ACC BALLERS

Tournament Chances anyone?!

2010-02-01T15:33:00.000-08:00

We're a month into conference play and few teams if any have really solidified where they'll end up in the standings. Right now the teams that sit atop the conference standings are Duke (5-2), Maryland (4-2), and Virginia (4-2) but this will probably look different in the next few weeks. Regardless, most of the teams in the conference have completed their non conference schedule so it's an ideal time to look at the teams that have a shot to Dance in March.

Before this take a look at former (I think, I hear he now might be coming back) Minnesota freshman Royce White's "last interview." Bizarre? Absolutely.

(please don't watch all of this, you'll want your time back)

ESPN Super 60 (Class of 2011) shooting guard Trevor Cooney can do it all. He's being recruited by several ACC Schools (Duke, Wake Forest, Virginia, Maryland, etc). The big time guard is terrific shooter and has big time ups to match. This is the best dunk I've seen all season.

....Moving on

NCAA Tournament Chances

#9 Duke (17-4, 5-2 RPI: 5, SOS: 6)

The ninth ranked team in the country is coming off of a drubbing at the hands of Georgetown but are still in pretty good position to secure a tournament bid, whether it be by winning the ACC tournament or getting an at large bid. 17-4 at the beginning of February is a great place to be and the Dukies have a quality win over a ranked opponent #13 Gonzaga, which they beat by over 30 in MSG earlier this season. At this point the Blue Devils will be playing for position. Currently Coach K has the team atop the ACC standings and if they finish here by season's end they should at least secure a #2 see.
IN or NOT: IN

#19 Georgia Tech (16-5, 4-3 RPI: 26, SOS: 20)

The Yellow Jackets have lived up expectations thus far this season. The 16th ranked team came into the year with a lot of hype largely due to the return of power forward Gani Lawal and incoming Mickey D's All American Derrick Favors. The duo has the Jackets third in the conference in rebounding and they've just man handled opponents down low thus far. The RPI and SOS are high enough that they should have no problem making the tournament barring a monumental collapse. The Jackets signature wins have come against 9th ranked Duke at home and against George Mason. They'll have several opportunities for more as well as they have to go on the road to face Duke, Wake, Maryland, and Clemson.
IN or NOT: IN

Maryland (14-6, 4-2 RPI: 50, SOS: 40)

The Terrapins have played very well as of late and honestly have played decently all year long. Their only issue is that they don't have a signature win to date. They've been all the teams they were supposed to beat and even blew out a few (Boston College in Chestnut Hill to be specific) but it's hard to say if this will be enough. The terps will probably have to finish in the top 4 in the ACC to secure a tournament bid and that probably means they need to win at least 9 games, which is very doable for this squad. The two senior starters in the back court have combined to average 28 points and 9 dimes per game. Not many other back courts in the nation, much less the ACC, will be able to match this. Gary and the gang shouldn't have to sweat out Selection Sunday if they keep up this strong play.
IN or NOT: IN

Wake Forest (14-5, 4-3 RPI: 20, SOS: 21)

Wake, per the norm under Coach Dino Gaudio, has played great defense (4th in ACC, 10th nationally in field goal % defense) this season and its the main reason they are headed for the tournament yet again. They own a big time National win over a tough Gonzaga team winning by 2 out in Spokane. Al Farouq Aminu is possibly the biggest mismatch in college basketball and they are tough when he gets going. Aminu's 16 points and conference leading 11 boards a night give the Deac's a chance in every game. Wake should easily make the tournament due to their resume. Being in the RPI top 20 will bode well for them come Selection Sunday.
DANCE OR K(NIT): DANCIN'

Clemson

Oliver Purnell's team has hit a snag recently losing 3 out of the last 4 but some of those loses have been without 3 year starter Demontez Stitt running the point guard spot. Tough for many teams to win without their floor leader so the rough patch might just be a blip in the radar. Clemson's issues seem to stem from the fact that they have issues in the half court. This could be an issue as the season goes on. Clemson should be good at home the rest of the way (FSU, Miami, UVA, GT)as their home crowd and that press really stifle teams. The true test will be on the road as the Tigers have half of their remaining 8 games on the road. They'll need to go at least 5-3 down the stretch to solidify their tournament bid.
DANCE OR K(NIT): DANCE

Florida State

The Seminoles have had a good season thus far but outside of the two wins against Georgia Tech don't have a resume win. This shouldn't be a problem though as the Seminoles will simply need to take care of business to get a tournament bid. Wake Forest is probably the best team they'll see during their last 9 games so as long as they can get enough from Chris Singleton and Solomon Alibi to cover up the deficiencies in the back court they'll be fine. These two combined for 27 points and 16 boards in their 4 point win over BC on the road this past Saturday. If Mickey D's All American Michael Snaer (10 points against BC, 1/30) can continue to play at a high level they should be fine on Selection Sunday.
DANCE OR K(NIT): DANCIN'

Virginia

Very tough team to call. First year head coach Tony Bennett has successfully implemented his style on the program and the results have been better than anyone could have imagined. The Cavs play a slow deliberate style and effective lane protection defense. Although the Cavaliers have impressive wins at home against Georgia Tech and on the road in Chapel Hill the total resume doesn't add up to a tournament bid. Bad out of conferences losses to Auburn on the road and Penn State at home don't help their cause. They'll need to finish up at least 7-3 in their last 10 to be in a good position to for the post season and that's just not realistic for this team. If big time sophomore two guard Sylven Landesberg (29 on the road against UNC, 1/31) gets hot down the stretch who knows but the lack of athleticism on the roster will rear its head at some point.
DANCE OR K(NIT): NITTIN'

North Carolina

The Tar Heels have had a really rough stretch of late. Carolina has lost 4 of its last 5 games and it doesn't seem like this team doesn't seem to be able to stop anyone from scoring. The Heels have a really difficult time getting back on defense and their lackluster effort has reflected in their conference ranking. They rank 10th in the conference in both field goal % defense and 3 pt field goal % defense. They've got 10 games left to turn this season around but 6 of these games are on the road. They should get 6th man Tyler Zeller back in the low block and he should help ease some of these scoring droughts. I wouldn't be surprised if his minutes sky rocket once he returns bc he's probably Roy's most consistent low block scorer.
DANCE OR K(NIT): NIT

Virginia Tech

The Hokies have exceeded expectations thus far as they've beaten the teams they are supposed to be. Point guard Malcolm Delaney leads the conference in scoring at almost 20 a night and the rest of the team is very athletic. They play a very intense brand of defense and it should be tough to beat down the stretch as long as Delaney stays healthy. Unfortunately for Seth Greenberg's gang their RPI rank is pretty low and their last 10 games will be difficult. If they can continue to get stellar play from two guard Dorenzo Hudson (13 pgg) they have a shot to dance but in all likelihood they will drop too many games down the stretch.
DANCE OR K(NIT): NIT

ACC Ballers' Dunk of the Week:

Corey Raji getting big on Clemson....

Trouble in Carolina?!?! Tar Heels having a rough 2010.

2010-01-18T18:04:00.000-08:00

If you have trouble deciding how to celebrate after a big win, here are some rules to live by. Storming the Court

Moving on....

There are very few seasons in recent Carolina history that anyone could describe as 'disappointing' Under Roy Williams' guidance this team has won 2 National Championships within the last 5 years. A pretty remarkable feat. It's this type of success that has made expectations through the roof for these 2009-2010 Tar Heels, and it now appears like they aren't ready to handle them. While they have taken care of much less talented teams they have fallen flat (to say the least) against the big time programs that they are use to competing (and usually beating) with. Experience is a huge advantage in college basketball so to really understand what happened to UNC this season you must realize what they lost from last year's team. The Heels lost 4 players (3 in the first round) to the 2009 NBA draft and question marks about who would step up this season were abound. That's a point guard (Ty Lawson, a junior), a shooting guard (Wayne Ellington, a junior), a small forward (Danny Green), and a dominant power forward (Tyler Hanbrough). There is not a team in the country that could with stand the loss of this type of talent and pick up where they left off. With that said, this is college basketball and players come and go all the time. Ole Roy didn't prepare well enough for these departures.

Green and Hansbrough had already exhausted their eligibility. Nothing Roy could do about that. In fact, he did a great job of bringing in several talented post options for Hansbrough's last season (2008 class) and for the first year post Psycho-T (2009 class). Both Ed Davis and Tyler Zeller were top tier post players in the class of 2008 while the same could be said for John Henson in the class of 2009. But, the name of the game in college basketball is guard play, and this is truly where Roy came up short in terms of preparing the program for the future, more specifically this season. I understand that Lawson and Ellington were only juniors after that National Title in 2009 but everyone knew they were going to leave early after seriously flirting with the decision to go Pro after the 2007-2008 season. I suspect Roy was aware of this as well as he brought in 4 star prospect Larry Drew II and lightly recruited 2 guard Justin Watts in the 2008 class. Both of these guys, esp. Drew II, could get spot minutes on a very talented 2007-2008 Tar Heel team and the be ready to play significant minutes the next season. The problem is that Drew II appears to be more the lowly rated 4 star guard that Rivals.com predicted and not the 29th best player in the country like espn.com predicted. This is not a slight on Larry but in all honesty, as a sophomore he is just not equipped to handle the difficult schedule that the Tar Heels face year in to year out. While his 1.98:1 assist to turnover ratio is not horrible he does not make enough plays to turn over the ball as much as he does. The turnover issue has really reared its ugly head during the big games for not only Drew, but the team as a whole.

As we further examine the backcourt issues we can also look to the lack of production from wing positions to see where Roy Williams' recruiting in preparation for this season has fallen short. Williams had 5 wings at his disposal (including Watts) to work this year. One is 6'5 senior Marcus Ginyard, a defensive stalwart on prior teams that is only eligible this season due to an injury from last season. He's a nice player but not someone you can go to for offensive production. Will Graves is the other upperclassmen wing on the roster. This 6'6 240lbs. bull of a guard/forward has nice touch from three point range but not enough ball handling ability to really create his own shots. This is evidenced by the fact that while he shoots 40% from beyond the arc he shoots only 39% within it. Graves is really the only guard that Williams can rely on for outside shooting and in big games he has come up short. In the 5 losses against major competition, Graves has shot 17-53 (32%) from the field. This is usually a recipe for disaster for a team's best perimeter player against big time programs, or really any d-1 program for that matter.

The underclassmen wings, lead by 2009 McDonalds All American Dexter Strickland, just aren't ready to take on the responsibility of primary scorer this season. Strickland, the best of the bunch is a combo guard known for his ability to create off the dribble. Dexter's done a great job in being a a spark but he's not a very effective perimeter shooter and has had his fair share of turnover problems as well. Frosh two guard Leslie McDonald, another highly rated guard has great size and a great outside shot but he has only recently started to get good minutes. The presumption here is that his defense was not up to par in the first part of the season. Hurting him even more is that although he's known as a shooter he's currently shooting 16% from the three point line. It is way too early to right either player off as both are very young and will be productive before their time at Carolina is finished but a program of Carolina's stature shouldn't be in a position where the two most talented wings on their roster are backup freshman guards. The thinking is that Roy didn't beef up this part of the roster in the recruiting classes after that monster class 2006 class (Lawson, Ellington, Wright, Thompson, Stevenson, Graves). Carolina can basically pick and choose which kids they want. At the school where the greatest two guard of all time got it started Roy should have no problem convincing big time two guards to sit on the bench a bit for a year before being major stars in years 2, 3, and 4.

Currently this Carolina team is built inside out and that strategy just doesn't work in college basketball. Guard play is important to not only score the ball but also just to limit turnovers. I have to think Roy is kicking himself for not bringing in a single player in the class of 2007, esp. at the guard spot. Sure, he might have had to encourage a few kids like Graves or Watts to move on but their guard situation would have been much better at this point. This Carolina team as it stands is ill equipped for this season due to UNC's recruiting mistakes. Fortunately for them Roy has already fixed this for the upcoming 2010-11 season as Roy brings in 3 guards that all rank within the top 20 players in the country, two of which are top 10 and both can shoot. In fact, one is espn.com's best player in the country, 6'8 Harrison Barnes from Ames, Iowa. Apparently the kid is Kobe like in terms of his work ethic but plays more like Paul Pierce. Look for yourself.

Harrison Barnes, #1 ranked high school player in the country....

ACC Ballers Dunk of the Week:

Georgia Tech junior Gani Lawal had a mean put back at Duke....

ACC Ballers: Top Front Courts in the ACC

2010-01-01T15:09:00.000-08:00

While the ACC season is already underway we are still in the portion of the season where most teams are still playing out of conference opponents. Only a handful of ACC games have been played and what we have noticed is that the ACC has a very talented assortment of front court players In fact, if you have paid attention at all in these first few months of the college basketball season you would have noticed that the ACC is a (big) man's league this season. Several of the league's teams boast front line size that resemble what NBA teams throw out down low. This information, combined with the fact that the conference lost 5 point guards to first round of the 2009 NBA draft, suggests that more than perhaps any season in recent memory post play will be instrumental to determining the final standings of the 2009-2010 ACC Season. As a result, Why not rank the best front courts in the conference....

ACC Ballers Top Front Courts in the ACC:

(starters in bold)

1. North Carolina

The Tar Heels boast what many believe is the deepest front court in the country. Leading the way are 6'8 senior forward Deon Thompson and 6'10 sophomore Ed Davis. These two absolutely dominate the low post to the tune of 31 points, 17 boards, and 3 blocks a night. Davis is a legitimate top 10 pick in the 2010 NBA draft. He's second in the conference in both rebounding (9.8) and blocks (2.2) per game all while shooting a conference leading 64.7% from the field. Thompson started on that National Title team of last season. As if this were not enough Coach Williams also brings 7'0 sophomore center Tyler Zeller off of his bench. I'm not going out on a limb in saying that Tyler would start on at least nine other teams in the conference, and just about every other team in the country. An immensely talented performer Zeller was actually a starter for Carolina last season before a nasty fall left him with a broken hand. Zeller gives the Tar Heels ten points and four boards in just 16 minutes a night.

This is just a little bit of what Davis can do....

In most conferences, this would be enough to solidify the top spot amongst the front court rankings. Not in the ACC. Carolina has about 3 quality freshman post players as well in the 6'10 baby faced John Henson, 6'9 Travis Wear, and 6'9 David Wear. Henson is the cream of the freshman crop for ole Roy and I've heard from a reliable source that he's as high as #3 on at least one NBA team's draft board. Henson has guard handle with big time athleticism. He projects as an NBA three but needs a year or two of seasoning and some weight. At 6'10 he is only 195lbs. Travis and David Wear are two highly recruited post players that also have decent perimeter skills. These two are just winners and played at a high level for the famed Mater Dei High School out in California. Five of the six players discussed were former McDonald's All Americans and the depth/talent combination is why the home of the best front court in the Conference is in Chapel Hill.

check out this big time rejection by Henson

2. Georgia Tech

The Yellow Jackets run with two probable first round draft picks in the 2010 NBA Draft in 6'9 junior forward Gani Lawal and 6'10 freshman forward Derrick Favors. Lawal leads the team in both scoring and rebounding at close to 15 points and 10 rebounds per game. Favors gives coach Paul Hewitt's squad 12.8 points and 8.8 boards per game. Derrick does all of this while swatting away an impressive 2.2 blocks each night. In addition to this impressive duo the Jackets bring in experienced and versatile senior forward Zachery Peacock off of their bench. Peacock gives them 9.5 ppg and almost 5 boards a game. All while shooting 44% on three point shots. This is great production from a 6'8 235lbs kid. His ability to defend three positions is also an advantage that most teams just don't have.

3. Duke

While the Blue Devils heavily lean on guards John Scheyer and Nolan Smith for much of their offense they rely on several front court players to do just about everything else, and one of em' scores quite a bit also. Forward Kyle Singler, definitely the most acclaimed of the lot plays the Shane Battier/Mike Dunleavy role for Duke in that he plays both inside and out. Singler puts about 16 points and 7 boards along with a steal a night. Along with Singler Coach K uses a bevy of big forward/center type players to close down the lane and grab rebounds. 6'10 sophomore Miles Plumlee,6'9 senior forward Lance Thomas and 7'1 260lbs senior Brian Zoubek give the Blue Devils about 20 points and 18 boards a night. You could look at these numbers and not be impressed but when you consider that Miles' younger bro and 2010 McDonalds and Jordan game All American Mason, a 6'11 freshman, is just now starting to round into form you're looking at a talented front court. Mason was actually projected to the be the starter down low due to his considerable athleticism before a pre-season injury sidelines him for several weeks.

take a look at Mason Plumlee mixtape to see what I'm talking about.

