ACC Roundup

In Monday night ACC action, Syracuse knocked off Notre Dame, but the Orange, still drained by Saturday's epic game with Duke, survived only because Trevor Cooney willed it to be so.

How bad was it? Syracuse hit 21 shots and Cooney hit 11 of those. The rest of the starters were 6-28.

Cooney, by the way, shot 9-12 from three point range.

Too bad Notre Dame didn't run a box and one or something. Who knows? CJ Fair, so hard for Duke, was just 2-13.

Missed opportunity for the Irish, who fell to 12-11 on the season and now are on the verge of being ineligible for the NIT.

On Tuesday, two interesting games: Georgia Tech gets to visit Clemson, and it's a very big game for the Tigers who still have some NCAA hopes. A win here would keep Clemson in a tie for third. Tiebreakers get complex, but Duke trumps Pitt while Clemson tops Duke. We'd guess as you go down, Duke would top the Tigers, but it's a bit early to worry about it.

More interesting is Maryland's final visit to Chapel Hill, at least as ACC members, and it's hard to imagine UNC inviting them back willingly after the Terps left the ACC with such deception and dishonesty. Neither team is playing to its potential but UNC has picked up considerably, and the crowd, we'd imagine, will have little tolerance for Terps. The Dean Dome doesn't come to life too often, but we expect it will Tuesday and might even provide a serious home court advantage.

Here's some red meat for the Crazies. Maryland's Seth Allen on the toughest ACC venue: "North Carolina, without question, because it’s louder than Duke, Duke is small —they’ve got the [Cameron] Crazies over there sticking their hands out. But North Carolina is just really loud."