ACC Roundup - We’re Keeping An Eye On Pitt And Miami Saturday

And the other eye is sizing up UNC’s visit to Raleigh Sunday

By JD King Feb 18, 2023, 8:00am EST

Pittsburgh v North Carolina — Maybe Jeff Capel is trying to point out another mistake by another ACC official

In Saturday’s ACC Action, Notre Dame travels to Virginia, Boston College gets a sun day at Florida State, Wake visits Miami, Georgia Tech takes a breather (we hope) against DII Florida Tech, Pitt heads down to hassle the Hokies in Cassell and Clemson goes to Louisville.

All of these are intriguing.

We don’t think Notre Dame will play as well at Virginia as they did at Duke, but that’s a team full of shooters. And they’re experienced. It’d be a definite upset, but impossible? No.

Boston College plays as hard as anyone. The better question: is FSU running out of steam? It’s been a brutal year and losing to Clemson by 40 last time out was pretty rough. You’d hope they’d still compete but at some point, in a bad season, some guys are probably happy it’s almost over. We’re not saying FSU is there. We’re saying they could be.

This Miami team has turned into one of Jim Larranaga’s best-ever teams and winning at Miami is not easy. You can see how Wake Forest might though. They also have a nice perimeter and useful big guys. We’ll take Miami here but it could be pretty close.

The only way we can think of that Georgia Tech-Florida Tech should be interesting would be if Florida Tech pulls off the upset, or maybe someone from Georgia Tech hits, say, 50. Otherwise? Not much here.

Pitt at Virginia Tech could be a lot of fun. The Hokies have struggled, but it’s at home and when they let their three flag fly, they really let it fly. Pitt won't let up on them though. Expect the Panthers to really take it to the less physical Hokies. Three point shooting could change things though.

Clemson and Virginia are very different teams, but Louisville really went after the Cavaliers, nearly pulling off an upset. Can they get there again? That team grew up a lot against Virginia and you know they’d love to get one big win this season.

Speaking of Pitt, Jeff Capel is having a terrific season and is now a candidate for Naismith Coach Of The Year. You know who likes that? Aside from Mrs. Capel?

Pitt AD Heather Lyke, who went out on a limb for Capel and who is now looking pretty smart.

There have been a number of issues for the ACC this season, some to do with officiating and some to do with other aspects of game management. Kara Lawson said that a men’s ball was used during the Duke-Florida State game recently (the ACC says it didn’t happen).

Latest example: the ball used at the end of the Louisville-Virginia game was essentially flat.

At some point, it would be nice to know who screwed up and where, and we don’t mean just the flat ball at Louisville. Who is responsible for the wrong ball at FSU? Who is responsible for officials who don’t know the rules? Why can’t a pool reporter speak to officials to get an explanation of a disastrously bad call like we saw in the Duke-Virginia game?

You kind of start to get the feeling that more energy is going into finding a new headquarters for the ACC (and now moving) than in actually running the damn thing.

NC State and UNC play on Sunday, and after the game in ~~Chapel~~ Capel Hill, State is going to be fired up. You’d think that Caleb Love would have more sense than to say something foolish. Well, if you thought that, you thought wrong, because Love said this: “I wouldn’t even say it’s a rivalry. It’s just another game.”

It’s also a game that UNC really needs to win. Firing your opponent up is never smart, but right now?

Really not smart.

Saturday’s ACC Action