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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
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    Seattle, WA

    This Week in the ACC - Postseason

    First off, a fond farewell to Boston College, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest. Some of you exceeded expectations, others fell short, others were, roughly, who we thought you would be, but all of you are done playing for 2013. As for the rest of the league, we've got three squads in the NIT and four in the NCAAs - interestingly enough, everyone opens on the same two days. Here's to the conference having a better postseason than regular season.

    Monday was dark.

    Tuesday tips off NIT play. Maryland gets things going, hosting regular season MAAC champions Niagara. Niagara had a rough non-conference season, with its only non-conference top 100 win coming over New Mexico State (it also went just 1-2 against Iona, the only top 100 team in the MAAC). Looking at opponents that rank somewhat similar to the Terps, Niagara got smoked by both Bucknell (88-71) and Notre Dame (89-67). FSU tips off next, hosting Louisiana Tech. The Bulldogs were the darlings of the WAC before getting pasted by New Mexico State and Denver at the end of the regular season and dropping the opening round tournament game to UTSA. They come into this game on a 3-game losing streak after having won 17 straight just before that. Tech is awful on offense but very stingy on defense and particularly good at forcing turnovers, something that has been a weakness for the Noles all season. FSU is the slight favorite only because the game is in Tallahassee. Finally, Virginia hosts one of the darlings of last year's NCAAT - Norfolk State. This year's version went undefeated in regular season MEAC play before dropping an opening-round overtime game to Bethune-Cookman. No top 100 wins; the only 3 top 100 games were a 10 point loss to Illinois, a 22 point loss to NC State, and a 28 point loss to Iona. Virginia (the highest ranked team in Pomeroy not to get into the field) was lights out at home this season (Delaware game notwithstanding) and should be again tonight.

    [55]Maryland hosts [130]Niagara
    [117]Florida State hosts [86]Louisiana Tech
    [27]Virginia hosts [224]Norfolk State

    Wednesday and Thursday are dark (although Thursday may have second round NIT action - if they win, Maryland gets the winner of Denver/Ohio, Virginia gets the winner of St. Joseph's/St. John's, and FSU gets the winner of Southern Miss/Charleston Southern. This post will update as results/schedules develop).

    Friday gets us the real thing - NCAA action for four ACC schools. Duke kicks things off against Albany. I know a lot of people here have PTSD from the Lehigh game, but Albany is a much worse team than Lehigh was last year and should not be quite as much of a threat. The Wolfpack get the Temple Owls, which may have had as schizophrenic a season as State did - Temple beat three top teams in Syracuse, St. Louis, and VCU (plus gave Kansas all it could handle in Allen Fieldhouse) but dropped games to Canisius, St. Bonaventure, and Duquesne (the Dukes' only A-10 win). Khalif Wyatt is really good, but Brown has the size to contain him. Temple's D is not particularly strong - and neither is NC State's - so this could be a high scoring game. Miami goes next against the Pacific Tigers out of the Big West. Pacific played a tough non-conference schedule (other than a couple non-DI games) and shouldn't be intimated by the Canes. Three-point shooting is their hallmark - 13th in the country at 39% as a team, they have 8 guys who made at least 20 threes and all shot better than 34%. While that could be the recipe for an upset, they will have an incredibly difficult time stopping Miami from scoring, particularly inside where they don't have anyone with the size to deal with Kadji, Johnson, or Gamble. Concluding the day is UNC against Villanova, another team with high-level wins (Louisville, Syracuse, Marquette, Georgetown) and low-level losses (Columbia, Seton Hall, Providence twice). The one thing they do best - literally, better than any other team in the country - is get to the line, but Carolina is excellent at avoiding fouls (insert snarky Carolina refs comment here) and Villanova is otherwise terrible on offense. The matchup between Jayvaughn Pinkston and PJ Hairston should be fun to watch - Pinkston is the focus of their offense and loves to play inside; PJ has the size to match him, but if he gets in foul trouble (Pinkston draws 7.8 fouls per 40 on opponents) and has to sit large chunks of the game, Carolina's offense could really struggle for it.

