SCACCHoops.com

Drinks Are On the Maryland Coaching Staff

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:23:22 EST

The success of the Terrapins basketball team this season has also fattened the wallets of the coaching staff. Head man Gary Williams earned a tidy $318,000 for finishing tied for first place in the ACC. The assistant coaches all netted about $10,000 for this finish. That is a big boost for Rob Ehsan who is scheduled to make a paltry $66,000 this year and has been doing excellent work on the recruiting trail. When Maryland receives a bid to the NCAA Tournament the assistants will make another $15,000 plus other incentives if the team advances further. When you consider the athletic director gave James Franklin a $1million head coach in waiting deal the bonuses for the assistants and Gary Williams is money well spent.

This article was originally published at http://turtlewaxing.blogspot.com. If you are interested in sharing your website's content with SCACCHoops.com, Contact Us.

Harrison Barnes: Morgan Wooten POY

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:22:10 EST

That someone would be Harrison Barnes, and the something is the 2010 Morgan Wooten Player of the Year. In an entry to his ESPN blog, Christopher Lawlor notes that the award is not only a reward for Barnes’ skill on the court, but also his character off of it:

The future Tar Heel bagged the prestigious honor for his presence on and off the court. When he’s not electrifying crowds in Iowa gyms, Barnes is involved in DECA (marketing, management, entrepreneurship club) and Students Helping Eliminate Poverty and Hunger (SHEPH). He also participated in the 2009 Mid-Iowa Community Action Agency Food Drive, serves as an algebra tutor and leads a weekly Bible study.

There is still no word yet how Barnes’ is progressing developing a cure for the swine flu or balancing the US budget… But seriously, it does sound like Barnes is a terrific kid, on top of being an elite talent, and it will be a lot of fun watching his tenure at UNC. More importantly, one does not become involved with entrepreneurial activities if they are uncomfortable being a leader and unwilling to put in the work, both of which are qualities that the Tar Heel nation will welcome with open arms next season.

Congratulations, Mr. Barnes!!

This article was originally published at http://tarheelfanblog.com. If you are interested in sharing your website's content with SCACCHoops.com, Contact Us.

The Paul Hewitt Debate: Good Cop/Bad Cop

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 07:27:00 EST

We're bringing you a showdown of of wits and powerful mental control. Bird vs Winfield. Winfield vs Bird. What should be done about Paul Hewitt?????

ZOMG! There's a twist! In this episode, Bird plays Bad Cop (Fire Hewitt) and I play Good Cop (Keep Hewitt!)

Should Paul Hewitt be fired? 10 reasons why or why not.

10.

Bird: Losing record against georgie. Out of football, softball, baseball, volleyball, and hoops. Only MaChelle Joseph and Paul Hewitt have losing records against Georgie. Even then, MaChelle Joseph is coaching against the Vince Dooley of Georgie basketball and is only down one game to the female dogs. There is no reason Paul Hewitt should have a losing record to a squad that has had more turmoil and NCAA sanctions than the SMU football team. NBA Draft Picks for Hewitt: 5. NBA Draft Picks for uga: 2.

Winfield: The pool of candidates is weak. This is a year where the big conferences are weak and would be prime opportunities to see the mid-majors sneak in and make their presences felt. However, this is not the case as college basketball seems to be down overall. Why fire a coach when there is no one out there? We don't want an NC State situation where they fired Sendek and got Sidney Lowe.

Winfield: We can't afford it because of the infamous contract. DRad is still trying to pay our debtors including Chan Gailey and we just added the Zelnak Center and the AMC has planned future renovations. The economics simply do not support a revenue sports coach firing.

Bird: No wins in the NCAAT since 2005. Only one berth to the NCAAT since 2005. This includes an overall record of 6-9 in ACCT games. Georgia Tech has only advanced past the second round in the ACCT once in Hewitt's tenure. The only time he's advanced past the second round in the NCAAT was 2004.

Bird: Poor free throw shooting costs Georgia Tech in close contests. Not since the 2004-2005 season, has Georgia Tech finished in the top half of the ACC in free throw shooting percentage.

Winfield: Recruiting. Paul Hewitt brings in the talent. Chris Bosh, Jarrett Jack,, Thaddeus Young, Anthony Morrow, Mario West, Gani Lawal, and Derrick Favors all have, or will have, prominent positions in the NBA. Overall, we have had the 19th most players drafted to the NBA during the Hewitt Era. We are an NBA-feeder because of Hewitt!

Winfield: He is influential. Paul Hewitt is a prominent African-American coach in a big-time basketball conference. In 2007, he served as president of the Black Coaches Association and continues to be a dominant figure in that arena. People listen to Paul Hewitt.

Bird: Since 2005, Georgia Tech is 9-18 in games decided by one possession. Poor end of game play calls and poor execution have led to 18 losses that most likely cost Georgia Tech additional NCAA tournament berths.

Bird: No ACC regular season titles or tournament titles during Hewitt's tenure at Georgia Tech.

Winfield: He's been there before. He can get us there again. With NBA rules, college basketball has become a cyclical sport and all teams must have some bit of luck on their side. Hewitt has taken the Jackets to The Big Dance 3 times since he came on board.

See the rest of our debate after The Jump!

Winfield: Only Roy Williams, Gary Williams, Paul Hewitt and Coach K have taken ACC teams to the Final Four appearances during Hewitt's tenure. Hewitt has put us in the elite company of the ACC.

Bird: Since 2005, Georgia Tech has been on the road in the ACC 40 times. We've only won 6 times. That's a 15% winning percentage. This is the worst road winning percentage over that span in the ACC.

Bird: Paul only has a winning record against 3 current ACC head coaches: Dino, OP, and Sidney. Everyone has winning records against those three coaches.

Winfield: Predecessors. Bobby Cremins had 1 NCAA appearance in his last 7 years. Paul Hewitt has made it 3 times in the last 7 years.

Winfield: Hewitt rebuilt Sienna. From 1995-1997, Siena went 22-59. Over Hewitt's tenure he built them into a program that is now on autopilot. They have been to 5 of their 6 total NCAAT appearances during or after Hewitt's tenure. He knows how to put a team together

Bird: Paul Hewitt's former team, Siena, has been to the NCAAT four times since Paul Hewitt left. Georgia Tech has been to the NCAAT four times under Paul Hewitt. Siena has been past the first round twice since 2008. Georgia Tech has not reached the tournament since 2007.

Bird: Georgia Tech has the 19th most players drafted during the Hewitt Era (at 5) yet we have the 34th most wins in the NCAAT. This is classic under-utilization of talent. If the entire NCAA were ranked by number of wins in the NCAAT divided by NBA draft picks, Georgia Tech would be ranked 51st.

Winfield: He put us back in the national college basketball spotlight by making it to the Final Four and by continuing to bring in big name recruits. This exposure only helps the program and the Institute itself.

Winfield: Hewitt may not be meeting your expectations but he is meeting reality. We have never consistently been better than North Carolina or Duke. Bobby Cremins kept us above average in the ACC while Paul Hewitt is keeping us in the ballpark of where we've always been in years of parity.

Bird: Frustrating half court offense is turnover prone. Lack of explosive transition offense since departure of Jarrett Jack. Defense fades in and out of conference play. Heavy reliance on underclassmen in offense because of poor recruiting and/or poor player development. All of these factors have ledto a majority of the losses on the season and previous seasons.

Alright folks, who wins the debate?

This article was originally published at http://www.FromTheRumbleSeat.com. If you are interested in sharing your website's content with SCACCHoops.com, Contact Us.

UNC: Expectations vs. Reality

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:37:20 EST

As the clock winds down on a forgettable 2010 season, it bears looking back and seeing, upon reflection, what the expectations were for this season vs. the reality:

(in alphabetical order)

Ed Davis

Expectation: The break-out star and potential lottery pick everyone expected. Voted pre-season All-ACC, Davis was expected to be a scoring and rebounding leader for the Tar Heels, with 17-20 ppg and 9-12 rpg not out of the question.

Reality: Ed reported to fall practice having not met his conditioning goals, but nevertheless started out like he might meet those lofty expectations with a number of 20-point outings and some strong rebounding totals early. In conference season, injuries and dwindling production slowed him even before being sidelined for the last eight games. Davis never developed any kind of shot outside of 8 feet and failed to become the game-changer people had expected. Then later in the season came the agent website snafu that gave some fuel to the rumors that he wasn’t buying into things 100% and was only biding his time until the NBA came calling.

Larry Drew II

Expectation: In a best-case scenario, develop into a pass-first point guard who could manage the game in the mold of Derrick Phelps. In a worst-case scenario, it would be Quentin Thomas II.

