Dave Sez

ACC Review - 2/15/2007

It was an interesting week, that's for sure. With Virginia Tech's impressive win in Chapel Hill, Duke's explosion (and BC's implosion) in Chestnut Hill last night and Clemson and FSU damaging their NCAA chances, there was a lot going on. Each year, when we get to this point, the most interesting storylines to me are the teams who are right on or near the bubble and how they play in the last couple of weeks. This year, the ACC has nine teams with a good shot of making the tourney, and really only Carolina and Duke (don't believe the hype - the Blue Devils are already in) have completely sealed their bids. But the ACC's not getting nine in, regardless of what Joe Lunardi projects (actually, he's already changed. He had nine in the other day, but now FSU has fallen out).

Obviously, it's important for every team to play well, but really, your NCAA seed isn't that critical. Unless you can land a top two seed, you're going to have to beat a decent team even in the first round. No, the real intrigue and the real pressure is on the teams just trying to make it in. There's a ton at stake - prestige, money, recruiting, the coach's job. It'll be a lot of fun to see how UVA, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Florida State, Maryland and even Virginia Tech and BC finish up. Someone's going to blow their chance. Who's it going to be?

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's look back at the week that was...

Saturday, Feb. 10
UNC 104, Wake 67

Man, was this game ugly. And I'm not just talking about that sportcoat that Michael Jordan was wearing (I mean seriously, did you see that thing? What happened. Did he lose a bet?) Remember way back, oh two years ago, when Wake Forest was one of the best teams in the country? What is it with former Xavier coaches and program collapses?

Miami 80, N.C. State 65

If the UNC-Wake game was ugly, then this one was fugly. A hot NC State team had no business being waxed like this by a mediocre and short-handed Miami team. But State just looked like they didn't care. Maybe it was because nobody cared. I've never seen an ACC arena so empty. It was disgusting. They claim that 3,000 people were there, but it looked more like 800. I'm not sure there were any students. I was trying to figure out where the student section was and after a few minutes, I finally saw a group of about 15 kids all wearing orange shirts. I guess that was it. Terrible.

As for the game, I think this one stat summed it up best: Miami, missing nearly the entire frontline, pulled down 21 offensive rebounds. Offensive rebounds! That's just stunning. I hope El Sid had his boys running stairs for a couple of hours after that one.

Va. Tech 84, UVa 57

You could see this one coming, couldn't you? Tech really needed the win while the Cavaliers were riding the high of their seven-game winning streak. Let's be honest, UVA isn't really gunning for first in the ACC. They didn't need this game and it showed. It shouldn't have been quite so lopsided as it was, but the writing was on the Cassell walls before tip.

Sunday, Feb. 11
Ga. Tech 65, UConn 52

UConn is not a great team this year, but this was still an important win for Georgia Tech and the ACC. The win pushed the league to 6-9 against the Big East. Duke still has St. Johns, so it will probably be 7-9 when the NCAA Tourney starts. There's still a chance!

By the way, I was amazed at just how bad UConn's offense was. I can't recall when I've seen a team quite so inept. They were horrible. The weird thing is that they are clearly talented, but nobody can shoot.

BC 68, FSU 67

That had to hurt for the Seminoles. They had the game in hand. Had it. Then Dudley hit that crazy three while being fouled (although I'm not sure refs should call fouls like that when the shooter jumps into an airborne defender.) and later Tyrelle Blair (!) hit a game winner. Talk about improbable. But then, that's Florida State basketball. It's like they are allergic to success. They win a few games and break out in a rash. If they hadn't beaten Florida earlier this year, the Seminoles would be definitely out of the tourney at this point.

And how about BC? They were supposed to start losing games as their schedule got hard even before Sean Williams was dismissed. Well, they haven't. Al Skinner and the players are doing a fantastic job this year.

Maryland 72, Duke 60

Everyone knew this was going to happen, right? Duke was not playing with any confidence and Maryland needed the win. Needed it. And boy do they and their fans love to play Duke. No ACC program has had Mike Krzyzewski's number in recent years like the Terps. There's no good explanation for it, since Maryland has sucked against everyone else, but when they see that Duke blue, they turn into world-beaters. The only thing about this game that did surprise me was that Duke just never seemed to be into it. Maryland jumped on Duke from the tip and while Duke trimmed the lead down a few times, it never once felt like they were really going to win.

Tuesday, Feb. 13
UVa 90, Longwood 49

That win probably hurt UVA's RPI.

VT 81, UNC 80 (OT)

Wow. How impressive was Virginia Tech in this game? Carolina led the whole way, but the Hokies never went away. Carolina would hit a few shots, get the crowd fired up and look to the world like they were going to blow it open and then Tech would hit a couple of shots and be right back in it. Then, when it came to crunch time, experience took over. Carolina made several key mistakes late (like Ty Lawson waiting way too long to start his attack on the final possession of regulation) and blew it.

