ACC Roundup

There are two seriously depressed teams in the ACC about now - Maryland and
Wake Forest. And one likely shaken as well.

When Skip Prosser came in, he hired a marketing firm to find ways to build
excitement, and they came up with tie-died t-shirts and contracts to come to
games: a manufactured environment, in other words.

Still, it worked for awhile.

Now, though, Wake is pretty much on the skids, and there's no immediate sign
that things are going to turn around. Wake is 1-5 in the last six games,
and there's no way that competitive people can be happy with that level of
performance. Latest loss:
to Florida State, at home, by seven.

Worth noting: Florida State has traditionally, to be kind, sucked on the
road. This year they've already got two wins away from home. They
had close losses at B.C. and at home to UNC, and are only four points from being
in second place in the conference.

Wake could get on a little roll soon: the Deacs face Virginia Tech, Miami,
and Virginia, and then B.C. None of those games are out of reach.
Then again, none of their losses were either.

As for the Terps, Gary Williams (described in one report as
"downcast") met with the media Tuesday and predictably Chris
McCray was the focus of their inquiries. Gary (why are we always on a
first-name basis with Maryland basketball coaches?) said that he took
responsibility for McCray's ineligiblity, but also said it was a two-way street.

True
enough. We're still not convinced that Maryland is fully serious about
academics, frankly, but even if they're not, the kids still have to write the
papers and take the tests, and if they don't get it done, they're in trouble.

And as Eric Prisbell points out, this senior class has been a class of guys
who, at various times, have
done some pretty boneheaded things.

Perhaps more interestingly, the media is slowly turning up the heat a bit on
Maryland, pointing out the poor performance on the court last season and the
various issues with players on the current team. The D.C. media is pretty
brutal, so it's going to be interesting to see how they handle this, and then,
how the team handles any ensuing pressure. And what nobody told Gary is
that getting to the top is only half the story: the other half is trying to keep
people happy when you can't get back again.

In the other, and might we add highly interesting game on Tuesday night,
Virginia shellacked Miami, 70-51. Virginia's win is even more impressive
after what happened to J.R. Reynolds: fairly early in the game he went
hard to the hoop and then went down on his elbow and his head, and stayed down
for several minutes. He left the court, but came back, and didn't play
again.

So: Virginia beat Miami with, basically, seven players, and with their
second-best player missing most of the second half, and the 'Hoos are now tied
for second place in the conference.

We've been following what's been happening up there with great interest, and
we're shocked that it hasn't been a bigger story than it has been. Dave
Leitao is doing a fantastic job. Will this team finish in second place?
Probably not. But they've played brilliantly, and that may be an
understatement.

Boston College plays in Chapel Hill on Wednesday, a task likely not made any
easier when their
bus struck and killed a bicyclist, who is as yet unidentified.

What B.C. had to experience as a result of this is nothing compared to the
cyclist and his loved ones, but knowing that someone died a few feet away from
where you sit, and then having to sit there indefinitely while everything is
handled by the authorities can't possibly help a team to focus and concentrate
on a basketball game. The emphasis is and certainly should be on the dead
cyclist, but one wouldn't be human if one weren't affected by this, and if it
affected one's performance a mere day later, well, who could blame them?

In other Wednesday night action, State steps out of conference to play an
improved Seton Hall, a game they surely should win, Maryland travels to Georgia
Tech.

We usually stay up late to update the site, and lately the Fayetteville paper
has been posting their stories even too late for us. So
we missed this one.

• UNC
  gets boost after loss at UVa
• UVA
  and Tech: A reversal of fortunes
• Duke
  loss shows team mortality
• Seniors
  set an awful example
• Wake
  Forest feeling pressure tonight against FSU