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ACC Roundup!

Apparently, Gary Williams is annoyed that State fans heckled Greivis Vasquez (see below for more on Vasquez).  Let's see, that's the same Vasquez who yelled at the Duke students, "come on, bitches!" is not? The same guy who told his own fans they should get the hell out if they can't cheer for the Terps?

Final ACC Standings
North Carolina 13-3 .812 27-3 .900 2
Wake Forest 11-5 .688 24-5 .828 10
Duke 11-5 .688 25-6 .806 3
Florida State 10-6 .625 23-8 .742 16
Clemson 9-7 .562 23-7 .767 19
Boston College 9-7 .562 21-10 .677 57
Bubble Line
Miami 7-9 .438 18-11 .621 53
Maryland 7-9 .438 18-12 .600 67
Virginia Tech 7-9 .438 17-13 .567 62
Heading Home Soon Line
NC State 6-10 .375 16-13 .552 102
Virginia 4-12 .250 10-17 .370 109
Georgia Tech 2-14 .125 11-18 .379 156

And this is the coach of a team whose fans are notorious for getting physical with other teams and fans, from heating and tossing pennies to yelling "fuck you J.J." to J.J. Redick, not to mention calling his very much younger sister a slut.

Maryland fans are rude, crude and generally unacceptable.  And they like it that way.  Fine.  But don't bitch when your rude player gets treated rudely on the road. Maybe Gary could talk to his own folks first.  But that'll never happen.

Typically, when the NCAA hands down suspensions, the target school shuts up, plays nice, and minimizes damage.  In the case of Florida State, T.K. Wetherell, who is a former Seminole football player, argues that the school shouldn't have to forfeit games just because a bunch of players cheated academically.  The NCAA has left it up to FSU to decide which games should be forfeit, and Wetherell, clearly, doesn't want to do it.  Doug Lederman of Inside Higher Ed finds his position to be ludicrous.  This is also not going over well with Georgia Tech.

The All-ACC team was announced Monday, and it was a tougher than normal vote.  James Johnson on third team?  That's a tough one.  But who do you push back?  Tyrese Rice?  Kyle Singler?  Jack McClinton?

We were surprised to an extent to see there wasn't a place for Jon Scheyer.  He had a shooting slump for part of the year, but he's such a good, smart player.  How can there be fifteen better players in the ACC than Scheyer?  Not possible. But there you go.

As good as K.C. Rivers is, he was only honorary mention.  So was Wayne Ellington.

Sylven Landesberg and Al-Farouq Aminu were the leading vote-getters for All-Freshman at 76 apiece.  Iman Shumpert, Solomon Alabi, and Ed Davis rounded out that team.

Trevor Booker and Toney Douglas led the All-Defensive team with 67 each.  Alabi pops up here again, along with Danny Green and L.D. Williams.

Green is a solid defender but maybe not great, but okay.  How does Ty Lawson rate honorable mention, though? A number of guys lit him up like a Christmas tree this year.  He's a huge force on the court, but not on the defensive end.  There's no way he should get more votes than Gerald Henderson, for instance, who not only is a solid perimeter defender, but also a devastating shotblocker when he slides in the lane.   Barry Jacobs, who started the concept of an All-Defensive Team, still gets the coaches to vote on one, and they had a pretty different opinion, with only two voting for Lawson. Since one could be Roy Williams, it's not an overwhelming vote of confidence.

Now that the ACC votes are done, here's our annual All-DBR team. This is nothing fancy. It's just the guys we really admire and would pick on our team if we were putting one together from scratch. Typically, we don't pick Duke guys although we could see several guys from this year's team.

  • Joe Trapani.  The guy's a winner.  He's come in to the ACC and done a great job, and from Vermont?  Great pick-up.
  • Also from B.C., Rakim Sanders.  He's tough, smart, and he won two games for them this year.  Just a solid, smart player.
  • Dave Neal.  The concussion thing is hard to get past, but the guy has made himself into an ACC player in record time after not really playing for three years.  You have to admire that.
  • Ishmael Smith.  Lost his starting job after surgery set him back, so what did he do? Taught Jeff Teague how to play the position correctly, that's what.  Plus he's become really smart when he's in the game.  Love the way he plays.
  • Landon Milbourne.  Like Neal, he just kept plugging away, and he's become a legit ACC player.  Unlike Neal, he has real talent, but there's no denying that he's busted his butt all season long.
  • Tanner Smith.  When the guy goes in for Clemson, something happens. He's got a lot of whatever it is.  A nifty player.  He might spend his career as a role player, but he'll have an influence.
  • Javi Gonzalez.  Written off early, the guy just kept coming, and by the end of the year, he was a pretty good point guard.  He's feisty and relentless.  What's not to like? He's not a great, great player, but he's made himself into a pretty good one, and he's likely to have a positive impact on teammates.
  • Sylven Landesberg.  That kid knows his game.  Solid from top to bottom.  He's going to be great.

And now for the anti-DBR team, the guys in the conference who we can't stand.

  • Ryan Reid.  Is there a bigger punk in the ACC?  He's just incredibly ugly.  This is the guy who punched Greg Paulus last season, rolled over on Ty Lawson's ankle, and in just a few minutes in Cameron this year, almost let his temper get away again.  He probably likes kids and animals, but he can like them somewhere else. Ugh.
  • Terrell Bell.  That elbow he set for Kyle Singler was pre-meditated and ugly.  The sooner he's gone the better for everyone's safety.
  • Chas McFarland.  Ordinarily, he'd be a strong candidate for the All-DBR team.  But he's a piece of work, full of elbows and apparent cheap shots.  And he's the only guy in memory who went into an opposing crowd and suffered a takedown by opposing fans (at Clemson).  And how does a seven-footer get knocked off his feet by a frat boy, anyway?
  • Jeff Allen. Last year: bumped an official. This year:  gave the Maryland crowd the finger.  While one could argue that this is a public service, he's building a bad rep.
  • DeQuan Jones.  A freshman should get a break, but that elbow on Paulus was nasty.
  • We almost put Greivis Vasquez on here, but on some level, the guy is not malicious, just a clown.  We mean that not in the sense that he's a joke, but that the upshot of his temper is often comic.  Fundamentally, we suspect he's a good guy who tends to get a bit out of control at times.  He doesn't generally hurt people, preferring, instead, to talk junk.  Often hilariously.
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