Who would have guessed that Virginia Tech would own two wins over Carolina and a win in Cameron in the same season? If you had asked me when the Hokies would have earned that many wins over the top two ACC programs, I would have guessed that it would take a decade. And I never would have dreamed that they'd do it all in one year.

Looking at that team, it's easy to imagine that they could make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. They have very good, experienced guards (a MUST), in Jamon Gordon and Zabian Dowdell, a big man who can defend, rebound and score (at times) in Coleman Collins, an athletic do-everything wing in Deron Washington (who keeps getting better and better) and a dangerous scorer off the bench in A.D. Vassallo. Sure, Tech could bomb out early, but I don't think any top seed would want to see them.

Ga. Tech 63, FSU 57

Two weeks ago, Georgia Tech had lost four in a row and five of seven and had played themselves out of the tourney. With this win - a HUGE road win, the Jackets have won four in a row. Paul Hewitt has his freshmen playing well again and this team is dangerous. Paul Hewitt can coach.

On the other hand, FSU has now lost three in a row, two at home, all to ACC bubble teams. Their next two games are on the road at Virginia and Maryland, two teams who would love to step on the Noles on their way to securing a bid. It could be an epic collapse by FSU. If they can manage to win one of those games, they finish up with two winnable games against NC State and Miami. But, it could be too late by then.

Wednesday, Feb. 14
Maryland 85, N.C. State 70

What happened to the scrappy, never-say-die Wolfpack? Have they just worn out after a long season with too few breaks for the starters? Maybe. My other theory is that part of the blame can go to Engin Atsur. Sure, he's an excellent player who was key in their victories over Virginia Tech and UNC, but Atsur plays at such a slow, deliberate pace that I think the whole team slows down. It's very easy to get caught up in that tempo and suddenly you're missing out on rebounds and loose balls and your opponents are backdooring you for layups. Maybe I'm off base, but I think the Pack, lack of depth be damned, play better when they are pushing the pace a bit.

Wake 67, Clemson 65

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Don't hand that worst-collapse title to the Seminoles just yet! Clemson has quite a claim on that title, and this loss to the pathetic Deacons just adds another entry to their ledger. If you want to get on the high side of the bubble, just just can't blow games like this. To make things worse, the Kings of Collapse had another late-game sputter. It was bad enough to let Virginia score the final 12 points to make up an 11-point deficit, but in this one, the Tigers missed their final nine shots and didn't hit a field goal in the final 6 minutes. You know, you do that once, it's a bad loss. You do it twice (and to the last-place team in the league) and it's a problem. Oliver Purnell is doing something wrong.

Duke 78, BC 70

Mike Patrick and (to a lesser degree) Dick Vitale went on and on last night about how Boston College wasn't hustling and how disgraceful that was and how anyone could hustle, blah, blah, blah. But that wasn't really true. Yes, there were a lot of Duke fast breaks, but in almost all of those cases, a Blue Devil snagged an errant pass to the wing and took off. There was simply no Eagle who could have done anything about it. Could some other guys have run back to make an appearance that they were trying? Sure, I suppose. Another option when you're beaten like that is to go the YMCA route - don't go back on D so that you're already on offense after the other team scores. A quick outlet pass and now you have a layup too!

Don't get me wrong, BC played poorly and Duke took it to them (I can't recall a game where one team had so many dunks and layups), but it wasn't because they didn't chase down the 3-on-1 breaks. To me, there were four critical aspects of the game, in this order:

1. John Oates' "defense". He was horrible. He frequently lost track of McRoberts, allowing him wide-open layups. When Josh had the ball, Oates couldn't stop him; all it took was two dribbles and McRoberts had an easy shot. When another Dukie drove the lane, Oates just stood by and admired the dunk. Seriously, Daryl Hall would have been a better choice last night.

2. DeMarcus Nelson's defense on Jared Dudley. Dudley couldn't find the ball in the first half. He was wearing Nelson like an extra jersey. Duke killed BC's offensive beast by cutting off the head. The Eagles did a better job in the second half finding ways to get Dudley the ball, but it was too late.

3. Too many horrible passes. I already mentioned this, but it deserves repeating. You aren't going to win too many games when you keep throwing the opposition the ball for SportsCenter-worthy dunks.

4. Bad attitude. BC seemed ready to blame the refs for this game from the opening tip and complained wildly about every call, no matter how good it might have been. The us-against-the-world attitude works sometimes, but last night it made them a bunch of whiny punks looking to blame everyone else for their struggles. Blaming the refs - while the game is still going on - is a loser mentality and BC got what they asked for.

All that said, BC has had an excellent season and I expect that they'll put forth a much better effort against Carolina. It may not make a difference against what will be a surly Tar Heel bunch, but BC is a good team. They just have to play like it again.