowns on it...so he was suspended.

We also were without freshman guard, Dereon Seaborn who was out with an ankle injury as well. 4* recruit who went to a post-grad prep school.

So, without two starters and a freshman who might have been able to contribute...we still should have won the game if not for our own bad decisions and the refs. OMG the refs. I didn't watch or listen to the game, but we lost so they must have been awful. Have we ever won a game Jamie Luckie was reffing?

Just repeat the Pack’s favorite 4 words: Wait till next year.

[devildeac]

Just repeat the Pack’s favorite 4 words: Wait till next year.

Those are the Pack's second favorite 4 words with the first being: Go To Hell, c*rolina.

:D

[PackMan97]

Sounds like Seaborn will sit out the entire season. Some issue with his eligibility that the NCAA denied.

https://twitter.com/PackPride/status/1191934366659891201

[jv001]

Sounds like Seaborn will sit out the entire season. Some issue with his eligibility that the NCAA denied.

https://twitter.com/PackPride/status/1191934366659891201

Too bad Seaborn didn't go to uncheat. He would have played last night and been freshman of the week. Different rules for different schools. GoDuke!

[duke2x]

Go Irish! (for 24 hours).

[OldPhiKap]

Go Irish! (for 24 hours).

Go Mike Brey!

[nmduke2001]

I don't particularly like these early games being conference games. It seems too early to have games that are so important.

[left_hook_lacey]

Those are the Pack's second favorite 4 words with the first being: Go To Hell, c*rolina.

:D

What is Dorean doing?

Gotta rank up there somewhere. :cool:

[OldPhiKap]

Third favorite: “I am totally amphibious”

[JasonEvans]

I don't particularly like these early games being conference games. It seems too early to have games that are so important.

Well, it is just 5% of the conference schedule so it isn't like it is super duper important.

[devildeac]

Go Irish! (for 24 hours).


Go Mike Brey!

Does Bonzi have one more game of eligibility he can use tonight?

:rolleyes:

[ChillinDuke]

Is it not totally bizarre to OPEN the season in a conference tilt? Or are we past that already?

I get that the conference schedule expanded this year, but there seemed like plenty of room between late December conference games and opening your season in an important conference game on 11/5. To me, this gives even less meaning to the oft-bemoaned Regular Season Conference Champion.

- Chillin

[chrishoke]

Former Dukie Derryck Thornton and BC are drubbing WF 25-12.

[Bob Green]

Former Dukie Derryck Thornton and BC are drubbing WF 25-12.

Thornton is BC’s leading scorer at the half with 10.

[chris13]

Mike Brey looks like the guy who won the steak knives in Glengarry Glen Ross.

[Dr. Rosenrosen]

Carlos Boozer doing the halftime show on ACCN! Did a nice job.

[ChillinDuke]

Boy, just pulled up the ND-UNC box score and I don't even know 3 of UNC's 9 players who've played. Who the heck is Christian Keeling? He started? Also Justin Pierce and Walker Miller do not sound familiar either.

I must be getting old to have lost track of this many players.

- Chillin

[chris13]

Carlos Boozer doing the halftime show on ACCN! Did a nice job.

I thought he was excellent and he can have a James Harden beard by midseason if he’s willing to commit to it

[Bob Green]

Regardless the outcome of this ND at UNC game, one conclusion I can communicate right now is Cole Anthony is very good.

[OldPhiKap]

No ACCT here.

I’d like to be upset, but if the ACC doesn’t watch me to watch their games then screw them. Sorry about the Duke games I will miss but I guess I’ll find other things to do.

Never went back to baseball really after the strike. Another new chapter here, I guess.

[MChambers]

Boy, just pulled up the ND-UNC box score and I don't even know 3 of UNC's 9 players who've played. Who the heck is Christian Keeling? He started? Also Justin Pierce and Walker Miller do not sound familiar either.

I must be getting old to have lost track of this many players.

- Chillin
Me too. Sounds like they found players on the street.

[dukelifer]

Regardless the outcome of this ND at UNC game, one conclusion I can communicate right now is Cole Anthony is very good.

