Barry Jacobs On Offensive Offensive

Here's a measure of how far the ACC has drifted from excellent offensive execution.

Sure, you can argue that defenses are ascendant, although that's highly debatable. And we haven't done a comparison with scoring in previous seasons to lend perspective to the goings-on in 2010-11.

Still, in an era with a shot clock and a 3-point field goal, it should be rare to see ACC teams score less than a point per minute during an entire half.

Yet this year it's common. We've already seen 14 halves in which ACC teams scored 19 or fewer points, proceedings that have involved half the squads in the league. It's happened in the first half and in the second, in league play and outside the conference, at home, on the road, and at neutral sites.

Only once, in Virginia's visit to traditional rival Virginia Tech on Dec. 5, has a team won despite so feckless an offensive half. UVa has suffered through three under-20 periods, more than any other ACC school except Florida State, which has four.

Perhaps not surprisingly, five of the six teams with hapless halves to their credit are among the bottom six squads in scoring in 2011. The exception is N.C. State, which ranks sixth.

Finally, a tip of the basket to Wake Forest, which scored an almost-unimaginable 13 points in the second half of a loss at Georgia Tech. Not necessarily known for their defense, the Yellow Jackets are among four schools - with Clemson, FSU, and Virginia Tech - that imposed under-20 scoring for an entire period.

Miami twice just missed the un-scoring list with 20-point halves, most recently this past weekend at home against Virginia. The Hurricanes rallied to win in overtime.