Not to add but on Duke is so loaded down low that they have a 2010 McDonald's All American in Ryan Kelly way down on their bench. He's a skinny 6'10 with a sweet shot and would play alot more than 11 minutes a night at most schools.

4. Florida State

Leonard Hamilton's squad is loaded down low this season as they bring back two very talented performers in 7 foot center Solomon Alibi and 6'9 combo forward Chris Singleton, both of whom happen to rank 1 and 2 respectively in points per game for the Seminoles. Alibi and his 12 points and 7 boards a night is impressive, esp. when you combine that with an ACC leading 2.9 blocks per game average. He is now starting to get considerable NBA interest and many would not be surprised if he declared himself eligible.

...take a look for yourself

The 6'9 Singleton is a 2009 McDonald's All American who's been consistently good for two seasons now. His 7 boards a night ties Alabi's mark for the team lead. The third member of this starting front court is senior Ryan Reid. Reid has had several big games thus far and was intstrumental in FSU's first road ACC win of the year against Georgia Tech (17 points, 5 rebounds) Off the bench Hamilton has two young high flyers in 6'10 Xavier Gibson and 6'7 Jordan DeMercy. Gibson, a sophomore has NBA potential and Demercy can just fly. This front court has NBA size and could easily rank higher in the next few months.

5. Wake Forest

Al-Farouq Aminu leads the way for Wake's front court as the big time sophomore combo forward averages 17 points, an ACC leading 11.5 rebounds, and a little over 1 block per game. Aminu is very versatile and along with Ishamael Smith keeps the Deacons in the game.

Senior centers 7 foot Chas McFarland and 6'11 David Weaver combine for 10 points, 11 boards, and 2 blocks a night. The two really close down the middle and their experience helps them to do just that. What keeps this group at five is the fact that Wake's two other highly touted sophomores,6'10 Tony Woods and 7'1 Ty Walker, really haven't come on. By the same token it's a good bit of the reason why the group made the list to begin with. Woods averages 3 points and 3 boards a night. On the other hand, Walker has barely played this season as he still needs to add weight to his very slight frame. While I expect Woods to come on a bit more this season Walker is still a year away.

ACC Ballers Duke of the Week:

Al Farouq Aminu with the big time dunk off the feed from Ish Smith. This was a huge play in the game as well.....

ACC Ballers: Freshman Watch

2009-12-14T16:10:00.000-08:00

You all have voiced your opinion and apparently the consensus is that Boston College and North Carolina will split the ACC Regular season title. Somehow I doubt this but hey, stranger things have happened.

Like every year the ACC is home to several of the top freshman in the country. Last season we had guys like Sylven Landesberg (UVA) and Al-Farouq Aminu (Wake Forest) that came in and played exceptionally well . This season is no different as several top first year players will have a huge impact on their teams success. As always, some of these guys will be so good that they'll be getting paid to play next season so enjoy them while you can. Without further ado...

ACC Ballers Pre-Season First Team All Conference:

Forward - Derrick Favors - 6'10, 246lbs. - Georgia Tech

ACC Ballers Pre-Season Freshman of the Year 2009-2010

Rarely does a commitment from a high school kid allow a man to keep his multi million dollar job. That's exactly what happened when head coach Paul Hewitt, who was on the hot seat in the middle of an 11-18 season, was given a gift when Derrick (Espn.com's #2 ranked player in the class of 2009) decided he would attend Georgia Tech University in the fall of 2009. To put it bluntly, the University's patience was rewarded as Favors has lead the Yellow Jackets to 6-1 record and a national ranking (#15). He's averaged 13.4 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.3 blocks for his home town school thus far. These numbers are more impressive when you consider he's shooting a staggering 67% from the field. Favors will probably only be in Atlanta for one year so anytime you get a chance to see him you should tune in.

Forward - Ari Stewart - 6'7, 190lbs. - Wake Forest

Ari has been everything he was build to be coming into his first year in Winston Salem. Stewart, the 52 ranked player nationally by both espn.com and rivals.com, is a high flying athlete with a good bit of basketball skill to boot. All he's done is averaged 9.5 points to go along with 3 rebounds coming off of Coach Gaudio's bench. Stewart is the type of player that in a year or two will be contemplating the NBA draft. Here's a small look at what he did on the high school level.

Guard - C.J. Harris - 6'2 175 lbs. - Wake Forest

Harris is a quick guard from North Carolina that decided to play for his home state school. Boy is a Dino Gaudio glad he did. The unheralded freshman (espn.com's 18th ranked senior point guard in 2009)has come in and averaged 12 points a game while shooting 54% from 3. C.J has played so well that he's worked his way into the Deacs' starting lineup. To say he has out played his rivals 3 star status is an understatement.

Guard - Andre Dawkins - 6'5 196 lbs. - Duke

Dawkins, a 5 star 2010 recruit from Virginia, decided to graduate from high school a year early so he could add some depth to Coach K's back court. This high flying wing guard is explosive with a nice touch from the outside. He looks like he's an overgrown 12 year old but thus far he has proven he can play with the big boys. Dawkins a shade under 10 points (9.9 ppg) while shooting a bit over 50% from the 3.

(The video is not that great)

Guard - Mfon Udofia - 6'2 187 lbs. - Georgia Tech

Udofia came in as rivals.com's 32 ranked player in 2009 (6th rated point guard) and was handed the reigns at point guard for Paul Hewitt's squad from day 1. Udofia has been ballin. The super quick guard from Georgia has averaged 12 points, 3 dimes, and 3 boards a game for the 15th ranked team in the country. All this while playing the most difficult position in the game. While it helps to have future pro's in junior Gani Lawal and the aforementioned Favors, Udofia has more than held his own. While Favors and Lawal will do what they do all year it will be Udofia's ability to run the show that will determine how far the Yellow Jackets can go in March. Thus far it looks like Paul Hewitt has nothing to worry about.

ACC Ballers Dunk of the Week:

It didn't count but wow, really doesn't get much better than this right here from Boston College's Rakim Sanders.

ACC/Big Ten Challenge 2009

2009-11-29T16:02:00.000-08:00

It's that time again. The 11th ACC/Big Ten Challenge is upon us and for the first time since its inception the Big Ten might win. That's right, the ACC is a perfect 10-0 at this point (started in 1999) and the conference will look to maintain it's winning ways again although it might be difficult this go around. The reason for optimism in the Big Ten is basically that these schools have a lot of returning experience and the ACC just does not. The top ACC schools like UNC, Duke, and Wake Forest lost a combined 7 players to the NBA in the spring while most of the Big Ten elite return their primary players. On the other hand Michigan State returns elite point guard Kalin Lucas, Ohio State returns ultra athletic combo guard Eric Turner, and Purder returns a trio of talented players in Robbie Hummel, Jajuan Johnson, E'twaun Moore). Last season the ACC won a highly competitive challenge (6-5) and this year they'll have to fight even harder to maintain their success. I'll break down the games below and give my prediction.

Monday - November 30, 2009

Penn State 69 at Virginia 66 (box score)

Preview:

Virginia will rely on pre-season All ACC selection sophomore Sylven Landesberg and his 16 points per game for its offense. More importantly will be the play of 6'8 230lbs. junior Mike Scott. Scott will be the best rebounder on the court for much of the game and it will be imperative for him to dominate the glass if the Cavaliers want to win this one. Penn State relies heavily on junior Talor Battle (18, 6 boards, 3.5 assists per night) to make the offense go. Battle will get most of his help from experienced forwards David Jackson and Jeff Brooks, each of which average 10 points a night in this young season. The Nittany Lions do not rebound very well (the 6'0 Battle leads the team in rebounds) and it will be interesting to see how they will be able to rebound against their first big conference opponent of the year.

ACC Ballers' Pick: Virginia

Recap:

The Cavaliers was the better of the two teams in the first half as it lead 27-21 at halftime. Unfortunately for UVA Penn State's Talor Battle decided to assert himself in a big way. The 6 foot junior went off in the second half to the tune of 28 points. Plain and simple, he could not be guarded. Each and every time UVA went on a run, which honestly was not very often in the second half, Battle answered. Remarkably Sammy Zeglinski and Sylven Landesberg hit several shots down the stretch to pull UVA back in the game within the last 5 minutes but Battle's accurate free throw shooting kept the Nittany Lions in ahead.

Tuesday - December 1, 2009

Wake Forest 58 at #6 Purdue 69 (box score)

Preview:

The aforementioned Purdue trio (Moore, Hummel, and Johnson) combine to average 43 points and 16 rebounds per game. This will be tough for the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest to contend with. Superstar sophomore combo forward Al-Farouq Aminu (18ppg, 11rpg) and senior point guard Ishmael Smith should keep Wake in the game but it will take a monumental effort to beat the #6 team in the country on the road.

ACC Ballers' Pick: Purdue

Recap:

It took some time but #6 Purdue eventually pulled away from Wake Forest in the second half. Jajuan Johnson had a solid outing for the Boilermakers going 7-13 from the field for 21 points, 9 boards, and 3 blocks. The key to the victory for Purdue was holding superstar Al-Farouq Aminu to just 12 points on 3-11 of shooting. The Deacs rely on Aminu to get going each and every game and while he started off the game hot he cooled off significantly in the second half. Much of this had to do with Purdue's solid defense and just better play from star forward Robbie Hummel.

Northwestern 65 at North Carolina State 53 (box score)

Preview:

North Carolina State relies on sweet shooting 6'9 forward Dennis Horner (15ppg, 58% 3pt) and big man Tracy Smith (15ppg) to get it done night in and night out. On the other hand Northwestern relies on guard Michael Thompson (16ppg) and a host of others to initiate their offense. Although NC State is undefeated to date the Wildcats of Northwestern's 5-1 record includes wins against Notre Dame and Iowa State. Their only came to #10 ranked Butler.

ACC Ballers' Pick: Northwestern
Recap:

This game was never really in doubt as Northwestern took a commanding lead in the first half and didn't let up. Junior guard Michael Thompson went for 22 points and really led the Wildcats to this victory. In the loss NC State forward Tracy Smith had 23 points and 7 rebounds.

Maryland 80 at Indiana 68 (box score)

Preview:

Maryland is coming off of a rough stretch at the Maui Invitational (1-2) and will look to rebound against Indiana. While the Terps come into the game with 4 starters averaging double figures they will need pre-season co ACC Player of the Year Greivis Vasquez to improve upon his very pedestrians numbers (11 points, 4 boards, and 5 assists per game) to really put this game away like they should. The Hoosiers rely on 2 freshman and a sophomore for the bulk of their scoring and have been very shaky thus far (3-3). Indiana is still rebuilding and Gary should have his Terps playing well after a disappointing Maui tournament.

ACC Ballers' Pick: Maryland

Recap:

As predicted the Terrapins' experienced showed in this game and Greivis Vasquez over came another off shooting night to score 23 points in the victory. Senior Landon Milbourne added 19 points and 7 rebounds in this one. Indiana fought and clawed throughout the game to keep within striking distance but in the end they couldn't put together enough successful defensive possessions to shut down Maryland.

#9 Michigan State 82 at #11 North Carolina 89 (box score)

Preview:

The rematch of the 2008-2009 National Championship game is the premier matchup in this year's Challenge. It should not disappoint. The Spartans return virtually everyone and are loaded this year. I'm sure each and every player, including Coach Izzo, are looking to avenge the two blowout losses they suffered at the hands of North Carolina. Michigan State is led by all everything lead guard Kalin Lucas (17ppg, 3.7apg) and a host of other contributors from last season. On the other hand the Tar Heels will rely on a host of complimentary players from last year's National Championship team to win this game. UNC has 7 players that average at least 7 points per game and they've looked surprisingly good thus far given all the talent that fled to the NBA last spring. In their only two big conference tests in this young season Roy Williams' team beat a decent Ohio State team by 4 but followed that up with a sloppy loss to Syracuse (this game was played at MSG though. Virtually a home game for Cuse'). The Tar Heels don't lose too often in the Dean Dome but I expect Michigan State will be more than ready to play. The backcourt matchup will be key and the edge in this department has to go to Michigan State.

ACC Ballers' Pick: Michigan State

Recap:

Sophomore star Ed Davis went for a career high 22 points as he led his Tar Heels to the 7 point victory. The Tar Heels blocked 8 shots and basically just ran the Spartans out of the gym. Coach Williams ran several waves of players at Michigan State and the Spartans seemed over matched out of the gate. MSU's experience showed in the second half as they were able to cut into the 16 point lead the Tar Heels had in the first half but were never able to get over the hump. UNC blocked 8 shots and generally dominated the paint.

Virginia Tech 70 at Iowa 64 (box score)

Preview:

In the game nobody will be watching expect Virginia Tech to come out and handle this undermanned Hawkeye team. Iowa lost 4 players that contributed greatly last season (their leading scorer, a point guard, and two others) and it has shown. This team is still playing hard but the Hokies two star players, junior Malcolm Delaney (21.8 ppg) and Jeff Allen will be way too much for Iowa to contend with.

ACC Ballers' Pick: Virginia Tech

Recap:

The Hokies proved to be too much for an inexperienced Hawkeyes' squad. To Iowa's credit this game was much closer than expected in large part due to Iowa's Anthony Tucker. Tucker scored 24 points in the contest but couldn't lift his team past the Hokies. Guard Malcolm Delaney scored 18 points in the win.

Wednesday - December 2, 2009

Illinois 76 at #19 Clemson 74 - (box score)

Preview:

Clemson, fresh off of a huge win tonight against #10 Butler, come into this game with plenty of momentum. However, a number of the Tigers' players are under the weather so it will be interesting to see how healthy they are come game time. Illinois started off the season 4-0 before dropping their last two games to Utah and Bradley. Seems like Bruce Weber's proclamation that freshman guard Brandon Paul (11ppg) is like Dwyane Wade might be a bit premature. While Illinois is very experienced and talented Clemson's press should wear them out. This Illini team also hasn't seen an athlete quite like Trevor Booker yet...and he's one of several on Oliver Purnell's very athletic team. Not to pile on but the Tigers are tough at Little John. Their depth should be the difference.

ACC Ballers' Pick: Clemson

Recap:

Clemson got up early on Illnois and seemingly had the game in hand at halftime. The Tigers were up by 20 until a Illini stormed back in the second half. The Tigers epic collapse was accentuated by shooting 39% from the field for the game. Forward Mike Davis of Illnois finished up with 22 points in the victory.

Minnesota 58 at Miami 63 - (box score)

Tubby Smith has his Gopher's playing well in the early season despite the off the court trouble that several of his players have run into. He's getting great production from his bench in the early season and they already have a big win over Butler. This team is coming off of a tough one point loss to Texas A&M and one can imagine that they will be hungry to return to the win column. Miami has gotten off to a blazing start but they've really not played anyone note worthy outside South Carolina. However the 15 point win over the Gamecocks shows that the Hurricanes can play with big conference teams and I expect them to physically over power Tubby's bunch in this contest. If Miami post player Dwayne Collins can stay out of foul trouble he should dominate this game inside. He bullied his way past South Carolina players earlier this season and he should do the same to Minnesota's front line.

ACC Ballers' Pick: Miami

Recap:

Freshman Durand Scott scored 20 points for the Hurricanes in this contest and was instrumental in the win. The Canes' dominated the Gophers on the glass and that really was the story of the game. It would have probably helped the Gophers if they shot better than 46% from the line as well.

Boston College 62 at Michigan 58 - (box score)

Preview:

Michigan has dropped a few games recently to quality opponents (Marquette, Alabama) but don't sleep on the Wolverines. This is a good team and they'll have the best player in the game in 6'5 junior two guard Manny Harris (21 ppg, 9 rpg, 7 apg). While BC has 5 guys averaging double figures they really haven't played anyone of this caliber thus far. It will show.

