In Saturday's ACC action, Virginia Tech beat St. John's 54-48 in the Areopostale Classic in New York, Clemson beat Samford 78-45, Western Carolina finally fell to N.C. State74-62, and Miami somehow lost to Winthrop, 76-70, losing a lot of their hard-won credibility in the process.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
| ACC Standings | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Boston College | 1-0 | 1.000 | 9-2 | .818 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Wake Forest | 1-0 | 1.000 | 8-3 | .727 | ||||||||||||||||||
| North Carolina | 0-0 | .000 | 12-0 | 1.000 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Miami | 0-0 | .000 | 12-1 | .923 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Clemson | 0-0 | .000 | 11-1 | .917 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Duke | 0-0 | .000 | 10-1 | .909 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Virginia | 0-0 | .000 | 9-2 | .818 | ||||||||||||||||||
| NC State | 0-0 | .000 | 9-3 | .750 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Florida State | 0-0 | .000 | 10-4 | .714 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Georgia Tech | 0-0 | .000 | 6-5 | .545 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Virginia Tech | 0-1 | .000 | 8-5 | .615 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Maryland | 0-1 | .000 | 7-6 | .538 | ||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
Winthrop also beat Georgia Tech earlier this season, but in Saturday's game, Miami had an 11 point lead in the second half and basically collapsed. Winthrop just abused them: they scored 47 points in the last 17 1/2 minutes and hit 10 of their final 13 shots.
It's a feckless performance at best. Frank Haith will have plenty to say to his team about this one.
State was on course to a similar performance against Western, coached by former Herb Sendek assistant Larry Hunter. The Catamounts had a nine point halftime lead and hung in there until State began to pull away in the second half by pounding the ball inside to J.J. Hickson, who just destroyed Western, racking up 33 points.
State also calmed down after tossing the ball away a lot in the first half and giving up a lot of points that way.
Incidentally, all of the State fans who ever complained about "free thrown margin" - as if it is somehow supposed to reflect fairness rather than officiating - we'd love to hear you condemn the margin in this game, as State shot 33 to Western's 2.
By the prevailing logic of the recent past, the officials have a clear bias towards N.C. State and should be investigated.
Back on planet ACC, Virginia Tech won ugly against an even uglier St. John's team. The Johnnies have basically struggled on offense since Mike Jarvis left and things are not improving.
The big news in the Clemson win is the return of James Mays. He didn't play particularly well, but he's been out for a while and will have to get back up to speed. Clemson only lost one game in his absence and promises to be a pain in the conference.
UNC's got a lot to figure out after losing Bobby Frasor, but one thing seems certain: Ty Lawson will get a ton of minutes. starting against Valpo on Sunday.
Florida State and Georgia Tech play on Sunday and FSU is in serious trouble, as pretty much their entire frontcourt is either sick, suspended, injured or leaving school: Solomon Alabi is having season-ending surgery; Julian Vaughn is out with an unidentified medical condition, Ryan Reid is suspended, and Casaan Breeden has transferred. That leaves them with Uche Echefu and Jordan DeMercy up front and six scholarship players.
The basketball 'Noles match the football team now.
As Barry Jacobs noted the other day, Ishua Smith's free throw shooting has been a nightmare. Wake is tinkering with his mechanics.
- Ugly Garden party produces Tech win
- Hurricanes suffer first loss
- FSU awaits rigors of ACC
- Wake Forest looks to match intensity
- Tigers rebound against Samford
- Jackets must be on guard against FSU
- N.C. State rallies past Western Carolina 74-62
- Tar Heels will have to adjust without Frasor
- UNC will survive loss of Frasor