Yep. Not much he cannot do.

[ChillinDuke]

Regardless the outcome of this ND at UNC game, one conclusion I can communicate right now is Cole Anthony is very good.

V v good.

- Chillin

[Troublemaker]

Boy, just pulled up the ND-UNC box score and I don't even know 3 of UNC's 9 players who've played. Who the heck is Christian Keeling? He started? Also Justin Pierce and Walker Miller do not sound familiar either.

I must be getting old to have lost track of this many players.

- Chillin

Keeling and Pierce are grad transfers, i.e. that thing that Coach K ignores but Roy uses so effectively. They look decent so far this season, unfortunately.

Walker Miller I believe is a (former?) walk-on.

[dukelifer]

Yep. Not much he cannot do.

Well I think we have our ACC rookie of the year- now the question is whether he will average over 30 on this team- geez

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Cole Anthony is the real deal.

[dukelifer]

Cole Anthony is the real deal.

Probably makes sense to shut it down after this performance.

[DUKIE V(A)]

I don’t think the ACC Network gave Papa Anthony enough airtime tonight.

[Tripping William]

Greg Anthony in all that Heel gear is about more than I can stand.

[cato]

I don't particularly like these early games being conference games. It seems too early to have games that are so important.

Honestly, I cannot get too excited about what is and is not important for the conference regular season since they went to the unbalanced schedule.

Frankly, I would like the ACC to move all of Duke’s January road ACC games to November.

[dukelifer]

Greg Anthony in all that Heel gear is about more than I can stand.

Cole Anthony in that Heel gear is more than many of us will be able to stand.

[Tripping William]

Cole Anthony in that Heel gear is more than many of us will be able to stand.

Cole Anthony v. Tre Jones should be appointment TV.

[dukelifer]

Cole Anthony v. Tre Jones should be appointment TV.

I agree.

[jipops]

Well I think we have our ACC rookie of the year- now the question is whether he will average over 30 on this team- geez

I’d say ACC POY is wrapped up already too.

[roywhite]

I don’t think the ACC Network gave Papa Anthony enough airtime tonight.

Yeah, talk about annoying. The cut-out of Greg Anthony chatting with Kenny Smith during game action was irritating to say the least.

[roywhite]

Well I think we have our ACC rookie of the year- now the question is whether he will average over 30 on this team- geez


Cole Anthony is the real deal.


I’d say ACC POY is wrapped up already too.

I hear there is an ACC team that has two (or more?) outstanding perimeter defenders; we'll see how they do against young Mr. Anthony.

[devildeac]

Mike Brey looks like the guy who won the steak knives in Glengarry Glen Ross.

I'd rather have these:

9929

[dukelifer]

I’d say ACC POY is wrapped up already too.

Of course he has to stay healthy - see Kyrie- but the kid is going to be a handful.

[devildeac]

I hear there is an ACC team that has two (or more?) outstanding perimeter defenders; we'll see how they do against young Mr. Anthony.

Those two perimeter defenders to whom you refer are likely to pick up two fouls each during warm-ups when we play those cheating bastards. :mad:

[duketaylor]

rather Cavalier. Or, rather, acting like their previous team...not giving up hardly any points and contesting everything. Although the 'Cuse is very young, that could be part of the issue. More difficult hoops to watch.

[duketaylor]

48-34 over the 'Cuse, argh!!! What a display!! (Not football)

[Wahoo2000]

rather Cavalier. Or, rather, acting like their previous team...not giving up hardly any points and contesting everything. Although the 'Cuse is very young, that could be part of the issue. More difficult hoops to watch.

Tough breaking in a lot of new guys vs that zone. My Hoos have had much worse nights though.

The good - we were 16-25 inside the arc, Diakite/Huff/Key all looked extremely solid. They totally controlled the boards and scored in the paint with very high efficiency. Clark would have had a triple double if not for our woeful 3pt shooting (more on that coming up). The defense looked MUCH better than I expected, especially the newer guy not missing a beat on their rotations/assignments. It really looked like we must have been practicing nothing BUT defense, because........

