Dave Sez

Tough Tar Heels

It was another tough weekend for the ACC bubble teams. NC State, Virginia Tech, Maryland, Georgia Tech and Miami all had chances to help or cement their chances. Only NC State and Georgia Tech helped themselves. The Hokies and Hurricanes both really needed to finish with a bang, but lost golden opportunities.

Virginia Tech came out flat in Raleigh and got blasted by the Wolfpack. On the flip side, the win was just what NC State needed; their loss earlier in the week to UNC didn't so much hurt them as it cost them an opportunity to make a statement. The win over the Gobblers helps, but I think State will still need to either steal one against Wake next weekend or make a deep run in the ACC Tournament. Of course, a win in Charlottesville on Wednesday is a must (but not a gimmie).

For the Hokies, I think the loss puts them in a situation where they'll need to win a few tourney games. They have to go to Clemson and have Maryland at home. A sweep would put them at 9-7, but their RPI would still be terrible. Like I've said, they are a team that the committee is going to be arguing about for a while (unless they lose both).

Georgia Tech traveled down to South Beach and got a critical road win. The loss kept them solidly on the high side of the bubble, and effectively knocked Miami off it. The Canes have only one game left - at Duke. Yes, they could make quite a statement by winning in Cameron, but come on. Ain't happening. They're NIT bound unless they can get to the ACC finals.

Wake Forest whacked Virginia in a game that really had little suspense. It got chippy at times, with Elton Brown smacking Chris Paul to the ground with an elbow to the back after the whistle. The refs said nothing about it, but Dan Bonner (a UVA alumnus) went ballistic, saying Brown should have been ejected. I think Bonner was overreacting (he probably has the same irrational hatred of Brown that many UVA fans have), but the game did get rough after that. A few minutes later, in a play unlike any I've seen before, Erick Strickland got trapped just behind the backboard by two Cavaliers. He didn't have a good enough angle to shoot and was close to a five second call. He wasn't falling out of bounds, but he used the old playground ploy of throwing the ball off the defender. He went Randy Johnson right to Jason Cain's groin. The play worked, as the ball screamed out of bounds off of Cain's nuts, but it was pretty surprising that it didn't result in some punches. Otherwise, the game was pretty meaningless.

The two most interesting games of the weekend were Duke at St. Johns and Carolina at Maryland. St. Johns is no power, but the Big East has had a strange domination over the ACC this year. The Johnnies themselves have beaten two ACC teams, NC State and Virginia Tech. Duke played by far their worst game of the year, but still managed a close, ugly win. It really was a poor offensive performance by the Blue Devils, but I'm not going to jump to any conclusions and say it was a precursor to an early NCAA flameout.

In contrast to that stinker in Madison Square Garden, the UNC at Maryland game was great, great stuff. It might have been the best conference game I've seen all year. Maryland fans are no doubt upset at the outcome, but they have to be happy with the way their team played. The Heels were running and gunning, with Sean May dominating inside, but they couldn't put the Terps away. The lead would get to 10 and then dwindle to 2 - grow to 8 and dwindle to 1. Maryland actually managed a one point lead late and had it tied with under two minutes, but couldn't quite pull off the upset. It wasn't a loss that hurt Maryland in the computer rankings, but a win would have helped a ton.

For both teams though, the game showed great things. If Maryland can bottle that effort (and they can't) they could have a late-year run like last year. For the Heels, it was the first time all year that I've seen some toughness and spunk in a close game. In fairness, it was only their second close game of the year, but still they looked good and they didn't even have Rashad McCants. If the Heels can keep up that poise and effort, they'll breeze to the Final Four.

And now on to my computer ratings table. You'll see that it's pretty similar to last week. The big three didn't do much except that Duke moved a bit closer to a #1 seed. That's kind of irrelevant right now though, since they still have to play in Chapel Hill. Lose that game and they'll get a #2.

Of the bubble teams, as I mentioned, Maryland did themselves the most harm. They dropped about seven spots, but are still in pretty solid shape. They can't afford any more slips though. A loss at Virginia Tech would put them in a dicey situation.

Georgia Tech held serve for the week, sliding up slightly. Like Maryland, they can't really afford to slip too much. They travel to Wake and host Clemson this week. Split those games and they are in.

NC State also stayed about where they were, which isn't too good for them. They need to move up. They have to win in Charlottesville, and they probably need to beat Wake Forest also. If they lose to Wake, I'd say they need at least one ACC tournament win to get in.

Everyone else is out right now. Virginia Tech could still play their way in, as I said above. They need to beat both Clemson and Maryland to be in the conversation. I think a 9-7 conference record would be their best counter-argument for the computer ratings which don't favor them.

Ratings as of 2/28/2005:

Team	prev/cur	Pomeroy	Sagarin	Greenfield	RPI	Avg.	Trend
Carolina (24-3, 12-2)	prev	71.44 (2)	95.18 (1)	96.334 (2)	.6480 (8)	3.25
	cur	71.31 (2)	96.02 (1)	97.012 (2)	.6521 (7)	3
Wake Forest (24-4, 11-3)	prev	67.66 (4)	92.54 (4)	94.341 (3)	.6694 (2)	3.25
	cur	67.79 (3)	92.50 (4)	94.669 (3)	.6561 (4)	3.5
Duke (21-4, 11-4)	prev	66.71 (6)	92.47 (5)	92.272 (7)	.6555 (6)	6
	cur	66.87 (4)	92.87 (3)	92.861 (5)	.6513 (8)	5
Georgia Tech (16-9, 7-7)	prev	60.42 (28)	85.72 (24)	85.554 (30)	.5777 (43)	31.25
	cur	60.39 (26)	85.51 (24)	85.922 (29)	.5760 (43)	30.5
Maryland (16-10, 7-8)	prev	60.35 (31)	85.62 (25)	86.275 (28)	.6034 (22)	26.5
	cur	59.75 (32)	84.61 (27)	85.040 (35)	.5798 (38)	33
NC State (16-11, 6-8)	prev	59.50 (37)	83.03 (39)	83.867 (48)	.5513 (82)	51.5
	cur	59.75 (33)	83.24 (37)	84.012 (45)	.5452 (89)	51
Miami (16-10, 7-8)	prev	55.55 (80)	81.88 (51)	82.611 (59)	.5681 (53)	60.75
	cur	56.14 (72)	81.88 (51)	82.749 (58)	.5605 (62)	60.75
Clemson (14-13, 4-10)	prev	56.70 (68)	80.18 (71)	80.712 (85)	.5371 (95)	79.75
	cur	57.40 (55)	80.82 (66)	81.736 (67)	.5385 (100)	72
Virginia (13-12, 4-10)	prev	54.73 (91)	80.44 (67)	81.907 (65)	.5666 (57)	70
	cur	54.37 (94)	79.85 (72)	81.648 (69)	.5621 (59)	73.5
VA Tech (14-11, 7-7)	prev	55.19 (87)	79.35 (79)	81.762 (68)	.5349 (100)	83.5
	cur	54.52 (92)	78.71 (89)	81.340 (75)	.5277 (117)	93.25
FSU (11-17, 3-11)	prev	55.71 (76)	78.46 (93)	79.586 (97)	.5183 (135)	100.25
	cur	54.67 (90)	77.28 (106)	78.676 (112)	.5087 (150)	114.5

Featherston On Recruiting

Yes, I'm linking to another Al Featherston article. As long as he keeps writing these great pieces, I'm going to link to them. This one is a great look at college basketball recruiting, focusing of course on local stories and Shavlik Randolph in particular. Like his earlier works, this one has some nice stories from days gone by.

