ACC Roundup

[gw67]

DBR had a nice summary of the five games today and they included several links. One that they did not include was a nice article in this morning's Post by Marc Craig on the Terps' James Gist.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/11/AR2008011103452.html

Gist had a slow start to the season and his play was poor in the early parts of nearly every one of their losses. He has played well recently and apparently has become more of a leader on the team according to the article. One item in the article that caught my eye was that Johnny Rhodes spoke to the team after the American loss. For long time Maryland fans, Rhodes is the Terps equivalent of the Devils' Nate James. He wasn't a star but he was an essential part of his teams and was an excellent defensive player and rebounder as well as a team leader.

gw67

[Olympic Fan]

I spent the day watching ACC basketball (well, I did check in on Georgetown-UConn) and saw two blowouts, one great finish and one pretty good game.

Obviously, UNC-State was a rout ... and is covered elsewhere.

But BC's rout of Wake in Boston was huge for the Eagles. Strange that earlier in the week, Wake had a great homecourt win over a pretty good BYU team, while BC lost at home to Robert Morris. But the Eagles got a great first half from John Oates (11 points on three 3-pointers) and a great second half from Tyler Roche (three 3-pointers) and were never theatened.

The Georgia Tech-Miami game was pretty good ... Georgia Tech led by 12 points early, but had a total meltdown at the end of the half. Miami took the lead and Hewitt had to be restrained by his assistants from attacking a ref.

The 'Canes got a great game from James Dews and controlled the second half, although Georgia Tech settled down and stayed within range.

The great game was in Blackburg, where the Terps suffered what had to be a bitter loss. Playing without Eric Hayes, Maryland led almost all the way (I was clicking back and fourth with the Miami and UConn games, so I might have missed it, but I'm pretty sure that VPI never led in the second half until freshman Jeff Allen hit one of two free throws with 12 seconds left to give the Hokes a one-point lead.

Maryland really blew the last possession -- they inbounded to Vasquez (who had played well), who dribbled upcourt slowly -- then pulled up five-feet behind the three-point line and launched a contested 3-pointer. The ball hit the back iron and bounced high in the air and by the time it came down the game was over.

I can't get the FSU-Clemson game tonight, but I'll be trying to follow on gametracker.

PS UConn blew a chance for a big win. They trailed G-town most of the way, but had a nice spurt late in the second half and were up six with two minutes to play. Then they got passive on defense, dropped back in a tight zone and gave up two uncontested 3-pointers to tie the game, then with four seconds left (and the shot clock running down), GU's Roy Hibbert hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to win. True, it was only his second 3 of the year, but with a chance to win at Georgetown, the Huskies allowed three wide-open 3s in a row to lose.

BTW: It's barely a week into the Big East season, but the announers said that Georgetown is the last of 16 conference teams that's unbeaten in league play.

[Bob Green]

I believe Maryland is going to struggle this year in end of game situations due to being young. Vasquez will learn and become a better player.

I didn't see any ACC basketball today as there was no coverage on AFN. I'm glad Clemson pulled it together and won in 2OT. After their flop last year, I desire to see Clemson make it to the NCAAT.

[jimsumner]

Johnny Rhodes may not have been a star but he was mighty good. He scored over 1700 points at Maryland and missed making first-team All-ACC in 1996 by one point.

GW67 is correct. He did a lot of things well and was an especially tough defender.

[riverside6]

Johnny Rhodes may not have been a star but he was mighty good. He scored over 1700 points at Maryland and missed making first-team All-ACC in 1996 by one point.

GW67 is correct. He did a lot of things well and was an especially tough defender.
Just to add to the point that Rhodes is a pretty tough defender, he is the ACC career leader in steals (http://www.scacchoops.com/forms/ACCRecords.asp?SortColumn=6).

Back to the day in ACC hoops, I was like Olympic Fan and was glued to the TV for each of the games, but unfortunately the game of the day wasn't on TV. Where is the ACC network when we need it?

All in all, I'm just happy ACC hoops is back.