DePaul
upset a rusty Wake Forest Tuesday night, 84-81. Wake shot 19-32 from
the line, with Eric Williams only hitting 6-14.
What was that we were saying about early stats being deceptive? Trent
Strickland got four boards, considerably less than the nine he has been
averaging. And Kyle Visser, who has shown some encouraging signs early,
basically disappeared, with two points and two rebounds in only 18 minutes (he
did have five assists however).
Here's a bit on D.J. Strawberry as
he tries to master the point guard position. He says he's doing
okay. Gary Williams says he's learning.
Herb
Sendek is not really worried about UNC-A, is he?
Here's a look at the Big Four from
a business point of view. And speaking of business view:
how cheap are the new guys at the Herald-Sun? So cheap they didn't bother
sending someone to the Wake-DePaul game? This is a game between the ACC
and the Big East, with the ACC team in the Top 20, and they can't send someone
to cover it? Or spring for a stringer?
Maybe there will be a column tomorrow. But it looks pretty shabby
today.
We thought it would be interesting to take a look at ACC stats thus far, but
with a caveat: since most teams have been playing dogs as much as possible, you
see some anomalies, like FSU with the biggest scoring margin.
However, there are some things you can take seriously, and a few which maybe
are just interesting.
Virginia is pretty weak this year. But their defense is much stouter
than you might think. The Cavs have the lead in scoring defense, and are
fifth in field goal percentage defense. They are second when it comes to
defending the three point line (behind Duke).
Wake is leading the ACC in rebounding offense with 44.6 per game; Duke brings
up the rear at 31.8. However, Virginia has the best rebounding margin at
+11.3
Free throw percentages: Duke is on top at .740. Virginia is second at
.727. Clemson is under 60% at .575, a stat which will likely come back to
haunt them when things heat up next month.
Individually, J.J. Redick is the leading scorer at 24.9. Justin Gray is
second at 19.8, and Shelden Williams is third at 19.0. Somewhat
surprisingly, B.C.'s Jared Dudley is outscoring teammate Craig Smith 17.9 to
16.4
Tyler Hansbrough is the leading freshman scorer at 16.3 per game, but that
may go down when conference play starts.
Early stats are sometimes misleading, as we said, but it's still striking
that Trent Strickland is outrebounding the entire conference.
Surprise of the early season? J.J. Redick is the fourth best free throw
shooter in the conference thus far. Ralph Mims is perfect, Shawan Robinson
is 22-23 for .957%, and Anthony Morrow is 18-20 for .900.
Redick, though, has shot 54, so those numbers will likely even out. And
Chris McCray, who has nipped at his heels before, is in fifth place at .884.
Redick has also hit 32-68 from behind the line for .471.
Jason Cain is leading the ACC in offensive rebounding with 4.67.
We'd argue that a brief perusal of the stats thus far suggests that
Virginia is playing with a lot more discipline and focus.