Al Featherston has a nice
ACC overview up, discussing the progress of the teams and conference.
Nice work, Al
One of the themes which has come clear is the re-emergence of the Heels. It's
not like they went very far down, but the perception over the last three years
was that they were off their normal stride. Not this season, and Duke and
UNC are glancing warily down 15-501 at each other, knowing there's a huge
matchup coming very soon.
Part of UNC's success is because
Ronald Curry, unlike Ed Cota, is willing to play defense, and suddenly, with
ball pressure,
UNC can do some things it couldn't do during the Cota years.
See the mention of Donald Hand at the bottom of Featherston's column?
Wondering why he is the only guy measured with no shoes, and why he is the only
guy whose height isn't rounded to the nearest inch? Because UVa is angling to
win the award for best player under 6-0, that's why. They can earn
some points towards that if their
press bothers UNC.
Up in College Park, Chris Wilcox, originally billed at 6-11,
is down to 6-8 or 6-9, according to Gary Willliams, and while he's not
playing much this year, Gary's counting on him next season.
The Terps are resting and getting
ready for Duke, and if you haven't caught on to this, they really, really,
really hate Duke. In some ways it's a purer hate than UNC's.
Down in Atlanta, Tech is looking
at Clemson and FSU and getting excited. That would put that at 12-7,
.500 in conference, and back in tournament contention. FSU is also playing
State, and thinks
State is vulnerable.