ACC Roundup

In Wednesday's ACC action, Notre Dame fell at Maryland, Clemson survived Virginia Tech, Florida State took Miami and Wake Forest took State in dramatic fashion, 70-69.

You have to give Jeff Bzdelik some credit here, even if you're a Wake fan who hates him: the play he drew up sprung Codi Miller-McIntyre for a full-court sprint of a layup which he hit with :05 left. Ralston Turner fouled him, but Miller-McIntyre missed it.

No matter: Wake slowed State down enough that the best shot the Pack could get was Cat Barber just past half-court.

Speaking of Barber, we watched him a bit during this game, more than we have so far. He's got a long way to go, but he's a fun player. He has natural instincts, but his skills aren't there yet. Take shooting.

In his last five games, Barber is 4-14 (UNG), 2-10 (Pitt), 4-12 (Notre Dame), 1-6 (UVa) and 3-12 (Wake Forest).

That's pretty pathetic. But presumably his judgment will improve and you can never teach anyone what he already gets. Take that halfcourt steal in the second half: sweet! He blew it, then he fixed it.

Wake's Devin Thomas got into it a bit with Jordan Vandenberg and it's not the first time his emotions have got the best of him. He needs to watch himself or he'll cost his team something.

Think Mark Turgeon watches much ESPN? Perhaps he's aware of Jason Williams' comments about his players playing scared, because at halftime of the Notre Dame game, he told them to ease up: "I walked in there [at halftime] and I said, ‘I don’t know what I’ve done to you guys, but we’re not playing the way we’re capable of playing,'" Turgeon said after the game. "'So, let’s make a pact, we’re just going to have fun. We’re going to smile, we’re going to have fun. If you miss a shot, you can smile. If you do that -- you have fun and we play the way we’re capable -- we can win this game.'"

Notre Dame would have probably done better if the Irish could have avoided turnovers: they had 17 to Maryland's 11.

It would probably have also helped to not put Dez Wells on the line, where he hit 11-13.

Clemson didn't have the sort of game the Tigers had against Duke, but there was enough in the tank to take out the Hokies.

KJ McDaniels led the way again with 14 points, while Rod Hall added 11.

Jarell Eddie, who started the year so well, has been contained lately. He finished just 1-6 against Clemson's D, and that after going 3-14 against BC and 2-9 against Syracuse. ACC defenses are proving a good bit tougher.

Here's a bit of a surprise: with minimal depth and experience, Cadarian Raines appears to have been passed over by the coaching staff.

You really have to give it to Miami. The 'Canes have a major rebuilding project underway, yet Jim Larranaga's team, after a rough start to the season, has been right there game after game after game.

Since the loss to Nebraska by 11 (60-49), Miami lost to Syracuse by five and Florida State by 10. Even in that game though, Miami was down just 54-51 with 2:43 left.

Off the court news: the UNC scandal is heating up. Former football player Michael McAdoo has teed off on UNC athletics, charging that academic advisors steered him to no-show classes and that the idea of a UNC student-athlete was "a scam."

McAdoo took AFAM 280: Blacks in North Carolina, and told the N&O that "[the counselors] pretty much put me in that class. They pretty much told me ... that I might want to consider that class and I really don’t have much time to think about it, so (I might) want to take that class while it was available."

Meanwhile, Mary Willingham has pledged her support to the Ed O' Bannon case and offered up seven page "statement of support" for the suit.

The university also now has her data and is going over it.