In ACC basketball Thursday night, B.C. beat State, 85-62, Georgia Tech fell to Clemson, 82-67, and Wake stopped FSU 78-70, for their first road win.
FSU's Ryan Reid was ejected for punching Chas McFarland in the chest in the first half. This is the same guy, recall, who struck Greg Paulus when Paulus was on his back, and also the same guy who rolled over on Ty Lawson. Roy Williams chided Lawson for saying that Reid pulled him on down, but after this, who knows? It's the third strike. The ACC needs to come down hard on Reid, who has established himself as a major cheap shot artist.
| ACC Standings | ||||
| School | Conf. | Pct. | Overall | Pct. |
| Duke | 10-0 | 1.000 | 22-1 | .957 |
| North Carolina | 8-2 | .800 | 23-2 | .920 |
| Clemson | 6-4 | .600 | 18-6 | .750 |
| Maryland | 6-4 | .600 | 16-9 | .640 |
| Wake Forest | 5-5 | .500 | 15-8 | .652 |
| Virginia Tech | 5-5 | .500 | 14-10 | .583 |
| Georgia Tech | 4-5 | .444 | 11-12 | .478 |
| NC State | 4-6 | .400 | 15-9 | .625 |
| Boston College | 4-6 | .400 | 13-10 | .565 |
| Miami | 3-6 | .333 | 16-7 | .696 |
| Florida State | 3-7 | .300 | 14-11 | .560 |
| Virginia | 1-9 | .100 | 11-12 | .478 |
Wake's win drew a bright line in the standings: Wake and above, NCAA likely/possible. Below: not likely. Like Wake, Virginia Tech is also 5-5, but they are 14-10 and that's not a strong enough overall record to get them in at this point. The only other school that could conceivably make a run would be Miami, but time is slipping away. If they got hot and won four straight, they'd be at 2-7 and over .500 in conference and they'd have an argument, but they have to get hot first, and they haven't been lately.
State couldn't handle Tyrese Rice, and the little guard dominated the Pack and led his team to an 82-65 win. He had 32 points on 12-18 shooting, and also six assists. It's fair to say that he controlled the game. Powerfully built rookie teammate Rakim Sanders had 14 and 12 respectively.
Clemson's loss to UNC was obviously gut-wrenching, but they bounced back in a big way with their win over Georgia Tech and are now at 18-6 and tied with Maryland for third place. With State, FSU, Miami, Maryland, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech left, Clemson could run the table and finish at 12-4. However, only Miami and Virginia Tech are at home.
Maryland is likely in, of course, even after losing at Duke. The players are focusing on FSU, which is smart, and if they keep winning, they'll be in for sure.
Sam Cassell won a place in the hearts of ACC fans when he took FSU into the Dean Dome for the first time and instead of losing led his team to a memorable upset. Why was it memorable? For his immortal dismissal of the fans as "a wine and cheese crowd." He got his jersey retired in Tallahassee; they ought to stitch the line on his banner somewhere.
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