Reality: On paper, Drew met expectations. He averaged 8.6 points and 5.9 assists per game. His assist-to-turnover ratio was nearly 2-to-1 and he shot 42 percent from the floor and 38 percent from three for the season. But during conference play, Drew’s scoring average went up slightly but his shooting numbers dropped considerably. He was also a defensive liability for most of the season. More important, he never seemed to be a team leader, and was never someone you wanted to have the ball at the end of a game. By the end of the season, Drew’s body language was horrible and transfer rumors were surfacing (though quickly denied).

Marcus Ginyard

Expectation: Somehow Ginyard would magically channel David Noel and provide Carolina with key senior leadership while providing 12-15 points per game. Plus, he would continue to be UNC’s defensive stopper

Reality: Ginyard couldn’t become Noel. After some solid outings early, the injury bug struck yet again and he was never the same. He became a lightning rod for criticism as the Heels struggled early but was one of the few guys playing better in March than in January.

Will Graves

Expectation: A streak-shooting role player who would quickly lose his starting spot once John Henson learned the 3 position.

Reality: A streak-shooting role player who actually stepped up to the best of his ability. Graves quickly became the team’s top 3-point threat and a beast of a rebounder from the 3 position despite being a defensive liability. Very often he seemed to be the only one of the veterans playing with any sense of urgency, desire, or hustle.

John Henson

Expectation: The second coming of (insert favorite comparison here). The multi-talented Henson would quickly learn the 3 spot and leave Graves on the bench.

Reality: Tar Heel Nation’s favorite player in February and March, Henson was finally allowed to move down to the post and showed why he was so highly rated. Revisionists will excuse Henson’s early struggles and how clueless he looked early on as playing out of position and blame Roy for not playing him sooner.

Leslie McDonald

Expectation: Role player. Spot minutes at the wing.

Reality: McDonald showed flashes of the things he might could do as he develops. Became a bright spot for the Wake game and always played hard.

Dexter Strickland

Expectation: Develop into a smooth combo guard who can both score and lead the team from the point.

Reality: Up and down. Never settled into the point guard role (though he didn’t do badly) and was everyone’s favorite Tar Heel about mid-January when he was playing well and Ginyard was struggling. But given the chance to start, Strickland did not produce and was reduced to spot time by the end of the season.

Deon Thompson

Expectation: A four-year starter with two Final Fours and a national championship who would finally emerge from Tyler Hansbrough’s shadow and contribute 15 points and 8 rebounds every night, with occasional flashes of explosiveness like were witnessed last year during Hansbrough’s injury and during his international play.

Reality: Thompson never became a leader on the floor and was soft in the paint. He was frequently out-rebounded by guards and often vanished in crucial spots down the stretch of games, unless he was playing against NC State.

David Wear

Expectation: Role player. Spot minutes at the 3/4 spots. Decent wing shooter at 6-9.

Reality: Does anyone else see Dave Popson in David Wear? That’s who I think of when I watch him play. D Wear collected 10 minutes per game (which some fans think should have been going to other players) and did exactly what was expected of him before his season-ending injury.

Travis Wear

Expectation: Role player. Spot minutes at the 4/5 spots. Decent banger for 6-9.

Reality: T Wear was pressed into service due to the deep injuries in the post. His points and rebounding were as expected, but again as the team struggled, Travis played minutes many fans thought should have been going to others. Still he and David both did exactly what was asked of them.

TylerZeller

Expectation: Along with Thompson and Davis, would make a trio of posts that would give UNC as much power along the front line as Progress Energy. A full-speed Zeller could bang at 7 feet as well as run the floor and show everyone why he was considered almost as big of a signing as that other guy named Tyler.

Reality: Injury struck Big Z again, and he never regained the speed, stamina, or power that was expected of him. Carolina fans are still left wondering what a healthy Zeller would be like for an entire season.

Roy Williams

Expectation: Ol’ Roy would catch lightning in a bottle again, as in 2006, and like most of his teams, this team would get better as the season went on.

Reality: Ol’ Roy is just not that good. Like his team, Roy suffered with an injury and never seemed to hit his stride this season. Nothing he tried with this team worked and he was embroiled in his own little dramas this season with the Presbyterian fan and his Haiti comments.

So, as it turns out, a team that was expected to get demonstrably better as the season went along instead came apart at the seams. While this sometimes happens, it has never really happened at a place like North Carolina with the staff and talent that is here.

This article was originally published at http://tarheelfanblog.com. If you are interested in sharing your website's content with SCACCHoops.com, Contact Us.

Wilbon: This March Might Truly Be Mad

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:01:05 EST

I received an email from someone at the Washington Post this morning linking Michael Wilbon's article on what may be a crazy March. In it, Wilbon mentions Maryland as a possible team that could make a run due to their experience...

And those might not be the No. 1 seeds or the marquee teams from the marquee conferences. It might be a team that's not even in the NCAA tournament yet, some team that has to play its way in between now and Selection Sunday. Maybe it'll be Northern Iowa, a team I'm seriously considering to pick as a dark horse to win a couple of games in the Big Dance.

Maybe it'll be Maryland (if the Terrapins haven't peaked too early), which has two seniors in the back court (Greivis Vasquez and Eric Hayes), which can be just the formula you're looking for. Don't forget, Landon Milbourne is a senior. Adrian Bowie is a junior. Cliff Tucker, the swingman who comes off the bench, is a junior.

If you're like me, that article made me excited for the ACC Tournament and NCAA Tournament. We're getting very close!

ACC Tournament Preview Part III

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:16:00 EST

In the third installment of our 2010 ACC Tournament preview, I will take a look at the prime-time tilt between tenth seeded North Carolina and seventh seeded Georgia Tech as well as the potential Friday matchups with the second seeded Maryland Terrapins.

Click through for the details...

In the only nationally televised ACC game on Thursday (ESPN2), the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets will face the North Carolina Tar Heels for the third time this season. The Ramblin' Wreck won the first game at Chapel Hill 73-71 after blowing a large lead and handled the Heels easily in Atlanta, 68-51.

Georgia Tech has more at stake than any other team in the ACC Tournament. They are the only true bubble team in the conference and need one or two wins to feel comfortable come Selection Sunday. After entering the season with high expectations, Tech has struggled a bit more than anticipated. Home losses to Virginia Tech and Florida State and buzzer beating losses at Miami and Maryland stand out in this frustrating year for coach Paul Hewitt. Despite this bad luck, March is a time for new beginnings. Tech is among the most talented teams in the conference and could definitely make some noise if they roll into Greensboro with some confidence.

If Paul Hewitt feels bad about his season, looking across the scorers table to North Carolina and Roy Williams should make him feel a bit better about himself. After being ranked 4th to start the season, UNC has plummeted and set several new records for teams coming off a national championship in the previous season. Adding injury to insult, Ed Davis, Tyler Zeller, Marcus Ginyard, both Wear twins and Leslie McDonald have all been inactive at some point this season. It will be interesting to see if the Heels put up a fight on Thursday or just decide to pack it in and start prepping for next season.

Georgia Tech will win if...

They get the ball inside to Gani Lawal and Derrick Favors. Even though he was only 3rd Team All-ACC, we still believe that Lawal is the best post player in the ACC. Sometimes he just does not get enough touches. This post tandem will out-work you on the boards and just beat you to death if you are not willing to put your body on the line. On the downside, this sometimes leads to foul trouble as well, so it will be important for the two big fellas to stay on the court. In the backcourt, Iman Shumpert is a big-time player that can carry his team. If Shumpert, Brian Oliver and Glen Rice, Jr. are clicking from deep, it could be a long night for the Heels.

North Carolina will win if...

They keep Tech off the boards and hit some jump shots. Without Ed Davis in the middle, it will be hard for the Heels to defend Favors and Lawal. Both of them weigh about two-times that of John Henson, although he has been an effective shot blocker since his move to power forward. Tyler Zeller and Deon Thompson will need to toughen up in a big way for the Heels to have a good chance. The jump shots will need to come from Will Graves, Larry Drew and Dexter Strickland. Graves is a very streaky shooter and has been to known to single-handedly keep UNC in games with his range. Drew and Strickland have been turnover prone and inconsistent, but they have the potential to make big plays for the Heels.

BSD Predictions:

WakeJake- GT 85, UNC 64

MRickman- GT 70, UNC 72

BJohnston- GT 81, UNC 77

RAJohnston- GT 79, UNC 66

BSD Average- GT 79, UNC 69

Collectively, we feel that UNC will not be able to compete with Favors, Lawal and Shumpert for 40 minutes. UNC would need Georgia Tech to come out sluggish and jump on them early to have a strong chance. Barring extreme foul trouble, we think it will be very tough for Zeller, Thompson and Henson to rebound the ball effectively on Thursday. It may be time to finally pull the plug on Carolina's season.

