ACC Roundup, Louisville, Georgia Tech Win, And What Just Happened At Wake Forest?

In Sunday’s ACC action, Louisville snapped out of its funk, giving Notre Dame a solid 75-61 beating and Georgia Tech beat Boston College in OT, 81-78.

Duke’s comeback at Louisville must have really shaken the Cardinals. They came very close to losing six straight games. There was no shame in taking Florida State to an overtime road loss and before Duke cranked it up, were beating the Blue Devils badly. That’s been really overshadowed by the comeback but Louisville was superb for 30 minutes. They were also superb in Chapel Hill when they just stunned the Tar Heels, winning by 21.

It’s not a hopeless group or anything. They’re damned good.

The Duke game must have knocked them off stride and then Clemson came within a whisker of another incredible comeback, only in the last nine seconds instead of the last nine minutes.

Can you imagine how deflating that would have been? It would’ve been worse than NC State’s bizarre game vs. Virginia Tech which saw the Wolfpack score a total of 24 points.

Then followed losses to Syracuse, Virginia and BC before finally getting back in the groove against Notre Dame.

Louisville’s defense has become its calling card and that was true here too: Notre Dame hit just 38.7 percent and three starters were held to 6-35.

Louisville shot just 2-22 from three point range - 9.1 percent - and it didn’t matter.

Even so, Notre Dame had just six turnovers for the game which is pretty impressive. However, Louisville just crushed the Irish on the boards, 49-30.

As Mike Brey has said several times, not much to do until his kids get more mature. And having Rex Pfleuger back would be huge too.

Next year.

Okay, quick, did you notice the big change in Georgia Tech’s win? The Yellow Jackets topped 80 for the first time since January 5th.

GT had four players in double figures and three with at least 18. The game still came down to defense at the end though. Any Duke fan who saw Ky Bowman’s incredible drive in Cameron that ended in a resounding dunk will understand how talented he is. Any ACC fans who have seen him over the years will get it.

So it was really impressive that when Bowman had the ball and a chance to tie in OT, freshman Michael DeVoe was on him and Bowman missed.

It could have been more than just DeVoe but still, for a freshman, that was pretty cool.

Now about Wake Forest and a correction first: we saw the story via ESPN but ESPN credited it to Dave Glenn at the Athletic.

What a strange development.

It’s not surprising that Ron Wellman stepped down - he’s 70 and he might have just decided it’s time - but the way it was handled was intriguing.

We expect one of two things happened: either Wellman decided to go and privately informed Wake Forest, and the university went out and got his replacement, John Currie, formerly of Tennessee, or he was gently pushed out in favor of Currie.

You just don't see one guy leave and the other guy hired on the same day very often, with the exception of in-house promotions.

Whatever the reason, Wellman is on the way out and Currie is on the way in, which puts Wake Forest in a bit of a spot with Danny Manning.

Wellman’s last day is May 1. Wellman may want to keep Manning, at least partly because he has a large buyout clause (reportedly $18 million), but fans, and more importantly boosters, aren't like to go along with that.

So does Currie take the job and immediately fire Manning, assuming he hasn’t been already?

Keep in mind that that would take place no earlier than May 2nd under this scenario.

Given Wellman’s character, a more likely scenario might be this: he brings Currie (who refers to Wellman as a mentor) into his office In a presidential-style transition, lets him make the decision, then goes ahead and fires Manning and lets Currie coordinate the replacement.

When it comes to coaching hires, most A.D.’s want to be at the Final Four, because Final Four weekend is also the weekend that coaches hold their convention.

You can interview or at least talk to dozens of candidates. Otherwise, you get into rumors and fans tracking airplane flights and stuff like that. All entertaining but not productive.

Currie’s record on hiring is somewhat mixed to say the least. He was only at UT for eight months because the search to replace Butch Jones was so bizarre.

Currie wanted to hire Greg Schiano, who was working for Urban Meyer, but fans organized and rebelled. There was some thought that former coach Phil Fulmer, who was incidentally David Cutcliffe’s boss at Tennessee, might have undercut Currie’s position.

Part of the rebellion was based on allegations that when he was at Penn State, Schiano was aware of Jerry Sandusky’s sexual abuse of young boys and did nothing but some people saw that as a handy excuse to get rid of Schiano, and after him, Currie.

New A.D.’s generally like to put their stamp on things so we expect that one way or another, Manning will be gone by the time Currie sits behind his new desk.

• Ed Hardin: Wake Forest welcomes home one of its family as AD
• Coaches at Wake Forest praised the work Ron Wellman has done over his 27 years at the school
• Coaches at Wake Forest praised the work Ron Wellman has done over his 27 years at the school
• ‘The final homecoming:’ Currie steps in as Wake Forest AD with Wellman’s retirement
• John Currie’s firing from Tennessee: A timeline
• Georgia Tech survives Boston College in overtime
• Photos: Tech celebrates senior night with win over Boston College
• Tech women’s basketball grad assistant fired in wake of MaChelle Joseph leave
• Big Monday games have been a ‘healthy challenge’ for No. 2 Cavs
• Culture Gains Key for Pitt, Despite Another 2-14 ACC Slate
• Lesson learned, opportunities remain for Pitt basketball