ACC Roundup

In the ACC's only game Sunday, Notre Dame vanquished Virginia Tech in South Bend, 70-63. Not a huge win, but an important one. Notre Dame moves to 11-7 and 2-3 in the conference now, and a turnaround is not that hard to imagine.

It was also the 40th anniversary of Notre Dame's historic upset of UCLA, which ended the Bruin's 88 game win streak so it would've been unfortunate to lose to Virginia Tech.

Cadarian Raines, who had been in the doghouse, scored 20 for the Hokies. Devin Wilson did as well. That leaves just 23 for the rest of the team.

A more interesting game Monday, two actually, as UNC visits Virginia, eager to climb back into contention, and State hosts Maryland.

As for UNC, the Tar Heels will have to deal with Virginia's slow pressure offense, where every mistake and miss is more important than it would be otherwise. For a team that's struggled offensively, that's not a great situation. And as Duke learned, nearly disastrously, that team has guts.

As for State and Maryland, so far the Terps have played Georgia Tech, Pitt, Florida State and Notre Dame, and of those, only Georgia Tech is likely to have a serious ACC grudge.

State is young and erratic, but the fan base is not. Win or lose, Maryland will get a taste of what people around the conference think of them as the Terps prepare to leave.

On the other hand, State is learning from the traditional school of hard knocks, having lost to Pitt by 22, Virginia by 31, Wake on a heartbreaker and Duke by 35.

The truth is, State's not as bad as Duke made them look. The Wuffies dominated Pitt early before getting roughed up and punished Duke on the boards early and kept up for a time there as well.

And State has a lot to work with, starting with TJ Warren, who's capable of lighting anyone up.

Although State had a bad game against Duke, Kyle Washington showed us a lot early. He just has to keep his confidence and play hard the entire game. And as for Cat Barber, you can teach someone how to become a competent player, but you can't teach someone to be that quick.

The guys who need to step up though are Desmond Lee and Ralston Turner, who are both reasonably athletic and offensively minded. And it wouldn't hurt if big Beejay Anya had a big game against a school not far from his home. There's a good nucleus if State fans will be patient.

If State does win, the Pack will do Duke a favor by knocking Maryland back a notch.

There's been a lot of talk about the ACC not living up to expectations, but in one way it completely has, even if it's been awhile: it's not really a surprise to see Clemson, Virginia and Florida State pushing up the standings. The Big East was a lot more rigid in that sense.