ACC Ballers' Pick: Michigan

Recap:

Corey Raji dropped 24 to help BC pull off the tournament resume win in Ann Arbor. Michigan star Manny Harris struggled to find his shot (1-6 from 3 point range) and usually the Wolverines fortunes are tied into how well he plays. BC's Trapani, Raji, and Jackson combined for 29 rebounds and the Eagles out rebounded Michigan by 15.

#5 Duke 69 at Wisconsin 73 (box score)

Preview:

The Blue Devils, fresh off of a NIT Season Tip-Off tournament championship is 6-0 and have proven that their lack of guard depth will not be a huge hindrance to their success. Coach K looks to combo guards Nolan Smith and Jon Scheyer (the two combine to average 35 points a night) to run his offense. When you factor in that Duke might has more size this season than they've had in recent memory and you start to realize it might be pretty difficult to beat this team. Wisconsin brings a ton of great experience into the game due to their decent success (2-1) in the Maui Tournament last week. Trevon Hughes (14 ppg) will be the key if the Badgers are to take this game as he's the only Badger that can put any pressure on Duke's guards with the ball in his hands. (side note: Be on the lookout for the season debut of highly touted freshman Mason Plumlee of Duke. Rumor has it that he could be on the court for the first time all season on Wednesday).

ACC Ballers Pick: Duke

Recap:

Trevon Hughes dropped 26 on the Dukies in this contest and it was clear that the Blue Devils had no answer for him. Duke's lack of a true point guard seemed to hurt them in this game as they turned the ball over 7 more times than Wisconsin did. In the losing effort Kyle Singler went off for 28 points on 10 of 17 shooting.

Florida State 64 at #15 Ohio State 77 (box score)

Preview:

Florida State should dominate this team on the glass as Ohio State relies on their 6'7 point guard Evan Turner (19 ppg, 12 rbg) to do all of its rebounding. In fact, Turner averages a full 8 rebounds a game more than the next Buckeye. This doesn't bode well for Thad Matta's bunch. Florida State has an NBA sized front line anchored by seven foot center Solomon Alibi (hit the game winning shot against Marquette in the Old Spice Classic. 11/29/09) and 2008 McDonalds All America Chris Singleton. Ohio State has the more talented guards so if they get hot Florida State will be in some trouble but they'd have to be on fire to win this game, even at home. If FSU takes care of the ball they win simply because they'll grab every rebounds.

ACC Ballers' Pick: Florida State

Recap:

Ohio State got a combined 47 points from Evan Turner and Jon Diebler in the winning effort. The Seminoles main issue seemed to be the three point shot as they went 2-16 from distance. The 20 turnovers the Seminoles had probably did not help matters either.

ACC Ballers' Dunk of the Week:

Sophomore Bryan Narcisse of Clemson takes off from deep against Texas A&M.

2009-2010 ACC Basketball Pre Season Rankings

2009-10-26T15:53:00.000-07:00

Welcome back! It's been a long time, I shouldn't have left you, without a....never mind. I'm not Timbaland so I shouldn't recite his lyrics. What I will do is discuss this upcoming ACC Basketball season. There are a ton of changes this season and for the first time in years there really isn't clea cut #1 team in this conference. Even the media at the ACC's Operation Basketball event couldn't decide. Duke and UNC both finished as co-favorites to win the league. Honestly the league is so wide open that neither of these teams could finish atop the ACC standings come the end of the regular season. I guess this is what happens when your conference loses 7 players to the first round of the NBA draft alone. Without further ado here is ACC Ballers' first 2009-2010 ACC Rankings and don't forget to check the new twitter account (@accballers)

1. Maryland

This might be the only place where you'll find Maryland a top any preseason rankings for anything outside of Lacrosse but let me explain. Of the seven ACC teams that made the NCAA tournament year ago only the Terrapins return their starting back court. Greivis Vasquez has made the past two all-ACC teams and came in second in the preseason Player of the Year voting at the aforementioned ACC media event. It's going to be difficult for any ACC team to contend with a 6'6 senior point guard that averaged 17 points, 5 boards, and 5 assists the year before. Better yet for Gary Williams is that he has two starting guards in junior Adrian Bowie and sophomore Sean Mosley that gained valuable experience last season and have proven to be great defenders. Bowie has turned himself into a largely overlooked recruit into a bonafide ACC starter. His 9 ppg and defensive prowess have made him a legitimate ACC starter. Mosley, a Maryland high school basketball legend was expected to come in and provide Maryland with a big, physical wing that can score. What Coach Williams ended up getting was a fearless freshman who constantly made hustle plays when it counted. Mosley's elite ability to defend coupled with his court presence should help him elevate other aspects of his game this season. Furthermore, Maryland brings back four of five starters. The lone starter to leave was the cerebral yet undersized Dave Neal and Gary has brought in two legit big boys in James Padgett and Jordan Williams who should more than make up for his production. All the talk out of Maryland's first few practices and scrimmages are that both bring elements to the front court that the Terps lacked last year.

2. North Carolina #4

The defending National Champions are once again loaded. They bring back two very experienced starters in power forward Deon Thompson and small forward Marcus Ginyard. Thompson started last year and gave Coach Williams valuable minutes throughout the year. Ginyard was sidelined for the majority of the 2008-2009 season but was a full time starter for the Tar Heels in 2007-2008. The strength of this unit is in the front court as they showcase Thompson and projected top 5 2010 draft pick Ed Davis. Davis is a kid of a pro and a pro in waiting himself. He should blossom this year with minutes left behind by Tyler Hansbrough. Tar Heel nation need not worry as ole Roy has another talented Tyler to rely on in 7 foot sophomore center Tyler Zeller. Zeller is as talented as he is skinny (listed at 220lbs, looks 200lbs). He's got excellent touch and has the skills to put the ball in the basket. He was starter last year before he went down with a wrist injury early last season. For any other team it would be ridiculous for me not have mentioned the addition of a 6'10 high school All American small forward but that's how good it is in Chapel Hill recently. The 6'10 future pro I'm speaking of is John Henson from Sickles high school in Florida. This kid was a decently talented guard before he grew 6 or 7 inches in a year or two stint of high school. He will be the Tar Heels starting small forward and his length is going to help Roy out a lot this year. The question mark is at the guard spot where the Heels will have to rely heavily on two 2009 rivals.com 4 star guards in 6'4 Leslie McDonald (#65 overall) and the cat quick 6'3 guard Dexter Strickland (#34 overall). Larry Drew II, son of the former NBA guard, returns as the starter this season and he'll need to be great this year for this team to win it's last game. In reality this is a quality team that could make the elite 8 but might fall short the weekend before. With all of the talent Roy has this year they will at the very least be fun to watch.

3. Duke #8 (Unlike the ACC Media, we don't do ties here)

This year's Duke team will test whether quality is more valuable than quantity. The Dukies return starting point guard John Scheyer and part time starter Nolan Smith. A combo that averaged 23 points a game last year in supporting roles to now departed star guard Gerald Henderson. The issue is that there are no experienced guards behind these two. In fact, there is only one other guard on the roster and he's a freshman. Ok ok, Andre Dawkins is definitely a big time frosh that was top 10 in the class of 2010 but graduated a year early to help out the backcourt. With that said, the real strength of this team, and the reason they're in the #3 slot, is their front court depth. Unlike in recent years, Coach K has assembled a quality stable of big men that should help them dominate the glass. They will go with the very experienced senior forward Lance Thomas and the much hyped high school All-American Mason Plumlee. Thomas is a steady, defensive minded 4 with decent basketball IQ. He is usually in great position on the defensive end and he'll be asked to lead the front court. Mason, brother of current Duke sophomore Miles Plumlee, should really help to bolster Duke's interior defense. The Blue Devils haven't had a shot blocker or even a player who truly disrupts interior shots in years and Mason should finally fill that void. He's got great leaping ability and he's pretty savvy as well. The bench will be solid but the lack of back court depth will come back to haunt them at some point this year. This will probably also lead to an earlier than expected exit in the NCAA tournament.

4. Wake Forest

Dino Gaudio lost two first round draft picks from his starting lineup this summer (Jeff Teague and James Johnson) and still has enough talent left over to finish in the top four in this league. For those that don't know this is an impressive feat. While Gaudio deserves a lot of credit for keeping this unit in tact the reason this team can have such high expectations is the emergence of All-ACC freshman Al-Farouq Aminu. Aminu, now more of a combo forward, has a tremendous combination of height, athleticism, and ball handling skills that proved to be a problem for the majority of Wake's opponents last season. He was rated as the #1 ranked Small Forward in the country coming out of high school in 2008 by several services and he could have been a lottery pick in this past year's NBA draft had he chosen that option. Aminu will most certainly improve upon his very admirable 13 points and 8 board average in his sophomore season. Word is that he's been working on his game at Lebron's camp and that he spent a good bit of the summer doing the same down in Winston Salem. As you might be thinking, one guy alone is not good enough to lead a team to a top 4 finish in this conference. The players Gaudio has in place to compliment Aminu are surely capable. Senior point guard Ishamael Smith and junior two guard L.D. Williams are terrific defenders that can put pressure on opposing ball handlers full court, for 40 minutes. These two played significant minutes on a team that at one point was ranked #1 in the country last season. Nuff said. The front court Gaudio has returning should also keep Wake fans excited this winter. Aside from Aminu, the Deacs return seven foot 235lbs. Chas McFarland (8 ppg, 6 rpg), 2008 Mcdonald's All American Tony Woods and highly recruited seven foot sophomore Ty Walker. This front line should be able to compete with just about every other front line in the country. The only concern this team will have will be it's ability to score. Of the returning players only Aminu put up a double digit scoring average last season. Projected starting point guard Ishmael Smith is more of a true point than Teague was last season and he can really get by his defender but he's not much of a shooter (24% 3 point field goal percentage in 2008-09). Much of the same can be said about Williams as most of his 8 points per game came on breakaway dunks and layups. If highly recruited newcomers Ari Stewart and C.J. Harris can't help in this regard the Deacs will probably experience a few more scoring droughts than desired. Defense is this teams strong suit and they should play it well enough to stay in the top half of the ACC standings this season.

5. Georgia Tech #20

This might be too high for Paul Hewitt's bunch (finished dead last at 2-14 in the ACC last season) but they are talented enough to finish higher, so we had to give the Jackets the nod over Clemson. When you talk about this year's Tech squad all conversations must begin with the two future first round picks they have in the front court with 6'9 junior Gani Lawal and 6'10 incoming power forward Derrick Favors. Lawal is a an athletic freak who could have entered the draft last year. He had work to do on his game (notably free throw shooting and shot mechanics in general) this summer so he decided to spend one more year in Atlanta. For those that don't know Favors was Scout.com's top ranked player overall in the class of 2009. Favors should come in and put up decent numbers right away as his ability to operate in the low post, defend the post, and overall skill set are well above par for the college level. Fortunately for Hewitt and co. the post is not the only upgrade made to this team over the summer. The additions of the rest of rivals.com's 4th ranked recruiting class will help stabilize the back court. Hewitt brought i n 3 rivals 4 star guards in point guard Mfon Udofia, wing Glen Rice (son of the former NBA All Star guard that goes by the same name), and Brian Oliver (not related to the former Georgia Tech star by the same name). Udofia is the stud of this group as rivals 6th ranked point guard (32nd player overall in 2009) can really get after it defensively. His superior quickness should have him in the starting lineup sooner rather than later as it will allow last year's All-ACC freshman selection Iman Shumpert (10 points, 5 assists per last season) to move to his more natural shooting guard position. The last two members of this loaded freshman class are pretty fantastic players in their own right. Kammeon Holsey is a 6'8 power forward with elite level athleticism that is yet another ESPNU top 100 player in this class. Unfortunately he will rehab a torn ACL this season. This might work out to his advantage as he will not have to spend his first season backing up the future NBA pros already on Tech's front line. The key for Tech this season will be to reduce their turnovers and use their athleticism to defend at an elite level. If these two goals are achieved there are not many teams in the country, much less this conference, that can compete with them. The aforementioned Shumpert should be primed for a breakout sophomore year and this is what Hewitt's squad will need to really challenge for a top seed in the ACC tournament this coming year. Should be a make or break season for Hewitt as well. If he can't win with this team in this year's ACC a change in regime might ensue. Big year for the Jackets.

6. Clemson #24

Many believe this Clemson team will finish higher (ACC Media picked them to finish 3rd) but I think their previous seasons may have been weighed too heavily in this prediction. Clemson lost two of their top three scorers with K.C. Rivers graduating and Terrence Oglesby deciding to start his professional career early. They still retain All-ACC selection Trevor Booker (15 ppg, 9.7 rbg) in the low post but they lack a consistent second option now that Rivers and Oglesby are no longer providing about 35% of their points. The good news for Clemson fans is that they have more talent this season than ever. 6'9 McDonald's All American Milton Jennings (#26 in 2009 ESPNU top 100) is power forward with range out to the three point line. His addition combined with the 2009 ESPNU top 100 player (ranked 30th overall) Noel Johnson and Devin Booker (Trevor's brother) has significantly enhanced the talent that Coach Oliver Purnell has inside. Johnson was a huge get for Purnell as he was slated to go to USC before Tim Floyd resigned. Johnson is an elite level scorer The back court is in decent shape as well as the Tigers return two year starter Demontez Stitt at the point guard position and a couple of talented wings in 6'5 Tanner Smith and 6'6 David Potter. Backup point guard Andre Young proved that he could run the break in his first season (almost 3:1 assist/turnover ration) and hit the open shot (39% from three). Clemson will finish higher than this if they can get their opponents to play at their pace. The trouble is they might have a difficult time playing at this pace due to their inexperience and lack of a true and proven outside scoring threat. With this said, this team is talented enough to be dancing in March and might be able to sneak in on Selection Sunday.

7. Florida State

Leonard Hamilton, fresh off of a contract extension, is finally directing this program in the right direction. Last year they came within a game of an ACC tournament title and made the big tournament for the first time in years. Unfortunately for Hamilton and the rest of Seminole nation the leading scorer from last season now gets paid to play. That's right, Toney Douglas now plays for the Knicks and he took his 21.5 points and almost 2 steals a game with him. This could pose a huge problem as the next highest scorer averaged under 10 points per game. Hamilton will need to figure out where the offense is going to come from right away. For right now the plan seems to be that the Seminoles will turn to future NBA pro Solomon Alibi. Alibi put up 8 points, 5 boards, and 2 blocks last season but his skill set is far advanced than these numbers would suggest. The 7'1 250lbs center has quality post moves and counter moves that will allow him to be effective down low if the young Seminole guards can get him the ball. Along with Alibi, Florida State looks to former McDonald's All American (08') Chris Singleton to provide rebounding and defensive prowess. Singleton is a long combo forward who can hit the three as well as defend multiple positions. His development will be critical in determining how good this team can be. Another player who falls under this context is 6'4 junior point guard Derwin Kitchen. Kitchen, a JUCO transfer that became eligible for the second semester last season was instrumental in FSU's success last season and will be counted on to build on his solid performance last season. Lastly but certainly not leastis 2009 Mickey D's All American Michael Snaer. Snaer a 6'5 two guard that Hamilton convinced to make the cross country trek from California is a tough nosed big time scorer who will be counted on immediately to provide scoring. This team should battle for a NCAA tournament bid all season and my guess is that they will be sitting on the edge of their seat come Selection Sunday. If Snaer is great, they're in. Anything short of great, their games in Mid March will all be early in the week. In other words they'll be in the NIT.

8. Boston College

Al Skinner returns a very talented team with players like junior forward Joe Trapani (13 points, 6 boards per game) and junior guard Rakim Sanders (13 points, 4 boards per game). The Eagles also return 2 other starters in center Josh Southern and guard Corey Raji, both of whom have established themselves as legit ACC players. The reason for concern stems from the fact they basically lost their best player and by far their most clutch performer in Tyrese Rice. Rice was the go to guy for Skinner the past two years and his leadership will be very difficult to replace. While Sanders and Trapani are very capable of keeping the Eagles in games this year neither have been go to guys on an ACC team before and they are in for a rude awakening. This league is tough and when teams scheme for you scoring becomes that much more difficult. The good news for the Eagles is that they will likely have an all junior starting lineup that could take advantage of the younger teams in this conference. They didn't bring in anyone this year so this team should be able to gel earlier than most. The Eagles will have opportunities to steal games early due to their experience and if they can do that they'll finish higher than this.

