Was in Greensboro all day on Friday and what a day it was!

Friday at the ACC Tournament was not exactly what I expected–or anybody else.

Virginia, without a couple of key guards, started off the madness with a close, well-played game with Duke–with the dynamics of tournament seating, each team has a 1/12 of the seating assigned and it was 11/12 pro-UVA, 1/12 Duke–and well attended for a noon, weekday game. Duke prevailed as expected, but Virginia fans should be proud of their team’s effort.

The Hokies were stunned in game two as the Canes kept rolling from the blowout win over the Deacs. Miami guard Durand Scott won over the hearts of all the non-Hokies(and it was mostly Hokies there) with an excellently played game.

After a couple hour break, the games resumed and the intensity ratcheted up another level. The Terps and Jackets played a hard-fought game, and Georgia Tech came up big at every key moment. Vasquez had an up-and-down game as he got the Terps back into striking distance for the lead, but faltered on two shots that would have had the Terps back in it.

The best, in atmosphere, was saved for the last game as NC State fans packed out the coliseum with red and cheered their team on to a second half come-back to the upset.

After two days at the ACC Tourney, four probable NCAA Tournament teams in Clemson, Florida State, Maryland, and Wake Forest were knocked out–though Virginia Tech is living on the edge right now. Miami and NC State proved that while their seasons were not quite what they wanted–they hung tough to regroup for the ACC Tournament–and a shot to earn their way in by four wins in four days.

For a more in-depth look, here’s what I wrote up on my site at OnTheB-Rink.com/blog…

Game One–Duke/UVA

Under seven minutes to go, ACC Quarterfinal Friday and the under-manned, over-acheiving ‘Hoos cut the Duke lead to 2—the crowd erupts.

The Greensboro Coliseum was about 75% full—75% of that crowd rooting for Virginia(whether ‘Hoos fan or not—actually saw a Hokies’ fan demonstratively rooting against Duke/for UVA)—and the other 25% for Duke.

But Duke responded—boy, did they respond. Devils went on a 6-0 run to start—and by the 2:32 mark, Duke put it out of reach with a 56-44 lead and Scheyer leading the charge.

Duke was lethargic at times—and Virginia played every whistle like it was there last—a great way to open up Quarterfinal Friday.

Random Notes…

• *Mike Scott for UVA and Kyle Singler for Duke had solid games in the frontcourt. Meyinsse did well too.
• *Sad to not see Sammy Z perform in person—was looking forward to seeing him.
• *Jones had a big game among the UVA guards.
• *Nolan Smith out-performed Scheyer the entire game as the ‘Hoos played great defense on him until he broke out in the final 5.

Game Two–Miami/Virginia Tech

Delaney missed it—the potential game-winner—he missed it—he missed a lot—he wasn’t there.

The Hokies were picked up by Dorenzo Hudson and Jeff Allen, but MVP MD23 only missed shots—uncharacteristically missed free throws too—and his 7 points only made a dent in a great game where the Hurricanes as a 12 seed advanced to the ACC Semis.

Miami guard Durand Scott put the team on his back in front of a mostly pro-Hokies crowd and scored key buckets including free throws to salt the game away.

Random Notes…

• *Miami’s frontcourt did not show in the box score offensively, but were effective and stealing rebounds away and causing enough ruckus to throw off the Hokies.
• *Lots of Hokies went home disappointed—they had a strong representation and their team didn’t pick them up.
• *The Canes’ guards are all on fire—Dews, Scott, Thomas, Jones, Grant—everybody is confident.
• *Hokies, like Clemson and Wake, stumble into the NCAAs—we’ll see which one, two, three, or none respond in the tournament.
  

Game Three–Maryland/Georgia Tech

It was the 17:52 mark of the first half—Maryland had a 4-2 lead, but it seemed like 100-2 with the way Georgia Tech was playing.

Coach Hewitt rallied the troops.

By the last media timeout of the second half, Georgia Tech had a 15 point lead and went into the half up 42-25. Grievis Vasquez only scored 2 points that.

Maryland came out on fire in the second half and cut the lead down to 2 with 11:39 to go as Vasquez started hitting shots—but his game-tying attempt with under 30 seconds to go air-balled and another 3-point attempt went straight up in the air. There aren’t many games where when Vasquez has the opportunity to lead his team to victory—he misses, but the Quarterfinal Friday was one of them.

The Jackets effort was balanced as whenever they needed a basket—somebody stepped up—just impressive. They now face the ‘Pack with a strong chance with the way they are playing to win an ACC Championship.

