In Saturday's ACC action, UNC survived Clemson 64-62, Boston College nipped Maryland 76-72, and Florida State beat Virginia, 63-56.
| Sunday's ACC Action! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| NC State @ Wake Forest | 1:00 PM | ACC Network | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Georgia Tech @ Virginia Tech | 1:00 PM | ACC Network | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Unfortunately for Florida State however, star Chris Singleton suffered a serious foot injury and will miss the remainder of the season.
With a relatively modest offense, Florida State has built their defense around Singleton's talents. With him, they're potentially a Sweet 16 team; without him they'd be hard pressed to make it that far.
Maryland went to Boston College Saturday knowing that as usual lately, they are a bubble team.
Boston College tied star Jordan Williams up with multiple defenders, limiting him to 12 points and eight boards.
Conversely, Reggie Jackson, who had been in the doghouse recently, scored a career-high 31, and shot 12-16.
In Clemson, Carolina threatened to fall apart down the stretch like they did at Duke.
Didn't happen. Clemson showed a lot of guts, but so did Carolina. For all the criticism of Harrison Barnes (including ours), the freshman did a pretty solid job down the stretch.
So did Kendall Marshall, who finished with 18 points, most of them from the foul line, but he also had a clutch steal and layup near the end.
Florida State's bad news is UNC's good: the chances of the Seminoles catching up now without Chris Singleton -- well, it's not going to happen.
Although the decision rests solely with Debbie Yow, virtually everyone seems to think that Sidney Lowe's finished at State. You can count J.P. Giglio among the dubious.
You can also count MSNBC's Ken Davis in the crowd. Here are some of his suggestions for replacements:
"You will probably hear the name of Jeff Capel from Oklahoma. Not sure that would be a good move either. You asked for a list of young coaches with chops. Here are five names: Chris Mooney, Richmond; Chris Mack, Xavier; Gregg Marshall, Wichita State; Ben Jacobson, Northern Iowa; and Cuonzo Martin, Missouri State. Mooney might be the best fit. Marshall wouldnât be a bad choice."
We wouldn't bet on Mooney: after State's frustration with Herb Sendek's Princeton offense, it's hard to see the fans getting excited for more. As a Cincinnati grad, it might be tough to lure Mack away. Our guess is that Marshall would take the job and probably do pretty well, but we have heard that his personality isn't necessarily the easiest one in the world to deal with. However, his brashness would fit well with a certain State tradition.
Just for fun, take a successful mid-major coach who has shown he can succeed at higher levels. Bobby Cremins? Now that would be fun. Unfortunately, it couldn't be a long-term hire.
But where is Brian Gregory? The Dayton coach has done very well and is ready to move up.
VCU coach Shaka Smart has only been a head coach for a year, but he's an excellent recruiter and knows the ACC well having been a Clemson assistant.
Here's another possibility: BYU coach Dave Rose. With Jimmer Fredette set to graduate, Rose might be interested in other possibilities. He is a cancer survivor, which might give State pause after losing Kay Yow and Jim Valvano to the disease, but he's done very well and obviously has an eye for talent.
And one more: under Stew Morrill, Utah State has greatly exceeded expectations. The Aggies are currently 23-3 and almost certainly set for a bid. State could do worse.
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