ACC Roundup

For all the talk about various conferences and how tough they are, does
anyone else have the sense of urgency the ACC has two or three games in?
In Blacksburg, Virginia Tech, only in their second ACC season but long aware of
the conference's passions, at 0-2, faces a young UNC team which will experience
a hostile ACC arena for the first time. But to keep that in a bit of
perspective, Rupp Arena is not a bad stand-in.

But that's still not a conference game, and Tech will be, or should be at
least, playing with a sense of urgency Kentucky didn't have. For the Hokies, it
is critical: if they fall to 10-6, their odds of making the tourney are
going to get longer.

As we learned after the Duke game, some members of Virginia Tech's team face
difficult personal situations, not least of all Coleman Collins, whose
father is dying of cancer.

Obviously he's a very bright guy who just has to face something very
difficult now, and who deserves general support from ACC fans of other
schools. Basketball only seems like life. He's dealing with life,
and everywhere he goes, kindness should be extended.

Aside from his heartache, Allen Calloway is going through
chemotherapy for a form of soft-tissue cancer and hasn't really played, Robert
Krabbendam and Terrance Vinson will redshirt, and Winton Witherspoon is still
recovering from a foot injury. It's a series of tough breaks, no pun
intended.

It's a slightly different situation for N.C. State and Boston College, with
State's sense of ascent likely dented with the loss to UNC, a team they could
have beaten had they played their best, or at least if they had not been
outplayed so thoroughly at clutch time. And as for B.C., with their
assertions that the ACC was no big deal, no different than the Big East, it's
harder to say that at 0-2, and much harder to say it at 0-3.

And consider this: if Virginia Tech beats UNC and B.C. loses, they will be
alone in the ACC cellar. That's something no one thought possible at the
beginning of the season, and that's a distinct possibility, something Tyrese
Rice alluded to when he said "[e]verybody wants to prove why we shouldn't
be here, and that's going to make it extra hard to get a win. Some people
feel like our style doesn't fit the ACC style, the same way they felt about
Virginia Tech when they first came in."

Well, not exactly. No one really knew what their style was; the idea
was that they couldn't compete in this conference, which they proved wrong
rather quickly.

Of course, given State's occasional fecklessness during the Sendek era, they
may play poorly and give the Eagles a boost.

As for Georgia Tech, Centenary is not much of an opponent. Best known
as the alma mater of Celtics great Robert Parish, the Gentlemen shouldn't offer
much of a fight. But for Tech, it's a tremendous opportunity nonetheless,
as they get a chance to build on the big win over B.C., and to reinforce the
many things they did well in that game.

We've learned now that
B.C. focuses a lot on pounding it inside, which makes sense with Craig Smith
on your side.

Does Marcus Vick have no sense at all? He's
been arrested again, this time on weapons charges.

• Dascenzo: Don't
  look beyond the Heels' 'D'
• Newest
  class of Tar Heels fills gap, finds playing time plentiful
• Championship
  drains roster
• U.VA.
  NOTES
• Hokies
  Play Through Aches, Emotional Pain
• Sendek
  has Wolfpack winning without stars
• Injuries
  Abundent on Va. Tech Basketball Team
• Patience:
  Boston College likes to take time on offense
• Heels
  to hit road today
• Who
  is No. 2 in the ACC?
• Young
  Heels finish strong
• Georgia
  Tech sinks B.C.