In Saturday's ACC action, Clemson beat Georgia Tech 65-56, Boston College nipped Virginia Tech 58-56, Maryland thumped Wake Forest 90-71 and Miami got by Virginia in overtime 70-60.
No big surprises in any of this, although the conference has now separated into four basic tiers: Duke, Carolina and Florida State are on one level, Clemson, Virginia Tech, BC and Maryland are all doing okay and still alive in terms of the tournament, Miami and Virginia can still salvage their season, while State and Wake Forest have pretty much fallen off the map.
Still, to certain extent the news is dominated not by who played but by who is not playing. CJ Leslie was suspended for the Duke game, Billy Baron bailed on Virginia, and the reverberations of Larry Drew's departure from UNC continue.
There are accounts out now which really rip into his mother for her behavior during his time in Chapel Hill. Fans have turned on the family in a big way with few kind words to be found online. Understandable to an extent, but still not attractive. The entire situation remains bizarre and difficult to understand.
In Billy Baron's case, it sounds more like a kid who made a mistake and realized it early. Leaving in February is no better for him than it is for Drew, but he was playing so little it really didn't matter.
As far as Leslie goes, who knows. A lot of people backed off him in high school despite his significant talent because of concerns about his character. Given how he's reacted to be benched or seeing his playing time reduced, it's understandable.
The difference between Drew and Baron and Leslie is that as a junior, Drew should be moving into a leadership role with his team regardless of minutes or whether he starts or not.
This is something Duke saw last year with Brian Zoubek, a guy who was to a large extent an afterthought until late in his senior year, when his hard work and off court leadership translated into significant playing time, acclaim, in a major role on a national championship team.
If Leslie has some growing up to do, and Baron realized Virginia was a mistake, at least they're freshmen. What Drew did seems calculated to inflict damage. we don't know what is true about his parents and the role of all this, and we have as you know little sympathy for UNC, but there are ways to do things in ways not to do things. Drew has pretty much defined the wrong way to do things.
Our guess is that his team will play angry against Florida State Sunday afternoon and win, but after that, it's hard to say will happen.