In ACC news, obviously the big two matchups today are Duke-Temple and UNC-Kentucky.
On the surface, the latter would be the glamour matchup, but after the first
game between Duke and Temple, that's not necessarily the case. You can see
our notes and links on Temple for more on that.
The UNC-Kentucky game, though, does have some
spectacular subplots, including of course the Jason
Parker bigtime payback
plan, the former DeMatha teammates Forte and Bogans going head to head (our
money is on Forte, who has so far been vastly superior to Bogans, though after
losing weight Bogans is supposedly much improved), Kentucky's horrid start
(1-3), UNC's transition both at point guard (not to mention UK's struggles at
the same position) and
coach, and then the race between UNC and Kentucky for the lead in all-time
wins.
In terms of Parker,
Matt Doherty has asked the fans to please be kind to him, which begs the
question: why would they be unkind and what's Doherty worried about?
It's not Parker's fault that things worked out this way, at least not as far
as anyone could tell from reading the public tea leaves.
Here's his letter:
"I want to take this unusual step of asking our fans to respectfully welcome Jason and his family to Chapel
Hill. He wanted to attend Carolina and play for the Tar Heels. An unfortunate series of events made that impossible. However, I wish him and his family the best and want them to be treated with Carolina Class on Saturday. In fact, I would like to ask our fans to please give Jason a warm ovation when he is introduced.
"Thanks, and I hope to see [and hear] you on Saturday."
State has a big game today, too, with a trip to Old Dominion for Kenny Inge's
homecoming. Never mind his family has moved to DisneyWorld country, aka
Orlando. Herb Sendek is now pointing to Kenny with pride, saying that now
he's the real deal, that
he's grown up and become a man. The ACC players interviewed in SI
demur, calling him the dirtiest player in the ACC, according to the Greensboro
paper. We understand. Nonetheless, we long ago heard some devastating
things about Inge's childhood, and while we don't like him much, we have
compassino for someone who has had a very tough life. If he has truly
turned it around, we are extremely impressed and happy for him.
In other news, Hermann Wendorff of the Fayetteville paper says
the ACC isn't that hot. We disagree with him in some aspects but he nails
Maryland: "ItÂs hardly news when a Gary Williams-coached team fails to live up to expectations, but the Terps usually donÂt quit clicking until tournament time."
Ka-boom! Maryland has different theories. According to the Baltimore Sun,
Drew Nicholas says that it is a lack of concentration, Gary says that the stars
aren't asserting themselves, but Lonny Baxter more daringly says it is a
chemistry problem. That's something worth exploring. Will someone please
ask him what he means? Perhaps it could relate to Byron Mouton, not
personally (like we'd know) but that he's clearly outplaying Danny Miller.
That can cause some tensions - a new guy kicking butt and all. Here's a
weird stat - can this be right? Juan Dixon has not hit a 3 pointer at all so
far? Wow. The Terps have 1-3 Michigan coming up, and losing that would be really
really bad.
Speaking of ACC statistics,
the Charlotte O has some spectacular stats, to writ: 18.5 points, 9.8 rebounds and 3.5 blocks?
Ervin Murray has a 7.5-1 turnover-assist ratio? And that's three times
better than Ed Cota? That former fat boy Nigel Dixon is averaging 14.5 points and 6.8 rebounds and shooting
64.9 percent?
And we wonder if Dave Odom will have to tell his fans to cheer for Roy
Williams when he brings his Kansas squad to Wake Forest this week. Something
tells us they'll manage on their own.
Also, Ron Curry's Achilles Tendon is still painful.
And in some ACC alumni news, Charles Oakley, who has kind of faded in the
latter years of his NBA career, had one great play left: during a morning
shootaround, he
slugged former Tar Heel Jeff McInnis. He was fined 15,000 for doing
it, but there are probably a lof of people who would have paid at least that
much to slug McInnis.
And in a touch of football news, former Clemson coach Tommy West has
engineered a comeback of sorts, taking the head job at Memphis. But if he
can't win at Clemson, Memphis may be a stretch.