Was Featherston this good when he worked for the Durham Herald-Sun? If so, I completely missed it. Either it's this format that sets him free (as I mentioned before), or maybe just being fired relit his spark. Either way, he's putting out some great stuff - the kind of writing that reminds me that I'm as amateur as they come.

And The Nominees Are ...

It's getting close to the end of the season and time to start thinking about the all-conference teams. With eleven teams in the league now, competition for the fifteen spots on the three teams is especially fierce. At least six teams, more than half the league, are guaranteed to have no players represented on the first team All-ACC. This year, with three teams dominating the league, it's entirely likely that only players from those teams will take the top spots.

Instead of picking my teams just yet, I'm just going to select nominees team-by-team. Only players that I feel have been truly exceptional will be nominated. It's entirely subjective of course, but I am perusing the conference stats as I pick these guys. Generally, I only care about stats in conference games as I think that's the fairest measure against other players in the same league.

BTW, when I pick conference teams, I don't pay too much attention to position. Yes, I'd generally like to see guards and big men, but I don't think it makes sense to be rigid with positions on all-conference teams. When you do that you are making two false assumptions. First, it's very hard and usually inaccurate to place players in one classic position. Is Julius Hodge a shooting guard or a small forward? Some people even call him a point guard! The other problem with slotting players into the classic PG, SG, SF, PF, C lineup is that very few teams actually use that configuration anymore. It went out with short shorts and All-American seniors.

So, now it's time to list the nominees. After you read the list, head on down to the comments to plead your case for someone or to make your picks for the teams.

I'll select players from teams in the order of the current standings:

UNC - Sean May, Raymond Felton, Rashad McCants
McCants hasn't been the force he was last year, but he's still one of the league's most dangerous players. Also, he's contributing more (much more) on the defensive end this year. The surprise is that Jawad Williams isn't worthy. He had a great start to the year, but just like last season, fell off sharply. In conference games, he is listed among the league leaders in only one category (free throw percentage).

Wake Forest - Chris Paul, Eric Williams, Justin Gray
Gray has really disappointed me this year. He just isn't the killer he was in his first two seasons. Still, he's third in the league in scoring in conference games, so he makes the cut.

Duke - J.J. Redick, Shelden Williams, Daniel Ewing
No surprises here. Redick and Williams will both be All-Americans.

Virginia Tech - Zabian Dowdell, Carlos Dixon
Two guys who I admit to having never heard of before this year.

Maryland - John Gilchrist, Nik Caner-Medley
Gilchrist is easily the most disappointing player in the league. He could be a dominant player and at times still is, but he needs to learn to bring it every game. I almost left him off this list.

Miami - Guillermo Diaz, Robert Hite
Diaz has been dazzling. The Duke Basketball Report compared him to Steve Francis, but he reminds me a bit more of Bobby Sura, but with a better jump shot. His motor never stops. The other Miami guards (Hite and Anthony Harris) started off great, but have fallen off a bit against better competition.

Georgia Tech - Jarrett Jack
B.J. Elder missed too many games to make the cut in my opinion. I love Jack though. Look at how many categories he shows up in among the league leaders.

NC State - Julius Hodge
Hodge's numbers are still pretty good, but he's just not quite the player he was last year. He may be trying too hard.

Virginia - Nobody
Sean Singletary and Devin Smith have had their moments, but not enough for this level. Singletary could be a star one day with a little seasoning and a better jump shot.

Clemson - Sharrod Ford
Ford single-handedly beat Maryland twice. That got him nominated.

Florida State - Nobody
But Von Wafer did lead the league in looking angry after hitting a shot when down 20.

That's 18 players for 15 positions. Make your selections.

Shrinking Bubbles

Today's update is a bit late, so I'll keep it a bit brief.

After my rant yesterday on the piss poor effort of the ACC's middle tier, you should know that I wasn't surprised at all that Duke won at Georgia Tech. In fact I even picked it.

The game was pretty horrid, but I was fortunate to watch just the good parts. I saw the whole first half, which was actually pretty fun with J.J. Redick and Jarrett Jack trading buckets and then just the last two minutes. The part I missed while putting the kids to bed must have been some Star Jones-ugly basketball. Georgia Tech managed just 22 points in the second half!

The key plays were the two threes that Lee Melchionni hit late and then the two offensive rebounds Duke got. On each of those boards, Tech would have had a chance to tie, but couldn't get the ball. The second one was particularly egregious. Daniel Ewing had just missed the second of two free throws and Shelden Williams went right around the coniferous Luke Schenscher for the board. Did you know that you can tell which direction is north by looking at which side of Schenscher the moss is growing? It's true!

Brief tangent here - it drove me nuts to hear Dick Vitale screaming about how Melchionni is a walk-on. I guess Vitale's trying to show what a hard-worker Melchionni is and what a genius Krzyzewski is for using such an untalented player. The problem of course, is that Melchionni was NOT a walk-on. Not even close. No, he was a non-scholarship player for a year, which is a huge difference. Melchionni was ranked by some recruiting services as a top-100 player in high school. He wanted to go to Duke, but because of that bizarre 5-8 rule, the Blue Devils didn't have enough scholarships to go around. Since Melchionni is well-off (his dad was head of a Duke alumni group and his sister already attended the school), he paid his own way for a year. He's now on scholarship.

Very different from a walk-on. Doesn't mean that Melchionni isn't a good player or hard worker, but it just annoys me to hear the supposed voice of college basketball get such a basic fact wrong (OK, here is the point where you rightly tell me that Vitale gets nearly everything wrong).

