ACC Roundup

Only one game Tuesday as Maryland hosts Monmouth. We don't expect much from Monmouth. The Hawks  are 5-5 and present no serious challenge.

That's not the big news. This is the big news: NCAA willing, Georgia Tech will be getting highly regarded point guard Solomon Poole early, meaning they'll be jumping into 2013 with two Pooles as brother Stacy, a UK transfer, is also eligible.

Their rotation just got a lot deeper and it was pretty deep already with eight guys playing at least 17.5 minutes a game.

Stacey's incorporated although he hasn't been in games, while Solomon will take some time to adjust. Still, it's pretty rare to add two really good players at this point in the season.

Needless to say, chemistry is a concern. If that's not a factor, though, what a boon for Tech. Since last year, their athleticism has improved markedly.

If Skip Prosser's death wasn't enough of a warning, Roy Williams cancer scare this summer probably finished the job with most ACC coaches. There's no question that the money and fame are alluring, leave alone the competitive fixes. But the stress can be immensely damaging.

SI's Andy Glockner thinks he has UNC's number: "As inexperienced players settle into their roles, there may be some modest improvement, but preseason fears over a lopsided lineup with very little frontcourt pop and a rookie point guard seem to have been founded."

As you may recall, we have on several occasions delineated the differences we see between Roy Williams and Dean Smith. Smith had, by his standards, some down years, but he did a brilliant job of maximizing talent and hiding weaknesses. Roy has a lot of strengths, but he's not nearly as good as that as Smith was.