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ACC Roundup - A Busy Tuesday, But Not Many Interesting Games

Georgia at Georgia Tech could be interesting but for the most part, you don’t want interesting games with this lot.

By JD King
/ new
COLLEGE BASKETBALL: DEC 03 Florida State at Virginia
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - DECEMBER 03: Virginia Cavaliers guard Kihei Clark (0) looks to pass the ball during a men’s college basketball game between the Florida State Seminoles and the Virginia Cavaliers on December 03, 2022, at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, VA.
Photo by Lee Coleman/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Tuesday is a busy day in the ACC with six games, counting Duke although as always, Duke gets special love.

The rest of the night goes like this: Oakland is at Syracuse, Juan Dixon brings Coppin State to Raleigh to take on NC State in Reynolds, Georgia Tech hosts Georgia, BC hosts New Hampshire and James Madison heads south to take on the ‘Hoos.

Let’s dismiss what should be easy wins first. Well, you’d hope so, anyway. The way this season is going, who knows.

Oakland is 2-8 and should get clobbered by Syracuse. Well, the Orange should at least win. We’re not sure about this, but we think Syracuse is called the Orange due to ties to Dutch colonialism (orange was a big color for the Dutch). And the Knicks’ colors are definitely inspired by the Dutch who settled on Manhattan and, later, upstate New York. Among them, quite possibly, were some Boeheims. Just a bit of speculative trivia. Jesse Edwards should have his way here, assuming he stays out of foul trouble. A familiar name on Oakland’s roster: former Michigan State guard Rocket Watts is now a Golden Grizzly.

Coppin State visits for NC State’s annual Heritage Game. Reynolds is very different now from what it used to be, but it’s still small, raucous and way more fun than the new barn. That’s one anyone should try to attend, just for the history part of it.

BC is still kind of shaky, but the Eagles are still on a different level than New Hampshire. We liked a lot of what we saw in Cameron the other night, particularly from CJ Penha and Jaeden Zackery. It should be more than New Hampshire can handle.

James Madison beating Virginia would be a major shocker but the Dukes aren’t bad. Still, no one knows how to deal with Virginia the first time. It’s maddening and every mistake is just critical. They weren’t awful against UNC earlier, but that still leaves the now-obvious question: was UNC awful instead?

Georgia and Georgia Tech might be pretty good. Danny White, son of former Duke AD Kevin White, bailed on Florida last year for the Bulldogs, which was probably smart. He wasn’t winning hearts and minds there. He’ll have more of a chance of success in Athens.

He put together a schedule of good but not great basketball schools like Wake Forest, which actually is a pretty good basketball school unless they hire an idiot coach, Miami of Ohio, which is usually pretty good, Bucknell, which has had some wonderful teams in recent years, Saint Joe’s, UAB and Hampton. We’re not saying they’re all good right now, but they all get basketball, they all want to be good, and they all have tradition.

It’s a smart schedule for a rebuilding SEC program and to prove it, Georgia is now 7-2. which means that the schedule is already better than last year’s 6-24.

Really, every ACC school, with the possible exception of Georgia Tech, should be favored.

UNC has lost four straight and Armando Bacot sat out the Virginia Tech game with a shoulder injury. Art Chansky sees a ray of hope though and Hubert Davis does too: the Tar Heels fought back, finally.

Tuesday’s ACC Action

  • Oakland @ Syracuse || 6:00 PM || ACCN
  • Coppin State @ NC State || 7:00 PM || ACCNX
  • Georgia @ Georgia Tech || 7:00 || ESPN2
  • New Hamsphire @ Boston College || ESPN+/ACCNX
  • James Madison @ Virginia || 8:00 || ACCN
  • Iowa vs. Duke || 9:30 || ESPN

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