The other game last night was that utterly unexplainable matchup between Wake Forest and Longwood, the worst D-1 school in the country. I understand that it's sometimes fun to have a chippy late in the season, but that's ridiculous. A practice would probably have been more useful for the Deacons. All a game like that teaches you is bad habits. Even with the win, the game certainly hurt Wake's RPI as well, although I guess they are high enough that it doesn't really matter.

There are some good games this weekend with Maryland hosting Carolina (and you know the Terps are going to continue their weird ways and win that one), Virginia Tech traveling to NC State and Georgia Tech at Miami. At least two schools will probably knock themselves out of NCAA contention.

McDonald's All-Americans Announced

Fast food makes me think of fat. Looking at this year's list of McDonald's All-Americans makes me think of the fat getting fatter.

Duke and Carolina each have three recruits selected to the prestigous team. NC State has one. No other ACC team has any.

What's that mean? You know. It means that Duke and Carolina will continue to dominate the conference (and country) and these guys will be the new players you'll love and hate.

There's a good chance that some of these players will never pull on a college jersey, but still, it's an impressive haul for both the Heels and Devils.

Pic Of The Week

Found here - http://www.pouyadianat.com

Terrapin Frustration

See if you can spot the pattern: Maryland travels down to Duke and wins. Soon after, Maryland travels to Clemson and loses. Later, Maryland plays Duke at home and wins. Soon after, Maryland plays Clemson at home and loses.

Like Barry Bonds would say, it's like Sanford and Son.

Just one short week ago, the Turtles were a mortal lock for an NCAA bid. All they needed to do was not crap the laundry hamper in their last five games and they'd be set for something like a 4-7 seed. Well, I hope they brought some reading material, because they are currently squatting in the closet.

A wise (and damn handsome) man once wrote that any team that loses at home to Clemson doesn't deserve an NCAA bid. I still feel that. After being swept by both NC State and Clemson, how can Maryland really claim that the deserve a bid? Sure, they'll probably still get one, but do they deserve it? Yeah, they beat Duke twice, but don't the Clemson losses cancel those out? If they had been swept by Duke, but beat the Tigers twice, would people be excited about the Terps?

<rant >
At this point, I think the best thing would be for the ACC to get just three bids. Only three teams deserve it. Maryland has played uninspired basketball in all but about two games this year. Not tourney worthy. Georgia Tech was ranked #3 in the nation in the preseason and are currently seventh in the ACC. NC State's only wins of any distinction are against the aforementioned chumps.

I'll go ahead and say it, the middle of the conference is disgusting this year. To be honest, the only team that I think really deserves a shot in the Big Dance right now is one that probably won't get one - Virginia Tech. They have improved throughout the year, they haven't had a bad loss since December, they have a signature win over Duke and they have not been swept by a single conference foe (and can't, because their three remaining games are against teams they've already beaten once).
</rant >

Whew. Sorry, I had to get that off my chest.

Where was I? Oh yes, discussing disappointing teams and tough losses. Which brings me to Carolina beating NC State last night by ten. Now, on it's own, that's not really a bad loss. NC State is a low bubble team and UNC is #2 in the country. You'd expect the Tar Heels to win. Except that it's a rivalry game. And NC State really needs a marquee win to help make their case before the committee. And Rashad McCants didn't play. And NC State looked terrific against Maryland last week. And the Pack had a week off to prepare.

If there were ever a situation ripe for an upset, this was it. State actually played pretty well: they shot well, they didn't turn the ball over too much and they played aggressive defense. In fact, their D made the Heels look downright sloppy at times. I wondered if Jawad Williams wasn't playing with mittens on the way he fumbled the ball. Carolina really only had one player who was able to dribble through State's pressure. Unfortunately for the Wolfpack, that one player was Raymond Felton and he played a nearly perfect game. He dominated both ends of the floor and was the clear difference-maker.

After Saturday's win over Wake Forest, I had decided that Duke's J.J. Redick was the front-runner for ACC Player of the Year. I'm not so certain now after watching Felton work his magic again. He ran, he dribbled, he harassed, he passed and he hit big, key shots. Felton was the man last night (and has been for much of the season).

One side note from last night's loss that many are picking up on was the strange substitution pattern of Herb Sendek. With the Pack down about 10 points, freshman Andrew Brackman went on tear. He scored 8 straight points in about 2 minutes to bring the Wolfpack within 2 (I think). Felton hit a big three (of course) to end the run and then Brackman took a seat - for the rest of the game. My wife knows and likes basketball, but doesn't get to watch a lot of games. The only State player she knows by sight is Julius Hodge, but she immediately pointed out that the tall, skinny white kid was killing Carolina (she's a Heel fan). Evidently Buddha didn't pick up on that as well.

The one game of consequence tonight is Duke at Georgia Tech. Can a middle-tier ACC team actually get a good win? I wouldn't count on it.

There Is No "D" In Wake Forest

It was supposed to be the night when Tar Heels and Blue Devils joined hands. From what I read in the paper, Carolina fans (and players) everywhere would be cheering as hard they could for their beloved Dukies to knock off Wake Forest last night. You see, Carolina and Wake were tied at the top of the conference and don't play again. Duke was already two losses behind so a win from them didn't really hurt Carolina.

The thing is, I don't think that happened at all. No Carolina fan I know would admit to cheering for Duke. Most seemed to think that they'd rather Duke lose no matter who they were playing. They'd instead hope that Wake faltered elsewhere.

Fortunately for those stubborn Heels, Duke won anyway. They showed more physical toughness and defensive intensity than Wake and knocked them off. Some, including Skip Prosser evidently, believe that Duke won in large part because it played dirty last night. I find that kind of funny considering that many of those same people rip on Duke for being a bunch of soft pretty boys who don't like mixing it up.

No, Duke didn't win because it was dirty (and Wake got their shots in as well. Chris Paul has showed more than his share of punk attitude this year.), it won because it played better defense. Early in the game, I was impressed by the Deacons' defensive tenacity. When Shelden Williams caught the ball, he was immediately jumped and like Al Gore would say, put into a lock box. He had trouble passing out of the double teams, either turning the ball over or wasting a good hunk of Duke's possession trying to get rid of it. Duke adjusted though, spacing the floor much better in the second half. Wake either couldn't or wouldn't double team any more, because they were too far away. That seemed to end their effort.

One play in particular (excluding J.J. Redick's 27 made three pointers) that exemplified the game was when Daniel Ewing "beat" his man (Justin Gray I think, and I'm putting "beat" in quotes because that implies that Gray made an effort to stop Ewing and frankly that's not clear.) just outside the three point line. Ewing drove to the hoop, about 20 feet and went up for the layup. Eric Williams was just to the side of the rim when Ewing started in, but never moved an inch closer while Ewing dribbled twice, took his two steps and rose up. Instead Williams waved at Ewing going by - hey you, I know you, I know you (you're not angry - you're just pointing)! Ewing actually looked a bit surprised as he changed plans and dunked the ball vigorously at Williams' feet.

