It’s May, and college students all across the country are graduating–where does this time of year leave ACC basketball for the 2010-11 season?

We looked at early entrants last week. By team, here’s the ACC seniors gone to graduation…

BC-N/A(but losing G Rakim Sanders and G Brady Heslip to transfer)

Clemson-F Trevor Booker, F David Potter.

Here’s your “no duh” analysis here–losing Booker will be big for Clemson.

Duke-G Jon Scheyer, F Lance Thomas, C Brian Zoubek.

These guys were huge in the title run last season, but the Blue Devils aren’t losing any on the NBA Draft front–they can be replaced for another run.

Florida State-F Ryan Reid.

The ‘Noles will be fine post-Reid, but he brought energy to FSU.

Georgia Tech-F Zachery Peacock, G D’Andre Bell

Losing Peacock to graduation may be just as big as losing Lawal and Favors to the draft as Georgia Tech’s frontline has been decimated this offseason.

Maryland-G Greivis Vasquez, G Eric Hayes, F Landon Milbourne

The two big guards and a key forward are gone for the Terps–makes you wonder where the scoring will come from next season.

Miami-C Cyrus McGowan, C Dwayne Collins, G James Dews, F Adrian Thomas

Hurricanes are tied with Wake for losing the most key seniors in the ACC, and the going could very well be tough again for Miami.

NC State-G Farnold Degand, F Dennis Horner

Horner and Degand came on during the ACC Tourney, but are replaceable with the talent coming in for the ‘Pack.

North Carolina-F Deon Thompson, G Marcus Ginyard

Ginyard and Thompson had disappointing senior seasons and UNC will see a better team next year coming from rock bottom.

Virginia-G Calvin Baker, C Jerome Meyinsse, F Solomon Tat

The ‘Hoos are a team in transition with Bennett over-hauling the squad–these seniors had some impact, but UVA will move on just fine.

Virginia Tech-N/A

Wake Forest-G Ish Smith, C Chas McFarland, F L.D. Williams, F David Weaver

I don’t envy Bzdelik in year one without all of that experience and Aminu gone to the NBA.

Analysis: On the whole, the ACC loses a ton in experience and talent. Virginia Tech is the only team not replacing key starters and the time is just about now for a strong run to the NCAAs. Duke loses one ‘S’ from the crew with Scheyer, but they are loaded. Wake Forest, Maryland, and Georgia Tech are three solid NCAA Tourney teams from 2010 that could all be on the bubble due to their losses. Clemson will have to adjust to a new system with Trevor Booker under Brownell. BC has a new coach and not many players as of yet due to transfers. FSU returns a number of players, but can they find an offense in the offseason? Virginia and Miami hope to climb out of ACC cellar doldrums–Miami has a better shot. If there’s a year that Lowe’s NC State is going to rise in the rankings, the Wolfpack should expect something from the 2010-11 season with most of the ACC rebuilding. UNC is another interesting case as they are bringing in the talented recruits, but they had a number of issues last season. The ACC is going to be wide-open next season with a number of fresh faces.

Who’s your extra-early favorite in the ACC?

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!