ACC Roundup

The first night of the ACC-Big Ten Challenge went reasonably well, although we did think that both Florida State and Notre Dame might've done better. We're starting to think that Mike Brey's team is just not as good as people expected, and as for Florida State, we completely whiffed on something which seems obvious in retrospect.

It's a little known fact, but Pitino is Italian for press, and therefore all Pitinos shall press. On the other hand, it's a well-known fact that FSU always has turnover issues. Combine the two, and voila! FSU gets clubbed.

At one point in the game, someone tweeted that Florida State had turned the ball over on 30% of its possessions. The comeback was admirable, but there's no way you can win like that.

We followed the Georgia Tech game online and thought the Jackets were dead, but not quite: the Illini were up 60-48 before Tech ripped off a 19-4 run.

Still, Illinois was up 64-60 with 1:09 left when Robert Carter, hardly celebrated for three point shooting, nailed one, and suddenly it's a one-point game.

Following that, Daniel Miller, hardly known for steals, stole the in-bounds and got a layup. Then Carter rebounded a missed three, was fouled, and hit both shots with just three seconds left.

Pretty great game for a young team. They'll be sky high for a week.

In non-Challenge play, Clemson and Virginia Tech both started sluggishly before waking up and defeating South Carolina State and Wofford, respectively.

As far as Wednesday goes, how can we pull for Maryland as an ACC team? Might as well cheer the Buckeyes.

It'll be nice for Chris Collins to visit the Triangle and we certainly wish him well against State, but perhaps not too well.

The last three games are very likely to go the Big Ten's way, so an ACC upset would be nice. We'll see soon.