ACC Roundup!

The surprise of the night has to be Harvard knocking off FSU.  The early word on Harvard was that they could be suprisingly good; apparently they are.

The first half was abysmal though with both teams combining for 28 points and a 14-14 tie, but that was largely because of tough defense.  Harvard shot just 27.3%. but killed FSU from the foul line, shooting 17-24 to FSU's 4-10.  If that sounds familiar, it was one way Duke neutralized superior talent in the early days of the K era, and obviously Harvard coach Tommy Amaker was there, so he would know.

Oklahoma State has fallen off a bit since the Eddie Sutton era, but they're still tough and a legitimate program, so Virginia Tech's win NIT win is impressive, or it will be to the committee when that time of year rolls around.

Tech was lousy from the floor, with only Erick Green shooting well among the starters (6-12).  The rest combined to go just 5-30.  Travis Ford is a very promising coach, but we're not sure he's totally responsible for that.

Dorian Finney-Smith was 2-8, but he managed to grab 14 boards, including eight offensively. At about 190, he can't fully assert himself inside, meaning putbacks, but that's very impressive nonetheless.

Consider this: in the last two games, Kendall Marshall has racked up 29 assists.  It might happen once in a blue moon, but back-to-back is pretty amazing.  Add him to the emerging superstar John Henson and the rest, and UNC has an awful lot to throw at a team.

UNC forced 25 turnovers, which is very impressive.

There are a whole lot of people, perhaps the great majority of fans now, who have no idea that UNC-South Carolina was once one of the most heated rivalries in college basketball.  It's a long way from that these days.  Of everyone involved, perhaps

Miami fell behind 17-0 to Ole Miss and trailed most of the way before catching up with about seven and a half to go in the game. They had the lead with 29 seconds left and Malcolm Grant could have tied the game with three seconds left but missed a three pointer. Not an easy game to lose but there were some positives for the 'Canes.

Maryland was the opposite: they had a 25 point lead and did their best to blow it as the Eagles cut that down to 70-66 with just 47 seconds to go. Needless to say that would have been a devastating loss.

As B.C. struggles to incorporate an almost entirely new roster, wins are hard to come by.  So any win is good news.  Struggling with UC Riverside is far from ideal for an ACC team.  However, BC had to struggle to win it, and that will only help in the long run.

After losing to Holy Cross and UMass badly, a 11 point loss to St. Louis is progress, and a hard-fought win will be just great.

Virginia had little trouble with Green Bay, but they did have bit of a downer when Sammy Zeglinski reinjured his right ankle.  It's not going to keep him out, but he's vulnerable to more of the same, which is too bad.  Mike Scott had 15 points and 10 boards; KT Harrell added 14.

After some rough offensive games, UVa hit 51% for the game.

State beat Elon with no trouble, as they should really, but worth mentioning: Lorenzo Brown is playing much, much better, and increasingly consistently so.

There's not much to learn from a game like this though, unless you watch it very closely.

Clemson lost two straight before knocking off the Paladins of Furman behind a great game from Milton Jennings, who scored 22 points and grabbed 14 boards. Very nice!

We were hoping that Wake was up to taking Arizona State but alas, not yet. The Deacs lost by 28 to Herb Sendek's team.

Sendek's offense is dull and boring, but his defense at times can be positively brutal. The Sun Devils managed to nearly shut Travis McKie out from the floor, limiting him to just 2-8.  Point guard Tony Chennault has gone two games now without an assist.  He did shoot 3-5 though, which was better than just about anyone else: CJ Harris, who managed 17, shot 5-13; Carson Desrosiers was 3-8.

ASU has previously lost to Pepperdine, New Mexico and Fairfield - not very impressive. There is now a bit of heat on Herb, so a loss to Wake, which would have been their fourth straight, would have hurt his cause.

On Sunday, a fascinating game really as FSU gets UConn in the consolation game in Freeport.  Here's something to keep in mind about UConn: in their previous attempts, they have never done particularly well following a title.

In 2000-01, the went out in the second round; in 2004-05, second round again.

After the first title, they grew smug and complacent; after the second, a couple of guards stole student laptops and tried to pawn them, which derailed the season fairly well.

This time, starter Alex Oriakhi, who lost his spot, tweeted that being demoted was "B.S."

After a closer-than-expected loss to Asheville earlier this week, Oriakhi came off the bench in the stunnng loss to Central Florida.

It might be premature to say this, but UConn may be living up to their previous (and unfortunate) pattern. If they were a stock, we'd seriously consider shorting them.

DBR Auctions!

New T-Shirts!

The DBR App!

DBR Is On Twitter!(DBRTweetz)