On Saturday, we see an improving Clemson heading up to BC, Erick Green take his brilliant scoring game to UNC, Wake taking on a stumbling Maryland and State, without Lorenzo Brown, at Miami.
They're all interesting.
| Saturday's ACC Action! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Teams | Times | TV | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Clemson @ Boston College | 12:00 PM | ACCN | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Virginia Tech @ North Carolina | 12:00 PM | ACCN | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wake Forest @ Maryland | 2:00 PM | RSN | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Miami @ NC State | 4:00 PM | CBS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brad Brownell is proving to be a formidable coach and an excellent defensive guru and Clemson is on the verge of becoming a major pain. They'll be rough and deliberate, while Steve Donahue prefers a Pattonesque approach: although not bombastic on the bench, he prefers to flow around his opponents, using aerial bombardments to open up the lane for drives.
It's kind of like Patton vs. Grant.
UNC has had trouble defending everyone and will likely be without PJ Hairston. He probably wouldn't have had a lot to do with Green defensively but could have helped counter on offense. Both teams want to run; who will be strong down the stretch?
Wake is coming on fast but has had no road success yet. Maryland, meanwhile, is struggling and just had a major shock against FSU when Snaer killed them with a three at the buzzer. Devin Thomas meanwhile has just figured things out and his freshman season is over. He's playing like a junior and really can't be considered a freshman now.
Both teams are flawed, but the momentum, if there is any, is with Wake Forest.
We're not sure what to expect out of State Saturday. They're almost certainly going to play without Lorenzo Brown, who has been sensational, going instead with Rodney Purvis and Tyler Lewis at the point.
Purvis is a seriously talented player, but we've seen him making questionable decisions this year and he's seemed one-dimensional. If, as he insists, he can play point, State has a shot. And, as Dean Smith was fond of saying, a team can often overcome a missing player for a game or two.
Miami might just be ripe for a loss. Sometimes things just go against you and it snowballs. We could see State having a dominant outing - they are a deeply talented team - and Miami tightening up.
We could also see State losing by 20 if things go poorly. We could see Shane Larkin totally schooling Purvis as well.
It's a really intriguing game even without Brown. And never forget the ACC's frenetic need to compete: Win this game and State grabs a claim of second place with first place still in reach.
Lose it, though, and they could fall back to around sixth or seventh.