In Wednesday night ACC action, all four teams won, but none by the sort of margin you'd expect against weak opponents: South Florida fell to Wake, 74-61, Virginia beat Hampton 79-65, Virginia Tech beat Liberty 58-46, and UNC beat Nicholls State 88-78.
Say what?
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| ACC Standings | ||||||||||||||||
| Boston College | 1-0 | 1.000 | 7-2 | .778 | ||||||||||||
| Duke | 0-0 | .000 | 10-0 | 1.000 | ||||||||||||
| Miami | 0-0 | .000 | 10-0 | 1.000 | ||||||||||||
| North Carolina | 0-0 | .000 | 10-0 | 1.000 | ||||||||||||
| Clemson | 0-0 | .000 | 8-0 | 1.000 | ||||||||||||
| Virginia | 0-0 | .000 | 8-2 | .800 | ||||||||||||
| Florida State | 0-0 | .000 | 10-3 | .769 | ||||||||||||
| Wake Forest | 0-0 | .000 | 7-3 | .700 | ||||||||||||
| NC State | 0-0 | .000 | 5-3 | .625 | ||||||||||||
| Virginia Tech | 0-0 | .000 | 6-4 | .600 | ||||||||||||
| Georgia Tech | 0-0 | .000 | 4-5 | .444 | ||||||||||||
| Maryland | 0-1 | .000 | 6-5 | .545 | ||||||||||||
UNC, it is generally agreed, stunk. Certainly Ol' Roy Williams thinks so. After the game, he was harshly critical, as he is from time to time, saying that "It wasn't a very good game for us. You don't have to be a nuclear physicist or a basketball coach to figure that out."
That's critical and he's obviously upset and it's his team and he is a brilliant coach and he'll get his point across. But did he have to say this?
"They may be tired of me, but they'll be a hell of a lot more tired of me after [this game]⦠We'll see how many guys I can make throw up at practice."
With all due respect, that verges on sadistic. A coach at time punishes players, he pushes them, and he's entitled to broad latitude in how he does so. But even the flintiest coach is required to respect his players.
It could be just a flippant comment, but if Williams is actually setting out to make his players vomit, his superiors should step in and explain to him that UNC does not condone that sort of physical abuse.
Williams actually has had a string of odd comments over the years, many of which reveal a flintier, if not an outright mean approach, than Williams likes to project. Think about the various suicide references, the infamous cursing during the live CBS post-game interview.
The smiling, soft-spoken country boy who likes Cokes because his mother had to sacrifice to get him one - that's the Roy he wants us to see. But he's a complex man, and pretty clearly one side of his personality has a very healthy ego and a willingness to get rough with people that you wouldn't necessarily intuit from his public persona.
Tech beat Liberty, but it was an ugly win, to say the least.
Hampton gave UVa a tough game, built around shutting down Sean Singletary. Trouble was, UVa's other kids came through and won despite turning the ball over 21 times.
Jim Sumner is an excellent ACC writer, and we enjoy his columns. Here's one he posted at GoDuke.com on the history of ACC and television.
One-time NC State player Andy Kennedy (he transferred) is building a solid rep at Ole Miss. He may meet Oliver Purnell and Clemson in Puerto Rico over the holidays.
In Thursday night ACC action, Clemson opens against PR Mayaguez, and Miami takes on North Florida.