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ACC Roundup

By DBR Archives

The UNC-Tech game was a must-win for both teams, and UNC won it, to be sure, but they
won it because of a monumental
choke by Georgia Tech. Ultimately you end up with either a W or L, but what happened
to Tech looked to us to be pretty clearly a young team that couldn't figure out what to
do. That's partly the coach's fault and partly just the fault of youth. Our
guess is that loss, along with some other painful experiences this season, will fester
over the summer, and Tech will come back next year as a lean, mean fighting machine.

Wake Forest 11-3 21-4
Duke 10-4 20-4
Maryland 10-4 18-7
NC State 8-5 15-9
Clemson 5-9 15-10
North Carolina 5-9 15-13
Virginia 5-9 14-13
Georgia Tech 5-9 12-13
Florida State 4-11 13-13

But this year is pretty much done for them after that implosion.

Incidentally, while Dick
Baddour backs Sylvia Hatchell immediately and without reservation, he still won't do
it for Doherty. He just keeps making it worse, and the doubt around Doherty's future
is still there, and possibly worse.

Wake Forest beat Clemson
Saturday, which is no great shock, but the Deacs are about to pin down the title,
which is pretty impressive. What's not impressive is Virginia's self-immolation, which continued with a loss
to FSU. Bad things are happening in Charlottesville: after suspending Keith
Jenifer, next on Gillen's to-do list is Travis Watson, who has now not started three
straight games, and who refused to show up for punishment after being late for a
"team function." Also showing up late: Elton Brown and Jermaine
Harper. Gillen says "it's a lack of character and that's disappointing. We
don't have a lack of talent, we have a lack of character."

Ok, but maybe he could toss in discipline as well? When you have basically fired your
point guard, your four-year MVP loses interest and heart, and others don't bother to make
it on time, where does the blame lie? Pete Gillen is a very engaging man and easy to
like - he was very nice to us when we met him, in spite of our imposing on him - but like
Doherty, Hewitt, and to lesser extents Shyatt and Sendek, he faces some serious pressure
now.

State meanwhile hosts Maryland today. Drew Nicholas has really come on
for them, and what is most impressive about him is that he's willing to wait his turn
to be the man. State has given both Duke and Maryland good games this year.
Maybe they're ready to do it again. Certainly the fans probably remember Gary
Williams taunting them not too long ago, yelling "F**ck you! That's six straight!
F**ck you!" as he ran off the court, according to State fans who were there.

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