ACC Roundup

Given Cuonzo Martin's history, his own playing style and the style of his college coach, Gene Keady, you have to expect that Tennessee is going to leave you sore in the morning.

We're not knocking the guy. He was a tough, physical player and he's not going to put up with anyone who's not.

Still, Tony Bennett was confident heading into this one.

He's not coming out.

Tennessee just ripped Virginia a new one Sunday, and without that much trouble, either.

Used to holding the other team in check, Virginia instead managed just 32.7% from the floor to UT's 50%.

Joe Harris, normally quite the tough guy himself, managed just 2-9 from the floor, one rebound, one assist and three turnovers.

We're not sure why, but Virginia brought both point guards off the bench here, starting Malcolm Brogdon and Justin Anderson instead.

London Perrantes ended up playing 22 minutes but was not very effective, and Teven Jones was worse.

Well, maybe that's why.

At the half, Bennett asked his team "[w]ho are you? We’ve got to determine who we are."

Didn't happen.

Afterwards, he told the press that "We were just disjointed. We looked slow. We looked tired and delayed in our reactions. It’s hard to beat a team when they’re shooting like that, but [shots] have to at least be contested and they weren’t, and that was discouraging."

Like BC, Virginia seemed on the verge of turning a corner. But again like BC, Virginia may be taking a step back.

The ACC won everything else Sunday, though State had a hard time holding on to a lead against Greensboro and let the Spartans back in. A 17-point-lead fell to just four at the end.

Still, a win is a win as they say, and State's now 10-3 and has only lost once since the NCCU debacle, and that was to Missouri, a ranked team.

TJ Warren again led the way with 24 points. Anthony Barber, just 4-14 from the floor, finished with 17 after hitting 9-13 from the line.

Desmond Lee added 15.

Pitt is next up for State, on the 4th, so we'll see just how much the Pack has improved. The last two games suggest State still needs some situational improvement.

Like State, Miami had a rocky start to the season, and like State, the 'Canes are looking a bit better.

Rion Brown, who's more than doubled his average from last season, led the way past Loyola with 17.

Until last season, Loyola was coached by former Maryland assistant Jimmy Patsos, who did a remarkable job with the Greyhounds. Now Loyola is coached by G.G. Smith, son of Tubby, who is assisted by Keet Booth, as Bobby Cremins used to call Keith Booth, the former Terps star.

After losing his top six players, 8-5 is a tremendous accomplishment for coach Jim Larranaga.

Unfortunately, that's about to come to a grinding halt, as Miami starts the ACC season with - in order - Syracuse, UNC, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Duke and...Syracuse.

By the time they know what hit them, which will be much like their logo come to think of it, the Hurricanes could be 8-11. That's an incredible stretch for anyone, but for a team completely remaking itself, it's bound to be terrifying.

Speaking of the Seminoles, Lenny (okay, Leonard) Hamilton's team is up to its traditional tricks: Charleston Southern shot 36% and had 17 turnovers.

Hammy's (no, that doesn't work either) starters managed just 25 points, but Aaron Thomas and Ian Miller came off the bench to score 19 and 15 respectively. The bench outscored the starters by 17 - a nice luxury when you can get it.

Unless something changes quickly, Hamilton will basically have four two-way starters and 7-3 Boris Bojanovsky as a defensive specialist, so someone else will likely have to score.

We've been kind of suggesting that Clemson needs a second, revisionist look. The Tigers are now 9-3 and have one of the country's best defenses.

They showed it against VMI. The Keydets had the third highest scoring offense in the country at 89.5 ppg.

Clemson wrestled them down to 50 points and just 28.8% from the floor.

All this with star KJ McDaniels apparently either sick, hurt or in the doghouse. McDaniels played just 18 minutes (as it turns out, he got back from break a bit late and was being punished).

As ACC play looms, Clemson gets a likely easy opener with BC before a major tussle with fellow defensive dervishes FSU, then a visit from Duke.

You know newspapers are getting really cheap when they send an AP writer to a home game. That's exactly what The State did. Amazing.

On Tuesday, six games are on tap, with Duke playing Elon in Greensboro, Albany visiting Pitt, the Eagles of NC Central swooping in to play Maryland, Eastern Michigan playing another ACC team in Syracuse after taking on Duke, UNC-W visiting Chapel Hill and Virginia Tech trying to fend off Maryland-Eastern Shore.