I said it earlier in the year and I'll say it again. Wake Forest will NOT make the Final Four. They just won't. They can't be bothered to play good defense for 40 minutes. If they don't blow a good team out early, they'll give up too many points. Their only hope is to buy some defensive toughness on eBay.

Actually, you know what else might help? Another consistent scorer to help Chris Paul in the backcourt. A guy that could get his own shot when he needs to - someone like that guy Justin Gray who used to play for the Deacs. Wouldn't it be great if they still had that guy on their team?

Bonus coverage: Redick put on quite a show last night, huh? It was downright poetic.

A quick rundown of the other games of the weekend:
Clemson at Carolina - Death and Taxes.

Maryland at Virginia - The Terps pretty much cemented their NCAA bid, but just barely. They survived game-tying three pointers at the end of both regulation and the first overtime to win in double overtime. If Virginia's Elton Brown could hit a free throw, the Cavs probably would have won. Brown was 3-13 from the line and missed several key freebies late. He actually airballed one of two he missed with 18 seconds left in the second overtime when down two points. What's the opposite of clutch?

For Pete Gillen, it was another tough loss but also another where his team played hard. You can't help but feel bad for the guy. This John Feinstein article does a great job of showing just how heartbreaking the situation is. Gillen knows his fate. He's resigned to it, but he can't quit yet. It really is a good piece. Usually these types of article try to blame the fans, but Feinstein doesn't do that.

Miami at Virginia Tech - Just like in football, the Hokies knocked off the Canes in a key late-season battle. Virginia Tech is now 7-6 in the conference. They still have a ways to go to get an NCAA bid, but their stock is rising like a 1999 dot com. More on this below.

Georgia Tech at Florida State - I didn't see this game, but it sounds like the Seminoles got screwed at the end. The Yellow Jackets blew a sizable second-half lead and only won when B.J. Elder was fouled with 0.4 seconds left and down one. He hit both for the win. Conspiracy theorists will point out that the conference had nothing to gain with an FSU win and everything to lose if the Jackets wrecked. If that had anything to do with the outcome, then well done ACC bigwigs! The conference really needs Tech to hold on to their tenuous high bubble standing and frankly the Noles have done nothing this year to earn any luck.

The win in Tally keeps hope alive that Georgia Tech will find whatever magic they had last year and put together another strong late run. It doesn't look too likely to happen, but a loss to lowly FSU would have made it even more difficult.

So, now on to my weekly ratings update. I read on a message board recently (I think it was at the Duke Basketball Report) that some poster had looked back at previous NCAA tournaments and found that a combined rating of several computer ratings, the media polls and the RPI did a better job of predicting bids than just the RPI itself. If that's true, and it makes some sense, then my little table is even more useful than I thought.

There are 34 at-large bids. You have to figure that a bunch of the automatic bids will go to highly-rated teams, so you need your composite ranking to be somewhere under 50 to feel like you have a good chance. That means that five teams are pretty solid right now, UNC, Wake, Duke, Maryland and GT. NC State is knocking on the door now with a ranking of 51.5.

The Wolfpack had their second strong week in a row, picking up nearly 9 spots after climbing 15 last week. The big question is are State fans happy? Do they want to squeak in or would they rather go ahead and tank with the hope that it will spell the end of Sendek's tenure?

Miami's two losses have knocked them off the bubble for now and although they are making a strong move, Virginia Tech is still not in play. The Hokies could end up being a curious case though. They are only win away from an 8-8 (at least) conference record. They now have a marquee win and they've been hot lately. Those are all things the committee considers. I wouldn't be shocked if the Hokies get a bid despite relatively poor computer ratings. They still have time to move up, but their composite ranking is still just 83.5. That is 27 points better than last week, but over 30 points away from where they presumably need to be. It'll be very interesting to see what happens if they keep winning.

Ratings as of 02/21/2005:

Team	prev/cur	Pomeroy	Sagarin	Greenfield	RPI	Avg.	Trend
Carolina (22-3, 10-2)	prev	71.18 (2)	95.18 (1)	96.361 (2)	.6488 (8)	3.25
	cur	71.44 (2)	95.18 (1)	96.334 (2)	.6480 (8)	3.25
Wake Forest (22-4, 10-3)	prev	68.27 (3)	92.80 (6)	94.963 (4)	.6684 (2)	3.75
	cur	67.66 (4)	92.54 (4)	94.341 (3)	.6694 (2)	3.25
Duke (19-4, 9-4)	prev	66.77 (5)	92.94 (5)	92.866 (8)	.6541 (6)	6
	cur	66.71 (6)	92.47 (5)	92.272 (7)	.6555 (6)	6
Maryland (16-8, 7-6)	prev	61.11 (25)	85.72 (23)	86.368 (25)	.6030 (21)	23.5
	cur	60.35 (31)	85.62 (25)	86.275 (28)	.6034 (22)	26.5
Georgia Tech (15-8, 6-6)	prev	60.44 (28)	85.51 (25)	85.211 (36)	.5806 (39)	32
	cur	60.42 (28)	85.72 (24)	85.554 (30)	.5777 (43)	31.25
NC State (15-10, 5-7)	prev	58.43 (45)	82.47 (42)	82.818 (55)	.5416 (99)	60.25
	cur	59.50 (37)	83.03 (39)	83.867 (48)	.5513 (82)	51.5
Miami (15-9, 6-7)	prev	56.10 (75)	82.41 (43)	83.285 (51)	.5746 (48)	54.25
	cur	55.55 (80)	81.88 (51)	82.611 (59)	.5681 (53)	60.75
Virginia (13-11, 4-9)	prev	54.94 (94)	80.21 (70)	82.514 (58)	.5765 (44)	66.5
	cur	54.73 (91)	80.44 (67)	81.907 (65)	.5666 (57)	70
Clemson (12-13, 2-10)	prev	56.56 (69)	80.14 (71)	80.385 (92)	.5365 (103)	83.75
	cur	56.70 (68)	80.18 (71)	80.712 (85)	.5371 (95)	79.75
VA Tech (14-10, 7-6)	prev	53.86 (106)	77.88 (100)	79.800 (99)	.5189 (135)	110
	cur	55.19 (87)	79.35 (79)	81.762 (68)	.5349 (100)	83.5
FSU (11-15, 3-9)	prev	56.39 (71)	79.14 (86)	80.643 (86)	.5301 (115)	89.5
	cur	55.71 (76)	78.46 (93)	79.586 (97)	.5183 (135)	100.25

Best Sixth Man Ever?