The winner of this game will take on ACC Regular Season Co-Champion Maryland. The potential matchup between Maryland and Georgia Tech could be one of the best games of the tournament in our opinion. In their first game in College Park, Cliff Tucker hit a desperation three at the buzzer to steal a win for Maryland. Not many Terrapin opponents were competitive against them on their home floor this season, so it is pretty obvious that Tech matchups up well against Maryland. Other than surprising frosh Jordan Williams, Maryland is pretty thin in the paint. Favors took advantage of this in the first matchup by tallying 21 points and 18 rebounds.

Maryland, of course, is led by ACC Player of the Year Greivis Vasquez, who has just refused to let his club lose on several occasions. Under ACC Coach of the Year Gary Williams, whose teams always seem to be playing their best ball in March, the Terps are sure to come out firing on all cylinders on Friday. If Vasquez is putting up his normal point and assist totals in addition to Eric Hayes, Williams and Landon Milbourne playing at a high level, Maryland is very tough to beat. The potential Vasquez vs. Shumpert matchup is something that ACC fans should be very excited to see in Greensboro.

If UNC advances past GT, they would get a chance at redemption as well. Carolina only played the Terps once this season in College Park and got hammered 92-71. In his career, Vasquez has been very successful against the Heels and we don't see Larry Drew or Marcus Ginyard breaking that streak in the tournament. Again, Carolina would need a big step up in guard play and a little luck to get past a Maryland team that is playing at a very high level lately.

BSD Odds to win ACC Tournament:

Maryland - 17%

Georgia Tech - 1.5%

North Carolina - ~1%

This article was originally published at http://www.BloggerSoDear.com. If you are interested in sharing your website's content with SCACCHoops.com, Contact Us.

Virginia: On Landesberg and Baker

Tue, 9 Mar 2010 18:32:00 EST

As we all know by now, Sylven Landesberg was suspended for the remainder of the season for failure to meet his academic obligations imposed by Coach Tony Bennett and the Virginia Basektball staff. To add to Virginia's troubles, Calvin Baker has asked to leave the team for personal family reasons. What does this mean for Virginia's chances in the ACC Tournament later this week? Is there any backstory to either of these two departures?

Sylven is the third player to have incurred the wrath of Coach Bennett, who is trying to rebuild this program from the ground up, the right way. Bennett earlier had suspended Assane Sene for "conduct detrimental to the team." He had also suspended, and later dismised, Jamil Tucker for failure to meet academic standards. The bottom line here is that Bennett is not joking around.

"It was a hard decision because we know the value he brings to this team," Bennett said. "He is a good kid but there are some expectations and standards that he has to adhere to."

The Daily Progress reports that their sources say this was because he apparently never attended art class, though this has not been confirmed by other sources.

On Monday's coaches' teleconference, Bennett addressed the situation:

"There's a lot of communication, random class checks, and guidelines established, like, this is what we expect from you," Bennett said. "Not only attendance, but class participation, and how you go about it. Those are things that are set up."

"Sylven's situation was where he was at a lot of his other classes. This was one, obviously, it didn't happen. It was unfortunate. It was clear that with the team starting, there would be potential suspensions, punishments, what have you."

During the teleconference, he referenced the class checks at least six times.

"When you come to the University of Virginia, there are some expectations and the young men on the team need to know that when we say things we mean them."

As I posted earlier, Calvin Baker has also left the team for the remainder of the season, taking time off to address some family matters.

"Calvin will miss the rest of the season for personal family reasons," Bennett said. "A member of his family is ill and he needs to be with his family. Calvin and his family have our best wishes."

Call me optimistic, but I don't think our ACC Tournament chances change that much (and no, I don't mean from "no chance" to "no chance"). Anyone who watched at least the second half of the game against Maryland on Saturday knows that even without Landesberg, our team has the ability to put up a decent fight.

And while Baker was a starter for that game, he only played for 11 minutes, during which time he put up 0 points (in 3 attempts), 0 rebounds. He did dish out two assists, to his credit.

So with a daunting four games in four days (which isn't terribly different from our February schedule), the Cavaliers will have to play two men down, and while we need to take this one game at a time and focus on Boston College on Thursday, I'm sure our team can't help but to realize that Duke is right around the corner. A Duke squad who will be fighting for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

But, encouraged by the fiery passion of their coach, and determined to salvage a season that had started off so strong, I have no doubt that we should be expecting a pretty good game on Thursday. Boston College won in the only matchup between the two schools this year, by 13, in a game that was nowhere near as close. Without any hesitation, I would take that line.

This article was originally published at http://streakingthelawn.com. If you are interested in sharing your website's content with SCACCHoops.com, Contact Us.

ACC Bracket Predicted with LRMC rankings

Tue, 9 Mar 2010 18:31:07 EST

Mark Crammer - AP

Mfon, we need some points dude. (AP Photo/Anderson Independent-Mail, Mark Crammer)

View full size photo »

The ACC bracket has been released. And we've got Professor Sokol's ratings up to 3/8/2010 to project the winner of the tournament. Here are the results:

First Round: BC defeats UVA, Wake defeats Miami, GT defeats UNC, Clemson defeats NC State
Second Round: Duke defeats BC, VT defeats Wake, Maryland defeats GT, Clemson defeats FSU
Third Round: Duke defeats VT, Maryland defeats Clemson
Finals: Duke defeats Maryland

It's not the end that everyone wants but it's a pretty good idea of what will probably happen. We'll check back in a few days when the tourney's over.

This article was originally published at http://www.FromTheRumbleSeat.com. If you are interested in sharing your website's content with SCACCHoops.com, Contact Us.

Clemson Stumbles into the ACC Tournament

Tue, 9 Mar 2010 12:12:17 EST

It wasn't supposed to happen like this.

Trevor Booker and the heralded freshman class were supposed to contend for an ACC crown right away. Booker's senior leadership and the freshmen athleticism were going to usher in a new era for Clemson basketball.

As it stands, Clemson missed out on an opportunity for a 3rd seed and slipped to a 6th seed by virtue of losing at Wake and now have to play NCSU on Thursday night. They are the only team playing on Thursday with 20+ wins.The game is at 9pm. Should they defeat NCSU, they play FSU on Friday night at 9pm. Both games could go either way.

If the Tigers cannot regroup from the inconsistencies they demonstrated on Sunday, they will have an early exit. If they can take advantage of the neutral court site, where they have already had some success this season against UNC-Greensboro.

And as I said in November, hopefully, the UNCG game will help the Tigers prepare for the ACC tournament.

OP said this of the Tigers' focus going into the ACC tournament,
"We don't need to think about the ACC title, we don't need to think about the NCAA first-round game or any of that stuff - we've got to get our focus squarely on N.C. State. If you win a couple, then you can change your mindset."

Despite the bloodied eye, Trevor Booker was named to the All ACC 1st team.
I don't feel the need to delve into his performance or lack thereof against Wake on Sunday. The refs clearly were letting them play down low. Booker needed to take advantage of this a little more.

I know he didn't get any calls, just a bloody eye.

From @TBook35 A Busted Eye...but no foul

That pretty much sums up the ACC season game against Wake.

The awards have been announced and everyone's favorite Terp is the ACC player of the year. And the Gary Williams is the Coach of the year. I can live with that, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

Here is an interactive 2010 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament Bracket from The ACC:

Publish Post

This article was originally published at http://the-op.blogspot.com/. If you are interested in sharing your website's content with SCACCHoops.com, Contact Us.

ACC Final Adjusted Conference Standings

Tue, 9 Mar 2010 12:02:28 EST

Expanding on this a bit...

In-Conf	OFF_EFF (rk)	DEF_EFF (rk)	Eff_Margin	ExpW	ActualW
Duke	111.6 (1)	94.0 (1)	17.6	14	13
Maryland	111.3 (2)	100.6 (6)	10.7	12	13
Clemson	99.1 (7)	95.9 (3)	3.2	9	9
FSU	97.8 (10)	95.4 (2)	2.4	9	10
Va Tech	101.0 (3)	99.0 (5)	2.0	9	10
Wake	98.6 (8)	98.8 (4)	-0.2	8	9
Ga Tech	100.2 (6)	101.4 (7)	-1.2	7	7
BC	100.7 (4)	105.6 (11)	-4.9	6	6
NC State	98.1 (9)	105.0 (10)	-6.9	5	5
Virginia	96.6 (11)	103.9 (8)	-7.3	5	5
Miami	100.5 (5)	108.2 (12)	-7.7	5	4
UNC	95.9 (12)	103.9 (9)	-8.0	5	5

Yep, Carolina's dismantling at the hands of Duke last Saturday pushed their efficiency margin all the way to the bottom. But there is very little difference between the Heels and the three teams ahead of them. Not much difference between teams 3-7, either. Could be a really chaotic weekend in Greensboro, and I'm all for that.

