It was a bad day for the ACC in the BB&T Classic as Virginia Tech and Maryland both lost, to GW and Notre Dame respectively.
And in Miami, the Hurricanes, who have been struggling thus far, pulled it together to beat the highly talented young Yellow Jackets.
But for a change of pace, FSU seriously surprised Florida. Now, Florida was suffering, with Joakim Noah sick and Corey Brewer with mono. But nonetheless, FSU so far has been clobbered by Pitt and Wisconsin, and hasn't been scintillating every time out. So what happened?
| Atlantic Coast Conference | ||
| TEAM | CONF W-L | TOTAL W-L |
| <! a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/clubhouse?teamId=258" target=_top>Virginia | 1-0 | 5-1 |
| <! a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/clubhouse?teamId=2390" target=_top>Miami (FL) |
1-0 | 5-3 |
| <! a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/clubhouse?teamId=228" target=_top>Clemson | 0-0 | 9-0 |
| <! a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/clubhouse?teamId=120" target=_top>Maryland | 0-0 | 8-1 |
| <! a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/clubhouse?teamId=150" target=_top>Duke | 0-0 | 7-1 |
| <! a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/clubhouse?teamId=153" target=_top>North Carolina |
0-0 | 6-1 |
| <! a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/clubhouse?teamId=52" target=_top>Florida State |
0-0 | 5-2 |
| <! a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/clubhouse?teamId=154" target=_top>Wake Forest |
0-0 | 5-2 |
| <! a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/clubhouse?teamId=103" target=_top>Boston College |
0-0 | 4-2 |
| <! a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/clubhouse?teamId=259" target=_top>Virginia Tech |
0-0 | 4-3 |
| <! a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/clubhouse?teamId=152" target=_top>North Carolina State |
0-1 | 5-1 |
| <! a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/clubhouse?teamId=59" target=_top>Georgia Tech |
0-1 | 6-2 |
Probably a couple of things.
We're guessing FSU has started to get the new offense, for one (Leonard
Hamilton is switching to a more guard-oriented, open-court offense). And while Florida has some problems, they're also finding out just how big a target the defending champs always have. And 19 turnovers certainly hurt.
But the Gators are a tough team, and they did almost come all the way back at the end.
No doubt Florida State has picked up a lot of confidence from this game. Let's see what they do with it.
Maryland was somewhat off, but still winning, when Ekene Ebekwe, the ACC player who is currently most likely to cause an incident, caused one, getting a technical for taunting. Maryland gave up 50 points in the second half.
Virginia Tech, much like Maryland, had the game in control and let it go, giving up a nine point halftime lead. At 4-3, Virginia Tech's season is already at a critical spot. This is a veteran team, a fairly talented team. Floating around .500 will not go over well.
And in Charlottesville, Virginia won, but they never had more than a four point lead until there were less than five seconds in the game, meaning that Sidney Lowe did a great job of managing his team.
More impressively, he did it without Engin Atsur and a six-man rotation. All things considered, that's fairly astounding. It's far too early to talk of post-season honors, but it's certainly fair - and accurate - to say that no one has done more with less.