Caulton Tudor says that he thinks Wake Forest's Taron Downey is the ACC's best sixth man ever.

Wow.

I have a hard time believing that, but as I've thought about it all weekend I realize that I have a hard time disproving it too. I know there have been some great non-starters, but I just can't think of them right now.

I think to qualify, he can't be an underclassman just waiting for a starting spot to open (i.e. Christian Laettner, Vince Carter, Corey Maggette, etc.). Instead he'd need to be an upperclassman who just fits the team's role better coming off the bench.

Can anyone come up with some good names?

BTW, out of conference, one name that pops to my head is Johnny Newman of Richmond (and the NY Knicks). He scored 20+ ppg off the bench for the Spiders.

Running Zebras

The News & Observer ran a nice, long piece this weekend on college basketball referees, focusing largely on how much they work. I really didn't realize how many games these guys officiate, but apparently it's common for them to work 80-100 games a year!

Think about that. The guys are typically older and they are out there running up and down the whole game. No, they don't run as much as the players, but they also don't get to sub out and they don't sit during timeouts. That's a 40 minute game for each. Check this anecdote about the working schedule for Steve Welmer:

One non-ACC official, Steve Welmer, has worked more than 80 games. From Nov. 26 to Dec. 23, Welmer worked 28 straight days.

28 straight days! I checked online and it looks like Welmer is about 54 or 55 years old. Does it make sense that he could really be sharp working that many days in a row?

The thing is is that college refs are independent contractors who are paid by the game. The more they work, the more they are paid. In contrast, the NBA hires its refs as full-time employees and limits them to 14 or fewer games in a month and never more than two nights in a row.

In fairness, when I watch NBA games, the officiating doesn't really look all that good, certainly no better than college games. NBA games seem rife with inconsistent calls. I have to think that despite that, they are physically and mentally fresher than their college counterparts.

One other aspect of reffing that is touched on a bit in this article is a particular pet peeve of mine. That's the issue of coaches and players yelling and complaining about calls. Maybe my memory is faulty or I'm just becoming a curmudgeon, but I don't remember it being this bad 20 years ago. It amazes me what the refs allow coaches to get away with. To me, it sets a terrible precedent for kids to watch. They see Mike Krzyzewski and Gary Williams red-faced screaming in a guy's face with no repercussions. Players get away with it to. It tells kids that you don't really need to respect authority.

If I had any say in the matter, I'd make that a point of emphasis in future seasons. If you scream at a ref, it should be a technical foul. I understand that the game is passionate and tempers flare, but there's no reason coaches and players couldn't learn to control themselves. Ever notice how upset a coach gets if an opposing coach dares to utter a word in their direction? Clearly they think they deserve a lot more respect than they give the officials.

Really Unbalanced Schedules

I almost forgot to link to this! When I read it this morning, it cracked me up.

It seems that the geniuses over at the ACC headquarters weren't just satisfied with a regular old unbalanced schedule. No sir, it's not bad enough that teams no longer play all the other teams twice. Nope. The ACC actually put out schedules where teams play each other different numbers of times. Sound confusing? Well consider this basic rule of scheduling. If Wake Forest's schedule has home games against UNC and Clemson, UNC and Clemson damn well ought to have road games against Wake on their schedules.

Oops. Someone forgot to tell Fred Barakat that.

Great story.

The Throat Slash And Stereotypes

Ed of the ACC Basketblog has a great post up today talking about the media's reaction to Rashad McCant's throat slash and whether there were racial overtones there.

It is a well-written and well-reasoned piece.

To me, and I think I've made mention of this, the throat slash is an extremely silly thing to get all worked up about. It's a gesture that has been used for decades (at least) to mean that something's over or turn something off or end something, etc.

When a mechanic is working under the hood and wants the driver to kill the engine, he makes a throat slash. When your mom wants you to stop talking about Uncle Joe's herpes sores at Thanksgiving dinner, she gives you googlie eyes and a throat slash. And often times when playing sports and someone makes a play that they think effectively ends the game, they make a throat slash.

That's it. It's not uncommon and it's not offensive. No one really thinks that Taron Downey or Rashad McCants had plans to really slash anyone's throat.

It's just something for the guys in the media to generate false outrage about. It makes for easy stories.

False outrage in the media. Now THERE'S something to get upset about.

Defending The Cassell

There are those who would say that ACC expansion was a mistake, that expansion has diluted a once-great product by bringing in sub-par basketball programs merely because they would improve the league's football.

The theory is that Virginia Tech and Miami (and to a lesser degree, Boston College) currently suck and have no history of basketball success to base any expectation of their not sucking one day.

Well, that theory doesn't look so hot now, does it? It was bad enough when the Hokies and Canes started winning conference games at a surprising pace, but last night changed everything. Duke, royalty not just of the ACC but of the nation, went up to Blacksburg and lost. This wasn't Virginia Tech knocking off Clemson or Miami beating Florida State, it was a football school beating Duke. Shocking.

Just as there are many ACC fans who bemoaned expansion, there have been many ACC haters who have laughingly pointed to the success of Miami and Virginia Tech as evidence that the conference isn't really all it thinks it is. I mean, those teams are never good, but there they are battling to be in the upper-half of the conference. To that argument, I say watch the games. Look at those teams. Miami and Virginia Tech can play some ball.

Sure, the Hokies embarrassed themselves and everyone near them when they lost to VMI in December, but something happened to this team around the beginning of 2005. The Hokies are not the same team there were in December. They play hard, they play great defense and last night they hit several huge shots. Twice the Gobblers had to fight from behind or tied in the final minute and each time they hit a tough shot. Duke didn't lose that game - the Hokies beat them.

If you squint a bit when you watch the Hokies, you might think you are watching a Dave Odom or Jeff Jones-coached team. They play a no-frills, physical defense predicated on fighting through screens and helping out. They may not block tons of shots (although they do get steals), but they don't give you any easy looks. Their offense is not exactly poetic, but it's effective. Any time you have a team that plays hard, fundamental defense and has a reasonably effective offense (something Jones' teams couldn't always manage) you can win games.

So, congrats to the Hokies. You still aren't going to get an NCAA bid (the losses to VMI, St. Johns and Western Michigan took care of that), but you've had a great season. Welcome to the ACC. You've proven that you belong now. Enjoy your Blue Devil scalp.

Live Outside ACC Country?

Do you live outside of ACC country? If so, maybe you can help this guy and many others out.

How do you find games on TV? Do you use ESPN Gameplan (or Full Court) or do you go to sports bars? If so, how does that work?