As far as expected wins vs. actual wins goes, there are no surprises. Nobody over/underachieved by more than a game. Considering how little separation there is between a lot of teams, I thought we might see some significantly lucky or unlucky results. Didn't work out that way. Pretty much, they are who we thought they were.

Pomeroy's predictions for Thursday's games are available here. No team is expected to win by more than seven points; if it works out that way, it's going to be a fun (if ugly) day.

This article was originally published at http://www.BackingThePack.com. If you are interested in sharing your website's content with SCACCHoops.com, Contact Us.

ACC Tournament Practice Day Schedule

Tue, 9 Mar 2010 12:00:51 EST

One of the great days at the ACC Tournament Weekend is Practice Day held on Wednesday. Each team is allowed around an hour to take the court. The best part of practice day is that it is open to the public. The ACC announced yesterday the practice schedule for this year...

Virginia 10:00 a.m. – 10:55 a.m.

Boston College 11:00 a.m. – 11:55 a.m.

Miami 12:00 noon – 12:55 p.m.

Georgia Tech 1:00 p.m. – 1:55 p.m.

Wake Forest 2:00 p.m. – 2:55 p.m.

Clemson 3:00 p.m. – 3:55 p.m.

NC State 4:00 p.m. – 4:55 p.m.

Virginia Tech 5:00 p.m. – 5:55 p.m.

Florida State 6:00 p.m. – 6:55 p.m.

Maryland 7:00 p.m. – 7:55 p.m.

Duke and UNC opted to not use their timeslot and practice in their own facilities.

ACC Individual Awards Announced

Tue, 9 Mar 2010 11:57:10 EST

The ACC announced their individual awards today as Greivis Vasquez took ACC Player of the Year honors while his Maryland coach, Gary Williams, picked up ACC Coach of the Year honors.

Derrick Favors was selected as the ACC Rookie of the Year.

Chris Singleton was selected as the ACC Defensive Player of the Year.

ACC POY Voting

Greivis Vasquez, Md 39
Jon Scheyer, Duke 12
Malcolm Delaney, VT 2

ACC ROY Voting

Derrick Favors, Ga Tech 45
Jordan Williams, Maryland 6
Durand Scott, Miami 1
Glen Rice Jr., Ga Tech 1

ACC COY Voting

Gary Williams, Maryland 42
Mike Krzyzewski, Duke 8
Seth Greenberg, VT 2
Leonard Hamilton, FSU 1

ACC DPOY Voting

Not yet announced

ACC Tournament Preview Part II

Tue, 9 Mar 2010 10:20:50 EST

This preview is the second of a four part series leading up to the 57th edition of the ACC Tournament in Greensboro, North Carolina. In this part, we will examine the 2PM matchup on Thursday of the #5 seeded Wake Forest Demon Deacons and the #12 seeded Miami Hurricanes. We will also take a look at how well the winner will matchup with the #4 seed, Virginia Tech on Friday at 2 PM.

Click through for more details...

The Demon Deacons (19-9, 9-7) and the Miami Hurricanes (18-12, 4-12) split the season series, with each winning their home meeting. The 'Canes had a disappointing conference season to say the least. After starting the season 15-1, Miami won just 3 of their last 14 games. They made those four conference wins count though, beating Wake, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech, along with Virginia.

The Deacs righted the ship after a four game skid with a Senior Day win against Clemson, while the 'Canes lost their last three games by a combined 13 points. Needless to say, Miami would love to have something good to end their season on. For the Demon Deacons, a win would set up a rematch against Virginia Tech, a game that stung the Deacs, and would help their seeding in the NCAA Tournament.

Miami will win if...

They are able to zone the Deacs into submission and get hot from three. The 'Canes have had Wake's number when it comes to zone defense the last couple years and Head Coach Frank Haith is going to need to keep Wake's bigs in check and force the Demon Deacons to shoot over the top. Miami is down Dwayne Collins and desperately needs to hit their shots in bunches to stay in this game. They would also be wise to slow the tempo down and make Wake work in their half court set.

Wake will win if...

Al-Farouq Aminu and Chas McFarland can establish themselves down low. Both had great games against Clemson and should be able to exploit their matchups. A good game out of those two will take pressure off of Wake's guards and will give C.J. Harris and Ari Stewart more open looks on the perimeter. Another big key is the ability for the Demon Deacons to get out in transition. Wake is at it's most effective when they can get out and run.

BSD Predictions:

WakeJake- Wake 64, Miami 58

MRickman- Wake 75, Miami 63

BJohnston- Wake 63, Miami 55

RAJohnston- Wake 68, Miami 60

BSD Average- Wake 68, Miami 59

It was a clean consensus that the Demon Deacons would be able to handle Miami on a neutral floor without Collins. Wake should have won the first meeting and was way out in front in the second meeting before struggling offensively down the stretch. The Deacs seemed to find their confidence and have fun again on Sunday against Clemson and they should be able to carry that into Thursday's afternoon matchup.

The winner will take on the fourth-seeded Virginia Tech Hokies. VT won a huge matchup against the Deacs at home, but lost their next three before recovering to beat N.C. State and Georgia Tech in Atlanta. The Hokies are obviously extremely dangerous with Malcolm Delaney, but the status of Dorenzo Hudson is up in the air.

If Wake plays the Hokies, they can expect a better free throw differential than the last meeting, which should be a big advantage. The game on a neutral floor is a huge boost as well. Wake's gameplan will need to be the same--get out and run, shut down VT's other options and contain Delaney. But they need to stay out of foul trouble and keep their bigs on the floor. The freshmen will need to hit shots as well.

If the 'Canes are able to pull the upset, they will need to get great production out of Durand Scott, Malcolm Grant and James Dews. The three will need to carry the team and keep the pace up. Miami would be able to win this game if they were able to score in the upper 70s.

Wake definitely wants another crack at Virginia Tech. The game set the Deacs back and started their losing streak and they would love to take down the Hokies in Greensboro. They have a good shot too, especially if Hudson is unable to go or has to play limited minutes. Ish Smith needs to play under control, get in the lane and finish around the hoop, something he did a great job of in the first half of the meeting in Blacksburg. It is imperative for AFA to put up a solid 16 and 10 game. For VT, they need a huge game from their senior leader Delaney and have to get a strong performance from Jeff Allen.

BSD Odds to win ACC Tournament:

Virginia Tech- 3%

Wake Forest- 3%

Miami- ~1%

This article was originally published at http://www.BloggerSoDear.com. If you are interested in sharing your website's content with SCACCHoops.com, Contact Us.

Ginyard: Yeah, We Were Screwed From Day One

Tue, 9 Mar 2010 10:20:18 EST

Pretty much.

Adam Lucas picked up a few choice quotes from Marcus Ginyard yesterday. I am speculating that Ginyard must have received some blessing from Roy Williams to let it all hang out. This is where I miss Danny Freakin’ Green since his quotes would have been far more entertaining. Then again, if this team had Danny Freakin’ Green, they would not be 16-15 and not just because of Green’s on the court awesomeness. Anyway, I am not a big believer in coincidences so you can begin drawing up the conspiracy theories on Ginyard letting it drop that UNC got throttled by 30 in the preseason scrimmage versus Vanderbilt mainly because no one gave a crap while Roy is talking about player’s not being committed to the instruction they received. And for those who have wondered about one of those vaunted “players only meetings” to cure what ailed them? They had one then and apparently it did not matter. SMH

Two weeks after media day, Williams’s team had a closed scrimmage against an outside opponent. They were clearly outplayed, leading to a players-only meeting when the team returned to Chapel Hill.

“That scrimmage was terrible,” Marcus Ginyard said. “That was the whole season right there in that scrimmage. It was exactly the way this whole year has gone down. We were playing a good team and we weren’t ready to play when we got there. We got our butt kicked the very first time we stepped on the court together.”

–

“We were like, `There is no way we can get beat by 30 points the very first time we’re playing,’” he said. “How are we not super-pumped to be playing? As soon as we got back we had a meeting in the locker room. We said, `This is how it’s supposed to go down. We have to play better than this and more together than this.’ Even more indicative of the year, nothing really changed after that.”

On one hand, Roy says the players are not committed to doing the things they are instructed to do during games. Ginyard is saying they lacked fire, never changed attitudes following an embarrassing scrimmage loss and lacked any cohesion as a team.

With that kind of crap going on, it makes you wonder how they made it to 16-15.