9. Virginia Tech

The Hokies are my wild card team this year. Seth Greenberg has two studs returning in junior guard Malcolm Delaney (18 ppg last season) and junior forward Jeff Allen (13.7 ppg, 8rpg). Both of these players have the ability to be top 5 at their respective positions in this conference and should take advantage of their considerable experience this season. The key to this season will be how well the rest of the Hokies play. Big forwards Victor Davila and J.T. Thompson will have to improve on their very modest statistics from last season. These two very talented players only averaged 10 points and 5 rebounds between them. That will not be good enough if they would like to finish higher than 9th. To add some depth Greenberg brought in four freshman this season highlighted by 6'3 point guard Erick Green and 6'3 two guard Ben Boggs. These two players in particular hold the key to Tech's season in my opinion. If Green, who played his senior season in the renowned DC Catholic league in an attempt to ready himself for ACC basketball, can play significant minutes at point guard this season this team will finish higher than this. Better yet, if Boggs lives up to his big time reputation as a shooter and not hinder the team too much on defense this team will be dancing in March. If it takes these players a bit longer to develop the Hokie Pokie will be the only dancing done this season.

10. Virginia

New head man Tony Bennett will bring a new style of play to the Cavaliers and the players ability to adapt will be instrumental to this team's success this season. The Cavaliers return 2008-2009 ACC freshman of the year Sylven Landesberg (16 ppg, 6 rpg last season) and their entire starting lineup. Power forward Mike Scott will be expected to improve on his 10 points and 7 boards a game. No reason to think he won't. 7'0 foot starting center Assane Sene has been playing pick up basketball with NBA pro's like Troy Murphy this summer and word is that he has held his own. Expect to see an improved offensive game (just 2.5ppg last season) from Sene as well. He must be able to stay in games for longer than 17 minutes this season though. The real improvement for the Cavaliers must be made in the back court. Point guard Sammy Zeglinski must be able to keep players in front of him on defense without having to foul and he as well much improve on his very pedestrian 1.2/1 assist to turnover ratio. This season the Cavaliers will have help in that regard as freshman point guard Jontel Evans should at least provide defensive pressure at the point guard spot that has been lacking since Sean Singletary left two seasons ago. The key to this season for the Cavaliers will be how good junior guard Jeff Jones has become. If he has finally regained the form that made him a 4 star guard coming out of high school in Philadelphia the Cavaliers will steal several games in this young conference. If not, the Cavaliers will have to gut out wins just to make the NIT.

11. Miami

This is certainly a rebuilding year for Frank Haith's Hurricanes but that doesn't mean this squad doesn't have talent. Villanova transfer Malcolm Grant is finally eligible and not a season to soon. This talented combo guard will more than likely man the point guard spot this season and should make the loss of sweet shooting guard Jack McClinton a bit easier to stomach for Haith. Along with Grant are forward/center Dwayne Collins and 3/4 forward James Dews, the second and third leading scorers from last season. These two players should build on their success from last season and can hold their own in this conference. This team, while solidly built still lacks the skill level to compete at a high level in this conference. Haith will need major production from incoming two guard Durant Scott (#43 in the ESPNU 100) from the acclaimed Rice high school in NYC. Two other players from Haith's 4 man class that should provide some depth are 6'5 two guard Garrius Adams from North Carolina and 6'8 post Donnavan Kirk from the basketball factory that is Detroit Country Day School (Detroit, Michigan). This team is at least a year away from making any major impact but they do return arguably the league's best athlete in 6'6 guard/forward DeQuan Jones. Jones, a rivals 5 star player in 2008, had his moments last season and will need to have many more this season for this team to compete.

12. North Carolina State

Absolutely a rebuilding year for the Wolfpack and coach Sidney Lowe. This team lost its top three scorers from last season and will rely on junior power forward Tracy Smith (10 ppg, 4.5 rpg) and junior Javier Gonzalez (6.6 ppg, 3.3 rpg) for much of their offense. Outsider marksman Dennis Horner returns for his senior season and should be able to stretch the defense a bit with his ability to connect from the land of 3 (35% from 3pt range last season). Another player who should help the Wolfpack from downtown is 6'6 freshman two guard Scott Wood. Many players have already commented on how well this kid can shoot it and this team will need all the good shooting it can get. This season does not look very promising for the Wolfpack but if this team can gel this season the 2010-2011 season should be very exciting. You see, in 2010 the Wolfpack have the 5th rated recruiting class in the country coming in. This group includes two rivals five star players and one very highly rated guard (Lorenzo Brown, 4 star guard in 2009) set to come to Raleigh.

ACC Ballers Awards

2009-04-01T08:08:00.000-07:00

As most if not all of you already know, Carolina turned in a final four weekend to remember in Detroit this past April as they swept past the competition to win the prestigious National Championship.

Of course, the focus has now been moved to the next part of the season, the part that most coaches hate, the NBA waiting game. There are several players still on the fence about coming back tor another year of ACC ball or playing in the league.

We won't know who is staying or leaving for another month so for now lets take a look back at which players and teams stood out this year.

ACC Ballers Best Team:

North Carolina

ACC Ballers Best Player:

Tywon Lawson, Jr, North Carolina

ACC Ballers Best Pro Prospect:

Al-Farouq Aminu, Fr, Wake Forest

ACC Ballers Best Freshman:

Sylven Landesberg, Fr, Virginia

ACC Ballers Best 6th Man:

Ed Davis, Fr, UNC

ACC Ballers All-Conference:

First Team:

Tywon Lawson, Fr, North Carolina
Jeff Teague, So, Wake Forest
Gerald Henderson, Jr, Duke
Tyler Hansbrough, Sr, North Carolina
Toney Douglas, Sr, Florida State

Second Team:

Greivis Vasquez, Jr, Maryland
Tyrese Rice, Sr, Boston College
Jack McClinton, Sr, Miami
James Johnson, So, Wake Forest
Trevor Booker, So, Clemson

Third Team:

Wayne Ellington, Jr, North Carolina
Kyle Singler, So, Duke
Malcolm Delaney, So, Virginia Tech
AD Vassallo
John Scheyer, Jr, Duke

Sweet 16...Only Duke and UNC left.

2009-03-23T11:13:00.000-07:00

After the first weekend of the tournament it has become apparent that the ACC was not as strong as it appeared to be throughout the year. Several teams lost on the first day (Clemson, Florida State, BC) while another team (Maryland) got demolished by a Memphis team that didn't seem to concerned with the match up to begin with (link).

Here are the ACC games up next:

South region:

3/27 - #1 UNC - #4 Gonzaga at 9:57pm

East Region

3/26 - #2 Duke - # Villanova at 9:57pm

Both should be great games.

Gerald Henderson is the Dunk Champion and his Duke Blue Devils are ACC Champs!

2009-03-18T08:14:00.000-07:00

By unanimous decision (49%) Gerald Henderson has been voted as the best dunk artist in the league by our loyal followers. Henderon has been sensational all year long and perhaps the timeliness of his dunks like this

is what stuck out in the minds of voters. Congrats Gerald.

It's been a long and exciting season in ACC basketball full of interesting twists and turns. Carolina seemed unbeatable early on until Boston College went down to the Dean Dome and knocked them off. Meanwhile a slowly developing back story was the emergence of Jeff Teague and the Wake Forest Deacons. The Deacons won their first 16 games before falling to Virginia Tech at home. The only normalcy during this period was Clemson's hot start. They even routed Duke at home in one of the most lopsided ACC games I have ever seen. In the end though, after the regular season and ACC tournament had been settled, it was the Blue Devils of Duke that came on top. This is how the did it.

Second Round:

3/13

9:30pm - #6 Boston College 65 - #3 Duke 66 (box score)

This was close the entire game and tensions grew during the last 5 or 6 minutes. BC's Biko Paris hit a huge 3 pointer with a bit under 5 minutes left to close Duke's lead to 1. The teams would continue to trade baskets but Rakim Sanders' 3 point shot at the end came up short.

Semi-Finals:

3/14

4pm - #7 Marlyand 61 - #3 Duke 67 (box score)

The Terrapins gave a valiant effort but in the end John Scheyer was too much for them to stop. The Blue Devils' junior guard had 22 on 6-12 shooting to but Maryland away.

Championship Game:

3-15

1pm - #4 Florida State 69 - #3 Duke 79

Duke came out on fire as Singler, Scheyer (29 points), and Henderson went 12-23 from 3 point range. Florida State looked as though they didn't know what hit them. It was well into the 1st half before the Seminoles decided to join Duke in the game but by that point Duke had more than found their rhythm. The score doesn't show how truly lopsided this game was.

All Tournament team:
(1st team)

Duke: John Scheyer (Tournament MVP), Gerald Henderson, Kyle Singler

UNC: Tyler Hansbrough

FSU: Toney Douglas

(2nd Team)

FSU: Soloman Alibi

UNC: Wayne Ellington

Maryland: Greivis Vasquez, Eric Hayes

Georgia Tech: Lewis Clinch

Final ACC Standings (in conference, overall):

1. North Carolina: 13-3, 28-4
2. Wake Forest: 11-5, 24-6
3. Duke: 11-5, 28-6
4. Florida State: 10-6, 25-9
5. Clemson: 9-7, 23-8
6. Boston College: 9-7, 22-11
7. Maryland: 7-9, 20-13
8. Miami: 7-9, 18-12
9. Virginia Tech: 7-9, 18-12
10. North Carolina State: 6-10, 16-14
11. Virginia: 4-12, 10-18
12. Georgia Tech: 2-14, 12-19

NCAA Tournament Starts up on Thursday and the conference has 7 teams. Should be pretty exciting and we'll get you caught up on the games as they come. Enjoy it!

ACC Balllers: Who is the best dunker in the ACC?

2009-03-02T15:32:00.000-08:00

It's that time of the year again. A time to reflect on all the great plays we've seen thus far this year. ACC season is winding down and the tournament looms, why not look back on the best dunks of the season, and determine who the best dunker is.

Here are the rules: I'll show you a bunch of dunks all week long. You'll watch as many dunks as you can and determine which ACC player throws it down the best. Here goes:

1. Gerald Henderson, Jr, Duke

2. Raymond Sykes, Sr, Clemson

3. James Johnson, So, Wake Forest

4. Jeff Teague, So, Wake Forest

5. Trevor Booker, Jr, Clemson

6. James Johnson, So, Wake Forest

7. Al-Farouq Aminu, Fr, Wake Forest

8. Gerald Henderson, Jr, Duke

9. DeQuan Jones, Fr, Miami

(start at the :28 second mark)

10. Rakim Sanders, So, BC

11. Danny Green, Sr, UNC

12. Raymond Sykes, Sr, Clemson

13. Elliott Williams, Fr, Duke

14. Tracy Smith, So, NC State

15. Trevor Booker, Jr, Clemson

16. Danny Green, Sr, UNC

17. Gerald Henderson, Jr, Duke

18. Al-Farouq Aminu, Fr, Wake Forest

19. Jeff Teague, So, Wake Forest

20. James Johnson, So, Wake Forest

21. Gerald Henderson, Jr, Duke

22. Jeff Teague, So, Wake Forest

23. Nolan Smith, So, Duke

24. Rakim Sanders, So, BC

25. Raymond Sykes, Sr, Clemson

26. Al-Farouq Aminu, Fr, Wake Forest

ACC Ballers: Standings Week

2009-02-17T14:37:00.000-08:00

You all have spoken and it seems like UNC's Wayne Ellington is your unanimous choice to shoot the ball with the game on the line. Can't really say I disagree. Yet another reason why the Heels are the most complete team in the ACC.

Another volatile week in the ACC was capped off by a Boston College upset over another Tobacco Road school and a tough win by UNC down in Coral Gables. The ACC season is now in full tilt and a number of developments have taken place over the course of the year. Here are a few tidbits to keep you up to date:

- UNC Senior G/F Marcus Ginyard will miss the remainder of the year. Sophomore F William Graves has been suspended for the remainder of the season.
- UNC Freshman C Tyler Zeller, who was expected to miss the remainder of the year, may return to the lineup as early as Wednesday 2/18.
- Virginia Tech Sophomore F Jeff Allen will be suspended one game (Wednesday at Virginia) for inappropriate behavior after he was fouled in a game against Maryland this past Saturday.

ACC Standings (in conference, overall):

1. North Carolina: 9-2, 23-2
2. Duke: 7-4, 20-5
3. Clemson: 6-4, 20-4
4. Wake Forest: 6-4, 19-4
5. Florida State: 6-4, 19-6
6. Virginia Tech: 6-4, 16-8
7. Boston College: 7-5, 19-8
8. Maryland: 5-5, 16-8
9. North Carolina State: 4-6, 14-9
10. Miami: 4-7, 15-9
11. Virginia: 2-8, 8-13
12. Georgia Tech: 1-10, 10-14

Scoring:
(Name, Class, School, Average)

1. Tyler Hansbrough, Sr, UNC - 21.1 ppg (points per game)
2. Tony Douglas, Sr, FSU - 20.3 ppg
3. Jack McClinton, Sr, Miami - 20.3 ppg
4. Jeff Teague, So, Wake Forest - 20.2 ppg
5. Malcolm Delaney, So, Virginia Tech - 18.6 ppg

Rebounding:
(Name, Class, School, Average)

1. Gani Lawal, So, Georgia Tech - 10.1 rpg
2. Trevor Booker, So, Clemson - 8.9 rpg
3. Jeff Allen, Fr, Virginia Tech - 8.8 rpg
4. Alade Aminu, Sr, Georgia Tech- 8.5 rpg
5. Al-Farouq Aminu, Fr, Wake Forest - 8.3 rpg

Blocks:
(Name, Class, School, Average)

1. Trevor Booker, So, Clemson - 2.3 bpg
2. Soloman Alibi, Fr, FSU - 2.1 bpg
3. Ed Davis, F0, UNC - 1.8 bpg
4. (tie) Assane Sene, Fr, UVA - 1.7 bpg
4. (tie) James Johnson, So, Wake Forest - 1.7 bpg

Assists:
(Name, Class, School, Average)

1. Tywon Lawson, So, UNC - 6.4 apg
2. Tyrese Rice, Jr, BC - 5.5 apg
3. Iman Shumpert, Fr, Georgia Tech - 5.2 apg
4. Greivis Vasquez, So, Maryland - 4.6 apg
5. Jeff Teague, So, Wake Forest - 3.9 apg

Steals:
(Name, Class, School, Average)

1. (tie) Jeff Teague, So, Wake Forest - 2.1 spg
2. (tie) Tywon Lawson, So, UNC - 2.1 spg
3. Tony Douglas, Jr, FSU - 2.0 spg
4. Jeff Allen, Fr, Virginia Tech - 1.9 spg
5. Danny Green, Sr, UNC - 1.8 spg

ACC Ballers' Performance of the Week....

This week the award definitely goes to UNC guard Tywon Lawson. While leading his team to two road victories against Duke and Miami Lawson averaged 23 points, 4.5 assists, while going a perfect 11-11 from the line.

ACC Ballers' Dunk of the Week....

Clemson Senior Center Raymond Sykes gets big on Syracuse.....

It's been a long time Coming!!!!!...Duke gets the ol' Tiger Stomp at LittleJohn

2009-02-05T14:18:00.001-08:00

I know it's been a while but after the the past few week it is time for ACC Ballers to come back. First, lets start off by discussing the massacre at Littlejohn last night. The 10th ranked Tigers of Clemson, for the first time in 22 attempts, defeated the third ranked Duke Blue Devils 74-47. But, this wasn't just a win, this was a hide the women and children stomp out. There were lots of yelling (mainly Clemson players and fans), crying (mainly Duke players and coaches), and silence from the announcers (unfortunately they are Duke fans as well). This game was a track meet from the jump ball on. Clemson got out running and never stopped. I honestly felt bad for Duke because there was nothing they could do. Oliver Purnell had everybody at Littlejohn ready for this game (apparently he even had the student assistants running sprints when they made mistakes in practice) and man were they ever. There was a stretch in the second half where it seemed as though Clemson would simply block a shot at on one end, and dunk on the other. And they yelled every time they did either.

First half demolishing.....

Second half.....

Click for the box score

After a wild few weeks of ACC basketball. Here is a look at the updated Standings.