Random Notes…

• *Crowd was mostly for the Jackets at the end as most of the crowd gave a standing ovation to the Georgia Tech win.
• *The second half was madness with one rugby-esque scrum with bodies flying and the refs called a jump-ball.
• *Georgia Tech hit from the perimeter like I haven’t seen all season.
• *The Terps are a better team than they played Friday—I expect them to turn it around in the postseason.
• *The Jackets have all the momentum in the world going into the NCAAs—we’ll see how they handle it.

Game Four–NC State/Florida State

Scott Wood—Nole slayer—the guy was on fire with his 18 points in the 58-52 win. FSU’s lack of offensive prowess showed down the stretch as NC State got the baskets when they needed them while the Noles floundered.

Gonzalez’s play at the point guard was huge as he hassled the FSU guards and notched several key steals and assists. Tracy Smith was neutralized for much of the game, but found a way to come up big in the final minutes with a soul-crushing dunk with 1:58 to go to put the Wolfpack up 6.

The crowd was ecstatic as it was a thoroughly pro-Wolfpack coliseum—the FSU warchant was quickly drowned out by all NC State chants every time.

FSU’s problem will always be a lack of a go-to guy—they don’t have a Smith, Booker, or Scheyer—they have some solid players, but no one great and that will hurt them in March.

Random Notes…

• *The place was painted red—after the game the walk to the parking lot was all chants and eager Pack fans buying up tickets. Great atmosphere for a tournament.
• *FSU fouled a bunch—didn’t really get one guy in foul trouble, but they were fouling left and right.
• *Smith handled Alabi—makes no sense with the height disparity, but Alabi doesn’t appear to be strong enough to deal with a guy like Smith.
• *I kept waiting for Singleton or Reid to really step up and it never happened.
• *FSU led at the half, but by the first media break, NC State already had this one in their grasp—37-33 Pack at that point and they would have 48-41, 51-46, and 52-48 leads the rest of the breaks in the second.

Thanks for reading and we’ll be breaking down the NCAA Tournament that is coming up right around the corner!

We went over the contenders, sleepers, and those in bubble trouble on Monday–now we pick all the games of the ACC Tournament!

The way I have the tournament going–the ACC should have 7 NCAA bids–and a one seed with the Blue Devils–Selection Sunday should be kind to the ACC.

Day One Matchups

(Picks in bold)
8] Boston College Eagles vs. 9) Virginia Cavaliers, 12 EST

5) Wake Forest Demon Deacons vs. 12) Miami Hurricanes, 2ish

7) Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets vs. 10) North Carolina Tar Heels, 7

6) Clemson Tigers vs. 11) NC State Wolfpack, 9ish

Analysis: The ‘Hoos kick off the day with the first and only upset of day one–it’s a virtual coin flip game on a neutral court as Virginia has to win some time right? Game two is much easier to pick as the Deacs will cruise over the Canes as they swept the season series and Miami will be without one of their best in Dwayne Collins in the paint. Georgia Tech faces a must win against a team they swept in the Heels–again, I’m ignoring the “hard to beat a team 3 teams” rule–well, because the Jackets are the better team and should win. The Tigers are in the night-cap against a semi-home team in NC State–the ACC Tourney is Trevor Booker time and he will shine in Greensboro to a Tigers’ win.

Matchups

1) Duke Blue Devils vs. 9) Virginia Cavaliers, 12 EST

4) Virginia Tech Hokies vs. 5) Wake Forest Demon Deacons, 2ish

2) Maryland Terrapins vs. 7) Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, 7

3) Florida State Seminoles vs. 6) Clemson Tigers, 9ish

Analysis: The Blue Devils blitzed the Cavaliers up in Charlottesville not long ago–Blue Devils will roll to a double digit victory. The Hokies/Deacs game is one of my favorites of the day as they battle in Blacksburg to an excellent game where the Hokies won–if the Deacs are on–they ride the basic home advantage to victory, but I like Malcolm Delaney and the Hokies to get to the ACC semis. The Tigers and Noles used to be regular sparring partners in the play-in game of the old 9 team format–both programs have improved a bunch since then and defense is the main emphasis for both teams–expect a low scoring, upset by the Tigers as just enough 3-pointers fall and Trevor Booker shows why he is All-ACC against the many talented bigs of the ‘Noles.

Day Three Matchups

1) Duke Blue Devils vs. 4) Virginia Tech Hokies, 1:30 EST

2) Maryland Terrapins vs. 6) Clemson Tigers, 4

Analysis: The Blue Devils and Terps are the class of the ACC right now and should make the finals barring injuries–they both had the most complete season and finished well. Focus always could be an issue for top teams in a super-conference tournament, but with the senior guards that lead both teams in Vasquez and Scheyer, it’s hard to see them faltering. The Tigers have the best shot after already beating Maryland once this season and playing well on the road at College Park in a loss–but I feel the pace Maryland can get on offensively will be too much for the Tigers once again.