This article was originally published at http://tarheelfanblog.com. If you are interested in sharing your website's content with SCACCHoops.com, Contact Us.

Virginia Tech: Tournament Notes & Predictions

Tue, 9 Mar 2010 10:10:57 EST

Virginia Tech will receive a first-round bye in the 2010 ACC Tournament thanks to its win Saturday at Georgia Tech. The Hokies will face either Wake Forest or Miami in the quarterfinals at approximately 2 p.m. EST on Friday, March 12 in Greensboro, NC. The game will be televised on Raycom Sports in the ACC footprint (listings) and on ESPN2 in the rest of the country.

This is the fourth time in six seasons the Hokies have finished in the Top 4 in the ACC and had a first-round bye in the tournament since joining the ACC prior to the 2004-2005 season. Tech is 3-5 all-time in the ACC tournament, 2-2 in the quarterfinal round and 2-1 in the quarterfinals after a first-round bye.

Should Miami beat Wake Forest, it would be the third consecutive year the Hokies have played the Hurricanes in their first ACC tournament game. Tech played Miami in the quarterfinals of the 2008 ACC Tournament after receiving a first-round bye and played it again in the first round of last year's tournament. The Hokies won both meetings.

The bye will give the Hokies some much-needed rests. They'll go five calendar days between their win in Atlanta and their first game in Greensboro, their longest layoff since early January when they went seven calendar days between games against Seton Hall and North Carolina.

My pIcks:

First Round
Boston College
Wake Forest
Georgia Tech
NC State

Quarterfinals
Duke
Wake Forest
Maryland
Florida State

Semifinals
Duke
Florida State

Champion
Duke

Questions for the Masses:

- Who ya got? Wake or Miami?
- Does Tech need another W to make the NCAA field?
- Will the layoff be long enough to get Dorenzo Hudson back on the court?
- How far will the Hokies go in the tournament?
- Who's going to win this thing?

This article was originally published at http://www.GobblerCountry.com. If you are interested in sharing your website's content with SCACCHoops.com, Contact Us.

ACC Tournament Preview Part I

Tue, 9 Mar 2010 07:05:41 EST

View full size photo »

This preview is the first of a four part series leading up to the 57th edition of the ACC Tournament in Greensboro, North Carolina. In this part, we will examine the noon matchup on Thursday of #8 seed Boston College Eagles and the #9 seed Virginia Cavaliers. We will also take a look at how well the winner will matchup with the #1 seed Duke Blue Devils on Friday at noon.

Click through for more details...

The first game of the 2010 ACC Tournament is between #8 Boston College with a record of 15-15 (6-10) and #9 Virginia, who is 14-15 (5-11). This is a game between teams that have both experienced a bad stretch of games. Boston College has won only 3 of their last 9 games while Virginia has lost 9 straight games after starting the conference year with a surprising 5-2 record.

Boston College won the only matchup between these two teams 68-55 on March 3rd. Corey Raji led Boston College with 18 points and 9 rebounds while Sylven Landesberg led UVA with 13 points and 3 assists.

Boston College will win if....they can field a team and not forfeit the game. With Sylven Landesberg and Calvin Baker both out for Virginia, it will seemingly be very difficult for Virginia to win the game. In all seriousness though, the Eagles need Joe Trapani to continue to play at a high level as he has throughout the year (14.6 points and 6.4 rebounds). Reggie Jackson has come on as of late and provided a fantastic spark for Al Skinner. The critical player very well could be Tyler Roche, who has scored 30 points twice this year when filling in for Trapani. If Roche has more than 15 points this game will not be close at all.

Virginia will win if...everything on the floor goes their way and then some. This team is in a complete free fall. After winning their first 5 of 7 games in the ACC they have lost 9 in a row and haven't been competitive in some of them (5 of those 9 losses have been by double digits). To make matters worse, their superstar Sylven Landesberg is academically ineligible for the rest of the season because he thought class at Virginia wasn't as important as sleeping. Mike Scott and Sammy Zeglinski will have to step up big time for the Wahoos to have a chance. Virginia is coming off a well played game at home against Maryland, so maybe Tony Bennett can conjure up some magic and get Virginia into the second round against Duke.

BSD Predictions

WakeJake- BC 72-60

MRickman- BC 70-62

BJohnston- BC 64-49

RaJohnston- BC 72-60

Average: BC 70-58

Our writers thought that Boston College would be too much for the Virginia Cavaliers, especially without Baker and Landesberg. Al Skinner has experienced some good success in the ACC Tournament and they should move on to Friday with relative ease unless something unexpected happens.

Whoever is lucky enough to advance to face the #1 seed Duke Blue Devils on Friday certainly has their hands full. Duke is playing for a #1 seed in the Big Dance and no matter who they face on Friday, should advance to the semi-finals on Saturday. Duke has won 8 of the past 11 ACC Tournaments and it is no secret that if they win this year the ACC Tournament may be renamed the Duke Invitational.

Led by the three headed monster of Nolan Smith, Jon Scheyer and Kyle Singler, Duke is very difficult to defend on the inside, but especially the outside. The 52 ppg for this threesome is the second most in the country only behind Notre Dame's three players. Coach K has dominated the ACC Tournament in recent years and this year will probably be no different with a relatively easy path to the finals on Sunday.

Boston College will more than likely be the team that will face them on Friday and, to have a chance to stay in the game, will need monster games from likely Roche, Trapani and Jackson. Biko Paris will have to take care of the ball better than he has been lately. On defense, they cannot allow any of the three players to get open shots early from the outside because it could be over quickly if they do. Rebounding will be critical as well, because with the Plumlees and Zoubek coming on strong Duke, has been getting more than one look at the basket.

If UVA makes it through Boston College on Thursday, I have no idea what they will do about the size inside for Duke. The Wahoos don't really have anybody that can battle inside with Zoubek and the Plumlee brothers. They would need to lockdown with their packline defense and not allow Duke to get good looks at the basket.

I think it is fair to say that neither Boston College nor Virginia has a very good chance at beating Duke because they will have already played one game the day before and they are also on the wrong side of a large talent discrepancy. I have seen Duke with 91% odds on several publication to advance to Saturday, and I do not disagree.

BSD ODDS to win ACC Tournament:

Duke - 61%

BC/UVA - ~1%

This article was originally published at http://www.BloggerSoDear.com. If you are interested in sharing your website's content with SCACCHoops.com, Contact Us.

Paul Hewitt Era by the Numbers: Part III

Tue, 9 Mar 2010 06:43:42 EST

Earlier in the season, I pulled up data on Hewitt's matchups with opposing ACC coaches during his tenure. I also compared Hewitt's numbers in the NCAA tournament to opposing ACC coaches. Today, I'm looking at the one positive that is Paul Hewitt. Supposedly, he's a great recruiter. To me, the best indicator of overall talent is the respective pro league's draft (in this case the NBA Draft). So here's a quick overview of some NBA Draft figures since the 2001 Draft:

Basically, there were 58 draft picks from 2001-2003. There were 59 total picks in 2004 because of the introduction of the Charlotte Bobcats. And 2005-present, there have been 60 picks. So, the U.S. Colleges column indicates how many kids came from U.S. NCAA or NAIA affiliated schools in that year's Draft. The spike in the 2006 Draft college attendees was from the ineligibility of high school seniors (implementation of one year rule).

The next column (ACC %) is the percentage of college attendees drafted who went to ACC schools. Miami and BC had kids drafted in their pre-ACC days so those particular players were not counted for the ACC total. The final column indicates if UNC, Duke, or Maryland won a national title and flooded the Draft with picks.

Whenever we talk to opposing blogs during Q/A's, they generally bring up that they respect Paul Hewitt as a recruiter but not as a coach. Since Hewitt's time at Tech he's had 5 Draft picks (4 were his own recruits...). If we exclude BC, Miami, and VT, this figure would put Hewitt at 5th best out of 9 teams during his tenure. UNC has 13 picks, Duke 12, Maryland has had 6 picks, FSU and Wake have had 5 picks, and Georgia Tech is tied with FSU and Wake at 5. UVA, Clemson, and NC State bring up the rear with 6 total picks. If we compared the number of Hewitt draft picks to all of the Division I schools, he would be tied for 19th out of 300+ schools.

The table above shows all of the schools with more draft picks than Paul Hewitt over his run at Georgia Tech. It also shows that talent wins as those teams generally have more NCAA berths, Final 4 appearances, and National Titles.