    [6]Duke vs. [147]Albany in Philadelphia
    [35]NC State vs. [68]Temple in Dayton
    [14]Miami vs. [121]Pacific in Austin
    [28]North Carolina vs. [45]Villanova in Kansas City

    Saturday and Sunday hopefully will be filled with hoops - to be updated as results and schedules are announced.
    Just be you. You is enough. - K, 4/5/10, 0:13.8 to play, 60-59 Duke.

    You're all jealous hypocrites. - Titus on Laettner

    You see those guys? Animals. They're animals. - SIU Coach Chris Lowery, on Duke

  2. #2

    Friday

    Am I the only guy disgusted that all four ACC teams are schedulef to play on Friday. It seems like something similar has happened the last two years with all almost all our teams playing on the same day.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Quote Originally Posted by Olympic Fan View Post
    Am I the only guy disgusted that all four ACC teams are schedulef to play on Friday. It seems like something similar has happened the last two years with all almost all our teams playing on the same day.
    To be fair, a lot of that has been due to subregional sharing under the pod system, which is good for fans on the whole.

  4. #4

    pod system

    Quote Originally Posted by Duvall View Post
    To be fair, a lot of that has been due to subregional sharing under the pod system, which is good for fans on the whole.
    I don't quite see this -- we have four teams in four separate pods, spread all across the country ... yet all four of the ACC pods play on the same day. I don't think you can blame that on the pod system.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
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    Fayetteville, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by Olympic Fan View Post
    Am I the only guy disgusted that all four ACC teams are schedulef to play on Friday. It seems like something similar has happened the last two years with all almost all our teams playing on the same day.
    Actually I like it. It frees up Thursday and Saturday for the other necessities of life.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Seattle, WA
    The ACC went 2-for-3 to open the NIT and one of those two is back in action tonight. Maryland hosts the Denver Pioneers in round 2 of the NIT (winner gets the winner of Alabama-Stanford). The Pioneers got off to a slow start, sitting at 4-7 on December 29, before finishing 17-1 down the stretch of the regular season and ending up on top of the WAC. They then promptly lost their opening round WAC tourney game to Texas-Arlington before righting the ship against Ohio to start the NIT. Denver shoots the ball extremely well, particularly from 2 - the top 6 in their rotation all hit at least 52.5% of their 2-point shots. Denver is also very pesky around the perimeter - third-best in the country both at forcing turnovers and at getting steals (which means that many of their turnovers are live ball turnovers, likely leading to easier points). That could be problematic for a Terp team that has had trouble holding onto the ball. However, and I think this will prove to be a big however, Denver is short. All five of their starters are between 6-2 and 6-6, and the tallest guy off the bench at 6-7 gets only a few minutes a game. As a result, the Pioneers are a terrible rebounding team on both ends of the court. The single best thing Maryland does on the offensive side of the ball is rebound, and if Alex Len can stay in the game, the best option may just be to throw up shots and let him use what will likely be a 7-inch height advantage all game long to scoop up offensive putbacks. Padgett, Layman, Cleare, and Mitchell all have at least 2 inches on any of Denver's starters - if Maryland can keep two forwards on the court at all times, it will be very tough for Denver to get any rebounds. They may still be able to overcome that with turnovers and shot making, but it's a tall hill to climb.

    [56]Maryland hosts [40]Denver
    Just be you. You is enough. - K, 4/5/10, 0:13.8 to play, 60-59 Duke.

    You're all jealous hypocrites. - Titus on Laettner

    You see those guys? Animals. They're animals. - SIU Coach Chris Lowery, on Duke

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Chesapeake, VA.
    Maryland came up with a 10-point victory, but it wasn't an easy game by any means.

