I was a little under whelmed with both of the hires at NC State and Boston College. I understand the excitement around the NC State hire of Dave Doeren, but I have some questions. He was at Northern Illinois for two years, and a lot of the players that were there were brought in under former coach Jerry Kill. I don't know how much Doeren had to do with bringing in some of these players, but the biggest question that remains unanswered with Doeren is his recruiting ability. Hopefully he will put together a staff that has a lot of experience in recruiting.
I don't get the Addazio hire at all. This supposed offensive mastermind led Temple to the 110th ranked offense this season. And he's bringing his offensive coordinator with him. How are Eagle fans supposed to be excited over this hire? Temple went from a nine win team last year to a four win team this year. Is it mandatory that the last name of the Eagles head coaches has to contain the letter Z in it? We've gone form Jagodzinski to Spaziani, and now to Addazio. What happens if this experiment fails? Will Skip Holtz or Rich Rodriguez be available? I think Brad Bates blew his first chance to impress the fan base.
I'm starting to think that Mike London might have the hottest seat in the ACC going in to next season. He recently dismissed several members of his coaching staff, and you have to wonder if he's feeling the heat despite winning eight games and being named ACC Coach of the Year after last season. They won four games this year, but they lost four others by one score or less. A lot of those issues can be attributed to the penalties and turnovers. It felt like the breaks they got in 2011 weren't there for them in 2012. He needs these changes to work if he's going to continue to coach in Charlottesville.
I'm impressed with the start to the season for Akil Mitchell of Virginia. He's getting quite a bit more playing time, and the results have been impressive. He's already 17 points away from equaling last season's point total. His rebounding average has more than doubled from last season (he's averaging nearly a double double per game). He's only had one game so far this season in which he has had less than seven rebounds. His free throw shooting has been a tremendous improvement as well, going from 51% last year to 74% this year. And he's doing this with an extra seven minutes of playing time per game.
Like most of you, I'm amazed at how well Virginia Tech is playing so far. They're third in the nation in points per game, and Erick Green has been a lot of the reason for their early success in the scoring department. His 24.9 points per game average is second in the nation. But I'm actually more impressed with the stats Jarell Eddie is putting up. He's averaging 17.1 points per game and 7.4 rebounds per game, in addition to shooting 50% from the field and nearly 53% from three. He's also shooting 92% at the free throw line. I'll be interested to see going forward how Green, Eddie, and the rest of the Hokies play. Could they be a team that was predicted to finish in the basement, and end up in the postseason? That'll be a story to watch going forward.
Another player who is shooting lights out is Shane Larkin of Miami. He shot 36% from the field last season, and this season, is shooting over 56% from the field, including 52% from three. He's fourth in the ACC in points per game with 16.2. He's also averaging nearly four assists and two steals per game. He will need to cut down on the turnovers, however, as he's averaging three turnovers per game. He also is playing the most of anyone in the conference, playing in over 35 minutes per game. I don't think he'll keep these numbers up, especially if he keeps playing 35 minutes per game, because he may tire as the season progresses, and the numbers will start to fall. But his start to the season has been one of the bright spots for Miami.
