Blew it. Blew it, blew it, blew it. That's what Maryland coaches, players, and partisans are sure to be saying in light of the devastating loss to Virginia. Virginia fans, meanwhile, are likely to be thinking two things: thank you, Mamadi, and where the hell have you been, Mamadi?
| Final Regular Season ACC Action! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Virginia Tech @ Florida State | 2:00 PM | Raycom | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Clemson @ Wake Forest | 6:00 PM | FSN | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The kid has been solid throughout his career, until his senior year, where he's fallen apart. Not Saturday.
Diane got the ceremonial start and hit for 23, including the game-winning three and was carried off the court by his teammates. Not bad for a guy whose dad this week complained bitterly about his treatment by coach Dave Leitao.
For Maryland, they almost got there. Odds are now they'll have to do some heavy damage in Atlanta to get a bid.
In Coral Gables, Miami had a big game against State which kept their slim hopes alive. They defended the Pack well, holding them scoreless for 12 minutes. Like Maryland, though, they'll need a big weekend to get in.
You have to feel a bit bad for Georgia Tech: they were up by one, on the road, with 1.7 left, when Rakim Sanders hit a difficult, off-balance shot to win it. You might remember he did to Virginia Tech earlier. Tech had a chance to pull a nice upset - had basically done it, really - when what was more or less a lucky shot did them in. Too bad.
On Sunday, Virginia Tech gets a chance to rebuild their tournament argument with a game against FSU. It's not going to be easy. Florida State matches them really well and they've rounded into a nice tourney team. They've finished nicely, with close losses to UNC, Wake, B.C. and Duke to go 6-3 in February. Unless they're complacent we can't see them losing here.
The more interesting game is Clemson at Wake Forest. Clemson's taken some criticism lately, which isn't really fair. Remember, this is a team which was expected to skid this season after heavy graduation losses. But they've been really good and exceeded expectations to the point where the expectations surpass the talent on the team. It's not a bad problem, really, but it's a new one in Clemson.
Clemson has a chance to tie for third, but unless they win by more than 10, Wake gets the tiebreaker.
In the other game, if FSU wins, they'll either move past Clemson or into a tie with Clemson and Wake. And if Virginia Tech loses, there's a three-way tie with Miami and Maryland.
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