Around the ACC with the G-Man

Duke- The Blue Devils hold on to the #1 spot in the polls with a miracle win against a tough Virginia Tech team. One thing lost in the 40-foot buzzer beater by Sean Dockery is that Tech’s best defender, Jamon Gordon, was not on the floor because of leg cramps. Wins like that often happen in special seasons. There is no truth to the rumor that the time keeper received a hefty raise after the game.

Georgia Tech- Tech had a tough time putting away a spirited UVA squad on Sunday night. Jeremis Smith had a career night. His presence with Ra’Sean Dickey up front gives Tech size and width up front. Point guard looks like it will be an issue all year. Don’t be surprised if Mario West sees more time there.

Boston College - BC gets their baptism into the league on Sunday when they face Maryland. All kinds of cross currents in this game. Head coach Gary Williams was the coach at BC from ’82-’86. One of his players then- his new assistant coach, Michael Adams. Both teams run a variation of the Flex offense and don’t rely heavily on the 3. It should be a nice showcase for one of the best forward tandems in the country- Craig Smith and Jared Dudley.

Clemson- The Tigers are much improved this year. I called the game against South Carolina and they were impressive. Oliver Purnell finally has the players to play his style for forty minutes- all out pressure and conversion on turnovers. Vernon Hamilton is making better decisions with the ball. Look for James Mays to have much improved offensive numbers. They could very well be 13-0 when they open the ACC schedule with Florida State on January 4th.

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Wake Forest- The Deacons had an impressive home win against Wisconsin last week. It looks as if the Justin Gray at point guard experiment has been halted. Gray responded by scoring 59 points in two games and was named player of the week in the ACC. The Deacs have been dominant on the boards this year. A big reason has been the improved play of Trent Strickland and Kyle Visser.Wake should not be tested before their January 8th matchup with Duke.

Maryland- The Terps had a tough loss to a much improved and higher ranked george Washington squad. In their two losses this year, the other being Gonzaga, they have turned the ball over 24 times a game and have been brutal at the free throw line. An early trend that will have to stop is their habit of falling behind early in games and having to dig out of first half deficits. DJ Strawberry is going to have to grow into the point position and learn on the job. Maryland has achance to come back with a win against BC on Sunday- a game I’ll be broadcasting for FSN.

NC State - The Pack sufferd a defat up at Iowa in the Big Ten-ACC challenge, but are still ranked this week. They had 24 turnovers in that game and shot 34% from the field- recipes for disaster on the road. Cedric Simmons has been a revelation this year. He has had five straight double figure games and is shooting over 60% from the field. I had them in their win against Notre Dame in Indy. There seems to be a calm aura about this team with the departure of Julius Hodge. He was a great player but overly emotional at times. This group seems much more cohesive.

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Florida State - The Seminoles lone blemish is a loss at Florida, but they did bounce back to put a 40 point whipping on Purdue last week. This team has always been tough defensively under Leonard Hamilton. They are second in the league in steal with over 11 a game and lead the league in turnovers forced. The bright spot has been on offense were they are averaging 82 points a game and shooting nearly 50% from the floor. Al Thornton is leading the way with a career high 16.2 points per game, including a 31 point effort against Alcorn St. in the season’s second game.

North Carolina - Has there been a more impressive win in the conference this year than the Heels' victory in Lexington against Kentucky? Not that they won, but the fact that the game never seemed to be out of their control. What an accomplishment for freshmen to go into a hostile environment and perform. Continued high level performances from David Noel and Reyshawn Terry will be necessary for them to continue at this level.The schedule eases some during the rest of the month as they get through exams.

Miami - The Hurricanes have suffered three losses early in the season, all on the road. In the 3 losses, they averaged 53 points a game, well below their season’s average. This team clearly misses point guard Anthony Harris. He is expected to be back near the start of the ACC season. They need to Guillermo Diaz going, averaging only 15.9 points per game. They play Wofford this week before their first ACC contest in Raleigh this Sunday.

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Virginia Tech - The Hokies played well enough to win despite getting their hearts broken at Duke on Sunday. Their fans appreciated their effort as over 500 people greeted them when they returned home after the game. That has been their M.O. since they have come into the league- stay close and have a chance to win in the last minute. I don’t know of a group that has dealt with more adversity, on and off the court, than Seth Greenberg’s bunch. Due to scheduling, it will be more than a month before they play an ACC team.

Virginia - I was very impressed with the spirit that Dave Leitao’s team showed against Georgia Tech. The never gave up in a game that could have gotten away from them. Their point guard, Sean Singletary, shot 3-23 in the game for a season low 10 points. He is going to have to do everything for this team just for them to be competitive. It is clear, from practices to games, that Leitao has gotten this team’s attention.

A Final Thought - With expansion complete, I think the league should consider going to an 18 game regular season schedule. By adding two more games, they can expand to seven the number of home and home dates between teams, leaving only 4 single dates a year. With the seven home and homes, you would be able to expand the number of permanent partners to three, while rotating the other four every year. It is my opinion that the fans would much rather see a league game that an easy win versus non-league competition. I’d love to hear your comments...

Game of the Week - #1 Duke vs. #2 Texas today. The last time Duke faced a number 2 as a number one was in the final four in ’99 when they beat Michigan St. Texas is 0-5 against the number one team in the nation. Texas’ size and depth could be the deciding factor in this game.


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Next week: Regular-Season Commentary continues.