1. North Carolina (20-2, 6-2)
2. Duke (19-3, 6-2)
3. Clemson (19-2, 5-2)
4. Boston College (18-6, 6-3)
5. Wake Forest (17-3, 4-3)
6. Virginia Tech (14-7, 4-3)
7. Florida State (16-5, 3-3)
8. Miami (15-7, 4-5)
9. Maryland (14-8, 3-5)
10. NC State (12-8, 2-5)
11. Georgia Tech (10-10, 1-6)
12. Virginia (7-11, 1-6)

ACC Ballers' Performance of the Week....

Has to go to UNC's junior two guard Wayne Ellington. On Tuesday against Maryland, the former McDonald's All American went for 34 point on 12-15 shooting from the field (7-9 three pointers) and 9 rebounds in Carolina's 108-91 rout of the Terps.

ACC Ballers' Dunk of the Week...

Has to go to my dude Trevor Booker down in Clemson, SC. This was just raw (Clearly you get points from ACC Ballers' for yelling after a dunk. We believe in hype here).

ACC Ballers: Wake Forest in the driver's seat....

2009-01-19T12:45:00.000-08:00

Over a month ago we asked our ACC fans who they thought would win the ACC Regular Season crown. At that point Carolina had been rollin' and it didn't seem like they could be beat. Might explain why 40% of the votes went to the Heels. Even fans of rival teams thought there was no chance that anyone could come out on top of Carolina. As the saying goes, I guess thats why the play the games.

One thing that has become apparent in the last week is that in this conference you have to play at a high level for 40 minutes if you expect to win each game In addition you have to be willing to get give the same effort night in and night out. At the midway point in the 08-09 College Basketball season Wake Forest is the only ACC team to sustain this effort as they ran past #6 North Carolina (Sun. 11th) and #9 Clemson (Sat. 17th). Their reward: Being ranked the #1 team in all of College Basketball. While everyone from Al-Farouq Aminu to James Johnson have played well the catalyst for this climb up the rankings is the lighting quick and explosive sophomore guard Jeff Teague. Teague has averaged 29.2 point per game in his last 4 games and absolutely carried the Deac's in the Sunday night game against the Tar Heels. Teague's line against UNC looks like this: 34 points, 15-17 from the line, 6 boards, and 4 assists. He simply made the plays that Coach Gaudio needed, each time he needed them. Teague's combination of speed, skill, and basketball IQ compliment the rest of the tall, skilled, and athletic players the Deacon's feature. Aminu and Johnson looked like NBA prospects as they were able to handle the ball and finish in the open court on Clemson at will. The Tigers had no chance in this game because Wake was better at doing what Clemson does best, full court man to man press. This is an example of Al-Farouq's athleticism:

and another big time dunk by the big time 6'9 small forward....

Wake Forest simply had better athletes with a higher skill level then Oliver coach Oliver Purnell's Tigers. That's usually tough to overcome.

ACC Ballers Performance of the Week:

North Carolina shooting guard Wayne Ellington at home against Miami: 23 points on 8-14 shooting from the field, 7-11 from behind the arc. Take a look....

ACC Teams in the ESPN\USA TODAY TOP 25 (4 in the top 9):

1. Wake Forest
2. Duke
6. North Carolina
9. Clemson

ACC Ballers Dunk of the Week:

Hands down this is the dunk of the week. No questions asked. Miami freshman phenom Dequan Jones is big time.

(the first play is of Jones throwing a shot into the stands. the last play, starting at the 1:11 mark, is at this point the dunk of the year in the ACC)

ACC Ballers: Recruiting Spotlight

2009-01-08T13:49:00.001-08:00

Ben Golliver of Blazersedge.com recently took in a the 2008 Les Schwab Invitational (Dec. 26-30) in Hillsboro, Oregon where he had a chance to scout two high school seniors, Renardo Sydney and Sherrod Wright, who have been on the ACC radar for a couple of years. Renardo is a 6'10 250lbs 5 star forward prospect (ranked #10 in the class of 09' by Rivals.com) from Los Angeles, California via Mississippi. Sydney lists USC, UCLA, Mississippi State, Arizona State, and Virginia as possible college destinations for the 09'/10' season. Sherrod Wright is 6'3 a 3 star shooting guard prospect from Mount Vernon, NY. Wright is being recruited by Wake Forest, Virginia, Xavier, Georgia Tech, and Pittsburgh. If you can remember, Ben wrote a piece for us about Kyle Singler just before he started playing for Duke and apparently his high praise was right on. This is what he has to say about these two:

Renardo Sidney (link)

Renardo Sidney is a great talent and will be an impact freshman. Once you get past his NBA body (and his NBA quickness for his size) there’s a lot to like and a few concerns.

Sidney’s Fairfax team regularly uses him at the high post, where he is able to turn and face anywhere from 18 to 21 feet out. It is here he seems most comfortable. Sidney has big hands and great vision, and he often holds the ball shoulder-height or higher looking to hit cutting teammates or to throw a skip pass if the defense overcommits. His passing was the most surprising aspect of his game: his passes were regularly on the money, in the right places for easy catches and finishes and almost always with only one hand. Whether he will be able to continue to do this with a college and/or NBA ball is an open question but it is a dominating skill to possess in high school.

Sidney can also shoot it from the high post and in both games I watched stepped back to launch high-arcing three pointers. His form is very good and the ball often snapped twine. From outside he was content to catch and shoot in rhythm or perhaps take one dribble to find his shot… he is not overly active in driving the ball from outside or working through multiple moves to get his perimeter shot. This should serve him well. When bigs mess around like that they end up getting stripped in college.

Sidney’s high post location on offense led to a lot of crashing of the glass and with neither one of the opposing team’s able to match his mass, he simply dominated when he put in the effort. With big leads in both games, Sidney coasted more than you would like, often not chasing offensive boards at all. It remains to be seen if effort (and his weight) will be his undoing.When Sidney did post up on the low block, he displayed a number of nice finishing moves, including a finger roll and some vicious dunks. He has a refined drop step move and was a very, very quick elevator; he was very efficient around the hoop and didn’t mess around with unnecessary dribbles or missed shots from point blake. He also did well to avoid player control fouls, which is difficult for a guy his size.

On defense, he stayed much closer to the rim and accounted for most of his team’s defensive rebounds. He got beat backdoor for a dunk because he cheating trying to ball-deny a pass to the high post. He showed the kind of weakside help you would expect from someone his size, and had a few block shots, although most of the opposing guards were not too keen in testing him.

One other note: he threw a number of great outlet passes, one a three-quarter court bounce pass that hit a runner in stride. Thing of beauty. Sort of a Black Kevin Love, to put it crudely.

In the final assessment, I expect to see him in the NBA sooner rather than later. I think he is a good candidate to go one and done and will have high expectations next season. He had an annoying habit of getting down on his teammates, scowling and carrying on when they would miss a shot or fail to catch a pass, which hopefully will get coached out of him in college.

Sherrod Wright (link)

Although I saw Sidney twice, I only saw Sherrod Wright play once, in his Mt. Vernon team’s semifinal matchup with Dominguez High (the eventual tournament winner, beating Fairfax in the final). Like Sidney, Wright was named to the all-tourney team (Sidney was MVP) but unlike Sidney his play did not have the same “wow” factor.

Wright plays wing on a guard-dominated team that works extremely hard on both ends of the court. Wright is definitely the tone-setter and came across as a focused individual. On offense, he seems to favor his pull-up jumper, which he hit with less regularity than you would like given how often he shoots it. His stroke had a hitch to it occasionally and as currently constructed will not cut it in the NBA. I also got the feeling that he relies on his pull up j because he doesn’t have the first step to beat quality wings off the dribble. He was locked up pretty well by Dominguez’s Robert Mandingo (yes, you read that right) and never attempted more than a move or two (he showcased a sweet compact spin move early in the first half) to free himself. Part of that was his playing within the offense, which is definitely something you like to see from a star player in high school. He also drew his fair share of fouls due to the ball being in his hands so often because he is his team’s go-to player.

Wright crashed the boards relentlessly and had a number of put-backs (including a dunk), tips to his teammates and the like. His hustle game is straight. When he did get some space in traffic, he showed quick elevation for a powerful dunk. He has an impressive vertical leap but didn’t unveil it as much as the crowd was hoping for.

Some of his points came from the defensive end, where he played passing lanes well, showed great on-ball technique and came away with a few steals. His intensity ran over on one play when he was whistled for a technical foul for reaching across the baseline trying to contest an inbound pass. Wright struggled a little bit bringing the ball up in transition when he was guarded (he got blocked on one break out and a turnover on another) but did coast for at least 2 uncontested breakaway layups/dunks off of steals. He also played the pick and roll defense very well, jumping out to force a long route for the point guard while not fouling (difficult for high school kids against quick guards).

Wright has a nice frame (6’4” almost 200) that should fill out with an additional 10-15 pounds of muscle in the next few years, which will serve him well in college. I was not totally enthralled with his game and my first instinct is to say he probably doesn’t end up making the league. But that should be taken with a grain of salt: I saw him once and he was playing against an excellent Dominguez club that has a stockpile of quality guards. Wright has the work ethic and competitiveness to do big things.

- Ben Golliver, Blazer's Edge

Next Up:

1/10

Noon - Georgia Tech (9-5, 0-1) at Maryland (11-3,0-0) Espn Full Court
Noon - NC State (9-2, 0-0) at #11 Clemson (15-0, 1-0) Espn Full Court, Espn360.com
2pm - #2 Duke (13-1, 1-0 at Florida State (13-2, 0-0) Espn
4pm - Virginia (6-4, 1-0) at Virginia Tech (9-5, 0-1)
7pm - Miami (11-3, 0-1) at #24 Boston College (13-3, 1-0) EspnU

1/11

8pm - #3 North Carolina (14-1, 0-1) at #4 Wake Forest (13-0, 0-0) Sun. Night Hoops

Happy New Years!....ACC Ballers: ACC Season is warmin' up

2008-12-29T12:44:00.000-08:00

The ACC did pretty well this past week as many teams added to their win column. It only make sense as yet again the conference ranks #1 in Conference RPI. Looks like the conference season will be one to remember. Speaking of which, Virginia traveled to Atlanta this past Sunday to take on Georgia Tech in the conference opener for both teams. In typical Sunday Night Hoops fashion this game had crazy ending and needed OT to determine a winner. Big time freshman guard/forward Sylven Landesberg put up 26 points, 6 boards, and 5 dimes to lead the Cavaliers to an 88-84 win, their sixth victory of the year. You can catch a bit of his performance here.

....while Sylven's performance was impressive, the real drama came in the last seconds of overtime as UVA senior guard Calvin Baker would hit a layup with 10 seconds left in Overtime to give the Cavaliers the lead for good.

While there was no shortage of drama in this game there was a ton of excitement in the other games played by ACC teams this week. Carolina, now 13-0, continued their dominance as they beat two talented teams, Rutgers and Nevada, by an average of 22 points. Again, if there is a college basketball team that can beat these guys I'd like to see them.

Speaking of talented teams, check out this dunk by Clemson's Trevor Booker against South Carolina on Tuesday (12/29).

....I think the dude in the South Carolina jersey should have gotten out of the way.

Next Up:

1/3

2pm - #22 Xavier (10-2) at Virginia (6-4, 1-0 Conference games)
3pm - Georgia Tech (8-4, 0-1) at Alabama (9-3) Espn Full Court, Espn360.com
4pm - North Carolina State (9-2, 0-0) at Florida (11-2) CBS
8pm - #6 Wake Forest (12-0, 0-0) at BYU (11-1)

1/4

5:30pm - Boston College (12-2, 0-0) at #1 North Carolina (13-0, 0-0) Sun. Night Hoops
7:45pm - Virginia Tech (9-4, 0-0) at #5 Duke (11-1, 0-0) Sun. Night Hoops

ACC Ballers Dunk of the Week....

Raymond Sykes of Clemson shows South Carolina that he plays on another level. This is one of those dunks where you see it and immediately feel bad for the guy being dunked....

ACC Ballers: ACC Season is Here!

2008-12-24T06:29:00.000-08:00

The ACC basketball fans have spoken and have unanimously selected UNC as the favorite to win the ACC regular season crown. I really can't blame them as all signs point to the Tar Heels to being the last team standing in March. I also think they'd be able to compete with the Oklahoma City Thunder (worst major sports name ever?) of the NBA. We appreciate your input and look forward to hearing from you in our future polls.

After several long months of waiting and anticipating the ACC Season officially got underway down in Coral Gables on Sunday night as Clemson came into town to face Miami. The Canes' put up a good fight but in the end Clemson just had too much talent and depth for the home team. The difference in this 91-72 victory for Tigers was ball security as that fierce press that Purnell calls upon forced the Hurricanes into 22 turnovers. Tigers senior guard K.C. Rivers dropped in 28 while sophomore guard Terrance Oglesby added 17.

Best Game this Week (thus far):

#25 Marquette 68 - N.C. State 65 (box score)

Marquette senior guard Dominic James had 18 in the win. Wolfpack senior forward Brandon Costner had 24 points and 8 boards in the loss. I would describe the game in more detail but it might be better to just watch.

(last 6 minutes of a great game)

Next up:

12/27

Noon - Miami (7-3, 0-1) at St. Johns (9-2) ESPNU
2:00pm - Bryant University (1-9) at Maryland (8-2)

12/28

4:00pm - Western Kentucky (7-3) at Florida State (11-2)
5:30pm - Virginia (5-4) at Georgia Tech (7-3)
7:45pm - Rutgers (9-3) at UNC (11-0)

ACC Ballers Dunk of the Week....

Jeff Teague is at it again against Indiana. This was just tough.

ACC Ballers: On deck

2008-12-15T11:12:00.000-08:00

Last week was pretty lame as ACC hoops is concerned but this week promises to be much better as exams are finally over and done with. There aren't many big time matchups this week but there is a biggie this coming Saturday as #7 Xavier goes up against #6 Duke in East Rutherford, NJ. Should be an interesting game as both teams have played well thus far. The Musketeers are coming off of a tough road win against in-state rival Cincinnati and are undefeated (9-0) at this point in the season. Before we go on I want to give major props to my boy Pooh Bear Mars for being ranked in Rivals top 250 high school football players for 2009. Pooh Bear has one of the top names in sports and apparently the game to match. Take a look.

POOH BEAR!!!!

....Moving on, we're going to take a look at some ACC ballers that have improved tremendously over the past year. Sometimes this increased productivity can be a result of more minutes or injury issues, but often times its just that these players have worked on their games in the summer. Time to give some props.

ACC Ballers: Most Improved Players

1) G Jeff Teague, sophomore, Wake Forest - Teague has put up monster numbers this year for Dino Gaudio's club and he looks as though he is coming into his own. He's a fantastic athletic with the quicks to stay with anyone and the leaping ability to challenge shots. Teague's statistical improvement can be attributed to his dedication in the off season and an injury to last year's starting point guard Ishmael Smith. He's upped his scoring average from 13.9 to 19.3 per game, his assist average from 2.5 - 4.6, and his steal average from 1.8 to 2.4. Jeff's big time. Judging by this..(although I think he was called for the charge here)

(This is the first reference to Arabian Goggles I've ever read)

2) PF Gani Lawal, sophomore, Georgia Tech - Gani, a former McDonalds All American has really gotten it done this year for Hewitt's squad. He's upped his scoring output by 11 points a night (18ppg in 08-09') and his rebounding production by 7 (10rbp in 08-09'). His signature game thus far came in a loss against Penn State as he went for 34 points and 10 boards. He is going to be dominant for Tech this year and might actually help them get back to the tournament this year.

(it's from his high school days in Georgia)

3) PF Deon Thompson, junior, North Carolina - Deon has been a man amongst boys from the beginning of the year. He really took advantage of Hansbrough's absence early on as he dominated the paint area for the Heels. The 6'8, 240lbs junior has had several monster games thus far including a 19 point (8-12 from the field) 13 rebound performance against Notre Dame in the Maui Invitational Final. Again, his numbers were pretty decent last year (8.4 points, 4 boards a game on a loaded squad) but nothing like the production he's delivering now Deon is putting up 15.7ppg and almost 7.9rpg this season.