The bad - we were 4-24 (not a typo) from 3. That's 16%...... yuck. I'm sure we'll be better than that for most of the year, but not a good start. We had 16 turnovers, which, given our pace, is well over 20 vs most teams. Got to clean that up, and I actually think we will - at least 6-7 of those were off of just plain dumb or lazy passes which traditionally Bennett has been pretty quick to clean up.

The ??? - Playing that zone, which we won't again, doesn't begin to really tell me much about what our offense will be in most games. D looked good, but Cuse is young and historically starts seasons slow.

Overall, just happy to get out to a 1-0 start in league play PLUS grabbing a road win in what can usually be a tricky environment/matchup/situation.

[wobatus]

Keeling and Pierce are grad transfers, i.e. that thing that Coach K ignores but Roy uses so effectively. They look decent so far this season, unfortunately.

Walker Miller I believe is a (former?) walk-on.

Wes Miller’s brother. Another (former) walk-on and UNC-Greensboro’s coach. Walker is still sans scholarship.

Keeling played for Charleston Southern, Pierce played for former UNC player Tony Shaver at William & Mary.

[left_hook_lacey]

Regardless the outcome of this ND at UNC game, one conclusion I can communicate right now is Cole Anthony is very good.

Good thing is he appears to be all they have this year. Tre and Goldwire stop him, and we will blow them out both games this year.

[robed deity]

Good thing is he appears to be all they have this year. Tre and Goldwire stop him, and we will blow them out both games this year.

Not sure about THAT, but it is at least nice to have some good options against their strength.

[Indoor66]

No ACCT here.

I’d like to be upset, but if the ACC doesn’t watch me to watch their games then screw them. Sorry about the Duke games I will miss but I guess I’ll find other things to do.

Never went back to baseball really after the strike. Another new chapter here, I guess.

I am with you on this one. It starts to become too much effort and wayyyyyyyyyy too much money for the return.

[DavidBenAkiva]

It was an interesting start to the ACC season last night. I am not sure we learned anything we didn't already know or answer any questions we had about other teams.

Cole Anthony is going to be a very good player. Will UNC have anyone else that can contribute as a secondary scorer?

Virginia's defense looks as tight as ever. Will it have the guards to keep pace with elite offenses?

The most shocking outcome of the night was the Pitt victory over Florida State. Is Pitt going to be a bubble team this year?

[OldPhiKap]

I am with you on this one. It starts to become too much effort and wayyyyyyyyyy too much money for the return.

Yup.

I appreciate all of the posts that tell me how I can get the games. As a personal decision, I don't plan to pay more to watch.

There are plenty of other things to do with leisure time, and if they don't want my viewership so be it. Good luck to ACCN, I hope they all get rich.

(cue Jim Boehiem's "ACC money grab" GIF . . . .)

[phaedrus]

I’d say ACC POY is wrapped up already too.

Is it - what's the word - over?

[chris13]

I'd rather have these:

9929

So would Coach Brey in all likelihood.

[DarkstarWahoo]

I apologize to anyone who stayed up for the UVA-Cuse game. Only a UVA fan could have enjoyed that.

Boozer was good on TV, although all I could focus on was his beard. It looked like a mall Santa's beard colored with shoe polish.

[PackMan97]

I apologize to anyone who stayed up for the UVA-Cuse game. Only a UVA fan could have enjoyed that.

I see how it is. I really hope UVa's recruiting improves and you return to playing the game of basketball again.

...or is that part of the strategy? Bore everyone to death until they lose interest and then you win?

[DarkstarWahoo]

I see how it is. I really hope UVa's recruiting improves and you return to playing the game of basketball again.

...or is that part of the strategy? Bore everyone to death until they lose interest and then you win?

I'm of two minds. The UVA-positive side is that they were returning, what, the 4-7 guys in the rotation from last year (plus Stattmann, who wasn't even in the rotation) and playing against that godawful Syracuse zone in their first game. There's a compelling argument to be made that last night should be thrown out the window. (I'd just as soon set it on fire or flush it down the toilet, and we won the dang game!)

