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ACC Roundup

By DBR Archives

One look at the picture of Gary Williams in the post-game slideshow tells you what you need to know about where Maryland is right now:  they're in trouble. American beat the Terps 67-59, for their first win over the Terps since the 1926-27 season.

Sunday ACC Action!
Teams Times TV
NC A&T @ Miami 1:00 Nope
Cincinnati @ N.C State 5:30 FSN
Virginia Tech @ Wake Forest 7:00 FSN
ACC Standings
Boston College 1-0 1.000 8-2 .800
Miami 0-0 .000 11-0 1.000
North Carolina 0-0 .000 11-0 1.000
Clemson 0-0 .000 10-1 .909
Duke 0-0 .000 10-1 .909
Virginia 0-0 .000 9-2 .818
Florida State 0-0 .000 10-4 .714
Wake Forest 0-0 .000 7-3 .700
NC State 0-0 .000 6-3 .667
Virginia Tech 0-0 .000 6-4 .600
Georgia Tech 0-0 .000 5-5 .500
Maryland 0-1 .000 6-6 .500

Gary Williams was not impressed: "I'm tired of teams coming in here with a higher intensity level than our team," Williams told the media after the game. "We have to figure out a way to be more aggressive. ... We're not shooting well, but you can make up for that by doing some other things."

For coach Jeff Jones, beating Maryland must be sweet after his collapse at Virginia.  For Gary Williams, the season is looking increasingly grim.

And it's not like American is a juggernaut.  They've lost to Loyola, Fairfield, Morgan State,  Maryland-Baltimore County, and Dayton, with only Dayton being a truly tough opponent. This follows the loss to Ohio, which promptly turned around and lost to Kansas by 24.

Against American, James Gist and Bambale Osby only managed four points and five boards between them. Against American? The Terps only managed to hit 35.8%.

Grievis Vasquez had a good game, with a career high 28, but he was sharply critical of his team.

"I've never been through this situation before. I'm shocked. It's like a cancer on the team that's beating us and we haven't found the medicine, the cure to beat it. I think our intensity level is pathetic."

They struggled with American's 2-3 zone, so you can reasonably expect everyone else to try it against the Terps.

For their next five games, Maryland has Delaware, Savannah State, at Charlotte, Holy Cross, and Virginia Tech.  The first two should be absolutely no problem.  Charlotte will be tough, and Holy Cross is playing well.

The Terps now fall to 6-6 and at best will re-enter conference play (after their first ACC loss to B.C.) with at best a 10-6 record and only one mildly impressive win.

ACC Standings By Winning Percentage
Miami 11-0 1.000
North Carolina 11-0 1.000
Clemson 10-1 .909
Duke 10-1 .909
Virginia 9-2 .818
Boston College 8-2 .800
Florida State 10-4 .714
Wake Forest 7-3 .700
NC State 6-3 .667
Virginia Tech 6-4 .600
Georgia Tech 5-5 .500
Maryland 6-6 .500

Next question: given the last few years at College Park, and the way this year seems to be going, is Gary going to get some heat?

Clemson's undefeated start came to a stop in Puerto Rico, with the Tigers losing to Mississippi, 85-82. Clemson got hammered on the offensive boards and had 17 turnovers to 10 for Ole Miss.  Keep in mind, though, that Clemson is still without James Mays and his 15/10 per game.

It's a loss, but it's an understandable one and not necessarily a bad one.

Florida State lost on the road to Providence, 101-95.  It was a winnable game, and a road win for FSU would have been a big deal since that's their traditional bugaboo. Still is, apparently.

B.C. got a very tough game from Northeastern and only won when Tyrese Rice hit a shot with 2.2 left to put B.C. up 57-55.  Credit Northeastern for great D, because that was his only shot of the game, and Rice is a really good offensive player.

The other games of the day were pretty much as expected, holiday routs.  UNC trashed Santa Barbara, 105-70, responding well to Roy Williams' insistence on defense. About the only bad thing you could say was that they didn't shoot well from three point range, going 3-15.

Georgia Tech crushed Centenary, 86-41,  but they did it without Mouhammad Faye, who has taken an indefinite  leave of absence and may not return. That's their second player gone this week, after Ra'Sean Dickey. At 6-10, Faye wasn't an inside player, but he is a big man, and Tech needs help from big men.

Virginia beat Elon by 30, 91-61. It's not much to go on, but Dave Leitao felt like they had a good game.

State is making more money in the RBC than they ever did in Reynolds, but a lot of nights they're staring at empty seats.  It's a tradeoff. It's always hard to say no to money, but Reynolds had magic and passion, and that's gone forever.

It's a good lesson for folks around Duke who want a shiny new arena.

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