Though Duke has pulled away from the pack, if Justin Gainey will forgive
the expression, the rest of the conference, with the exceptions of Tech and
Clemson anyway, is in a donnybrook.
In today's matchup, Virginia goes to Wake with the dual opportunity of
nailing second place down for awhile (and at 15-5 overall, within sniffing
distance of an NCAA berth). Wake Forest has a chance to get back to .500
at 4-4, and to crawl up to fifth place. Lose, and they stay at 7th.
There is the old subplot of Dave Odom versus UVa, where he was once an
assistant, and the more recent subplot of the racing
'Hoos vs. the plodding Deacs. Plodding is probably the wrong word, but
they don't run like Virginia does.
If Wake wins, things really get packed, with UVa, State, and UNC all at
4-3, Wake at 4-4, and Maryland and FSU at 3-4.
Yesterday didn't help things too much either, at least in terms of
clarifying the race. The only thing that is clear is Clemson has fallen
and they can't get up. They might have a couple of upsets in them, but 7-13 is
dead dead dead.
Jason Capel said that Brendan
Haywood really got it going in the second half against Tech, and he's
right. We said last year when Brendan realized he was the biggest guy in
the neighborhood, he'd be a load. He
is. This is compounded by Boozer's poor performance against Clemson.
He'll be a key element for Duke, and you can expect he'll get a lot of
attention from the coaching staff this weekend.
UNC's Brian Bersticker is also having to face up to the
possibility of a redshirt year. No word yet.
The now famous UNC crowd performance against Maryland is inspiring various
ideas about how to resolve the issue of getting the old fogies out of the good
seats and the students into them. Eddie
Landreth has his own idea and if anyone could talk Michael Jordan into
helping, it might work.
In Atlanta, the pressure is building on Cremins. Bobby says he
can handle the criticism, but is worried about his family.
Justin Gainey
and the Pack bounced back nicely from the Clemson debacle, and were able
to tell Arizona State our house, not your House. Really Gainey is one of
the best stories in the ACC, even though he yapped recently. He's done a lot
with what he has.
Damon Thornton has done a lot too. Here's the view
from Phoenix.
Maryland took it to FSU yesterday. Gary Williams said he was glad
to see his team get mean, but does that mean he's ok with his players
talking trash to the crowd? Hope not. That, in conjunction with Alvin Jones'
very dangerous headlock on Jason Capel (you try running with a 7' man holding
you by the neck and see if you don't start hitting him. That's a panic
sitiuation), and Tomas Nagys' scissor hold on Jason Williams' knees, and the
conference is looking at a big week, whenever they actually get in through the
ice and the snow. These issues need to be dealt with because they are going to
lead to fights or worse. The best news for Maryland - Lonnie
Baxter and Steve Blake had great days. But talking trash to the fans?
We didn't like it when it happened at UNC and it shouldn't be happening at
Maryland or anywhere, really.
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