The UVA-negative side is, well, that they were returning, what, the 4-7 guys in the rotation from last year (plus Stattmann, who wasn't even in the rotation). You go to war with the guys you have, and the guys UVA has might just be an offense-challenged group. Maybe having Huff and Diakite shooting more 3s than is feasible as bigs against a 2-3 zone will help. I feel pretty confident that Key, Morsell and Woldetensae won't combine to go 1-14 from 3 in many games. But that was some ugly ish.

I really don't want to complain too much. 1-0 in the ACC in November is fine with me, and 1-0 as defending national champs is obviously way, way better than fine. But watching Clark pass to Morsell, who held the ball and passed back to Clark, who held the ball and passed to Woldetensae, who held the ball and passed back to Clark, and so on and so forth for 28 seconds, was...not the best viewing experience.

[Skydog]

Well I think we have our ACC rookie of the year- now the question is whether he will average over 30 on this team- geez

Announcers commented prior to game something to the effect Cole will be good offensively but don't expect Coby White. Turns out he looks better than Coby. Athleticism, great shooter, confidence, bball IQ - he showed it all. Color me impressed (other than his school choice obv).

[Wahoo2000]

I'm of two minds. The UVA-positive side is that they were returning, what, the 4-7 guys in the rotation from last year (plus Stattmann, who wasn't even in the rotation) and playing against that godawful Syracuse zone in their first game. There's a compelling argument to be made that last night should be thrown out the window. (I'd just as soon set it on fire or flush it down the toilet, and we won the dang game!)

The UVA-negative side is, well, that they were returning, what, the 4-7 guys in the rotation from last year (plus Stattmann, who wasn't even in the rotation). You go to war with the guys you have, and the guys UVA has might just be an offense-challenged group. Maybe having Huff and Diakite shooting more 3s than is feasible as bigs against a 2-3 zone will help. I feel pretty confident that Key, Morsell and Woldetensae won't combine to go 1-14 from 3 in many games. But that was some ugly ish.

I really don't want to complain too much. 1-0 in the ACC in November is fine with me, and 1-0 as defending national champs is obviously way, way better than fine. But watching Clark pass to Morsell, who held the ball and passed back to Clark, who held the ball and passed to Woldetensae, who held the ball and passed back to Clark, and so on and so forth for 28 seconds, was...not the best viewing experience.

There were only 2 problems with the offense that I saw-
1) We shot 16% from 3, and
2) We had 5-6 too many turnovers.

One of those things we will DEFINITELY fix (turnovers). The season will prob come down to whether we can get MUCH better shooting from the perimeter guys. I expect our overall 3pt shooting to definitely improve (after all, you'd almost have to TRY to be 16% bad), the question is by how much. If we shoot 30ish % from 3, we're a 4/5 seed kind of team. If we're 35ish%, we're more of a 2/3 seed team. I think that's prob the ceiling unless the D proves to be historically great by our standards, and on par with the '15 or '18 squads.

[devildeac]

I'm of two minds. The UVA-positive side is that they were returning, what, the 4-7 guys in the rotation from last year (plus Stattmann, who wasn't even in the rotation) and playing against that godawful Syracuse zone in their first game. There's a compelling argument to be made that last night should be thrown out the window. (I'd just as soon set it on fire or flush it down the toilet, and we won the dang game!)

The UVA-negative side is, well, that they were returning, what, the 4-7 guys in the rotation from last year (plus Stattmann, who wasn't even in the rotation). You go to war with the guys you have, and the guys UVA has might just be an offense-challenged group. Maybe having Huff and Diakite shooting more 3s than is feasible as bigs against a 2-3 zone will help. I feel pretty confident that Key, Morsell and Woldetensae won't combine to go 1-14 from 3 in many games. But that was some ugly ish.

I really don't want to complain too much. 1-0 in the ACC in November is fine with me, and 1-0 as defending national champs is obviously way, way better than fine. But watching Clark pass to Morsell, who held the ball and passed back to Clark, who held the ball and passed to Woldetensae, who held the ball and passed back to Clark, and so on and so forth for 28 seconds, was...not the best viewing experience.