4) PF Jeff Allen, sophomore, Virginia Tech - Jeff has been doing his thing down in Blacksburg this year to the tune of almost 15 points and 10 boards a game. He's pretty much the only inside threat Seth Greenberg and his staff have and at times he's all they need. In his last game, a home win against Longwood, Allen went for 19 and 21! That's right, 21 boards. The kid is a beast.

5) PF Alade Aminu, senior, Georgia Tech - Alade, the older brother of stud freshman Al-Farouq Aminu is a beast inside and finally coming into his own down in Atlanta. The 6'10 power forward has upped his scoring average from 6 to 13 while his rebounding numbers have jumped up 5 boards a game to 9.1. Much of this is attributed to the increased minutes Coach Hewitt has given him and apparently they are much deserved. Aminu has looked good in almost every contest this year and gave Vanderbilt 16 points, 11 boards, and 4 blocks a little over a week ago.

6) PF Mike Scott, sophomore, Virginia - Scott has doubled his scoring and rebounding averages to pull himself up to 10 points and 10 boards a game in the young season. He's a relentless rebounder and has tried to assert himself offensively when possible. Mike's progress is impressive considering the limited amount of high school basketball he played.

7) PF/C Ben McCauley, senior, NC State - McCauley, the 6'9 237 pounder from Pennsylvania is looking like an improved version of the player we saw in 2006-2007 where he averaged 14 points and 7 boards a game. Last season was tough on Ben, as it was on many a Wolfpack player due to their lack of a seasoned point guard. His scoring average dropped significantly and State had a tough time closing out games. This season seems like a return to the norm as Ben is putting up an impressive 15 points and 9 boards a game. He's always been very skilled and his ACC experience will help the Wolfpack tremendously as conference play comes around.

ACC Ballers Dunk of the Week

Gerald Henderson gettin' up on Southern Illinois.....

ACC Ballers: EXAM WEEK

2008-12-08T13:17:00.000-08:00

Basically, exam week is synonymous with no games week. There isn't really much to look forward to in terms of great games to watch. But, since the players are spending a good bit of their time answering questions we at ACC Ballers will do the same.

ACC Ballers Predictions:

ACC Standings:

North Carolina
Duke
Wake Forest
Miami
Maryland
Clemson
Virginia Tech
Florida State
Georgia Tech
North Carolina State
Virginia
Boston College

1st team All-ACC:

Tywon Lawson, junior, UNC (click)
Jack McClinton, senior, Miami (click)
Greivis Vasquez, junior, MD (click)
Tyler Hansbrough, senior, UNC (click)
Kyle Singler, sophomore, Duke (click)

2nd team All-ACC:

Tyrese Rice, senior, BC (click)
Wayne Ellington, junior, UNC (click)
Gerald Henderson, junior, Duke (click)
James Johnson, sophomore, Wake Forest (click)
Trevor Booker, junior, Clemson (click)

3rd team All-ACC:

Toney Douglas, senior, Florida State (click)
Jeff Teague, sophomore, Wake Forest (click)
A.D. Vassallo, senior, Virgina Tech (click)
Danny Green, senior, UNC (click)
Deon Thompson, junior, UNC (click)

Honorable Mention:
Jeff Allen, sophomore, Virginia Tech (click); Gani Lawal, sophomore, Georgia Tech (click); John Scheyer, junior, Duke (click); K.C. Rivers, senior, Clemson (click) ; Dwayne Collins, junior, Miami (click)

ACC Ballers Dunk of the Week:

Duke freshman Elliott Williams goes on spin cycle....

ACC Ballers's BIG TEN/ACC Challenge Preview

2008-12-01T11:48:00.000-08:00

It's officially that time of year again, the BIG TEN/ACC Challenge is here. Or should we call this an event since the BIG TEN has never actually won (or really made it a 'challenge') since the event started in 1999. While this year should be no different the Big Ten might be able to compete a bit more this year due to the youth up and down the roster's of several ACC teams....By the way, I advise that any true college basketball fans watch as many UNC games as you can this year, you could be watching history. What I mean by that is that they might not lose a game all season long. They are one of the few college basketball teams that I've seen that combine top tier returning talent with top tier incoming freshmen. Honestly, how many college basketball programs can make the claim that they have more McDonald's high school all americans on their bench than in their starting lineup? I can't think of any. With that said. Here are the matchups:

BIG TEN/ACC CHALLENGE:

#22 Wisconsin 74 - Virginia Tech 72 (box score)

Preview:

The Badgers, led by guard Trevon Hughes (14 ppg) and forward Marcus Landry (12.5 ppg, 4.7 rpg), are 5-1 and typically play tremendous defense. Their one defeat came to the only legitimate team they have played thus far, UCONN, and that's not a bad loss at all. Virginia Tech comes into tonight's game with three players averaging over 10 points per game and a bit more
firepower than the Badgers. Lead by the trio of power forward Jeff Allen, shooting guard A.D. Vassallo, and point man Malcolm Delaney (each average 16 points per game) the Hokies have a talented squad that should more than be able to compete at home. Cassell Coliseum is a tough place to play (ask Duke) and the Badgers might have some issues with the atmosphere.

ACC Ballers pick: Virgina Tech.

Recap:

The number 22 ranked Badgers controlled this game until the last few minutes when Virginia Tech guards got hot. The Hokie backcourt of senior A.D. Vassallo and sophomore point guard Malcolm Delaney went off at the end of the game to bring Tech storming back into the game late. Vassallo's 3 with seven seconds tied the game at 72 and sent the Hokie crowd into a frenzy. Unfortunately for the Hokies the crowd was silenced shortly after as Badger guard Trevon Hughes dribbled the length of the court and hit a pull up jumper from about 10 feet to give his team the 74-72 lead with less than a second in the game. The footage probably does a better job of describing this than I can. See for yourself.

Iowa 55 - Boston College 57 (box score)

Preview:

Iowa is young and Boston College will have the top player in the game in 6'1 guard Tyrese Rice. Look for him to score early and often. While I don't think BC will win many this year they should win this one.

ACC Ballers pick: Boston College

Recap:

This game was very close and came down to a missed free throws by Iowa freshman Andrew Brommer with .4 seconds left. These free throws were awarded after a 'suspect' loose ball foul call on BC guard Corey Raji. BC senior point guard Tyrese Rice paced the Eagles with 15 points.

Ohio State 73 - #22 Miami 68 (same # of votes as Wisconsin) (box score)

Preview:

The number 22 ranked Canes' are flying high after a couple of blowout wins against San Diego and Stetson. To go along with Jack McClinton's 16 point average Miami junior forward Dwayne Collins is averaging a 13.6 and 10 boards a game. On the other hand, the 3-0 Buckeyes are very young as they rely on a handful of freshman and sophomore's to play the majority of the minutes. This is also their first true test as Ohio State has not played anyone of note to date. They also haven't played outside of the state of Ohio.

ACC Ballers pick: Miami

Recap:

After hitting 4 three point shots in the first 8 minutes of the game, the U's Jack McClinton got hit with an ejection after he retaliated to smack by Buckeye guard Anthony Crater with a smack of his own. The issue for McClinton was that Crater hit the floor, garnering the attention of the officials, who then looked at replays and determined that Jack had to exit state right. However unfair, this completely turned the game. Slowly but surely Ohio State climbed back into the game behind 20 points from sophomore two guard Jon Diebler.

Clemson 76 - Illinois 74 (box score)

Preview:

Illinois is off to a great start (6-0) and have four players averaging double figures led by sophomore power forward Mike Davis. The Illini have several young players that they ask to contribute but this talented group looks like they are coming together fine. Senior point guard Chester Frazier from Charm City (Baltimore), 'Murlin' is averaging 7 assists per game and should be able to control the tempo for Bruce Weber and the Illini.

ACC Ballers Pick: Illinois

Recap:

Sophomore forward Mike Davis (Alexandria, VA) poured in 28 points for the Illini but it was Clemson, powered by 4 starters reaching double digits in scoring, that carvered out the win. The game changed when Clemson decided to bring it on D. The Tigers' forced Illinois' into 17 turnovers in the second half to come back and take the lead in a game that they were trailing in at the half. Clemson would eventually catch a break at the end as Illinois guard Demetri McCamey failed to get a shot off as time expired.

#4 Duke 76 - #10 Purdue 60 (box score)

Preview:

Great great game here. Duke has 4 experienced players leading them in scoring and Coach K has considerably more talent on his bench this year than last year. The Boilermakers have a good bit of talent returning as well with guard E'twaun Moore and forward Robbie Hummel back in the fold. The Robbie Hummel vs. Kyle Singler matchup should be fun to watch as both have similar size (each around 6'9, 215lbs) and similar styles on the court. I think Duke has too much talent to lose to this team and will take care of Purdue at some point in the second half. If Purdue can keep the game close at the end they will have a shot but I still favor Duke in this one.

ACC Baller's Pick: Duke

Recap:

Coach K and the Blue Devils put Purdue in its place from the onset. Kyle Singler and John Scheyer each scored 20 in a rout of the Boilermakers on the road. The store of the game was the defensive pressure Duke put on the Boilermakers backcourt. Purdue was held to just 37% shooting from the field and start guard E'Twan Moore never really got into a rhythm. In typical Duke fashion they exposed the weaknesses of this young Purdue team in route to yet another W for the Dukies.

Virginia 56 - Minnesota 66 (box score)

Preview:

Pretty decent matchup of programs that are both playing young players in hopes of success a year or two from now. Tubby Smith's Gophers have played well and have rode junior guard Lawrence Westbrook (14 ppg) to a 6-0 start. The rest of the team is still coming together and while they are at home, the Cavs have more talent and should pull this out. Big time freshman Sylven Landesberg leads Virginia in scoring (20ppg) and sophomore power forward Mike Scott puts in work on the glass (11 rpg). The difference in this game will be Virginia's overall talent and size down low.

ACC Baller's Pick: Virginia

Recap:

Tubby Smith's Gophers forced the Cavaliers into 18 turnovers and basically controlled the game from midway in the first half. The pressure applied by guard Al Nolen was too much for the young and inexperienced backcourt of Virginia. In a game that pitted freshman Center Ralph Sampson III against his dad's former team, Gophers simply hit shots when they needed to and allowed the Cavaliers to give them the game. Junior forward Jamil Tucker lead the Cavaliers in scoring with 12 points.

Indiana 58 - #17 Wake Forest 83

Preview:

This would be a great game if everybody and their mom didn't leave Bloomington in the tumultuous off season the Hoosiers had. Wake Forest has an advantage in almost every department (size, skill, athleticism) and shouldn't have a problem with this group of Hoosiers. Jeff Teague (21 ppg, 57% 3 point shoting) and James Johnson (15ppg, 9 rpb) should lead the way for Wake in this one. Coach Creen's Hoosiers should be better next year when his highly rated 2009 class steps on campus.

ACC Baller's Pick: Wake Forest

Recap:

This game wasn't really close as Wake Forest played with high level division one talent and Indiana have a few scholarship freshman and sophomores mixed in with a ton of walk-ons. This was evidenced here....

That was just 2 of James Johnson's 21 points. Super star freshman Al-Farouq Aminu dropped in 13 points and 9 boards in the rout.

Penn State 85 - Georgia Tech 83

Preview:

This game should be better than people think but Penn State will get dominated down low. Georgia Tech has way too much quality size for the Nittany Lions to contend with. On the perimeter Penn State should be fine as guards Talor Battle and Stanley Pringle average 19 and 15 points per game respectively. Down low is where they will run into issues as their best post player, 6-5 power forward Jamelle Cornley, might have trouble with Tech's mammoth front line of Alade Aminu, Gani Lawal, and Zach Peacock who are averaging a combined 46 points and 23 rebounds per game.

ACC Baller's Pick: Georgia Tech

Recap:

Penn State is much improved this year and it showed by the performance of the backcourt alone. Battle and Pringle went for 40 points and 10 assists in a hard fought and well played game in Atlanta. As predicted, Gani Lawal went to work and poured in 34 points and 1o boards but Penn State was able to squeak this one out. A last second runner from the three point line by stud freshman Iman Shumpert (14 points, 12 assists) hit high off the rim and out.

Michigan 70 - Maryland 75

Preview:

While this is a home game for the Terps it's a tough matchup for them as well. Coach Williams' young team will have it's hands full with Michigan's 1-3-1 zone defense. They key in this game is how well the young Terrapin big men will be able to defend the paint. Michigan has a beast down low in DeShawn Sims who randomly comes off the bench (the reason given is that Beilein wanted to have some scoring punch in the second unit. Don't make sense to me) but puts up huge numbers and was instrumental in the Wolverine's victory over previously #4 UCLA at MSG earlier this year. Unless Greivis Vasquez and the rest of the Terps play like they did in the Michigan State game I don't see them beating Michigan.

ACC Baller's Pick: Michigan

Recap:

Michigan's 1-3-1 zone did not slow Maryland down as much as I antipated it would. The Terrapin guards showed great poise and even more importantly, so did big forward Dino Gregory. Dino put up 6 ponts, 7 boards, and a block in about 26 minutes. Doesn't seem like gaudy numbers but he was a force in the paint for the Terps and a positive sign for the rest of their season. Greivis Vasquez went to work again as he put up 23 points, 12 rebounds, and 6 assists.

#1 North Carolina 98 - #12 Michigan State 63

Preview:

North Carolina will win, because nobody can beat them....I shouldn't say anything more because this is basically the truth. Michigan State has no shot at winning this game, esp. if Goran Sutton is out. Regardless, Sutton hasn't practiced in weeks and he won't be much of a factor I can imagine. It's hard to imagine UNC's Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington, Tyler Hansbrough, Ed Davis, Danny Green, and Deon Thompson will choose the same night to have a bad game. North Carolina is better at every position on the court in almost every way you can be better that someone else at basketball. This is as elementary as I can put it.

ACC Baller's Pick: North Carolina

Recap:

This was a blowout from the opening tip. The Spartans, who haven't been playing particularly well, got ran out of Ford Field. The confusing part of the game was that the Spartans tried to play at Carolina's speed. That's not a formula for success against the Heels. Tyler Hansbrough went for 25 and 11 while Ty Lawson 17 points, 8 assists, and a ridiculous 7 steals. Carolina won this game by 35 points without playing any starter more than 28 minutes. Carolina's walk-ons got considerable time in this game. This is 9th man William Graves catching an oop from Lawson.

Florida State 59 - Northwestern 73

Preview:

Florida State is too athletic for this Wildcats team and that should be evident from the jump ball. The only factor that NU has in their favor is the home court. I suspect the crowd will help them out early but the Seminoles have too much firepower for this team. As long as senior guard Toney Douglas (19 points, 2.3 assists per game) is effective and can stay out of foul trouble, the Seminoles should win easy. Look for freshman phenom Chris Singleton to have a monster day on the boards.

ACC Baller's Pick: Florida State

Recap:

This was a truly bad performance by Leonard Hamilton's Seminoles as they got beat by 14 points to a not so great Wildcat team. Florida State's youth showed up in this game as Northwestern forced them into 21 turnovers, 7 of those by their best player Toney Douglas. NU guard Craig Moore played all 40 minutes and scored 20 points in the process. This was a huge win for their program and a telling loss for the Noles.

ACC Ballers Dunk of the Week:

Wake Forest's sophomore guard Jeff Teague gettin' up on Cal State Fullerton at the 76 Classic in Anaheim, California.....

ACC Ballers Week 2 update - #5 Duke off to a fast start, #1 UNC heads to Maui.

2008-11-24T13:13:00.000-08:00

This week was not as good for the conference as last, as three teams have lost a combined 4 games. But, overall the conference is 35-4 over the first two weeks of the season, which ain't bad at all. #5 Duke (6-0) ran through the Coaches vs. Cancer classic this past week capped off by a resounding 71-56 win over Michigan in the championship game. Tournament MVP Kyle Singler scored 15 points in the win. Maryland guard Greivis Vasquez was named ACC Player of the Week after averaging 27 points, 8.5 boards, 4.5 assists, and 3 steals in two wins over Youngstown State and Vermont. Virgina guard/forward Sylven Landesberg averaged 21.5 points and 4 boards in two wins over South Florida and Radford on his way to being named ACC Rookie of the Week for the second consecutive week. This week we'll be tracking top ranked Carolina's run through the Maui tournament. Everyone expects to see the Heels in the championship game and their journey starts tonight against the host, Chaminade, at 9:30 on ESPNU.