This table, to me, is more indicative of how good a coach is. The table above shows how many NCAA tournament wins schools have racked up since 2001. I also added a column called "Wins/Pick", which shows how much bang we got for each NBA draftee. Basically, it states how efficient a school's talent has been. Is it a small sample size? Yes. Does it stretch over multiple coaching tenures at many of the schools? Yes. The point is more so to compare Georgia Tech to our competition. And as an additional note, the average is ~2 tournament wins per draft pick across all of CBB.

Let me know what you think.

This article was originally published at http://www.FromTheRumbleSeat.com. If you are interested in sharing your website's content with SCACCHoops.com, Contact Us.

Looking Back: Virginia Loses Sylven, Regains Fight

Tue, 9 Mar 2010 06:41:49 EST

It was announced just three hours before tip-off, and when Virginia Cavaliers fans learned that the star of the team and current ACC Rookie of the Year had been suspended for failure to meet his academic obligations, a wave of panic struck John Paul Jones Arena. How could a team who has gone 0-8 in conference play possibly upset the team that sat atop the ACC and who had just upended No. 4 Duke? As it turns out, the answer was simple. There's a lot of fight left in this young Cavalier squad.

Saturday's matchup against Maryland started out with pretty much more of the same. Down by as many as 14 points late in the first half, and at one point being outrebounded 14-1, you could feel the crowd, and at times, it looked like even the players, getting complacent with the team's role at the cellar of the ACC.

But the team would have none of it. On senior night, Jerome Meyinsse (3.6 GPA in Econ, folks) continued his late-season resurgence, leading the team with 17 points. Jeff Jones and Sammy Zeglinski also regained their shots, contributing 16 and 14 points respectively. Both Jones and Zeglinski hit 4 threes each.

The Hoos climbed back within one, with only 38.6 seconds to go. John Paul Jones, for the first time in over a month, rocked with excitement. Virginia fans knew that this game was theirs to win.

That is, until the refs took things into their own hands. After what was questionable foul call at best, Tony Bennett, thinking the refs weren't looking, peeled off his jacket and threw it on the floor in disgust. He then immediately sat down and readjusted his tie, but that was enough for the officials to hand Bennett his first technical foul of his career -- as a player, as an assistant coach, or as a head coach.

Given that Gary Williams was on the other side, I simply cannot understand this call. This was easily the most incensed we have seen Bennett to date, but he was easily 20 feet away from the closest official, he was faced away from them, and he immediately sat down afterwards. Compare this with the in-your-face tactics that Gary Williams, Coach K, or Roy Williams employs, I find this pretty hypocritical. And when it's a one point game with about a possession's worth of time to go? I feel the rage rebuilding up while typing this.

At the end of the day, Virginia fell to No. 22 Maryland, 74-68, and Maryland clinched a share of the ACC regular season title, in the worst possible way. Still, it is something special to see a team on one of the worst losing streaks in program history lose their star player and yet continue to play with such intensity that you'd expect them to be a NCAA contender.

Virginia, seeded 9th in the ACC Tournament, looks to face 8th-seeded Boston College at noon in Greensboro. The last time the two teams played (in front of a sell-out crowd of roughly 4,000), Boston College outright smoked Virginia. Look for a much more competitive game this time around, and you'll be shocked to hear that I think we've got a great chance of advancing to the quarterfinals.

This article was originally published at http://streakingthelawn.com. If you are interested in sharing your website's content with SCACCHoops.com, Contact Us.

Big Duke Balls: 2009-2010 All-ACC Picks

Tue, 9 Mar 2010 05:12:09 EST

Welcome to Big Duke Ball’s third-annual Award Show. It’s time to hand out the hardware. The official ACC awards came out today, but I purposely avoided them so as not to be influenced by them. The fact is, I’ve known most of the first, second and third teams for a while now. In reality, there weren’t too many surprises, except the fact there is a noticeable absence of Tar Heels. Of course if Ed Davis didn’t get hurt, he would have landed on either the first or second team.

Enjoy.

ACC PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Greivis Vasquez, Maryland
The race for POY was a three-man race between Vasquez, Scheyer and Delaney, but as Virginia Tech faltered, the race became a two-man race. In the end, I had to just look at the numbers. Vasquez led Scheyer in points, rebounds and assists. Of course Vasquez’s habit of turning the ball over (a lot) hurts him, but it wasn’t enough to put him over the top. What was though was the fact that he was able to pass Jon in FG percentage. If Scheyer, who beats Greivis in three-point and FT percentage, was able to maintain the lead in FG percentage, then I would have probably given it to Scheyer.
* Runner Up: Jon Scheyer, Malcolm Delaney, Nolan Smith

COACH OF THE YEAR: Coach Mike Krzyzewski (Duke)
This may be my only controversial pick, as most everyone else will give it to Maryland’s Gary Williams. So I’m going to spend the most time arguing this decision. My problem with this award in general is that they only give it to coaches who’s teams are overachievers. Did Maryland over achieve? I would argue they didn’t. In a weak ACC, starting three seniors, including the league’s POY, they did what should have been expected of them. Do I reward Williams because the media, including myself, failed to recognize the talent on this squad and decided last year they weren’t a good team? I would argue that Maryland underachieved last year and performed on par this season.

So instead of judging a coach based on my preseason expectations, I’m going to look at the results. Duke and Maryland tied for the ACC, splitting their season series. But overall, Duke finished with a better record, while Maryland was just 10-3 outside the ACC, including a home loss to William & Mary.

Not only did Duke have a better overall record than Maryland, they did it playing a tougher schedule. Duke’s SOS is 4th in the nation, while Maryland’s is a respectable 26th. The Blue Devils are 5-3 against top-25 teams, 11-3 overall against top-50 teams. Maryland is just 2-3 against top-25 teams and 6-5 against top-50 teams. What I’m trying to say is, Duke’s resume is more impressive than Maryland’s resume.

Of course, the argument will be that Coach K and Duke have better players and Maryland had less to work with? My answer is, whose fault is that? The last time I checked, the head coach is responsible for recruiting. Why do we punish coaches simply because they recruited well and then those players went out and play well?
* Runner Up: Gary Williams, Seth Greenberg

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Chris Singleton (Florida State)
The reality is, this was the easiest individual award to make. Singleton finished tied for fourth in blocks (1.5 per game), but more impressively, led the conference in steals (2.3 per game), despite being a 6′9 forward. When the senior isn’t too busy swatting or swapping balls away, he’s also crashing the board, grabbing 5.1 defensive rebounds per game (8th in the ACC). And you wonder why FSU has the No 1 defensive team in the nation.
* Runner Up: Soloman Alabi, Nolan Smith

FIRST-TEAM ALL-ACC

G – Greivis Vasquez (Maryland) - Take him off Maryland and the Terps are muddled in the middle of the ACC.
G – Jon Scheyer (Duke) - Leads the ACC in minutes (36.5), FT shooting (89%), 3-pt shots made (2.9). He’s 3rd in scoring, 4th in assists and most importantly, he’s first in assist-to-turnover ratio at 3/1.
G – Malcolm Delaney (Virginia Tech) - He led the ACC in scoring at 20.9ppg, thanks to a stunning ability to get to the line. For the season, he took 249 free throws. The next closes person is Jon Scheyer. He took 72 less free throws.
F – Trevor Booker (Clemson) – He scored his typical 15.3ppg (5th in the ACC), but his rebounding dropped 1.4 per game from his junior season. Yet, he still finished 8th in the conference. His .519 shooting percentage was second best, while on the defensive end, he was 7th in blocks.
F – Al-Farouq Aminu (Wake Forest) – The only player in the ACC to average a double-double, 15.9ppg and 10.8 rebounds. Although, his 3.3 turnovers per game almost knocked him down to second team.

SECOND-TEAM ALL-ACC

G – Nolan Smith (Duke) - In reality, he really deserves first-team honors. I just couldn’t find anyone to knock off. He’s 4th in scoring (17.6) and is a surprising 9th in the conference in shooting percentage (.439). We also won’t overlook his impressive 1.7/1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
G – Sylven Landesberg (Virginia) - He led all true guards in field goal percentage (44%), scoring 17.3 per game. Not bad considering he was Virginia’s only real scoring threat.
F – Kyle Singler (Duke) – You could argue he’s been the best player in the ACC over the last three weeks and he belongs on the first-team, but overall, his FG % is still only at 41%. Of course, while Aminu averages over three turnovers per game, Singler hasn’t turned it over three times in a game in over seven weeks.
F – Tracy Smith (North Carolina State) – He gets overlooked because he’s on a bad team, but I refuse to ignore the kid (I’m such a good person). He leads the ACC in shooting percentage at 54%. He finished the season 7th in scoring and 7th in rebounds.
F – Gani Lawal (Georgia Tech) – For a long while, he was the ACC’s best big man. However, hiss numbers have dipped, thus he misses the first-team. Still 13.6ppg, 8.8 rebound and a .527 shooting percentage is nothing to sneeze at.