Soooo, the 48-34 score last PM was a *basketball* game...

:rolleyes:

[Wahoo2000]

Soooo, the 48-34 score last PM was a *basketball* game...

:rolleyes:

Yup - our .813ppp just doesn't stack up to your guys' .850ppp. Maybe someday we'll be good at getting that round thing in the hoop... (lol, j/k)

Seriously, there are going to be some rockfights in the league this year I think between how many elite offensive players were lost and the increased distance of the 3pt line. #UglyBasketball

[devildeac]

Yup - our .813ppp just doesn't stack up to your guys' .850ppp. Maybe someday we'll be good at getting that round thing in the hoop... (lol, j/k)

Seriously, there are going to be some rockfights in the league this year I think between how many elite offensive players were lost and the increased distance of the 3pt line. #UglyBasketball

Totally expect that. Blecch.

[jv001]

I'm of two minds. The UVA-positive side is that they were returning, what, the 4-7 guys in the rotation from last year (plus Stattmann, who wasn't even in the rotation) and playing against that godawful Syracuse zone in their first game. There's a compelling argument to be made that last night should be thrown out the window. (I'd just as soon set it on fire or flush it down the toilet, and we won the dang game!)

The UVA-negative side is, well, that they were returning, what, the 4-7 guys in the rotation from last year (plus Stattmann, who wasn't even in the rotation). You go to war with the guys you have, and the guys UVA has might just be an offense-challenged group. Maybe having Huff and Diakite shooting more 3s than is feasible as bigs against a 2-3 zone will help. I feel pretty confident that Key, Morsell and Woldetensae won't combine to go 1-14 from 3 in many games. But that was some ugly ish.

I really don't want to complain too much. 1-0 in the ACC in November is fine with me, and 1-0 as defending national champs is obviously way, way better than fine. But watching Clark pass to Morsell, who held the ball and passed back to Clark, who held the ball and passed to Woldetensae, who held the ball and passed back to Clark, and so on and so forth for 28 seconds, was...not the best viewing experience.

From your description of that offense against the Cuse zone, I could see how that would be hard to watch. Even a good offense against their zone is not fun to watch. Not the best game to open your season. Glad it was the Hoos and not Duke. GoDuke!

[wsb3]

Pitt in trouble late vs Nicholls St..

[DukieInBrasil]

Can i not be impressed by Cole Anthony scoring 20 pts on ~27 possessions? His 34 pt performance was indeed impressive, and against a not-bad opponent (ND), although Brey has never been noted as a defensive-minded coach. Overall CA is averaging 27 pts shooting just under 40% on FGs, but about 45% on 3s. So, i'm not trying to say he's not playing pretty well. I guess Carolina fans and the media get all excited about pt totals. However, our own Cassius Stanley scored 19 on 11 shots, or less than half the shots Anthony used to get 1 more pt.
Anyway, as for the rest of the CHeaters, it looks like Brooks is playing pretty well so far. Their grad tranfer Pierce has played well. Leaky Black has been neither good nor bad. Bacot got injured (apparent concussion?) but looked rather mediocre in his 1st game, so he gets a pass.
Anyway, the CHeaterholes are ahead of Duke in the ACC standings, due to schedule fluke, but at this point in the season, they've got at least more questions about their team than Duke does. So far, Duke has shown good balance on offense, or at least pretty balanced distribution among players, and a very stout defense. I would chalk up the balance to Tre Jones being a very good, cerebral PG, and wouldn't be surprised to see a few games this year when Stanley, Hurt or Carey find that they can really abuse an opponent and go off. OTOH, CHeaterville has a PG who has shown that his ceiling is the roof apparently, but that he doesn't do much to make his teammates better, but perhaps that will change. There don't appear to be other players who can create offense (although aside from Jones, that is true of Duke, too) and there is a sharp drop-off in productivity after their top 3. The defense at the Dump seems to be at least pretty good so far this year though.
It's only 2 games in, and it's probably too early to really say that any questions have been answered about any teams, but i do like some of the hints we're getting about Duke. I'm guessing Holeville is pleased with Anthony, but perhaps a bit less enamored of the rest of the team.