#1 UNC 115 - Chaminade 70

Nothing out of the ordinary here. If you like a lot of uncontested breakaway dunks, this was the game for you. Wayne Ellington had a few fast break dunks that made you get out of your seat but the dunk of the night definitely belonged to William Graves. This was just monstrous. See for yourself....

North Carolina dominated from the opening tip and never really looked back. Ty Lawson got hot from deep early on in the game (3-4 from three point land) and it seemed as though the Heels were on a perpetual fast break for 40 minutes. Junior small forward Danny Green was the game's high scorer with 26 as the Heels cruised at the Lahaina Civic Center in Maui, HI.

#1 UNC 98 - Oregon 69 (click to see highlights)

In typical UNC fashion the Heels got out of the gate running and never looked back. 6'6 Senior guard Danny Green scored 21 on 8 of 12 shooting. This season Green has emerged as Carolina's most versatile player as he effectively scores both inside and out (5-8 from three). Along with Green, everyone else on Carolina seemed to play well as coach Williams' team had 10 players score. One interesting aspect of the game was that Tyler Hansbrough started for Carolina for the first time all season. He seemed to get frustrated early against the very physical Oregon super freshman Michael Dunnigan, who seemed ready for the challenge. Unfortunately for coach Ernie Kent and the Ducks, Dunnigan was the only player that seemed capable of competing against this talented squad. Junior power forward Deon Thompson of Carolina went for 11 points and 6 boards while frosh point guard Larry Drew Jr. had a really nice game with 3 points and 5 dimes. Drew Jr. had a couple of flashy assists that made you think 'if this is Carolina's backup, they might not lose a game all year.' The more I watch this team the more I think it's built for a tournament run in March.

Next Up....

MAUI INVITATIONAL FINAL

#1 UNC - #8 Notre Dame (click to see highlights)

While Carolina has dismantled everyone they've played this season this game might be a true testament to how good they really are. Notre Dame is a top 10 team with a handful of players that have played at a high level for years. Junior power forward Luke Harangody was an All-Big East performer last year and was considering a jump to the NBA after average 20 points and 10 boards as a sophomore. Fighting Irish senior guard Kyle McAlarney is one of the best shooters in the country and looks primed for another very good year. Apparently you can throw all of this out when playing the Tar Heels. They ran through this team like they were a JV squad. McAlarney went off for 39 on 10 of 18 shooting from 3 and his team still got beat. If any top 10 teams gets 39 from one of their best players it's almost a lock that their team wins. The usual suspects came to play for Carolina as Tyler Hansbrough (68% from the field) looked like the Pyscho-T of old pouring in 34 points and tournament MVP Ty Lawson finished the game with 22 points and 11 assists. Junior forward Deon Thompson finished up with 19 points and 13 boards. Apparently Hansbrough is only playing at "about 75%" according to Roy Williams. The Heels are also missing last year's starting small forward Marcus Ginyard. I am scared to think how good this team will be in January. Look out ACC. Here is a little footage of the game....

ACC Ballers Dunk of the Week....
Nolan Smith gets extra big on Southern Illinois.

ACC doing well after week 1.....

2008-11-16T20:20:00.000-08:00

At this point each team has played at least one game and so far all is well. The ACC is a combined 16-0 as each team won its first game. While every team in the league is 1-0 on the young season Duke and Clemson are already 3-0. A big reason for the success of these two teams are Duke forward Kyle Singler and Clemson forward Trevor Booker, who were named Co-ACC players of the Week. Singler averaged 19 and 7 in wins over Presbyterian, Georgia Southern, and Rhode Island (11/16). Booker, who earned MVP honors at the Charleston Classic, put in averaged 13 points, 13 boards, and a ridiculous 3 blocks per game in a 3 game stretch (Hofstra, TCU, and Temple). On a side note, Virginia's freshman guard Sylven Landesberg put up 28 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists in a win over VMI yesterday on his way to being named ACC Rookie of the Week.

Good ACC games on deck:

Tuesday 11/18/08

Kentucky at #1 UNC, 9pm, ESPN

Wednesday 11/19/08

South Florida at Virginia, 7pm

Thursday 11/20/08

Southern Illinois at #10 Duke, 7pm, ESPN2

Saturday 11/22/08

Clemson at Charlotte, 7pm

ACC BALLERS 08-09 Pre-Season Rankings

2008-10-28T21:10:00.001-07:00

It's been a long time coming but ACC Ballers is back and ready for the 2008-2009 season. While the new season is still a few days away I think it's a good time to do a lil' prognosticating. To start off, I'm going to predict that Maryland's 6-9 freshman forward Jin Soo Kim will be a fan favorite from the moment he steps on the floor in College Park. The versatile Korean import has the ability to shoot ball from the outside, something that Maryland could use a little more of.

He's number 5.

Team Predictions

1. North Carolina

Carolina comes into the season ranked #1 in any poll you can find, and the voting wasn't really close. They bring everyone back except Alex Stephenson, who's off to USC to be closer to family. Roy Williams really lucked out when he received the news that Psycho-T, Ty Lawson, Danny Green, and Wayne Ellington all decided to forgo the NBA draft to return to Chapel Hill. Point blank, they shouldn't lose a game this year even without Hansbrough for the first 2 weeks of the season. Pre-season first team All-ACC point guard Ty Lawson and big time shooting guard Wayne Ellington are going to have their way with some of the youth in many ACC backcourts. If this wasn't enough, they add a heralded freshman class headlined by Mickey D's All Americans Tyler Zeller and Ed Davis. These two post players should just add more depth to an already crowded bench. The third McDonald AA of the class, point guard Larry Drew Jr. (son of the former NBA player Larry Drew), should be able to improve the backcourt. Too add, former McDonalds All-American point guard Bobby Frasor returns from injury. Basically everybody on this team is either really good or great. Heres a video, and then we're moving on.

(again, it's the Ty Lawson clip because it still has the best song of any basketball video on youtube. period)

2. Duke

They're going to be a lot better this year, and they weren't bad last year (26-4, 13-3). They have added a ton of front court depth and have finally decided to bring Paulus off the bench. No offense to Paulus (because he is a very productive ACC player) but he lacks the lateral quickness to stay with elite point guards and make plays for your teammates. The other reason that Coach K moved to Paulus to the bench was the emergence of Nolan Smith, the highly touted guard from Maryland who apparently was the best player on campus this summer. Throw in pre season All ACC first team F Gerald Henderson, big time shooter John Scheyer, and highly skilled freshman PF Miles Plumlee and the Blue Devils look as though they're ready to make a deep run in the NCAA tournament this year. I guess that's why they're ranked #5 in the espn/usatoday preseason top 25 poll. While I have Carolina winning the regular season title I think Duke will get the automatic bid if Smith is as good as advertised. Here is video of this year's version of their annual Blue/White game (the song in this video is horrible but it's pretty good footage).

The starting lineup of Smith, Scheyer, Henderson, Kyle Singler, and Mason Plumlee should be enough to put away most teams they face retalitvely early in agmes. Singler is a stud 6'8 sophomore who should blow up this season. Look for him to improve upon his 13 points and 6 boards a game this season. The addition of ultra athletic and highly coveted 6'4 two guard Elliot Williams (espn.com's #18 ranked player nationally) from Memphis should add even more depth to the guard position

3. Wake Forest

Youth and Talent would be the best two words to describe this year's version of the Deacs'. They've got plenty of returning talent in dynamic backcourt Junior Ishamel Smith and Sophomore Jeff Teague (13.9 ppg, 40% from three point range) to go along with much improved 7 foot junior center Chas McFarland (8.4 ppg last season as a sophomore) and James Johnson (3rd team All-ACC last season as a freshman). Heres a bit of what James Johnson can do.

To go along with this, Wake Forest has brought in a top 3 class according to rivals.com. The headliner is Georgia native Al-Farouq Aminu (espn.com's #17 ranked player nationally). Aminu is a highly skilled 6'8 SF with exceptional ball handling skills for someone that size. He's also a beast inside because he started his HS career as more of a post player. The descendant of African Kings has a brother, Alade, that gets good run for Georgia Tech. As if this weren't enough, the late Skip Prosser brought in talent inside prospects in hometown boy Ty Walker (rival.com's #2 ranked Center) and Tony Woods (rivals.com's #3 ranked Center) of Georgia. There is no reason for this team to not finish near the top of this conference this season and I expect the Deacs' to advance deep into the ACC tourney. Not many teams in the country will be able to match the speed in the backcourt that the Coach Gaudio can and maybe only a handful of teams can match the depth in the frontcourt. Should be an exciting season in Winston-Salem.

4. Clemson

This team lost a lot of its swagger with the losses of seniors James Mays and Cliff Hammonds. Luckily for Couch Purnell outstanding 2 guard K.C. Rivers brings his 14 points and 6 boards a game back for one more season. Rivers, along with clutch shooter Terrence Oglesby and shot blocker Trevor Booker (1.9 bpg) should be the glue of this talented team. One player whose numbers and time should improve this year is 6'6 junior guard/foward David Potter. Potter is a great athlete who has a nice feel for the game and good touch. His minutes went up 5 in his sophomore season and I expect them to go up even more. Clemson needs another shooter and he seems to fit the bill. Moving on, Jerai Grant, nephew of former NBA player and Clemson All-American Horace Grant, is a year older and should provide some depth inside. While Demontez Stitt played very well as a freshman point guard in the toughest league in the land, last year's Tigers needed another guard who could bring the ball up court against heavy pressure. Purnell took care of this issue by bringing in dynamic 5-9 point guard Andre Young, espn.com's 28th ranked point guard. He also added Caitlin Bacui, a 7 footer who will add size inside. Overall Clemson should make the NCAA tournament again and they might have added enough pieces to advance a few rounds.

5. Maryland

This team has a lot of potential, which is why the Terps are at the five spot. This could end up being too high if their inexperience inside becomes a problem but their backcourt is really good. Last season Second Team All-ACC guard Greivis Vasquez (17 points, 5.7 boards and 6.3 assists per game) returns along with fellow junior guard Eric Hayes. Hayes quietly averaged about 10 points and a shade under 5 assists per game. Adding to the backcourt depth is incoming freshman 6-5 freshman two guard Sean Mosely out of Charm City. Mosely, espn.com's 9th ranked shooting guard in the country, can really score the ball and is a beast on defense. Just the type of guy that plays early and often for Gary. While the backcourt is straight the front court leaves a lot to be desired. Williams will have to rely on sophomore wing Cliff Tucker and junior forward Landon Milbourne to help out inside a bit. Milbourne, a lefty who can do this

improved tremendously as a sophomore and one has to think he'll continue to improve this year. 6'9 four man 3rd year sophomore Jerome Burney should man the post area along with 6'8 wide body sophomore Braxton Dupree. These two will have to adjust quickly as they'll be asked to do much more this year with the losses of James Gist and Bambale Osby. One player who should help is the aforementioned Jin Soo Kim. He'll give Gary a shooter who can help force teams out of zones.

6. Miami

The Hurricanes bring back a talented team with 6'1 senior guard Jack McClinton and his 17.7 points a night average (a ridiculous 42.7% beyond the arc). Take a look at what he did in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last season.

Frank Heath's team also returns 6'3 junior James Dews, who averaged over 10 a night last season as a sophomore. While this team is ranked is ranked 16th by the espn/usatoday poll, I have a feeling that they will miss 6'9 big man Anthony King more than most think. He was their leading rebounder and gave them 24 big minutes a night last season. While Dwayne Collins is a promising young post player the Canes just don't have enough big guys down low with to make up for their lack of a true point guard. Nobody on the team averaged even 3 assists per game. In college basketball, if you have holes inside and noone to make plays for other people you'll have a hard time making much noise. This team is still talented though and should be even better with the arrival of 6'6 Five Star (scout.com) small forward DeQuan Jones. Jones can absolutely fly and should help Miami on the boards.

7. North Carolina State

The year's Wolfpack should look a lot more like the 2006-2007 season than the 2007-2008 team. Gone are stud freshman J.J. Hickson and big game senior wing Gavin Grant but Coach Lowe's team has a lot of talent returning. More importantly, the Wolfpack will have their point guard Farnold Degand back from injury. Of all the things that went wrong for N.C. State this was the biggest blow due to lack of depth at the position. Although they had enough talent to keep up with the rest of the ACC the Pack just couldn't protect the ball at the end of games. Aside from protecting the ball, I believe the return of Degand will probably lead to improved numbers by former Mickey D's All American Brandon Costner, whose production dipped to 8.5 point per game as a junior after averaging 16.8 as a sophomore. Every thing I have heard leads me to believe that Hickson's touches really limited Costner's ability to score. With J.J. now a first round pick playing for the Cleveland Lebron's Costner should have much more room to operate down low and the perimeter. I also like 6'9 senior Center Ben McCauley's high basketball IQ and ability to score down low. 6'6 Senior guard Courtney Fells is an ACCBallers favorite and should provide quality outside shooting and monster dunks for the Wolfpack as well. This team will be in the thick of it for an NCAA at large bid by season's end.

8. Virginia Tech

This year's Hokies squad will miss a lot of what Deron Washington brought to the table. The announcer's reaction says it all.

He brought a type of athleticism that most teams in the country couldn't account for. A 6'7 guy should not be able to do what he did in the air. For that reason alone Tech will have issues winning some of the close games they won last season. Enough of what they don't have. This team is actually pretty talented. They return 3 of their top 4 scorers including leading scorer A.D. Vassallo. A.D. proved he can shoot it by averaging about 17 a night on a shade under 40% shooting from three. A.D., along with talented rising sophomores Malcolm Delaney and Jeff Allen should be enough to compete at home and on the road this year. If highly regarded 6'9 Center Victor Davilla can give them quality production as a freshman, this team might finish higher than this in the league and challenge for a tournament big. I just don't see it right away though.

9. Georgia Tech

The Ramblin' Wreck should be much improved from last season, and could possibly finish higher than this if senior Lewis Clinch can return to his sophomore form when he averaged 13 a night. He would have averaged more by years end in my opinion but his season was cut short due to an academic issue, looks like things might not have changed though. He's already been ruled academically ineligible for at least the first seven games of the season. When he gets back, Clinch should have a bit more help this season though as incoming McDonalds All American combo guard Iman Shumpert sets to make his Yellow Jacket debut. Coach Hewitt saw his team give up several leads last season due to shaky backcourt play. He needs the 6-4 Shumpert to help Clinch and point guard Mo Miller with handling the ball on the perimeter and chances are he will. He's got a pretty mature game for a 18 year old freshman two guard. See for yourself.....

Aside from Shumpert, the Jackets have a number of talented players on the roster who should help out this year. One of these being 6'8 former high school All American Gani Lawal. Lawal is a beast down low and should significantly improve upon his 7 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. Another player who should really come out this season is junior Zach Peacock. He averaged just about 10 a night last season in just 20 minutes a night. He's a skilled post player and should really be able to exploit many of the young ACC post players this season. The experience Georgia Tech has down low should help them compete for a higher finish but scoring might still be an issue for this team. They have the potential to be on the bubble for the big dance but chances are they'll be NIT'ing it in March.

10. Florida State

The Seminoles are very young but should at the very least be fun to watch. The Seminoles like to run and luckily for them they return one of the ACC's leader in steals last season in senior guard Tony Douglas. Douglas was also the the leading scorer for this team at 15.4 a night and will probably need to do even more to keep this team competitive. Of the 12 scholarship players on the roster only have 4 are upperclassmen. This would normally be a recipe for disaster if their freshman class (ranked 9th in the nation by rivals.com) wasn't so good. Hamilton has somehow managed to bring in top 25 versatile 6'8 forward Chris Singleton, to go along with skilled center Xavier Gibson (#56 overall by rivals.com), guard Deividas Dulkys (#69 overall by rivals.com), juco All American pick up Derwin Kitchen. This class is loaded and should help the 4 returning starters win some games that the Seminoles might not have one in the past. Singleton's ability to rebound and get out and run should be a matchup problem for almost every team on the Coach Hamilton's schedule.

