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ACC Roundup - Louisville Rising

As the Cards crush Clemson without their point guard

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NCAA Basketball: Clemson at Louisville
Jan 19, 2017; Louisville, KY, USA; Louisville Cardinals forward Mangok Mathiang (12) and forward Jaylen Johnson (10) battle Clemson Tigers center Sidy Djitte (50) for the ball during the second half at KFC Yum! Center. Louisville defeated Clemson 92-60. 
Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports

You might think that Louisville would struggle without point guard Quentin Snyder (out with a hip injury), but you would have thought wrong:

Louisville whipped Clemson solidly Saturday, 92-60.

Rick Pitino tried various things but used freshman VJ King most often.

Louisville outrebounded Clemson 45-25 and 15-8.

You don’t see this too often: Clemson’s Elijah Thomas, who got into it with Louisville’s Jaylen Johnson, ended up getting ejected - and credited with six fouls.

This was Clemson’s fifth straight loss and it sent them to the cellar.

And the ACC race is starting to take shape.

Florida State, UNC and Notre Dame are all 5-1.

Louisville and UVA are 4-2 while Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech and Syracuse are 3-3.

Duke and Miami are just behind that group at 2-3.

State, Wake and BC are all sitting at 2-4 while Pitt and Clemson are cellar dwellers at 1-5.

If we had to guess today, we’d expect FSU, UNC, Notre Dame, Louisville, UVA, Virginia Tech, Duke and Miami would get NCAA bids.

Over at the N&O, Ron Morris suggests that the ACC has become the best overall conference in the country, best in basketball obviously but now better in football than even the almighty SEC.

Watching Clemson’s stirring run to the football championship was a blast, but you have to wonder how all this is going over with our neighbors in that formerly dominant conference.

It’s kind of a stretch to even consider it, but we know how we’d feel if the SEC somehow surpassed the ACC in basketball.

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