We start today's ACC roundup
with the Kentucky-St. John's game (which was an excellent game by the way).
Why? Because near-Heels Omar Cook and Jason Parker. Omar, for a lot of the
game, was sensational. He cramped up and left, but made the inbounds pass at the
end to tie the game (St. John's hit a free throw to take the lead).
Parker wasn't as sensational but he was very solid, hitting 6 points and 10
boards. He might have scored more but Kentucky didn't get him the ball enough,
really. So the natural temptation is to wonder what would happen if Omar was
getting the ball to Parker? Life is full of what-ifs, but that's a good
one.
Wow, the Greensboro paper is on quite a roll. Yesterday they just stuffed the
ACC section full; today is another list of good stories, starting
with a Doherty story. You know the line by now - young, hip former player
takes over, exciting change, glamour, blah, blah, but how will he do? Some
of that will depend on the point guard situation. He also has to deal
with Max Owen's ankle
problem. First up for real is Winthrop
tonight, and assuming UNC wins - reasonable assumption -
they may get Tulsa on Saturday, which would mean playing
Buzz Peterson. In another sign of change, he says he'd enjoy it, unlike Dean
Smith, who said he hated those sorts of games.
They also have
an update on Damon Thornton, who was suspended by the student government for
his drunk driving arrest, but who is eligible on December 19th. That means
he'll miss:
- the Red & White game
- Interhoop
- the California All-Stars
- Penn
- Fordham/CharlotteÂ
- the Hall of Fame Tipoff (Fresno)
- Charleston Southern
- Penn State
- Â ODU
- UNCG
- Georgia
- New Hampshire
In fairness, that is a lot of the season to miss.
Â
In other news, Clemson
lost to a Lithium national team - what? oh, sorry. Lithuanian team. Well
wouldn't you know it, wrong Baltic nation, it was Latvia. Same difference.
They play the way Europeans play, which is to say smart and fundamental
basketball. At least Clemson
has learned how to run.
Clemson got what you might expect from Will Solomon - 32 points.Â
Allenspach had a 20-10 night. Tony Stockman made an argument for increased
time, and Pasha Bains played well.
The N&O has a feature up on
the enigmatic Brendan Haywood, but he appears to have gotten past a lot of
that this season.
Up Maryland way, Byron
Mouton is settling in after sitting out for a year. If you scroll
down, Shane's goal for the season thankfully doesn't extend to interviews.Â
His teammate, Drew Nicholas, is
making adjustments of his own.
And at the other geographic extreme, Delvon
is in charge! Steve Robinson is now
shooting for speed.
Chapel Hill has several articles, including
the standard first-game-ever Doherty article,
Doherty inherits Final Four team, and
Doherty is a perfect fit.
They also have an article on Wake's
building on the NIT, one on Paul
Hewitt pumping up Tech, a Clemson
rundown, one on Maryland
season, one on UVa
as well, and finally one
on State.