I know that another option is to use the Internet to listen to radio broadcasts, but that's just not the same as television.

If you have some experience here, share in the comments.

Back when I lived outside the conference borders, I used a combo of sports bars and driving around in my car until I found a good radio signal. Yes, I was one of those losers who sat alone in a parked car at night listening to a staticky radio broadcast of a Virginia-Clemson basketball game. It's a wonder I've procreated at all.

For The Love Of Defense

Last week (or so), I linked to an article that Al Featherston had written for the Duke Basketball Report. Featherston, you may recall, was let go from the Durham Herald-Sun after they brought in new owners.

Well, Featherston has written another article for the DBR, and it is a great, great piece. It's on the impact of team defense and how it's very difficult to measure in any qualitative fashion (other than wins and losses).

If you're a Duke hater, you may not like that much of the article is about Shelden Williams and this Duke team, but it's not all about Duke. As a basketball fan, ignore the specific names he uses and just read it as an essay on good basketball. It's beautiful.

One thing this article really points out is the superiority of medium of web pages over print. Featherston could never have written this article for a newspaper. It's way too long. If he had cut it down to fit a standard opinion piece, it wouldn't have been nearly as good.

He's now two-for-two with fabulous pieces for the DBR. Quite a coup for those guys.

Two Paths Diverged ...

in a red arena. Will Herb Sendek's NC State Wolfpack take the one that leads to less travel (no NCAA bid)?

Maryland's game at the RBC center tonight is a big game for both teams. For Maryland, they see this game as a potential fulcrum on which the season hinges. A loss knocks them back onto the bubble for the season and worse, potentially invalidates the program's claim to be among the elite. This article from Turtle Soup does a pretty good job of explaining just why that is.

Maryland's 2002 championship, one year after making the Final Four, elevated the program from pretender to potential powerhouse. If they slip to a bubble team for the second straight year so soon after their time at the top, they really can't be considered a national power. Instead of maintaining their perch among the UNC's, Dukes and Kentuckies of the world, they would be more like a Michigan State or Arkansas.

As big as that makes this game for the Terps, it's even bigger for the Wolfpack. They still have dreams, however crazy, of making the NCAA tournament. Any run to a bid, short of winning the ACC tournament, has to include a home win tonight. It has to.

At the same time, if NC State were to lose and ensure that they aren't going to get an at-large bid, what does that do for Herb Sendek's career as a head coach in Raleigh? You already know where State fans sit on this matter (check out fireherbsendek.com). Now, local columnist Caulton Tudor has weighed in, saying that Sendek should resign if he misses the tourney this year.

I can't say I agree with him. Sendek does have some pride and I'm sure he feels like he can continue to build the program even if they suffer a setback this year. You don't get to the level he's reached without being ultra-competitive and having the highest faith in your own abilities.

While I don't agree with Tudor's suggestion that Sendek step down, I think it's important to make note that the top columnist in the top local paper is in effect saying that if State should fail to make the NCAA tourney (and they won't make it), Herb Sendek should no longer be the coach. Tudor believes like I do that the State administration will not let Sendek go, but it's clear that things haven't worked out well enough.

All in all, it makes for a pretty exciting game tonight, huh? On one side, you have the future of a program at stake and on the other you have, well, the future of a program at stake.

Which path will each team take?

Conference Rundown

The guys at StateFans Nation have a good conference overview up. It breaks down what various teams need to do (or not do) to make teh postseason.

It also includes a whack at the first team All-ACC, a difficult task this year.

Quin Snyder - Survivor?

These are the sorts of things that make this whole Internet wortwhile. The Phog Blog has a video of Missouri coach .Quin Snyder singing "Eye Of The Tiger" to his players to fire them up before a game.

Just classic.

Frankly, I like the "Glenn!" version better.

Who's The ACC's Best Bigun?

Let's try a little something different today. I want to get some chatter.

Topic of conversation - Who's the best big man in the ACC this year? Is it Shelden Williams, Eric Williams or Sean May?

Shelden had all the early season love, but May and Big E have turned it on of late. Both of those guys badly outplayed Shelden in their head-to-head matchups.

I'll throw in Sharrod Ford and Elton Brown if someone wants to make an argument for either. You'd have to be Atticus Finch to make that work though.

Key stats:
Shelden Williams - 16.3 ppg, 11.9 rpg, .606 fg%, 3.76 bpg
Eric Williams - 16.5 ppg, 7.5 rpg, .628 fg%, 1.08 bpg
Sean May - 15.7 ppg, 9.9 rpg, .542 fg%, 1.04 bpg
Sharrod Ford - 14.7 ppg, 8.1 rpg, .510 fg%, 2.00 bpg
Elton Brown - 14.3 ppg, 8.8 rpg, .476 fg%, fat

Make your arguments in the Comments section or go straight to the Sports Shack. To see the poll and vote, you'll need to go to the Shack.

Update: Turns out the N&O has an article on Big E today.

Turtle Head

Like many other people, I have made some cracks about Maryland's claim to be a rival of Duke's despite Duke fans saying they aren't. Well, if the Terps keep beating the Blue Devils, a true rivalry will grow. Nothing gets under the skin of a good team more than beating them consistently. It's funny how sports works. Sometimes you just get situations where one team, a clearly inferior team, is able to frequently beat a better team. I think most Maryland fans would admit that Duke has a better team this year, but that hasn't stopped the Terrapins from sweeping the season series. It's pretty remarkable.

One incredible statistic that came out of that game is that Maryland's 2-0 record against Duke is the first time that Duke has been swept in the regular season by an ACC foe since the '96 season. That's incredible.

Maryland's big win was not just immensely satisfying for the fans (although not satisfying enough to keep some from rioting again), it put the Terps solidly in the NCAA tournament. It would take a pretty big collapse at this point to miss out. They've risen to 21 in the latest RPI ratings and two wins over a top ten team are exactly the kinds of things that the selection committee looks for. I think Maryland can even afford one slip-up and still make it in without any trouble.

In the second biggest game of the weekend, Carolina traveled up to Connecticut and won a tough game against the Huskies. The Tar Heels looked sloppy at times and had 16 (!!) shots blocked, but still pulled out the win. They turned the tide with their defense in the second half, forcing a bunch of turnovers and taking UConn out of their offense. Don't let their relatively low ranking fool you, UConn is a very good team. Keep them in mind when you are filling out your NCAA brackets next month. They'll probably be a 4-6 seed, but they have Final Four talent.

Sean May had yet another great game against NBA-level interior opposition, going for 16 and 13 against Charlie Villanueva and Josh Boone. Been a helluva a week for the big fella.

