Dave Sez

ACC Review - 1/12/2007

Saturday, Jan. 6
Va. Tech 69, Duke 67 (OT)
I talked about this one here. The bottom line is that Duke is going to have problems with any team with good guards and/or athletic wings and the Hokies have very good guards.

With this loss by Duke, the ACC no longer has a clear #2 team. It could be just about anyone other than Miami, NC State or Wake.

BC 74, N.C. State 58
The Eagles have definitely cured whatever was ailing them a few weeks ago. Of course, getting Jared Dudley back was the main medicine. The Eagles were just too deep, too strong and too organized for the Wolfpack in this game. That said, I was again impressed by the play of the Pack. Gavin Grant, Brandon Costner and Ben McCauley are three of the most skilled and versatile players in the league. The problem is that the Pack has no real point guard (even when Engin Atsur plays) and not enough depth. That means that everything comes too hard and they are exhausted by the end of games.

As for McCauley, he is the best interior passer in the league, and that includes Josh McRoberts. Of course, that's a bit of a trick answer, because McRoberts never goes in the post.

If Costner played for Duke or Carolina, he'd be in the discussion for freshman All-America.

Clemson 75, Ga. Tech 74
A terrible last defensive play by Georgia Tech and yet another good win for the Tigers. It pays to be a little lucky here and there.

Wake 59, Miami 58
If there were still a Les Robinson Thursday Night Invitational Play-In Game, this would have been a preview. Good for the Deacons in getting a conference win so early in the season. I was honestly concerned that they'd get shut out this season.

Sunday, Jan. 7
Stanford 76, UVa 75
I talked a little about this game here. The Cardinal's strengths are orthogonal with UVA's and on this day, the interior play won out. Stanford is very young, but they have some serious talent and they appear to be very well coached. Nothing Virginia did came easy other than Singletary's drives to draw fouls. Unfortunately, Dave Leitao overcoached the last few minutes of the game, moving JR Reynolds to the point and having Singletary play the two. The result? Singletary took none of UVA's final three or four shots and that's when UVA blew their lead and the game. That really confused me. When you have a point guard who is nearly impossible to stop off the dribble and who shoots 93% from the line, why is the ball ever out of his hands in the final minutes of a close game? Could you imagine the terror of a defender trying to stop him? Play off him and he'll shoot over you. Crowd him and he'll blow by you. Try to be physical with him and you'll probably foul him and the kid is so strong, he'll probably score anyway and get a three-point play. I can't think of another guard with Singletary's knack for getting to the line since Harold Deane or maybe even Randolph Childress. So let's get him the ball next time, OK?

UNC 84, FSU 58
The Heels are getting better and better. I didn't expect the Seminoles to win this game of course, but I thought that the uptempo would help them keep it close. Nope.

Tuesday, Jan. 9
Clemson 87, N.C. State 76
This was the first full game (I think) that I've seen Clemson play this year. They were sensational. Without Atsur to help Grant out, the Tiger guards Vernon Hamilton and Cliff Hammonds were like sharks in bloody water. They jumped all over Grant as soon as he got to midcourt and forced turnover after turnover. James Mays, KC Rivers and Sam Perry also caused turmoil on both ends of the court. Mays' follow-up dunk in the second half was the best I've seen all year. Sick.

But once again, State scrapped and fought so that the final margin was closer than the game appeared. It's too bad that Sidney Lowe doesn't have enough players to make this a special team. They really could have something, but the reality is that you can't play four players more than 35 minutes a game at this level and expect to win consistently.

From the ACC Release:

MINUTES PLAYED

## Player-Team              Cl G Minutes Avg/G

-------------------------------------------------

1.Jared Dudley-BC.......... SR 12    457 38.08

2.Gavin Grant-ST........... JR 16    602 37.62

3.Ben McCauley-ST.......... SO 16    569 35.56

4.Brandon Costner-ST....... FR 16    565 35.31

5.Courtney Fells-ST........ SO 16    558 34.88

BC 95, Wake 85
I watched the first half of this game and then turned it off. It looked like BC was playing a Division II team. It looked like they were just picking on Wake. Darius Rice, Sean Marshall and Jared Dudley would let Ishmael Smith bring the ball up and then just jumped the poor kid at halfcourt. In fact, it looked a lot like what Clemson did to NC State, the difference being that BC isn't really a pressure team. They just brought that out because they had so little respect for Wake's guards.

Like I said, I turned this one off at the half and was shocked to see the final score. I really thought the Eagles might win by 30 or 40 points. Wake must have had a hell of a run in the second half. Apparently there was some controversy over the reffing, but let me assure you Deacon fans - you did not lose that game because of the refs. You lost it in the first few minutes when your 5-0 lead was quickly turned into a 22-5 deficit. You can't give up 22-0 runs in too many games and even have a prayer of winning.

BTW, in case you hadn't noticed, Sean Marshall is by far the most obnoxious player in the league. He's a shoo-in for the Dahntay Jones Excellence in Woofing Award this year.

Wednesday, Jan. 10
GA Tech 74, Duke 63
I'll say it again, Duke 2007 reminds me of Duke 1995. I hear that Coach K's artificial hip is flaring up.

Va. Tech 71, UNCG 54
Miami 63, Maryland 58
The most shocking result of the early ACC season. What the hell happened here? Not only did Miami win in College Park, but they did it without Anthony King and Jimmy Graham got hurt early. I didn't see this game, so I'm just going to have to assume that the Terps were suffering from sort of flu or a severe case of Exree Hippitis. It's losses like that that give you home games in the NIT instead of invites to the Big Dance.

UNC 79, UVA 69
The Cavaliers hung tight in this one for about 25 minutes or so. Then the Heels cranked up their defensive pressure and turned the game around. UVA couldn't get their half-court offense (such as it is) going, so they started settling for deep, contested threes. Miss shots against the Heels and you find yourself chasing them down the court. UVA's insistence on taking the easy way out (just jacking it from 25 feet instead of working it inside) while Carolina pounded it inside is reflected in these two statistics - UNC shot 41 free throws to Virginia's 11 and the Heels outrebounded the Cavs 47-34. Ballgame. You can't give up that many extra possessions (Virginia also turned it over 17 times) to the #1 team in the country.

BTW, Mamadi Diane took 13 shots to Sean Singletary's 11. That should never happen again.