We kind of missed the Virginia-Longwood game, but since it's an annual version of basketball onanism, who cares? Virginia won, as always. Nothing proved, nothing gained. Saturday promises to be a better - and riskier - day of basketball around the conference.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
| ACC Standings | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Clemson | 0-0 | .000 | 8-0 | 1.000 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Duke | 0-0 | .000 | 8-0 | 1.000 | ||||||||||||||||||
| North Carolina | 0-0 | .000 | 8-0 | 1.000 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Miami | 0-0 | .000 | 7-0 | 1.000 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Boston College | 0-0 | .000 | 6-1 | .857 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Florida State | 0-0 | .000 | 8-2 | .800 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Virginia | 0-0 | .000 | 6-2 | .750 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Wake Forest | 0-0 | .000 | 5-2 | .714 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Maryland | 0-0 | .000 | 6-3 | .667 | ||||||||||||||||||
| NC State | 0-0 | .000 | 4-2 | .667 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Virginia Tech | 0-0 | .000 | 4-3 | .571 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Georgia Tech | 0-0 | .000 | 4-4 | .500 | ||||||||||||||||||
That's not the case in the state of Florida, as Florida State hosts Maine, and Miami Florida International. Both schools are seeking breakthrough seasons, and nothing in those opponents are going to derail that. And Duke's clearly favored against Michigan (but at least they're from a power conference).
Wake's game against Georgia won't be easy - Dennis Felton has had some struggles with his program, but he's talented and his Bulldogs are 5-1 and well-coached. So it is a risky game. But nothing is as risky as State's trip to Greenville, and no one is being stupider right now than Sidney Lowe.
The atmosphere at ECU is going to be insane. And Lowe's comments about the game suggest that he is tense and unhappy, and if the coach is, then the players will be as well.
Check out El Sid's reaction: "Why are we going to play there? ... Um ... We're going to play there ... Um. ... The schedule was made before I got here, put it that way...We just had some games that were already scheduled ahead of time, before I took the job, and then we filled in from there...We're playing East Carolina tomorrow. That's it.""
Is this a guy you'd follow into combat? Geez. Given State's somewhat fragile ego thus far, it won't surprise us at all to see them come out tight, tense, and unhappy. And if they do, then talent is not nearly the factor it should be. It'll be replaced by emotion, and that's all to ECU's advantage. If it's a tight game with under five...well, we'll see.