  8. Quote Originally Posted by pfrduke View Post
    The ACC went 2-for-3 to open the NIT and one of those two is back in action tonight. Maryland hosts the Denver Pioneers in round 2 of the NIT (winner gets the winner of Alabama-Stanford). The Pioneers got off to a slow start, sitting at 4-7 on December 29, before finishing 17-1 down the stretch of the regular season and ending up on top of the WAC. They then promptly lost their opening round WAC tourney game to Texas-Arlington before righting the ship against Ohio to start the NIT. Denver shoots the ball extremely well, particularly from 2 - the top 6 in their rotation all hit at least 52.5% of their 2-point shots. Denver is also very pesky around the perimeter - third-best in the country both at forcing turnovers and at getting steals (which means that many of their turnovers are live ball turnovers, likely leading to easier points). That could be problematic for a Terp team that has had trouble holding onto the ball. However, and I think this will prove to be a big however, Denver is short. All five of their starters are between 6-2 and 6-6, and the tallest guy off the bench at 6-7 gets only a few minutes a game. As a result, the Pioneers are a terrible rebounding team on both ends of the court. The single best thing Maryland does on the offensive side of the ball is rebound, and if Alex Len can stay in the game, the best option may just be to throw up shots and let him use what will likely be a 7-inch height advantage all game long to scoop up offensive putbacks. Padgett, Layman, Cleare, and Mitchell all have at least 2 inches on any of Denver's starters - if Maryland can keep two forwards on the court at all times, it will be very tough for Denver to get any rebounds. They may still be able to overcome that with turnovers and shot making, but it's a tall hill to climb.

    [56]Maryland hosts [40]Denver

    Got to spread the love before I can approve your posts pfrduke, but as always, thanks for these updates.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Seattle, WA
    All remaining games this week are Sunday basketball. Three of the four ACC squads made it to the round of 32 (as many as the Big East, but with half the bids!) and UVA has second round NIT action as well. Starting with the morning tip in the little dance, UVA plays host to a St. John's team that really struggles on the offensive side of the ball, particularly in shooting. Against Virginia's pack line defense, which forces difficult jump shots, expect brick city from the Red Storm. Their hope will be to ugly up the game and keep the score low - which Virginia will be perfectly willing to do - but I'm not sure if they can score enough, particularly playing in Charlottesville. Winner gets Iowa on Wednesday.

    Back in the big dance, it's a lot of Sunday evening action for the ACC. UNC gets things started at 5:15 against Kansas. It's the third time in six years that Roy has taken on his old team in the tournament, and Kansas has gotten the upper hand both times. They'll be the favorite tomorrow as well, but if UNC can get some offensive flow against Kansas's defense - which is easier said than done - the Jayhawks could have trouble scoring enough to keep up. Kansas is just 3-4 when it allows its opponent to score better than a point per possession. Next up (in the second-to-last game of the day) is Miami against Illinois. Durand Scott and Trey McKinney Jones will be set loose to do their defensive thing on Brandon Paul. Illinois is a bit of an odd team in that they're not particularly good at the thing they've chosen to make the focus of their offense - shooting 3s. The Illini love jacking it up from deep, taking almost 42% of their shots from behind the arc (25th in the country), but they are 256th in the country at making 3s, hitting only 32%. It's a team-wide problem - nobody with more than 2 attempts shoots better than 33.6%. Illinois will be vulnerable to Miami on the glass and Miami's perimeter size has the ability to disrupt Illinois shooters; they'll have to get uncharacteristically hot from deep to win. Finally, Duke-Creighton is the last slot of the night. Creighton is the best shooting team in the country, hitting both inside and out at an alarmingly successful rate. Much of this is thanks to Doug McDermott, who shoots 59% from 2 and almost 50% from 3 (at 147 attempts). They're not as stout defensively, particularly in terms of forcing turnovers. Since Duke is similarly weighted more toward offense than defense (though not as dramatically so), we could see a whole lot of buckets made.

    [31]Virginia hosts [101]St. John's
    [27]North Carolina vs. [7]Kansas in Kansas City
    [13]Miami vs. [40]Illinois in Austin
    [6]Duke vs. [17]Creighton in Philadelphia
    Just be you. You is enough. - K, 4/5/10, 0:13.8 to play, 60-59 Duke.

