This Week in the ACC - 1/10-1/16

[CameronDuke]

Cuse beats Pitt 77-61.

[CameronDuke]

FSU beats Miami, FL 65-64 in Tallahassee.

[weezie]

Have to admit the fsu fan dressed as a mime was petty funny.
Beret and all!

[Utley]

Miami - FSU game was pretty special. End of the game had some similar moments to ours. Miami making big plays and getting a lot of good bounces. Moore did literally the same drive on their last play - defender didn’t fall and it got blocked. Moore ended up getting the ball back on that possession and hitting a big 3. Miami lost on a bad foul call on Moore - looked like good D to me.

The more I see them the better I think they are.

Same great games tonight between Texas Tech and Baylor and this one.

[tommy]

FSU beats Miami, FL 65-64 in Tallahassee.

So maybe just maybe those claiming we had no chance at the ACC regular season championship had just a miiiiiinor overreaction to Saturday’s loss? Miami is good but they’re not elite. They’re gonna lose plenty in the league.

[dukelifer]

FSU beats Miami, FL 65-64 in Tallahassee.

Must be tough losing a close game.

[DukieInBrasil]

FSU got the bounces, breaks and calls at the end of the game that Duke couldn't. Just goes to highlight how much those 1st half turnovers lost the game for us.

[CDu]

So maybe just maybe those claiming we had no chance at the ACC regular season championship had just a miiiiiinor overreaction to Saturday’s loss? Miami is good but they’re not elite. They’re gonna lose plenty in the league.

Yep. Miami has a good chance of losing 2 of their next 3 games too. They have UNC at home, FSU at home, and then they go to Va Tech. We could very feasibly be ahead of them by this time next week.

Obviously no guarantees, and our loss definitely makes life more difficult than had we won. But there is SOOOOOO much time left, and the rest of the ACC is so inconsistent and not very good that we should still have plenty of opportunity to win the regular season crown.

[CameronDuke]

Duke -5 at Wake Forest

Notre Dame -3 vs Clemson

Louisville -6.5 vs North Carolina State

UVa -1.5 vs Virginia Tech

Boston College -2 vs Georgia Tech

Busy night for ACC hoops!

[UrinalCake]

Miami lost on a bad foul call on Moore - looked like good D to me.

I thought it was the right call. Moore brought his arms down and made contact with the shooter’s arms. With that said, in that scenario (0.8 seconds left in the game) the refs tend to swallow their whistles. So I was surprised that the call was made, even though it was the right call.

To me it was the perfect outcome - Miami got the L to knock them off the undefeated ranks in conference, but it was close and they proved they’re a good team. Nothing worse than a team beating us and then laying an egg in their next game, which Miami did not do.

[tommy]

Yep. Miami has a good chance of losing 2 of their next 3 games too. They have UNC at home, FSU at home, and then they go to Va Tech. We could very feasibly be ahead of them by this time next week.

Obviously no guarantees, and our loss definitely makes life more difficult than had we won. But there is SOOOOOO much time left, and the rest of the ACC is so inconsistent and not very good that we should still have plenty of opportunity to win the regular season crown.

And, as I said after our loss, to win it comfortably.

[CDu]

And, as I said after our loss, to win it comfortably.

Yep. Torvik expects us to win the regular season by 2 games. And they don’t even have Miami finishing 2nd (they have them finishing 4th behind us, UNC, and Wake).

[Music man55]

This Charley Moore that transferred in to Miami is one very good point guard. It seems like every year in the acc, there are a couple of really excellent guards transfer in. I love all our guards, but man, we don’t have a guard like this Charley Moore. Miami is fortunate to have him.

[dukebluesincebirth]

This Charley Moore that transferred in to Miami is one very good point guard. It seems like every year in the acc, there are a couple of really excellent guards transfer in. I love all our guards, but man, we don’t have a guard like this Charley Moore. Miami is fortunate to have him.

Agreed. Being a 6th year college player really shows. In Cameron and in Talahassee last night, the thing that sticks out most to me is his poise under pressure. He's not rattled by fan noise or game pressure, and he rarely turns the ball over. His shot selection is excellent, lets the open shot come to him and usually doesn't force anything. Funny that he tried the exact same drive and move last night in an almost identicle situation as in Cameron. Failed last night, but then drilled a 3 on the offensive rebound. He's solid.

[UrinalCake]

It's an interesting question to consider what our rotation would look like had someone like Moore transferred in. Would he be starting in place of Roach or Keels? Would his presence have caused Roach to transfer away or Keels to not come? And if that were the case, would Duke fans be happy with that tradeoff? Would we still have a six man rotation with one of those two being completely displaced? Would Wendell have made the same offseason leap without the motivation that he would have to fill the upperclassman void by himself? Finally, could we gain a tactical advantage by our opponents being confused as to which Moore they were supposed to guard? All questions that are impossible to answer.

[CameronDuke]

It's an interesting question to consider what our rotation would look like had someone like Moore transferred in. Would he be starting in place of Roach or Keels? Would his presence have caused Roach to transfer away or Keels to not come? And if that were the case, would Duke fans be happy with that tradeoff? Would we still have a six man rotation with one of those two being completely displaced? Would Wendell have made the same offseason leap without the motivation that he would have to fill the upperclassman void by himself? Finally, could we gain a tactical advantage by our opponents being confused as to which Moore they were supposed to guard? All questions that are impossible to answer.

Good questions, similar questions can be asked potentially if Goldwire had stayed for an extra season this year rather than transferring to Oklahoma.

[tommy]

It's an interesting question to consider what our rotation would look like had someone like Moore transferred in. Would he be starting in place of Roach or Keels? Would his presence have caused Roach to transfer away or Keels to not come? And if that were the case, would Duke fans be happy with that tradeoff? Would we still have a six man rotation with one of those two being completely displaced? Would Wendell have made the same offseason leap without the motivation that he would have to fill the upperclassman void by himself? Finally, could we gain a tactical advantage by our opponents being confused as to which Moore they were supposed to guard? All questions that are impossible to answer.

I don't think we would've been thrilled at all at the time the transfer would've occurred. The reality is that Charlie Moore is playing way better this year at Miami than he did at his previous three stops. To wit:

Coming into this year he was a career 37.5 FG%. This year, at Miami, he's shooting 46%.
Prior to this year, he was a career 32.3% 3 point shooter. This year at Miami, he's shooting 41.6%.
Prior to this year, he averaged 1.06 steals per game. This year he's at 2.1
And prior to this year he averaged 2.52 turnovers per game. This year he's at 1.8.

Who knows whether it's that he's finally found a system that works for him, or a coach, or it's just maturity or what. But he's been a much higher level player this year than there was reason to believe he was, based on his play at Cal, Kansas, and DePaul.

[chrishoke]

Clemson down 17 at the half to ND.

[CameronDuke]

Notre Dame beat Clemson 72-56 in South Bend.

Clemson is now 10-6, 2-3 (9th in the ACC).

Notre Dame is now 10-5, 4-1 (3rd in the ACC).

[CameronDuke]

UVa leads Virginia Tech 25-23 at the half.

UVa held Virginia Tech to 3-11 shooting from 3 that half - 27.3%. The Hokies came into the game shooting 38.8% as a a team overall.