ACC Roundup - Big Saturday Was A Blast

As predicted here Friday, Saturday was a great day for ACC basketball. Let's start in Chapel Hill, where the faithful have had precious little to cheer about lately.

The Louisville game broke that skein.

The Cards, who had a 13 point lead, fell victim to one of UNC's traditional comebacks, which culminated when Marcus Paige, who hurt his foot during the game, hit a ridiculous layup on the left side.

Louisville had two chances to win but missed both.

The Cards didn't get a single point from the bench.

It's still quite early, but did anyone expect Louisville's first three games to be a tight game with Wake until the last few minutes, a six-point win over Clemson at home and that Louisville would lose a 13-point lead to Carolina, considering how UNC has played so far this year?

Last year, Syracuse and Pitt had a number of games which we would think showed them the differences between the old Big East and the ACC; this year it appears it's Louisville's turn.

Rick Pitino said after that the loss "stings as much as any game I've coached. Our players are very hurt by it."

Three games in and Louisville is getting a pretty good idea of what the ACC is about. There is separation to be sure, but the bottom teams can generally get the top teams on any given day.

In the day's other big game, Virginia trekked to South Bend to take on the Irish and won, 62-56.

Virginia, which had a lot to throw at Jerian Grant but mostly used Malcolm Brogdon, held him to 2-8 and just six points.

Overall the Irish hit just 33.9% , well below their norm. London Perrantes, had 20 turnovers through 14 games, and now has 20 through 15 games.

In Winston-Salem, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest both came in winless, so something had to give. It was a competitive game - both teams have played hard so far this year - but the Deacs came out on top.

Devin Thomas had another big game with 17 points and 14 rebounds.

Interestingly, there were three transfer big men in this game. Charles Mitchell had 16 for Tech (and four boards), while Demarco Cox added 14 and seven.

Like Cox, Wake's Leonard Darius is a grad student transfer (from Campbell): he had 13 and four.

With the possible exception of Doug Niedrich, who you've likely never heard of, no one on Wake's team currently had ever beaten Tech.

In yet another good, competitive game, a vastly improved BC really pushed Miami.

Like UNC, BC wiped out a 13-point lead, but Miami, unlike Louisville, held on.j

Toni Jekiri had 15 rebounds and 13 points to pace Miami. Angel Rodriguez had 17 while Sheldon McClellan added 11.

Olivier Hanlan had 19 for BC.

Since coming back to the ACC (he was previously a Terry Holland assistant) Jim Larranaga is 7-0 against BC.

We really had no idea what to expect between Clemson and Pitt.

Brad Brownell thought his team was exhausted and so he accommodated them by switching to a zone.

Worked: Pitt managed just 39.6%.

Jaron Blossomgame had 18 for the Tigers.

It's possible that Pitt could have just been passive in attacking the zone, but how often do you see this? Pitt had just three turnovers.

On the other hand, though, Pitt is one point in overtime against Clemson from being 0-3 in the ACC.

On Sunday, Florida State ventures up to Syracuse where the Sunday high is about 30.

Florida State's shooting better not be that cold.