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ACC Roundup - Surprise! Louisville Is In Second Place

And not just in the Commonwealth of Kentucky either.

By JD King

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Boston College v Louisville
He’s been through a lot already but David Padgett is doing a solid job with Louisville.
Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images

First things first: we feel terrible for Clemson this morning. On Saturday, things looked totally different.

First Donte Grantham went down with a knee injury and Sunday we learned it was an ACL and he’s out for the year.

Then, a few hours later, after nearly everyone conceded Zion Williamson to the Tigers, he pulled a shocker and picked Duke.

So between 4:00 and 8:30, two Clemson seasons were probably ruined and Brad Brownell’s tenure possibly even affected. By any standard, Clemson’s Saturday was as deflating as any one day we can remember in recent ACC history. We were thrilled and surprised that Williamson chose Duke but like a lot of Duke fans we had gotten used to the idea that he would end up at Clemson and didn’t totally mind.

It was even worse after Williamson’s stepdad said that Clemson had had lost a “mile and a half” lead to Duke and South Carolina.

As we said we’re thrilled he picked Duke (on a side note, after last year’s NCAA loss it was kind of cool to stick it to South Carolina) but we know it was a tough day for Clemson fans and made worse by the Grantham news today. This has been a great year for Clemson basketball and that’s at risk now. That’s a lot to deal with.

In Saturday’s games, Virginia beat Wake Forest 59-49, State lost to Miami and Louisville knocked off Boston College 77-69.

Until someone catches up or the Cardinals stumble, Louisville is in second place and considering everything that’s happened this year, that’s really impressive.

That said, the Cards almost had an epic meltdown against Boston College and at home no less.

Louisville was up by 18 with 3:57 left and with 0:33 left it was a two point game. That’s astounding.

But BC didn’t score until there was just 2:47 left so it’s even more impressive.

David Padgett conceded he emptied Louisville’s bench too early and nearly paid an awful price.

The Cards held on though so they’re in second place and the only team right now with a chance of catching Virginia any time soon.

If State had beaten Miami they’d be in line for an NCAA bid and they’re certainly not out of the running yet. Another Top 25 win would have really helped though.

For Miami though it was also important. The ‘Canes have to an extent been exposed in ACC play and Jim Larranaga has not been happy with his team’s effort.

We wouldn’t call Miami selfish because it’s a smart, well-coached team but the ‘Canes were definitely better at moving the ball and sharing against NC State.

Miami had 26 assists on 34 baskets and shot 57.6%.

State lost obviously but this is a team that has a chance to improve a lot still. Omer Yurtseven has emerged as one of the better big men in the ACC and Kevin Keatts has persuaded his players to buy into his system. So don’t write State off just yet.

Poor Wake Forest.

The Demon Deacons handled Virginia’s very difficult defense well for most of the game, honestly about as well as anyone usually does. But as so often seems to happen for Wake Forest, the Deacs buckled late and a couple of three pointers by Virginia pretty much ended the upset bid. De’Andre Hunter and Devon Hall turned a one-point lead into seven and for UVA, in the second half, that’s deadly.

And Wake doesn’t deal with that kind of setback very well either.

And maybe Wake fans don’t either. We watched on TV so it’s possible we missed something, but as the clock wound down and Virginia closed out with a 10 point lead, the fans were booing. Were they booing something Virginia did, Virginia in general or were they booing their team again as they did so often during the Bzdelik era?

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