[JasonEvans]

Pitt in trouble late vs Nicholls St..

Nichols 75, Pitt 70

Ouch

[Wahoo2000]

FSU is a 5.5 pt dog playing @UF, tipping in about 40 min on ESPN. Gators are a VERY trendy darkhorse title pick right now, and a big performance from the Noles could be a statement win for the ACC. I really like White and the roster UF has, but will definitely be rooting for the Noles today (though if I had to make a bet, I'd say UF will probably roll them). Should be an entertaining game any way you slice it, and since I'm a lions fan and Stafford now has a broken back, it's ok for me to skip out on the NFL today totally.

[TheOldBattleship]

FSU is a 5.5 pt dog playing @UF, tipping in about 40 min on ESPN. Gators are a VERY trendy darkhorse title pick right now, and a big performance from the Noles could be a statement win for the ACC. I really like White and the roster UF has, but will definitely be rooting for the Noles today (though if I had to make a bet, I'd say UF will probably roll them). Should be an entertaining game any way you slice it, and since I'm a lions fan and Stafford now has a broken back, it's ok for me to skip out on the NFL today totally.

This is a really interesting game, though, one of those rockfights mentioned earlier in the thread. It's 9-8 right now with Florida up. About 8 min in. FSU looks TOUGH defensively thus far, but pretty inept offensively. They're running a 1-2-2 zone press pretty consistently, and are long and fast and rotate well. Florida has looked young and overeager thus far offensively, which isn't surprising, since they are pretty freshman heavy. Glad we won't be seeing as much of Blackshear this year now that he's in the SEC. Not much good going for the guys who are supposed to be FSU's best three players: Walker (MJ; CJ transferred to Ohio State, I think), Forrest, and Vassell.

[MChambers]

FSU up 42-31 with 12 minutes to go.

[TheOldBattleship]

Florida is now 2-18 from three. Mike White's ultra-green light for his guys to take threes whenever they want has always worked pretty well to keep people off guard and to open up the floor for drives and cuts, but a) FSU's length and quickness to contest shots have been very impressive today, and b) whether it's the youth or what, nobody's (even Locke, who was a sniper last year) been shooting well even on open shots for Florida. FSU's willingness to pack the paint and then contest out because of that length/quickness on the perimeter has really kept the Florida offense nailed down so far.

Edit: Florida has just hit back to back completely open threes, so now 4-20; I've jinxed FSU.

[SavDukeGrad]

Good bounce back win for the Noles. Florida may be a trendy pick for the FF, but they certainly didn’t look like it in this game. From the part of the game that I saw, Blackshear was surprisingly pretty much a non-factor, except for his double digit rebounds.

[TheOldBattleship]

Super strong finish for FSU, and they run away with it a bit for a 63-51 win. Big-time win for the ACC and for FSU's tourney hopes. Florida got basically nothing from their guards, including their bigtime recruit freshmen (Lewis and Mann, both of whom have one and done aspirations): Nembhard, Locke, Mann, Lewis, and Glover went 4-29 from the field and 3-18 from three combined. Yikes. Will be interesting to see where they go from here. Like everyone else, I had thought that adding Blackshear to their perimeter talent made this squad a title contender and major threat to Kentucky in the SEC, but they certainly didn't look anything close to that today. Part of it was just fairly open shots not dropping, part of it was FSU's defensive effort and plan (major props to Hamilton: the defensive gameplan was great, I thought), and part might just be youth. Regardless, though, Mike White will have some work to do before conference play, that's for sure.

[TheOldBattleship]

Good bounce back win for the Noles. Florida may be a trendy pick for the FF, but they certainly didn’t look like it in this game. From the part of the game that I saw, Blackshear was surprisingly pretty much a non-factor, except for his double digit rebounds.

