ACC Roundup!

In Saturday's ACC action, one no-brainer and two surprises: Carolina thrashed State 84-64, which was expected. However, not many people  thought Clemson could totally spank Florida State, 62-44, and not many  (but we did) gave Wake Forest a chance to beat Virginia, but they pulled it off, 76-71.

In UNC's win, the Harrison Barnes everyone expected to see finally showed up with a dominant offensive performance.

Barnes finished 10-16 from the floor for 25 points. John Henson had a monster game with 16 points and 16 rebounds.

State never had a chance and after the game, Tracy Smith said he was embarrassed.

State played without Ryan Harrow as the freshman point guard was ill, but it doesn't explain everything.

State managed just 36% from the floor and got hammered on the boards, 53-39.

At this point, while Sidney Lowe retains a lot of personal respect for his playing career at State, losing to Carolina like this is a bad career move, coming on the heels (sorry) of several others recently.

Debbie Yow is renowned for not being a patient woman, and while El Sid has increased the talent in Raleigh, the record doesn't reflect it. State is 1-5 over their last six games, and there's nothing to suggest an immediate improvement.

By coincidence on Saturday, we picked up an annual from 1994 and began reading through the various ACC team profiles. The profiles for UNC and State were somewhat similar to what they are now. While Herb Sendek created an upward trend, it was clear that the answer and not a good fit.

You can say this for Sidney: no matter what happens: he took the job when nobody wanted it and has made it a much more desirable position.

If State makes a move after the season, they will be able to legitimately pursue a young star like Josh Pastner or Brian Gregory or everyone's holy grail right now, Brad Stevens.

We're not saying that they can necessarily get them, but the chances are better now than there were post-Sendek. Plus, we're guessing that Yow will run a better search than her predecessor.  It wouldn't be hard.

We weren't  particularly surprised to see Wake Forest win.  As we have been saying, this is a young and talented team, although one with some holes.  But Virginia is having problems of their own and they were vulnerable.

Interesting games to keep an eye on: Wake plays Miami on Feb. 9th and then State on the 13th.  Could they win those as well?

We also understand that A.D. Ron Wellman gave Jeff Bzdelik strong endorsement this week, which probably makes him pretty happy.

The biggest surprise to us though was Clemson's smashing win over Florida State.

FSU has been a truly great defensive team this year, but the tables were turned in Tigertown  as Clemson held the 'Noles to just 18 first-half points en route to a 22-6 lead.  FSU coughed the ball up 22 times, bewildering coach Leonard Hamilton and most other observers.

Incidentally, the loss restores the normal order to the ACC with Duke and Carolina back on top.

Other than Duke-St. John's, two games on tap for Sunday: Miami heads up to Virginia Tech, while Maryland escapes Snowzilla for a trip to Atlanta.

Miami's perilously close to clocking out for the season. Just 1-5 in the ACC, their margin for error is ridiculously small.  Virginia Tech is in much better shape, but they need wins too. In this one, our who money is on the Hokies.

Good thing for Maryland that the Georgia Tech game is on the road, because the fan anticipation for the Duke game is pretty intense and may overshadow the test with Tech.

Georgia Tech is actually playing pretty well, but they have some serious issues right now: Nate Hicks is out, Glen Rice is sick but will play, and Kammeon Holsey is recovering from illness.

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