The most surprising result of the weekend was NC State traveling down to Atlanta and beating Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets seemed to be on the rise after getting B.J. Elder and Jeremis Smith back, but that loss really hurts them. You have to think that a loss at home to the reeling Pack hurt the Wreck more than the road win at Clemson helped them. If you check the table at the bottom of this post, you'll see that the computers agree with me. Tech still looks like a tourney team, but just barely. Their power ratings look OK, but their record (14-8) doesn't. They need to get to 17 wins to feel safe about their chances.

For NC State, the win kept hope alive. She's still in the hospital, but she can at least see visitors now. Four of the Pack's last five games are at home and the one road game is in Charlottesville. They won't sweep Carolina and Wake, but if they can beat one of them and win the other three (including Maryland at home on Wednesday), they'll have to be seriously considered. Lose more than two games out of those five and they'll need to play on Sunday in the ACC tourney to get in.

The weekend's other contests:

• Wake Forest beat the absolute hell out of Florida State. It didn't make up for losing in Tally, but I bet it felt good anyway.
• Virginia winning their third straight conference game by taking out Virginia Tech. The win streak is nice, but it's not going to save Pete Gillen's job. It is good to see an ACC team get off the mat and show some pride though.
• Miami traveled up to the nicest hosts in the conference, Clemson, to get their complimentary road win. The Tigers sure are accommodating this year.

And now on to my weekly ratings update. Despite the big wins and losses, the top three teams really didn't move much. The big winner of the week was Maryland, shooting off the bubble and into the Dance (for now). Miami and NC State also impressed the transistors, moving up about 15 notches each. Neither is in bid territory yet, but they've kept themselves in the conversation.

The only team to really kill themselves statistically was Clemson. They were surprisingly highly rated last week, but two home losses torpedoed their numbers. Now they are down where you'd expect a 2-9 conference team to be.

Ratings as of 02/14/2005:

Team	prev/cur	Pomeroy	Sagarin	Greenfield	RPI	Avg.	Trend
Carolina	prev	71.11 (2)	95.25 (2)	96.339 (2)	.6472 (8)	3.5
	cur	71.18 (2)	95.18 (1)	96.361 (2)	.6488 (8)	3.25
Wake Forest	prev	68.46 (4)	92.36 (6)	95.246 (4)	.6772 (2)	4
	cur	68.27 (3)	92.80 (6)	94.963 (4)	.6684 (2)	3.75
Duke	prev	67.63 (6)	93.23 (3)	93.794 (7)	.6559 (7)	5.75
	cur	66.77 (5)	92.94 (5)	92.866 (8)	.6541 (6)	6
Maryland	prev	60.27 (31)	84.38 (29)	84.607 (38)	.5900 (33)	32.75
	cur	61.11 (25)	85.72 (23)	86.368 (25)	.6030 (21)	23.5
Georgia Tech	prev	60.43 (30)	85.41 (25)	85.389 (34)	.5894 (34)	30.75
	cur	60.44 (28)	85.51 (25)	85.211 (36)	.5806 (39)	32
Miami	prev	55.30 (83)	81.45 (57)	81.842 (70)	.5665 (60)	67.5
	cur	56.10 (75)	82.41 (43)	83.285 (51)	.5746 (48)	54.25
NC State	prev	57.89 (52)	81.26 (59)	81.684 (72)	.5274 (118)	75.25
	cur	58.43 (45)	82.47 (42)	82.818 (55)	.5416 (99)	60.25
Virginia	prev	54.81 (93)	79.87 (76)	81.743 (71)	.5727 (49)	72.25
	cur	54.94 (94)	80.21 (70)	82.514 (58)	.5765 (44)	66.5
Clemson	prev	57.94 (51)	81.07 (62)	81.968 (67)	.5568 (74)	63.5
	cur	56.56 (69)	80.14 (71)	80.385 (92)	.5365 (103)	83.75
FSU	prev	56.64 (67)	79.39 (82)	81.022 (79)	.5325 (110)	84.5
	cur	56.39 (71)	79.14 (86)	80.643 (86)	.5301 (115)	89.5
VA Tech	prev	54.19 (102)	78.32 (92)	80.330 (88)	.5221 (134)	104
	cur	53.86 (106)	77.88 (100)	79.800 (99)	.5189 (135)	110

Gimme Some DAP

Ken Pomeroy's stat o' the week this week is Defensive Assist Percentage. As it sounds, it's a rating of how many assists a team allows its opponents.

When I read his description, the first team I thought of was Duke. They play that aggressive passing-lane defense that tries to take teams out of their sets. The best way to attack Duke is often with dribble penetration, a style that produces few assists.

Sure enough, Pomeroy goes on to highlight Duke, the #1 team in his ratings.

The thing is, a quick glance at those ratings show that there's little correlation between denying assists and winning. The only other power team in the top ten is Kansas. The only good team between 11-20 is Florida.

So it's a nice curiosity, but nothing to get too excited about.

Simmering Wolf

NC State traveled to Winston-Salem last night and got the same treatment that most teams get there these days. A loss. It was a weird loss; for not-completely-clear reasons, Julius Hodge was benched for the first quarter of the game, but then came out and had by far his best game of the year. Hodge says he was benched because he was taking care of academics (which is mighty commendable and something you never would have expected from him as a freshman). I find it hard to believe that Mr. Summa Cum Laude would bench a player for taking care of schoolwork though, so clearly Hodge isn't telling the whole story. Whatever really happened, it took balls for the the embattled Sendek to sit his star and it showed some heart for the gangly Hodge to come out and play a great game.

All that drama aside, State played fairly well, but still lost. It may be that if they'd had Mr. Elbows And Knees for the whole game (and he had been just as motivated), they would have pulled it out. Instead, they trailed the whole game and lost their seventh conference game of the season. While it's never fun to lose, there are only a half dozen or so teams in the country that could reasonably expect anything different from their visit to Joel Coliseum.

At this point, State is in a three-way tie for eighth in the ACC with Virginia and Florida State. The Pack already lost to each of those powers, so they are really in tenth. Not what the Pack faithful expected. As you probably know, Sendek is in a large tub of hot water with the fans stoking the fires.

For Wake, the win moved them to 8-2 in the conference and in a three-way tie with Carolina and Duke. The Deacons have already beaten each Tobacco Road rival, so they are really in first place right now.

In a game the other night that nobody noticed, UVA beat FSU behind a last-second (more or less) three-pointer by Devin Smith. The shot gave the Cavaliers their only lead of the game. If the story sounds familiar, it should. Last season, Virginia crapped the bed in the first half of the conference season and then won a string of games at the buzzer to save Pete Gillen's job and nearly earned an NCAA bid. Neither of those things will happen this year, but it's good to see the team show some pride.