Championship Sunday

1) Duke Blue Devils vs. 2) Maryland Terrapins, 1:00 EST

Analysis: The Blue Devils and Terps have everything to play for on Selection Sunday which will make for a great game–Blue Devils take the rubber match as the Blue Devils play better defense on the Terps shooters and shoot better themselves to notch another ACC Championship.

Who wins the ACC Tournament? Who’s your sleeper/dark horse? Enjoy the ACC Tournament on Raycom and check out my site at OnTheB-Rink.com/blog and Twitter feed @onthebrinklive for constant updates!

Duke stays atop the ACC while a couple of ACC teams rise from the middle in Clemson and FSU–and UNC in last?!

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. The ACC Tourney projections will be up Tuesday on my site at On The B.Rink.

1) Duke Blue Devils

The Devils swept the week with a closer than expected duel in Miami and a hotly contested game with the Hokies. They play one non-conference game with Tulsa and at Virginia on Sunday. If Duke can win-out, the ACC Tournament will be playing for a number one seed in the NCAA Tournament.

2) Maryland Terrapins

Terps escaped with the Cliff Tucker buzzer-beater over Georgia Tech and took-down the Pack in a much less exciting game. Maryland has the toughest week of anybody in the ACC coming up with a hot Clemson team coming to Comcast and the trip to Blacksburg where Virginia Tech has not lost yet.

3) Virginia Tech Hokies

Hokies had a trying week with beating the Deacs and losing a tough one at Duke. Hokies travel to BC before another big one against the Terps to get back in second place.

4) Wake Forest Demon Deacons

The Deacs are free-falling at the moment after a close road loss at Virginia Tech and an inexplicable 68-54 loss at NC State. The road was not kind to Wake’s key freshman contributors C.J. Harris and Ari Stewart who scored a combined 11 points in the games(Harris 7 in VT, 0 in NCSU; Stewart 2 at VT, 2 at NCSU). The Demon Deacons only have one game this week with the struggling Heels coming to Winston-Salem.

5) Florida State Seminoles

The ‘Noles announced their presence as a contender for one of the top four ACC seeds with a 69-50 win to crush UVA’s fleeting chance at an NCAA bid. FSU travels to Chapel Hill to take on the Heels and return to face Clemson on Sunday.

6) Clemson Tigers

The Tigers took what FSU started and continued the ‘Hoo-bashing with a 72-49 blowout win. Clemson got the necessary 3-game home-stretch sweep and look strong going into the rest of their schedule. They take on Maryland in what should be an excellent game on Raycom on Wednesday at 9 and Florida State also on the road on Sunday.

7) Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

After losing by last second shot to Maryland, Georgia Tech has to take 2 of their final 3 ACC games to stay in the NCAAs talk.  BC kicks off the stretch at home on Saturday before making the trip up I-85 to Clemson in March, and finally a home match with Virginia Tech.

8] Virginia Cavaliers

It was ugly–the entire week–u-g-l-y. The ‘Hoos lost by an average of over 20 points to Maryland, Florida State, and Clemson. The Cavaliers try to end the 5 game losing streak in Miami before coming home to attempt to knock off the Blue Devils.

9) Boston College Eagles

The Eagles defeated the Tar Heels 71-67 giving the Eagles a little separation from the back of the pack in the ACC. The Hokies come to town on Wednesday and travel to Georgia Tech later in the week.

10) Miami Hurricanes

Miami still has the weirdest contrast of overall to ACC records with the 17-9 overall and 3-9 ACC after dropping the Duke contest 81-74. Miami had the lead at the half, but as has been constant this conference season, the Canes could only keep the effort up for one half.

11) NC State Wolfpack

NC State pulled off the big home win over the Demon Deacons on Saturday after a decent effort in the loss against Maryland. The ‘Pack take the mid-week off before the trip to Miami this weekend.

12) North Carolina Tar Heels

Can’t say I saw this coming this season–UNC being last in late February in the ACC. UNC and NC State are 1 and 1a right now for worst so I gave the ‘Pack the nod with the big win over Wake Forest. UNC will most likely finish 15-16 and not even be eligible for the NIT–it’s remarkable with the talent on that team that the Heels sunk this far in a year coming off the NCAA title. FSU comes to the Dean Dome and the Heels make the short trip to Winston-Salem later on in the week.

