ACC Roundup - A Post Holiday Quiet Period

Okay, first thing: who’s designing the schedule?

We can see taking New Year’s Day off, barring some sort of tournament. And the day after? Okay, fine.

But there are no games on Jan 3rd, 5th or 6th either. So nothing on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th — but seven games on the 4th?

There’s bound to be a reason for that but we can’t think of one. And when you have a brand new network, why in the world wouldn’t you spread those games out and feature some individually on days where there’s nothing else going on?

We could see it next weekend when the college football championship is on Monday. There are games Saturday and Sunday and of course none Monday. But Thursday and Friday there’s no basketball content for the ACC Network. Maybe it’s just us but it doesn’t make sense.

So no games until Tuesday which is just dumb. It’s called content, ACC. C-O-N-T-E-N-T!

Remember when State signed Markell Johnson to back up Dennis Smith? Well he’s had a pretty solid career all in all, certainly better than Smith’s turned out to be, but State’s challenge now is to get as much as they can out of their talented point guard.

With Ty Jerome, Kyle Guy and De’Andre Hunter all in the NBA now, Virginia’s offense has been spotty at best. Against Virginia Tech though it was pretty good and with Braxton Key’s wrist getting better, and a bit of outside shooting developing, the Cavs are improving at the right time.

We should also remind you that despite their bumpy early play, the Cavs are still 3-0 in the ACC. With Boston College and Syracuse next up they’ll almost certainly go to 5-0. And if they can handle Florida State twice in January, we could enter February with the Cavaliers at 10-0 in conference play. It’s not last year - someone wins the championship every year but winning one like Virginia did is pretty freaking amazing and this team is probably not built for a run like that.

Even so, UVA is in a great position right now and could certainly win the ACC again.

Georgia Tech’s Kristian Sjolund, a thin 6-8 sophomore from Norway, was officially redshirted in early December then looked at transferring before deciding to stay with the Yellow Jackets. It’s nice to look around and realize you’re already in the right place.

Mask, mask, who got a mask? Syracuse’s Brycen Goodine, that’s who. Elijah Hughes nailed him in practice. He’s had surgery and, well as he put it, a rough week. Sure enough.

We didn’t realize that Pitt’s Au’Diese Toney was injured before the Wake Forest game. He has a banged-up elbow. Will he be back for UNC? Not clear yet.

• Miami Basketball gets chance for big road win at Louisville
• Louisville basketball has plenty of time to get things right
• After loss to Georgia Tech, the clock is ticking on UNC basketball’s season