For his part, Smith not only leads the team in scoring and hit that big shot, but he's also now apparently the marketing director. He sent an email the other day to the entire student body asking for their support for this weekend's game against Virginia Tech. Here is a response in the student paper. It's thick with sarcasm, but basically the guy's backing Smith up. I wouldn't say that that was the best way to go about doing it, as not everyone's going to pick up on the sarcasm, but it's good to see the students support the team. Sort of.

There is a pretty good slate of games this weekend, headlined by Duke traveling to Maryland and Carolina visiting UConn. Maryland, sounding like a jilted lover, says they ARE TOO Duke's rival. Duke yawned and cleaned up after the post-UNC game bonfires. The Carolina game in Hartford is the ACC's last good non-conference game and a chance to shut the pro-Big East yahoos up.

Virginia Tech plays at Virginia in a rematch of the game that really got the Cavaliers' tailspin turning. The Cavs seem to have pulled out of the death spiral, but a loss in this one would call anew for an immediate firing of Gillen.

NC State travels to Georgia Tech in a critical game for each team. The Yellow Jackets need to continue to win the games that they should win and the Pack is just plain desperate (did I mention that already?).

Florida State goes to Wake and Miami travels to Clemson in the weekend's yawners.

Georgia Tech Offered $250K To Telfair?

There have been a number of confusing accusations in recent days about Georgia Tech and their recruitment of Sebastian Telfair. According to a new book, Telfair was offered $250,000 by a booster to attend Tech.

Even in the shady world of big-time college athletics, $250K is a huge amount of money for a recruit. Considering the amount, that the claim came from an anonymous source about an unnamed booster, it's a bit of a dubious charge. On top of that, Telfair says it's not true.

In fairness, I wouldn't expect Telfair to admit it if it were true. More likely, Telfair or one of his boys made up or greatly exaggerated the story to sound bigtime. Since Telfair actually committed to Memphis instead of G Tech before skipping college altogether, either the Tigers offered an even better offer (unlikely) or it's a bunch of crap.

I'm glad that Tech seems to be taking the charges seriously, but I don't think there's really anything here.

Update: Now Telfair says it did happen at Georgia Tech, but he never took it seriously and thinks it may have been a joke. While the amount is ridiculous, it's a pretty crappy joke. I wonder if anything else will come of this.

A History of Duke-Carolina

I wish I'd seen this yesterday, but it's too good to skip. Yes, the game is over, but this article isn't about last night's game. It's about the history of basketball in the Triangle and in particular how it created the Duke-Carolina rivalry.

This piece was written by veteran writer Al Featherston who was recently let go by the new management at the Durham Herald-Sun. The guys at the DBR asked him to write for them and he accepted. He wrote a hell of an article.

Tar Heels Turnover, Tumble

It wasn't the most elegant game of basketball you'll ever see. Shots clanked, dribbles bounced awry and passes whistled into the crowd. It was not a clinic of perfect basketball, but it was still a great game. You had two teams loaded with talented players going hard at each other and trying everything they could for the win. In the end, I think the deciding factor was that some Tar Heels tried too hard and made too many mistakes.

At times I wondered if maybe they had rolled out the racks of women's balls by accident. I have never seen so many dribbles bounce off of knees and feet or simply go flying out of a player's hands. The box score will tell you that Duke had 17 steals last night, but don't believe it. At least half of Carolina's 23 turnovers were completely unforced.

Raymond Felton in particular was guilty of playing a bit too fast. He's the fastest player in the league, maybe even in the country (I'd love to see him race with the ball against Illinois' Dee Brown), but he has to learn his limits. He had some breathtaking drives for scores, but just as often, he flew one way while the ball went another. He should stop watching Nik Caner-Medley play. If your point guard has eight turnovers, you're probably going to lose.

Rashad McCants can also take some baby blue blame. He seemed nervous and frustrated for much of the night. He shot frequently but not confidently.

On the other side, it's hard to think of anyone on Duke who had a bad game. They all played well on both ends of the floor. DeMarcus Nelson (or "DeMarcis" as Raycom seems to think it's spelled) stepped up and hit big shots and J.J. Redick, Daniel Ewing and Shelden Williams were all their regular solid selves. Redick actually showed off the full range of his game, running the offense at times, playing solid defense and even directing players around during dead balls.

(aside: despite all the orgasmic praise of Nelson coming out of nowhere, the guy was a McDonald's All-American and expected to be a contributer to this Duke team. He's the all-time leading scorer in California high school basketball history. The kid can play.)

That can be the one consolation for the Tar Heels - three of their best players (Felton, McCants and Jawad Williams) had sub-par games while Duke played extremely well, but the Blue Devils won by just one. The Heels were one play away from stealing the game at the end.

I expect that the game next month in Chapel Hill will be just as tight, but probably better played. I'm already looking forward to it.

I want to point out a few series numbers that I didn't mention in yesterday's preview. These number all point to just how ridiculously competitive this rivalry has been.

• Every single Duke-Carolina game since 1955 has included at least one ranked team. That's 50 years!
• Last night's game was the 36th time they've met when both were ranked in the top ten.
• For the youngsters who don't understand why us older folks still instinctively think of Carolina as the conference's top dog, consider that even with Duke's recent dominance, the Tar Heels lead the head-to-head series by 28 wins.

For other reading on the game (and frankly, you can go anywhere to read about it):
News & Observer - here, here, here and here.
Duke Basketball Report (Carolina fans beware)
Tar Heel Blue on the last play of the game

Rivalry

It seemed like today would never come, right? You've been waiting for this game for weeks, if not all year. It's the big one. The big clash between ancient rivals that captivates the nation. That's right, the Seminoles of Florida State travel to U-Hall tonight to take on Virginia in yet another titanic tilt between these two giants.

I CAN'T WAIT!

The other game tonight is Carolina heading up 15-501 to play the Blue Devils in Cameron. That should be a pretty good game too.

Back when I was first getting into college basketball, in the early eighties, the big conference rivalry (to my eyes) was UNC-Virginia. It seemed like whenever they played, one of the teams was ranked #1. Ralph Sampson, Jeff Lamp, Othell Wilson, Jeff Jones, Rick Carlisle, et al versus James Worthy, Sam Perkins, Michael Jordan, Jimmy Black, Kenny Smith, Beelzebub, Brad Daugherty and the rest of the Evil Empire. They were great games.

Before that, back in the 70s, NC State-Carolina was the big game. There was even a stretch of years when State-Maryland was the top riva