Duke has a lock on the ACC now, but everything else is up for grabs. Are you feeling 7 bids for the ACC in the NCAAs? 6? 5?

Another week and a little more separation between the haves and have-nots among the NCAA Tourney teams…

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.

1) Duke Blue Devils

The Blue Devils passed the test of being the ACC’s best by taking down the Heels on the road and Terps at home with ease. Center Brian Zoubek put up a surprising 16 points and 17 rebounds against the Terps–if he keeps this up, the Devils are going to be a force down the stretch. Duke is only a game ahead of the Deacs still with a trip to Miami and Virginia Tech in Durham on the weekend.

2) Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Wake Forest notched wins at home against Boston College and Georgia Tech to stay within a game of the Blue Devils. The Deacs travel to Virginia Tech and NC State–the Hokies are coming fast on the Demon Deacons which makes this week’s Duke vs. VT and Wake vs. VT games really interesting.

3) Virginia Tech Hokies

Hard to argue that another team is playing better than the Hokies right now after four straight wins including the blitzing of NC State on the road and battling out a home win over rival Virginia. The Hokies have two crucial games this week as they can take the reins of the ACC with a sweep of the Deacs and Devils–very possible they can lose both too–most likely scenario is the split with a win over Wake and loss at Duke.

4) Maryland Terrapins

Terps went 6-2 in January and have started 2-1 in February with one game being played after this particular ballot went in with Virginia played on Monday. The blowout loss at Duke knocked them down two spots in my ballot more for the loss + the Deacs/Hokies performances–I expected the loss though. Maryland has a challenging and rare 3 game week with UVA, @NC State, and at home with Georgia Tech.

5) Florida State Seminoles

The ‘Noles lost at Clemson and played an excellent second half to blowout the Eagles at home–putting FSU among the top 6 ACC teams with an above .500 ACC record. Two challenging road games to come this week as they go to Charlottesville to take on the Cavaliers and down to Chapel Hill for a game with the up-and-down Heels. A sweep/split and the Noles are looking great going into March–two losses and the bubble edges to burst status.

6) Clemson Tigers

The Tigers got the crucial sweep of the Florida ACC teams with the 10 point win over FSU and 8 point win over the Canes. Clemson’s quest to keep off the bubble continues with their one game this week against the weary Wahoos of Virginia who will be playing their 4th game in 7 days.

7) Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

The Jackets continued their struggles with losses to Miami and Wake Forest. At 5-6 in conference and five games to go, Georgia Tech might need 4 more ACC wins for NCAA bid security or 3 with a couple of ACC Tournament wins. Their shot at hitting that mark begins with UNC at home and a trip to Maryland later in the week.

8. Virginia Cavaliers

After the quick start in the ACC, the ‘Hoos are 1-2 in February with 3 tough games this week–Virginia needs 10-6 for serious consideration to make it into the NCAAs with a couple ACC Tournament wins. Starting Monday, they travel to Maryland, face FSU at home, and go on the road to Clemson.

9) North Carolina Tar Heels

The Heels successfully kept out of last place in the ACC against NC State with a blowout win despite losing Ed Davis for the season earlier in the week. Staying out of last and above .500 are the realistic goals left for the Tar Heels though a long-shot chance remains for the NCAAs. On the road, UNC faces Georgia Tech and Boston College this week.

10) Boston College Eagles

The 15-point loss at Florida State broke a streak of 7 games where BC won twice and lost close games for the rest. At 12-13(3-8 ACC), it will be interesting if Coach Skinner can hold on to the team’s attention down the stretch with this week’s game being both at home versus North Carolina and Virginia Tech.

11) Miami Hurricanes

The Canes put together a couple of strong efforts with a win over the bubble-y Jackets and a loss at Clemson. Miami is the anti-BC as they are still 9 games over .500 despite the 8 losses(all in ACC play). Ultimately, Miami’s 17-8 will do nothing for them with their strength of schedule/RPI–they have to win the ACC Tournament. The Canes have the mid-week off to face the Blue Devils on the weekend.

12) NC State Wolfpack

Dead last, meet the Wolfpack. (/HerbSendekReferenceCommenceNowAmIRight?) The ACC is a meat-grinder, but not quite as much this season, NC State has to be better than 2-9 in the ACC–no excuse can pardon how the wheels have come off in Raliegh. Where NC State goes from here is all a matter of the amount of faith in Lowe–the talent is there–if they really believe the team can gel and perform under Lowe, keep him–but if there is any doubt, the option is pretty clear.

We’ll have another ACC Tourney projection up today also so be sure to check it out! Any comments on the week in the ACC?