The last round of tuneup games are in, and now the ACC games start up. But
before they do, Duke, UNC, Georgia Tech, and Maryland got some fairly easy games
in against William & Mary, Howard, Lafayette, and Coastal Carolina,
respectively. Three of the four won in romps; Tech was up by 23 at the
half but struggled in the second period.
Maryland is hoping to gain confidence from
their win, or rather to enhance confidence, since they have reason to be
confident, and UNC was hoping to, in Ed Cota's words, play "more
as a team," and they seem to have done that as well.
Tech is trying to build some momentum for the ACC race, but didn't
do as well as they probably wanted against Lafayette.
Now things get serious for everyone concerned. For the international readers
who have been nice enough to write in, the intensity of ACC rivals is pretty
amazing and you'd really enjoy the tension we think. It's a lot of fun.
First up this week is FSU at Wake on Tuesday. Wake had better get their
problems sorted out, because despite a lack of top-drawer talent, FSU is well
coached and smart and they'll take the bacon right off of Wake's plate if they
play the way they played in Hawaii.
Tech steps out one more time to play Kentucky, which could be ugly, but Duke
goes to UVa on Wednesday in an interesting game between young teams and
formidable coaches.
Thursday, Maryland goes to State in a most interesting ACC matchup - can
State climb the ladder finally? Clemson goes to UNC after losing there in every
game that was played in a year starting with the number 19, a mind-blowing level of failure.Â
Don't look for it to change now, though it will be interesting to see them throw
all those big guys at Haywood and Lang.
Then Saturday, big Tech plays small Uva, and State goes to UNC in what
could be, should they beat Maryland, the biggest opportunity for them in years. An intriguing if highly unlikely scenario: State defeats Maryland, while Clemson shocks the world and beats UNC. State goes into Chapel Hill with the recent roles reversed. That would be an interesting and very intense game.
This should be a fun season, and highly competitive. We're psyched!
Hope you are!