THIRD-TEAM ALL-ACC

G – Ishmael Smith (Wake Forest) - There are some ugly stats that go along with smith (50% at the free throw line, 22% from three), but he dishes out six assists per game (2/1 A/TRatio), while finishing second on his team in scoring.
G – Reggie Jackson (Boston College) – Reggie gets the nod over Va Tech’s Dorenzo Hudson. While Hudson has scored more (14.4 to 12.7), Jackson beats Hudson head-to-head in rebounds (5.6-3.5) and assists (4.5-2.0). We do wish that Jackson shot at a higher percentage though (44% overall, 28% from three).
F – Derrick Favors (Georgia Tech) – While I’m disappointed in his final numbers (blame my high expectations), as well as Georgia Tech’s season, Favors’ numbers are still pretty solid. Scoring 11.9, grabbing 8.4 rebounds and shooting 60% is pretty damn good for a freshman. He just needed to learn how to stay out of foul trouble.
F – Soloman Alabi (Florida State) - He was a human fly swatter in the paint, leading the conference in blocks (2.3 per game), scoring 11.6 per game (leading FSU), shooting 55%. He also was the Noles best free throw shooter, hitting 80% from the line.
F – Chris Singleton (Florida State) – You have to have the ACC defensive player on one of these teams, right? On top of the D though, he also scored a decent 10.4 per game, grabbing 7.2 boards, although I’d like to see that .413 shooting percentage go up.

* Runner Up’s (in not particular order): Dorenzo Hudson, Landon Milbourne, Brian Zoubek, Eric Hayes, Joe Trapani, Ed Davis, Deon Thompson

ALL-DEFENSIVE TEAM

G – Nolan Smith (Duke) - Lance Thomas gets the praise, but it was Nolan Smith who was asked to guard the best guards Duke’s opponents had. Typically, if you were facing Smith, your numbers went way down.
F – Lance Thomas (Duke) - I couldn’t find a second guard, so I’m going with Thomas over Jeff Allen. At the very least, Thomas was asked to guard some guards this season. The fact is, Duke’s rotation defense works because a player like Lance can bounce from a center to a forward to a guard.
F – Al-Farouq Aminu (Wake Forest) - He finished 5th in blocks and 8th in steals. Often he looked like the only guy on Wake who could guard.
F – Chris Singleton (Florida State) - I’m not going to repeat myself. Just look at the ACC “Defensive Player of the Year” award up top.
F – Soloman Alabi (Florida State) - It’s a block party for Alabi and the No 1 ranked defensive team in the country.

ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM

G – Durand Scott (Miami) – He seemed to hit a freshman wall, as he was top-five in assists for a while, but he still finished with 3.5 assists per game, with a decent 1.6/1 A/T Ratio.
G – Michael Snaer (Florida State) - Snaer actually got better as the season went along. He finished with 8.9ppg, scoring in double figures in 12 of his last 20 games.
G – C.J. Harris (Wake Forest) - He played a solid 27 minutes per game and was Wake’s only true long distance shooter, although .340 isn’t much to brag about.
F – Jordan Williams (Maryland) - By the end of the season, he was probably the best freshman in the league. He scored 15 or more in four of Maryland’s last seven games, grabbing double-digit rebounds in five of Maryland’s last seven games.
F – Derrick Favors (Georgia Tech) - From beginning to end, Favors was the best freshman in the ACC and the only one opposing coaches had to game-plan for.

BONUS AWARDS:

GAME OF THE YEAR: Maryland over Georgia Tech, 76-74.
The Terps hit not one, but two game winning shots (the first didn’t count after a timeout was called.

MOST SURPRISING TEAM (TO ME): Virginia Tech
I had the Hokies ninth in the ACC prior to the season. With the departure of A.D. Vassallo, I just couldn’t see this team jumping onto the shoulders of Delaney and riding to a fourth place finish.

MOST DISAPPOINTING TEAM: North Carolina
Come on, this one is easy. Almost everyone, including this blog had them first. They finished 10th. I’m sorry, I know they lost a lot of talent and would need a lot of freshman to come off the bench and help, but this team featured seven McDonald’s All-America’s and a starting lineup with no freshman.

STAT OF THE SEASON: Miami Hurricanes’s record….15-1 to 3-11.

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER: Nolan Smith. His points jumped up 10ppg and made Duke fan forget all about the departed Gerald Henderson.

MOST DISAPPOINTING PLAYER: Deon Thompson. One of the few seniors in this conference. He never became a force underneath, scoring about 13 per game, grabbing a less-than-impressive 6.2 rebounds per game. He also failed to hit 50% of his shots (unacceptable for a big man with NBA hopes). Worst of all, when Ed Davis went down, Thompson’s numbers actually decreased.

This article was originally published at http://bigdukeballs.wordpress.com/. If you are interested in sharing your website's content with SCACCHoops.com, Contact Us.

UNC: Quotes of the Day

Mon, 8 Mar 2010 20:35:33 EST

Roy Williams:

“I haven’t talked to them since the game. I’m not saying they’ve got to grow to 6-11 from 6-1 or that they’ve got to start shooting left-handed instead of right-handed, but if I’m screaming at a guy to get back in defensive balance and I said that on Oct. 15, that’s long enough. You need to change. You need to do it. If I’m saying, ‘Get to the board,’ and you’re a 3-4-5 – on Oct. 15 we said that 3-4-5 need to go the board every time – I don’t need to yell that anymore. You need to change.

“It’s like as a kid when you’re starting to put your finger into a [light] socket and Mom or Dad says, ‘No,’ and slaps your hand, at some point you’ve got to decide to stop putting your finger into the socket. Mommy and Daddy don’t need to say no anymore. You need to decide to stop doing it yourself. That’s exactly what I was talking about. If I’m over there yelling, ‘Get a hand up!’ and I was saying that Oct. 15, then I’m the dumb one because I’m still yelling the same thing.”

–

” It’s frustrating, there’s no question about that, but that’s also laying the blame. And the blame’s on all of us; it’s not just the kids. But I am tired. I’m tired of saying the same thing over and over and over. If you get into this University, you’re fairly intelligent, because I got a degree from here. At some point you’ve got to change. That’s education. You have got to change your behavior.”

Jackie Manuel’s Posse

I don’t think Roy has done a fantastic job with this team but I’ll happily support the kind of mistakes he has made this season. To me, Roy saw an 8-8 ACC season coming from the very beginning of practice. He pushed this team to be better than that and instead things spiraled out of control. The buttons he pushed were all wrong. He kept trying to put someone else in…someone who was very good at basketball in…and that player was not on the bench. Suddenly, this was a team that could not create good shots. This is a team full of players trying to do things they had never done before. Every single player who got minutes was being asked do take a huge step up from last season and most of them were unable to make that step. We see this team at times look like they have never ever played the game of basketball before. The rotation probably should have been set by December. John Henson and Leslie McDonald should have played more than they did. They both make tons of errors but who on this team doesn’t? The Wear twins got way too many minutes. I’m sure this could go on all day but it is easy to see that Roy kept tinkering because he was trying to make this team excellent. That is all he has known and he was not about to stop trying. Unfortunately even Roy Williams, savior of North Carolina basketball, can not turn water into wine. “But he brought in the water” says Dook asshat. Fair enough, I suppose. Pardon me if I give Roy Williams a pass, considering 4 of last years starting 5 are making money playing basketball this season. He signed those guys too. Maybe I’d rather have John Wall than David Wear but maybe I wouldn’t.

I’m going to stop here but my point to all this rambling is simple. Taking a longer view of things helps me see that things could be a whole lot worse. In fact, things are pretty rad. In some ways this is just like any other season. We play a game on a Thursday in March that we must win to keep playing (competitive basketball). If we lose ‘will he stay or go’ questions will begin. Dook will flame out in the first few rounds. Jon Scheyer will cry. Some team will upset Kentucky. It will get warm. Harrison Barnes will show up.

I’m going to smile and try to enjoy whatever we have left of the defending champs. Join me?

This article was originally published at http://tarheelfanblog.com. If you are interested in sharing your website's content with SCACCHoops.com, Contact Us.

Calvin Baker Leaves Virginia for Family Reasons

Mon, 8 Mar 2010 15:28:07 EST

There's a lot to update you all on from this past weekend, and I recognize I'm falling a little bit behind here. But we just wanted to make a quick writeup to let you know that Calvin Baker has asked to leave the team for the remainder of the season for personal family reasons. A short statement from Tony Bennett after the jump.

Virginia senior guard Calvin Baker (Newport News, Va.) notified UVa men's head basketball coach Tony Bennett on Monday (March 8) that he is leaving the team for personal family reasons.

