Let's just be upfront about this: State and Maryland embarrassed the ACC last
night. State
in particular was horrible, with 16 first half turnovers against Fresno and
going down 11-0. One thing they may quickly be learning is just how
critical Justin Gainey was to this group. Sendek says they can't help but
learn from this but he doesn't speculate on what the lesson holds. Damien
Wilkins supposedly is determined to step
out of his father's shadow but if he keeps playing like this he might want
to try a different field. Herb Sendek better hope they learn the right
lesson, because the State fans we know are grumbling. Here's
the N&R also.
In a nicer State story, Chris Corchiani had an enormous heart as a player.
Turns out he
has a big one off the court, too.
People are now asking about the Terps: are
they tough enough? That question will drive Gary Williams around the
bend. He points out, and it's fair, that Maryland started 0-3 in the ACC
last year and still finished second. But there's no getting around that this
weekend was a disaster for the Terps, both hoops-wise and image wise.
For a program which is supposedly ready to challenge for the Final Four,
starting 0-2 is terrible.
In Chapel Hill, the search to replace Carl Torbush goes on, as does the
controversy over his firing. Most interestingly,
a member of an academic committee overseeing athletics resigned from the
committee, saying that the firing is "incompatible with the expressed
goals of our athletic program (at least our publicly expressed goals),"
according to the N&O. She goes on to say that UNC is "just as
driven by money and powerful fans" as schools they don't care for and also
rips the new Chancellor by name.
The search continues. UNC seems focused on wooing Frank Beamer of Virginia
Tech, but Eddie Landreth says that'll never happen and says that it may turn
into a repeat of the "I Said No To Dean" perfomance of last summer,
which in our opinion might spell the end of the already not-so-popular Baddour at UNC.