    You're all jealous hypocrites. - Titus on Laettner

    You see those guys? Animals. They're animals. - SIU Coach Chris Lowery, on Duke

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Seattle, WA
    Maryland-Alabama is going down to the wire with a trip to NYC on the line. 3 point Terp lead with 1:15 to play.
    Just be you. You is enough. - K, 4/5/10, 0:13.8 to play, 60-59 Duke.

    You're all jealous hypocrites. - Titus on Laettner

    You see those guys? Animals. They're animals. - SIU Coach Chris Lowery, on Duke

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Quote Originally Posted by pfrduke View Post
    Maryland-Alabama is going down to the wire with a trip to NYC on the line. 3 point Terp lead with 1:15 to play.
    Maryland missing free throws? Weird.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Seattle, WA
    Terps eke it out. Len makes up for gacking a couple free throws with a big block down the stretch.
    Just be you. You is enough. - K, 4/5/10, 0:13.8 to play, 60-59 Duke.

    You're all jealous hypocrites. - Titus on Laettner

    You see those guys? Animals. They're animals. - SIU Coach Chris Lowery, on Duke

  13. #13

    NIT

    That sends Maryland to the NIT semifinals in New York.

    Virginia can earn a trip to the Garden by beating Iowa in C'ville Wednesday night.

    Unfortunately, the brackets would match Maryland and Virginia in the semifinals ... so if the Cavs win tomorrow, the ACC is guaranteed one team in the NIT championship game.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Steamboat Springs, CO
    Quote Originally Posted by Olympic Fan View Post
    That sends Maryland to the NIT semifinals in New York.

    Virginia can earn a trip to the Garden by beating Iowa in C'ville Wednesday night.

    Unfortunately, the brackets would match Maryland and Virginia in the semifinals ... so if the Cavs win tomorrow, the ACC is guaranteed one team in the NIT championship game.
    and one team, with a win in the consolation game, could hang a third place NIT banner, which is becoming a tradition in the ACC. -- sagegrouse

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Seattle, WA
    Bringing this back up just to do the season wrap-up against non-conference opponents. The ACC went 11-7 in the postseason, including 5-5 against BCS opponents, keeping the conference with a winning mark overall against those conferences. Overall, the ACC won 74.1% of non-conference games, including 82.9% against the bottom 26* conferences. From my perspective, it's that number that needs to improve for the conference to get back toward the top again - ACC schools had a total of 12 losses to schools in the Atlantic Sun, Big South, Colonial, Ivy, Metro Atlantic, Northeast, Southern, and Sun Belt conferences, all games that ACC schools should not be losing

    *this assumes the MWC and A-10 rank below all BCS conferences, which may or may not be the case this season.

    ACC Non-Conference Record: 126-44
    ACC vs. BCS Opponents: 24-23
    America East: 4-0
    Atlantic 10: 12-4

    Atlantic Sun: 7-2
    Big XII: 1-5
    Big East: 5-4
    Big South: 7-1
    Big Ten: 10-8
    Big West: 3-0
    Colonial: 5-3
    CUSA: 7-0
    Horizon: 3-0
    Ivy: 2-1
    MAAC: 3-1

    MAC: 3-0
    MEAC: 8-0
    MVC: 2-1
    MWC: 1-1
    NEC: 3-1

    OVC: 1-0
    Pac-12: 1-3
    Patriot: 2-0
    SEC: 7-3
    Southern: 13-2
    Southland: 2-0
    Summit: 1-0
    Sun Belt: 4-1

    SWAC: 3-0
    West Coast: 3-2

    WAC: 2-1
    Non D-I: 1-0
    Just be you. You is enough. - K, 4/5/10, 0:13.8 to play, 60-59 Duke.

    You're all jealous hypocrites. - Titus on Laettner

    You see those guys? Animals. They're animals. - SIU Coach Chris Lowery, on Duke

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