"Calvin will miss the rest of the season for personal family reasons," Bennett said. "A member of his family is ill and he needs to be with his family. Calvin and his family have our best wishes."

Baker, one of the team's captains, has played for Virginia the last three seasons after transferring from William and Mary. This season he has played in 25 games, starting 10. He averaged 3.0 points, 1.9 assists and 1.2 rebounds a game.

This article was originally published at http://streakingthelawn.com. If you are interested in sharing your website's content with SCACCHoops.com, Contact Us.

Reggie Jackson Snubbed From All-ACC Teams

Mon, 8 Mar 2010 14:06:09 EST

First team:
Greivis Vasquez, Maryland (159)*
Jon Scheyer, Duke (159)*
Malcolm Delaney, Virginia Tech (159)*
Trevor Booker, Clemson (137)
Kyle Singler, Duke (134)

Second team

Al-Farouq Aminu, Wake Forest (126)
Nolan Smith, Duke (104)
Sylven Landesberg, Virginia (95)
Tracy Smith, N.C. State (82)
Ishmael Smith, Wake Forest (76)

Third team

Gani Lawal, Georgia Tech (73)
Dorenzo Hudson, Virginia Tech (51)
Chris Singleton, Florida State (50)
Joe Trapani, Boston College (38)
Solomon Alabi, Florida State (30)

They got the first team right. Based on their production in conference play, I don't think Nolan Smith or Al-Farouq Aminu have much of a case against those other five guys. As for the second team, one quibble.

Conf-only.	ORtg	%Poss	%Shots	eFG%	2FG%	3FG%	FT%	FTR	Ast%	TO%
Player A	109.6	26.9	25.3	49.0	51.9	28.8	81.8	34.8	36.8	20.4
Player B	94.4	24.0	25.7	40.6	42.7	16.0	55.1	21.2	35.1	19.2

A pair of guards with comparable workloads. One of these players made the second team, while the other didn't even make the third team. Player A holds an edge in every category except turnover percentage--he must have been the one to make the second team. Actually, no.

Player A is Reggie Jackson. Player B is Ish Smith.

This article was originally published at http://www.BackingThePack.com. If you are interested in sharing your website's content with SCACCHoops.com, Contact Us.

UNC: No Heels in All-ACC teams

Mon, 8 Mar 2010 12:47:12 EST

ACC

(A hat tip to AunteeL for tweeting this piece of information) More bad news for the Men’s basketball team as they failed to have a player make the All-ACC teams for the first time in the conference’s history. This is something that should be both a negative for this year and a positive for years to come as it will be up to the next squad to get back on the all conference squads. Now, there is no doubt in my mind that this happened due to the injuries, because I truly believe Ed Davis would have made one of the All-ACC squads had he not gone done with seven games left in the season averaging 13.4 PPG, 9.6 RPG and 2.8 BPG. On a side note, I have to wonder if John Henson had begun to get more playing time if he would have gotten on the all Frosh squad. Then again I can wonder/think about that for as long as I want and it won’t change anything.

EDIT: For all of us that like these types of teams check out the one done by Jim Young of ACC Sports Journal. If you are not following on twitter or reading the site he is the editor on you are missing out on one of the best person & sites when it comes to ACC primary sports (FB & BB).

This article was originally published at http://www.The5thCorner.com. If you are interested in sharing your website's content with SCACCHoops.com, Contact Us.

All-ACC Team Selections Announced

Mon, 8 Mar 2010 12:45:02 EST

The ACC has released their All-ACC Team selections, listed below. Individual honors will be released tomorrow. This list comes courtesy TheACC.com.

First-team All-ACC
Greivis Vasquez, Maryland (159)
Jon Scheyer, Duke (159)
Malcolm Delaney, Virginia Tech (159)
Trevor Booker, Clemson (137)
Kyle Singler, Duke (134)

Second-team All-ACC
Al-Farouq Aminu, Wake Forest (126)
Nolan Smith, Duke (104)
Sylven Landesberg, Virginia (95)
Tracy Smith, N.C. State (82)
Ishmael Smith, Wake Forest (76)

Third-team All-ACC
Gani Lawal, Georgia Tech (73)
Dorenzo Hudson, Virginia Tech (51)
Chris Singleton, Florida State (50)
Joe Trapani, Boston College (38)
Solomon Alabi, Florida State (30)

ACC All-Rookie Team
Derrick Favors, Georgia Tech (52)
Jordan Williams, Maryland (51)
Durand Scott, Miami (44)
C.J. Harris, Wake Forest (41)
Michael Snaer, Florida State (35)

ACC All-Defensive Team
Chris Singleton, Florida State (48)
Solomon Alabi, Florida State (39)
Trevor Booker, Clemson (21)
Lance Thomas, Duke (17)
L.D. Williams, Wake Forest (16)

I nailed the first and second teams exactly in my ballot but didn't have Lawal, Alabi, or Trapani on my third team. Instead I went with Jordan Williams, Derrick Favors, and Reggie Jackson.

ACC Basketball Power Rankings 3/8

Mon, 8 Mar 2010 12:38:30 EST

More photos » Nick Wass - AP

Browse more photos »

Wow, this is basically the final Power Rankings for the year (I don't really believe in the "post" ACC Tournament ones, we pretty much know who is who by then). With the ACC Tournament just a few days away, where does each team stack up?

1.) Duke Blue Devils

KenPom's number one team has won 9 of their last 10. Maryland played out of their minds at home and on a neutral floor, I still think Duke has the edge.

2.) Maryland Terrapins

Maryland showed me something against Duke, but I honestly thought Senior Night at the Comcast Center was going to go the Terps way. They have just looked really strong, winning 13 of their last 15 games. Regardless, it's Maryland, Duke and everyone else right now.

3.) Florida State Seminoles

FSU isn't pretty, but they get the job done. That's saying something. They're the best defense in the nation and that alone gives them a chance against anybody. Now if only they could score...

4.) Wake Forest Demon Deacons

The Demon Deacons have wins over at least 5, and as many as 8 tournament teams (if W&M and ORU win their conference tournaments and GT makes it in). They played a ton of road game and have the RPI's 29th strongest schedule. Despite their four game skid, this team is still dangerous.

5.) Virginia Tech Hokies

I understand the case for the Hokies at 4. They beat the Demon Deacons heads up, but that game was on VT's home floor and they got the benefit of some home cooking. I thought then and still think Wake holds the edge on a neutral floor. VT suffers from their lack of quality wins overall. They have a SOS at 129 and a 50 RPI, with wins over what is looking like 2 or 3 tourney teams (again, contingent on GT). It's a body of work issue for me.

6.) Clemson Tigers

Clemson's in the big dance, but they have got to be more consistent. That's been their problem all year, and really has been their problem for a few years now.

7.) Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

GT is reeling right now and it is not pretty. They desperately needed that win against Virginia Tech and their first round matchup in the ACC Tournament is against UNC in Greensboro. They've won just 2 of their 7 games and Paul Hewitt's gotta be feeling the heat. We might be seeing some more exciting Twitter outbursts before it's all said and done.

8.) North Carolina State Wolfpack

Why not? The Pack have beaten some good teams this year--arguably 4 tournament teams and they have talent. They get the edge because of their win over BC.

9.) North Carolina Tar Heels

The Heels had a little momentum going and then they got spanked by Duke at Cameron. I still wouldn't want to be Georgia Tech on Thursday, that's for sure.

10.) Boston College Eagles

BC did a lot to get themselves to .500, so they deserve credit for that. But it was just a disappointing season overall for Boston College fans.

11.) Miami Hurricanes

At least the 'Canes have shown a sign of life in the last few games. Without Collins though, it's going to be a tall order to beat the Deacs on Thursday

12.) Virginia Cavaliers

Crash and burn. The Cavs had a fight against the Terps, but they've still lost 9 straight and lost Landesberg for the ACC Tourney. Woof.

This article was originally published at http://www.BloggerSoDear.com. If you are interested in sharing your website's content with SCACCHoops.com, Contact Us.

Virginia	10:00 a.m. – 10:55 a.m.
Boston College	11:00 a.m. – 11:55 a.m.
Miami	12:00 noon – 12:55 p.m.
Georgia Tech	1:00 p.m. – 1:55 p.m.
Wake Forest	2:00 p.m. – 2:55 p.m.
Clemson	3:00 p.m. – 3:55 p.m.
NC State	4:00 p.m. – 4:55 p.m.
Virginia Tech	5:00 p.m. – 5:55 p.m.
Florida State	6:00 p.m. – 6:55 p.m.
Maryland	7:00 p.m. – 7:55 p.m.