ALL AROUND THE ACC – SATURDAY
You could go put something sexy on and go make love to your spouse/lover, but instead, how about a little ACC wrap up from Saturday’s slate of games to put you to bed?
Georgia Tech over North Carolina, 73-71
For 32 minutes, the Tar Heels were the better team, yet it made no difference thanks to a 20-point deficit to open the game. Talk about a let down. At least to me, the issue is simple, there is zero leadership on the court. There is no one player who can stop the bleeding when everything goes wrong.
Look at all of Carolina’s loses, they’ve allowed the opponent at some point to go on huge runs. Against Syracuse, the Orange opened the second half on a 22-1 run. Against Kentucky, they let the Cats go on a stunning 27-2 run (after taking a 9-2 lead to open the game). Against Texas, they went into the half allowing the Longhorns to go a 23-7 run. Hell, against Charleston, they gave up a 11-1 run at the end that sent the game into overtime.
Of course, thanks to the name on the front of the jersey, losing three out of four still won’t be bad enough to send the Tar Heels out of the top-25…even though it should.
As for the Jackets…what can you say about them? In their past four games, they’ve beaten ACC powerhouses Duke and UNC, but lost to Virginia and (from the SEC) Georgia. I think what it shows is that Paul Hewitt has got himself a ton of talent, but not enough experience to make them an elite team. Still, after blowing a 20-point lead, you have to love the way they went toe-to-toe at the end against the baby blues.
VIRGINIA OVER MIAMI, 75-57
Hey, look who’s still undefeated in the ACC. Not only that, the Cavaliers are 3-0 against ranked teams, although let’s not bullsh*t ourselves, Miami shouldn’t be ranked. Yeah, they’ve won 15 games, but go back and checkout their schedule. You could put me at center and the Canes would probably still win some of those early non-conference games.
After a rough 4-4 start, Virginia has rolled, winning seven-straight, riding their 6’6 guard, Sylven Landesberg. He has scored at least 18 or more in their last five games, and in his last three (all in the ACC), he’s hit 21 of 45. This kids got talent and should be taking 15 shots per game.
CLEMSON OVER NORTH CAROLINA STATE, 73-70
Something about getting crushed by Duke has lit a fire up Clemson’s asses. They’ve run off three-straight wins and have led by 20 or more in all three victories…although they did everything they could to surrender this one against NC State. I’ve been saying all along, get the damn ball to Booker and good things happen. After being shut down by the Blue Devils, Booker has led the team in shooting and the results have been great. Booker is 25 of 42, averaging 20ppg.
The Wolfpack dropped their second straight ACC home game, but at least Tracy Smith rebounded after an awful night against the Seminoles Tuesday night. He scored 16 points and grabbed nine boards.
Florida State over Virginia Tech, 63-58
The Seminoles, desperate for a win after dropping back-to-back games against (what I would call) inferior ACC opponents, held on after a late rally to beat the Hokies. This game was all about balance. No Seminoles player took more than nine shots, while seven players grabbed at least three boards.
Virginia Tech was basically a two-man team. Their guards, Delaney & Hudson, took 29 of the teams 55 shots, but you can’t blame them. They hit 13 of their 19 baskets, as the rest of the team shot 6-26.
MARYLAND OVER BOSTON COLLEGE, 73-57
The BC Eagles continue their audition for the league’s worst team, getting blown out in their third straight ACC game. This time there was no excuse…they were at home, facing an unranked Maryland team.
Terps guard Greivis Vasquez appears to be rounding into mid-season form. He scored 17, dishing out nine assists, although this was the first time in eight games he didn’t score 20+. Yet, that was probably a good thing. He scored 30 the other day in a loss to Wake Forest, but he needed a stunning 27 shots to get there. Maryland is a better team when his assists are higher and his scoring is just a tad bit lower.
Right now, Boston College is a mess on offense. They hit 37% of their shots, only 64% of their free throws and turned it over twice as much (18-9). During their current three-game slide, they are hitting just over 36% from the floor and around 65% from the free throw line. Not good.