I actually thought that Blackshear was pretty good (granted, they probably want him to be more than "pretty good," but still). They had a TON of trouble getting him the ball, and FSU doubled a lot right on the catch. Blackshear tried to move the ball out quickly, but FSU's rotations to that first shooter off the pass were really, really impressive in taking away any advantage off the double (and the fact that Florida couldn't hit a shot to save their lives helped). Classic FSU strategy to contest every shot he took SUPER aggressively, too (who else even plays enough guys to commit that many fouls with their bigs?); it really worked well, as Blackshear shot a ton of free throws, but wasn't a big factor offensively otherwise. Again, props to Hamilton on the plan and on committing to it even when it meant giving up 15 free throws to Blackshear.

[Nrrrrvous]

I've been thinking this for a couple weeks but today just made me have to say something.

The talking heads have been saying that Blackshear is going to transform Florida basketball. That he takes them from a middle of the road team to a national title contender, etc. etc. Where does this come from? I figured I would keep my mouth shut, that maybe they see something that I don't but today just reminded me.

Look at it this way, Buzz surrounded him with lights-out shooters that could not be ignored. So for the past couple years he's been able to go one-on-one down low. He's put up good numbers, last year was ~15 and 7 but not anything, in my opinion, that lead me to believe that this year he would lead a team to the championship! Am I the only one thinking this?

So today, against FSU, a projected mid-upper tier ACC team, not a bad line, 10, 13, 2, 2, 1 but again, pretty much what he has done for VT for a couple years. (BTW, all 10 points came from FTs. He was o-fer from the field)

[Wahoo2000]

Watched the FSU@UF game in its entirety. Florida could not throw the ball in the ocean. They had one guy show up offensively, sophomore forward Keyonte Johnson, who was 8-12 from the field, including 1-2 from 3. The ENTIRETY of the rest of Florida's roster went 6-38 from the field (15.7%) and 3-20 from 3 (15%). Yuck. Certainly some props go to FSU's defense, but it was definitely only part of the equation and UF's players get a ton of credit for being just plain bad too.

I haven't looked at any global stats across D1 yet, but it seems like the vast majority of games I've watched so far have been rife with awful shooting and sloppy turnovers - much moreso than your typical "November basketball". I wonder if moving the 3pt line back is having the opposite effect of what was hoped for when they made that rule change...

[BobBender]

Nichols 75, Pitt 70

Ouch

What’s the unabashed rooting for Pitt about, especially in the JD King morning updates? I know Jeff Capel is appreciated as a Blue Devil, but he took a job within the conference and they are just another foe. And he’s now 44 years old and has had a few other HC jobs before. It’s not like he moved on from starting as a Duke assistant to this job. Rather, the stop back in Durham was realistically a chance to rehab a sullied reputation. And yes, he was admittedly a master recruiter.

[akg4y]

Hoos held their second straight team to 34 points... Beating JMU 65-34. JMU only made 4 two pointers and shot 24% from the field with 19 turnovers.

UVA continues to struggle from 3, shooting only 4-24 but were 21-37 from two not including the walk ons, and had 14 offensive boards.

Casey Morsell and Kody Stattman the two new starting guards for UVA combined to shoot 2-18, rest of the team was 23-43 not including the walk ons.

Assuming the guards start making shots this team could be better than expected.

[Nrrrrvous]

Assuming the guards start making shots this team could be better than expected.

Where have I heard that before?

[JasonEvans]

What’s the unabashed rooting for Pitt about, especially in the JD King morning updates? I know Jeff Capel is appreciated as a Blue Devil, but he took a job within the conference and they are just another foe. And he’s now 44 years old and has had a few other HC jobs before. It’s not like he moved on from starting as a Duke assistant to this job. Rather, the stop back in Durham was realistically a chance to rehab a sullied reputation. And yes, he was admittedly a master recruiter.

I don’t know why you would be surprised to see that this site pays extra attention and gives extra love to teams that are coached by members of The Brotherhood, especially a former associate head coach like Capel. There is no requirement that other Duke fans feel the same but plenty of us are going to care more about Pitt’s success than we do about Clemson or BC.