Duke and UNC go down over the weekend while a couple of contenders distinguished themselves this week…
David Tucker over at the Maryland Raycom Blog has been compiling a poll of the ACC blogs for an ACC Basketball Power Poll, and here’s my ballot with semi-insightful commentary.
ACC Power Poll Ballot With Commentary
1. Duke Blue Devils
Just when you think you know about who is the ACC’s best–the Blue Devils go on the road and get blitzed by Georgetown on defense. Duke gave up 71% shooting while shooting under 40% themselves and missing 20 three pointers. The Duke Raycom blog explains the Devil’s issues well, but if there was any question before, the ACC is not on top of the college basketball conference world at this point. The Blue Devils face a tough turnaround coming up as they face Georgia Tech at home on Thursday then up to Boston College on Saturday against the up-and-down Eagles–will be interesting to see how they come out of those two games.
2. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
The Jackets drilled Wake Forest in Atlanta and Kentucky State over the weekend for a strong week. Georgia Tech has a similar schedule to Duke as they travel to Durham Thursday for a chance to be on top of this poll next week and back to GA to face NC State. Paul Hewitt’s squad has had a number of guards step up lately with D’Andre Bell, Brian Oliver, and Iman Shumpert being most prominent which only aids to the strong frontcourt the squad already has.
3. Florida State Seminoles
As we go into February, I’m most interested in whether the teams at the top can stay there — FSU is a prime example as they rose up the rankings after splitting their road dates at Duke and Boston College with the trip to Chestnut Hill being the victory. FSU faces Maryland and Miami on the short turnaround also from Thursday to Saturday(going to be really interesting how this scheduling quirk works out–top two teams go on the road and at home while FSU stays at home for both).
4. Wake Forest Demon Deacons
The Deacs had the sting of a 79-58 loss on the road to carry them through the weekend off before facing Miami on Tuesday at home. They shot 32.8% from the field and 16.7% from behind the arc in the loss and Georgia Tech’s size bothered the large frontline of the Deacs as they were -8 in rebounding margin. Wake Forest struggled this time last season and they get their chance to stave off a repeat performance of their late season slide with the game against Miami then the trip to UVA on Saturday.
5. Virginia Cavaliers
After two consecutive ACC losses, Virginia roared back with the 75-60 road win over the Tar Heels. With home games against NC State and Wake Forest coming up, the ‘Hoos have a real shot at being 6-2 through the first half of ACC games–which would be remarkable. There’s no question that Virginia guard Sylven Landesberg is who makes this offense go as he put up a career high 29 points on the road and far and away leads the ‘Hoos in scoring at around 18 a game. Though another guard stepped up big time for the ‘Hoos also in the UNC win as Sammy Zeglinski knocked down 5 three pointers, had 4 assists, and 4 steals. With this hot start, Virginia has become an over-night success in Tony Bennett’s first season as coach with a squad that can keep this up into March.
6. Maryland Terrapins
26 turnovers. 14 of them from the top two scorers on the court. 2-10 from the perimeter. 53 points. The Terps did not have their “A” game, but Clemson also forced them into many of those bad situations as the Tigers had the right combination of size to shut down both Hayes and Vasquez from any rhythm to get the Terps going. Maryland faces Florida State in Tallahassee on Raycom on Thursday before facing the struggling Heels at home on Sunday.
7. Clemson Tigers
The ailing Tigers split their games in the last week as they lost to BC at the Eagles and beat the Terps at home in a 62-53 slugfest. Clemson forward Jerai Grant stepped up in both games with his effort being key in the Tigers pulling away from a battle against Maryland. Clemson guard Demontez Stitt was too injured to play either game with a sprained foot so sophomore guard Andre Young has had to step up in his place–and he’s learning, but not quite where Stitt was at this point. If Stitt is able to come back healthy in the near future, this development of Young as a player could be big in March. Clemson plays their lone game this week on Raycom on Saturday at Virginia Tech.
8. Virginia Tech Hokies
Hokies are at 16-4 overall and 3-3 in the ACC after beating rival Virginia on the road and falling to the Canes 82-75 in a game that was not quite that close even. Virginia Tech played a solid second half at Miami and the Canes shot 63% from the field and over 50% from the perimeter so I’m not too worried about the Hokies. Two huge ACC home games are coming up with the Tar Heels on Thursday and the Tigers coming up on Saturday.
9. NC State Wolfpack
The Wolfpack laid an egg against a North Carolina team that played much better than they did against Virginia, but NC State really needed that win for any shot at making the NCAA Tournament as they are at the bottom of the standings at 2-5. The forecast is rather gloomy for the inconsistent Wolfpack as they travel north to Charlottesville to face the hot Cavaliers and down I-85 to Atlanta to face possibly next week’s number one in Georgia Tech.
10. North Carolina Tar Heels
Consider the panic button pushed in Chapel Hill as UNC is a team that is discombobulated, extremely. Tar Heels will have to go 4-2 in their remaining games and beat rival Duke at home along with every other home game to just get to .500 in the ACC overall and that would leave the Heels at a rather unimpressive 19-10 overall.
11. Miami Hurricanes
Signs of life are present in the Hurricanes as they defeated Virginia Tech 82-75 on Sunday after being drilled earlier in the week at Maryland. Miami guard James Dews led the scoring for the Canes with 21 points and Malcolm Grant came off the bench with 13 points including 3 three pointers. Miami goes on the road to Wake Forest and Florida State this week–will be tough to keep up their momentum off this win.
12. Boston College Eagles
Oh, BC, had a chance to really make a statement with two ACC wins in a row and three of the last four, but Florida State stole the win in the end from the Eagles and there went any slight glimmer of a shot at the NCAAs. Eagles have a shot at playing spoiler against Duke on Saturday and maybe continue to build some momentum going into the month of March and the ACC Tournament.
Can Georgia Tech pass Duke in the poll this week? Is Florida State a legit contender for the ACC too? Are the ‘Hoos going to re-claim their early ACC lead back? ACC is getting fun, but its hard to distinguish them as it has been for a while now.
Tags: ACC Basketball, Boston College Eagles, Clemson Tigers, Duke Blue Devils, Florida State Seminoles, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Maryland Terrapins, Miami Hurricanes, NC State Wolfpack, North Carolina Tar Heels, potw, Virginia Tech Hokies, Wake Forest Demon Deacons
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