11. Virginia

This year, my beloved Cavaliers will have an uphill battle on their hands almost each time out. Coach Leitao loses the heart and soul of the team for the past 2 years, all everything guard Sean Singletary and his almost 20 points and 7 dimes a game. This year, the Cavs will rely heavily on incoming McDonald's All American Sylven Landesberg, a 6'6 combo guard with ability to shoot the ball and slash to the basket. Sylven, espn.com's 19th ranked senior in the class of 2008, will have to come in with the ability to take care over games for the Wahoos to finish higher than this. This is a bit of what he can do (number 15).

Along with Landesberg, Virginia will need help from off and on senior forward Mamadi Diane. Mo, the second leading scorer for the Cavs last season at 11.8 a night, needs to improve upon his average and score consistently for this team. Starting power forward Mike Scott should improve upon his decent numbers (5.7ppg, 5.3rpg) as a sophomore and should be aided by the return of senior center Tunji Soroye. Last season Coach Leitao's team had an issue with depth inside but that should not be a problem this year. Along with the addition of Landesberg, he added highly rated 6'11 center John Brandenburg (#77 overall by espn.com) and 7'0 late bloomer Assane Sene from Senegal. Both of these post players are extremely athletic and will shore up the Cavs interior defense immediately. The commitments of Sylven, JB, and Sene gave UVA honorable mention status on espn.com's 2008 team recruiting rankings. If not this year, this class should be key to the Cavs future success.

12. Boston College

This season will be pretty tough for the Coach Skinner and the BC Eagles. While they return super guard Tyrese Rice and his 21 points and 5 dimes a game the Eagles don't return much else. Sophomore Rakim Sanders should continue to improve on his outstanding freshman numbers (about 12 points and 5 boards a night) from the guard position. Of the 12 scholarship players on the roster, Coach Skinner returns one senior (Rice), and only one junior (6'7 forward Tyler Roche). Everyone else is either a freshman or a sophomore. For a team that was 4-12 in conference last season, relying on so many young players is a recipe for disaster in the ACC. Hopefully talented sophomore center Josh Southern will continue to get better and provide the Eagles with an inside presense at some point this season.

Fall Update

2008-09-04T14:00:00.000-07:00

I know it's early but there has been a decent bit of ACC basketball news that I thought I'd pass along. For starters, the ACC has done a great job of getting of recruiting for the class of 2009. The conference claims three teams in ESPN.com's 2009 top 10 team recruiting rankings. UNC holds down the number one spot with 5 commitments (each of which are ranked top 100 players by ESPN as well. Georgia Tech comes in at number six spot while Georgia Tech is not far behind at 9. You can find the breakdown of these classes here.

In other ACC news, the Virginia Cavaliers Men's Basketball team finished up Labor Day weekend in Canada with a 2-1 record. Big time Freshman SG/SF Sylven Landesberg scored 18 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in his first time suiting up for the Cavaliers. He would go on to average 17 points and 11.5 rebounds in his first two games before spraining his ankle early in the third. Junior guard Calvin Baker played very well and was the team's leading scorer with a 16ppg average. Seven foot freshman Assane Sene was not able to join the team on the trip due to the uncertainty of his eligibility status. Apparently this is not a big concern as Virginia Head Coach Dave Leitao expects him to be eligible for the start of the Cavaliers 2008-2009 season.

ACC Ballers' ACC recruiting rankings 2008 (updated 7/1/08)

2008-05-12T12:17:00.000-07:00

There are several talented freshmen getting ready to step foot on an ACC campus for the first time this summer. While in the past much of the talent seems to congregate on Tobacco Road this year the other ACC schools have struck gold.

1. Wake Forest (signed 3)

This class is loaded. They added a McDonald's All-American in Espn.com's #1 ranked Small Forward Al-Farouq Aminu. He should immediately contribute on the glass and add much needed size and skill to the small forward position. Here's a peak at the 6'8 Small Forward's athleticism:

Before his unfortunate passing Skip Prosser was also able to add two of the top 10 centers in the class of 2008 in Tony Woods (Rome, GA) and in-state product Ty Walker (Wilmington, NC). This is a huge addition to a front line that has already started to come on. Woods, a Jordan Classic Game participant this year is a big time athlete who should come in and immediately help down low.

2. North Carolina (4)

While there doesn't seem to be that spectacular player in this class it's still a pretty very good haul fort he Tar Heels. They were able to bring in Espn.com's #1 ranked Power Forward Tyler Zeller. The 6'11 Zeller is tremendously skilled and can run. He also has a big brother at Notre Dame so I expect he'll be more prepared for his first season than most freshman. Along with Zeller comes the #2 ranked power forward in the country in Richmond, Virginia's Ed Davis. Ed is the son of former NBA player Terry Davis. While somewhat undersized at 6'8 Davis has a number of great post moves that will help his adjustment from high school basketball. Lastly they picked up a highly regarded point guard in Larry Drew Jr. Drew is somewhat undersized but very skilled and can really pass the ball. Like Davis, his dad played in the NBA for a number of years. The last Tar Heel recruit to sign was 6'4 shooting Justin Watts from North Carolina. I don't have much information on him as he just recently signed.

3. Florida State (6)

This is a very important class for Florida State's coach Leonard Hamilton. The program needed an infusion of talent (esp. after the loss of frosh PF Julian Vaughan) after last year's disappointing season. Luckily for Seminoles coach he has some really good players that should contribute sooner rather than later. The headliner of the class is do it all SF Chris Singleton. The 6'8 210 pound power forward was a McDonald's All American who can run and get up to block shots. His skill set definitely plays into the up tempo style Hamilton's teams like to play. Here is a bit of what I'm talking about:

To go along with Chris, Hamilton signed 6'10 Center Xavier Gibson from Alabama. He is highly regarded and should be able to offset the loss of Vaughan. Another member of this class that I expect will help immediately is in-state point guard Luck Loucks. At 6'4 Luke is a big pass first point guard that will help him see over the defense. This could really be an advantage for the Seminoles because he's known to be a great passer. The last 3 players in this class are Espn.com's 44th ranked point guard Pierre Jordan, SG Deividas Dulkys from Nevads, and big Juco point guard Derwin Kitchen.

4. Duke (3)

Initially this new class of Blue Devils were not discussed as much because Coach K had only 2 commitments, the headliner being smooth 6-4 two guard Elliott Williams from Memphis, Tennessee. "E-mail" as he's known is a great ball handler, decent shooter, and a big time athlete. He can really get up and throw it down. Have a look for yourself.

While Williams was a huge get Coach K desperately needed big men in this class. Duke definitely suffered from having little to know height on it's roster and a coaching change at Stanford, coupled with a 2009 commitment, helped them land an Espn.com's top 100 player in 6'11 Power Forward Miles Plumlee (Arden, NC). The story here is that Miles had signed with Stanford in the early signing period and was set to play for Trent Johnson out West. In late February Miles' little brother (not in stature) Mason committed to Coach K for the 2009-2010 season. A month or so after the college basketball season had ended Johnson left Stanford for LSU and Mason was granted a release from his scholarship. Needing more help than Olek Czyz, the other PF Duke picked up in this class, Coach K swept in and garnered a commitment from Miles as well. This is a huge get for the Devils as Miles is a skilled 6'11 player that can get up and down the court and has a high basketball IQ.

5. Virginia (3)

This class is headed by Sylven Landesberg, a 6'6 McDonald's All-American two guard from Flushing, NY. A huge get for Coach Dave Leitao and his staff as Espn.com's 18th ranked player should be able to come in and score right away. Sylven put up big numbers in high school including a 44 point performance this past season against Helen Cox (La.) high school featuring the 6'10 Georgetown recruit Greg Monroe (espn.com #12 ranked player). He can score in a variety of ways in that he can shoot the 3, drive to the basket, and hit the pull up jumper. Look for yourself:

Coach Leitao also felt the need to add size in this class and landed two Espn top 150 Center prospects. The first of which was St. Louis, Missouri's John Brandenburg. Brandenburg (#12 ranked Center) has lots of potential and is a good passer. The second of which is the athletic 7'0 220lbs. Assane Sene (#17 ranked Center) from South Kent School in Connecticut by way of Senegal. Sene has only played one season of basketball in the US but everyone has taken notice of the potential. He went from being virtually unknown less than a year ago to being a highly recruited prospect as Uconn and Syracuse were in the mix.

6. Miami (2)

While Heath brings in a small class for 2008 it is not short on talent. The player everyone is raving about is 6'6 5 star SF DeQuan Jones from Wheeler, GA. DeQuan is a super athlete that can throw down with the best of them. A Scout.com evaluation says Dequan has a "body built to fly." I've personally never seen anyone fly but you're left to assume that Mr. Jones can get up with the best of em'.

Take a look for yourself:

and again:

The other recruit in this class is 6'9 262lbs. Center Reggie Johnson from North Carolina. He should provide yet another big body for the Canes'.

7. Georgia Tech (just one recruit, but he's really good)

Iman Shumpert (Oak Park, Ill.) is the only player Paul Hewitt signed in this class and he happens to be one of the top 20 players in the class of 2008. The 6'4 Combo Guard is very smooth and has a big time perimeter jump shot. The kid got an offer from UNC, that should say enough. I don't think he's a one and done type but he will be an upper echelon ACC guard at some point in his ACC career. He'll give Georgia Tech the scoring threat that they desperately needed during their infamous scoring droughts of last season.

8. Clemson (4)

Oliver Purnell signed 4 talented players in this years class that should really help the program a few years from now. While the recruiting services seem to be all over the board on these players the highlight of the class has to be Catalin Bacui, the 7'0 225lb Center from Romania. The foreign born Center played high school basketball in North Carolina and is known for his excellent passing ability and his mid range game.

Last season Clemson had two glaring issues. A) They couldn't shoot and B) They had trouble handling the ball on the perimeter. Well, the coaching staff realized this and picked up commitments from two very talented Guards in Scout.com's 6th ranked point guard Andre Young (Albany, GA) and 6'5 shooting guard Tanner Smith (Norcross, GA). Young should help Clemson control the ball a bit better and Tanner Smith should provide the Tigers with a shooting option outside of Terrence Oglesby. You might remember Oglesby (#22) yanking Maryland's tournament hopes away with this shot last season....

The other signee in this class is 6'6 Small forward Bryan Narcisse from South Carolina. Bryan is apparently very young for his class and was being looked at by several mid major and ivy league schools.

9. Maryland (2....Tyree Evans was denied admission. Augustus Gilchrist transferred.)

Gary Williams did a great job of actually acquiring some in-state talent for the third season in a row. Granted, they didn't pick up one of the several future NBA players that seem to leave the state each year but they have a solid class coming to College Park next season. The first get for the staff was 4-star two guard Sean Mosley from Baltimore. At 6-4 Mosley has good size to play in the backcourt and from what I'm hearing he is an excellent defender. The next addition to the class was 6-10 250lbs. center Steve Goins. While not highly ranked (Scout.com's #27 ranked Center for the 2008 Class), Goins received interest from South Florida, Kentucky, and a handful of other schools. Steve is actually really young for his class and with some better conditioning he could have a decent impact for the Terps.

10. North Carolina State (2)

The Wolfpack added two players at need positions for them. They had a rough year with injuries in the backcourt and attempted to address the issue by signing 6'5 two guard C.J. Williams and 6'2 point guard Julius Mays from Indiana. While these two are solid players they aren't regarded as players who will come in and start right away but they should contribute nonetheless. I can imagine Sidney Lowe, a former point guard himself, never again wants to be in the position he was in last year where he had to rely on a freshman who was really not ready to play in this conference.

11. Virginia Tech (3)

The Hokies have 3 players coming in and at least 2 should be able to help relatvely soon. 6'9 225lbs. Center Victor Davila is the headliner of the class and is considered one of the top 20 center prospects in the class of 2008. He can is good low post scorer and can rebound. The second player the Hokies have coming in is undersized shooting guard Kendall Durant (Washington, DC). Durant is a physical and aggressive guard that should contribute in time. The other player in this class is 6'11 260lbs project Gene Swindle from Florida. Gene is a big kid and should get better under Coach Greenberg's tutelage.

12. Boston College (3)

Coach Skinner needed to add some size to the Eagles' roster and he didn't get it done with this class. With the loss of Shamari Spears' the Eagles will probably struggle again in conference. On the bright side, Skinner brought in a few wing player that should definitely provide some scoring punch. The primary recruit in this is class is 6'3 two guard Reggie Jackson for Colorada. Jackson apparently has a tremendous wingspan and high level jumping ability. The other two additions are 6'5 two guard Dallas Elmore (Fort Collins, CO) and 6'7 245lbs. power forward Evan Ravenel (Brandon, FL)

Baltimore's Next Great ACC Guard: Virginia Tech Freshman Malcolm Delaney

2008-04-09T06:27:00.001-07:00

By the 12th game of his college basketball career, Malcolm Delaney was a starting guard on a team that just a year ago was in the NCAA tournament. Like any freshman, he had his moments where he was brilliant and moments where he was not. Typical Stuff. He wasn't very well known around the league intially, but by the end of the ACC season, everybody knew his name. How could you not. He made second team all ACC tournament this year after averaging 15 points and 4.5 assists in two games. He was the only freshman on either the first or second all tournament teams. His performance against North Carolina was more than impressive because this was not the first, but the second time he had played very well against the top ranked men's basketball team in the country. You see, the first matchup the Hokies had against the mighty Tar Heels in February didn't go so well for Malcolm and his Virginia Tech teammates. They ended up losing by 39 in Chapel Hill and it appeared as though Tech's season was in serious limbo. The lone, and I mean lone bright spot was the quiet freshman combo guard with Bmore game. Malcolm caught fire that night and poured in 20 points, 12 more than the next highest scorer on that team. The confidence he garnered from that experience would serve him well in the second go round with the Heels. He made shots early and quickly had his team believing they could beat the Heels' in the ACC tournament semi-finals. If not for a few untimely mistakes towards the end of the game who knows what would have happened. Regardless, what we all did know after that game was that Malcolm Delaney could ball. Period.

Malcolm Delaney has been very good for a long time. Most ACC players are also. No big deal. Delaney did everything that a post-Melo Baltimore basketball star could do. Played AAU ball for Team Melo, played for renowned Towson Catholic, and signed a D-1 basketball scholarship in a BCS conference. At first glance it would seem that Delaney is just another skilled athlete that was good at the game because it comes easy to him. Sure, you realize that he works on his game, (he's an ACC player, of course he does) but like any ACC freshman guard, does he know what it takes to succeed on this level? Does he understand what kind of success he could achieve by going the extra mile in the off season?.....Well, after talking to Towson Catholic coach Josh Pratt it is abundantly clear that Delaney is no a stranger to hard work, and that his fantastic freshman season is the result of his off season labor. In a conversation I had with Coach Pratt regarding his former high school superstar he emphasized this point. "I think Virginia Tech has a great player. He has the potential to be an All-ACC player. He works at it. He really works on his game. I can't really take credit for that. My biggest thing was not to mess him up. It's all him. Everything he's done he's earned."

Coach Pratt did not stop there. Here is the rest of the conversation:

ACCBallers: What has Malcolm shared with you about his Virginia Tech/ACC experience?

Coach Pratt: He stays in touch with Larry (Bastfield) and Brandon Green and some of my younger guys. What he did in the weight room helped prepare him for the ACC but they really worked him. He (Malcolm D.) said 'Coach man, it's just another level. Everyones really good. there's no off nights.' Malcolm is tough, he's gonna be a leader.

ACCBallers: I noticed that towards the end of his senior season he made that jump from being a 3 or 4 star combo guard to a legitimate 4 star point guard. When do you feel like he began to get noticed on a national level?

Coach Pratt: (I told him) If you lift everyday from now until the start of the season you'll take your game two levels up. If you want to be an upper echelon player, you're going to have to get stronger to finish games stronger. He had a thin frame, but he had everything. You've got to give credit to AAU coach Corbin and Team Melo. I don't know if I'll ever have a guy like him again.

As you can see Malcolm is yet another smaller Bmore guard with the desire to work hard for all of his success. Although he was very modest in the interview I'm sure Coach Pratt had something to do with Malcolm being the quality of player he is now. I'd quickly like to thank coach Pratt for his time and wish both he and Malcolm best of luck in the seasons to come.

Carolina is all that's left......

2008-03-24T06:53:00.001-07:00

It's the Monday after the first round of the NCAA tournament and the ACC is almost completely out of 'meaningful' post-season play. If it wasn't for the fact that UNC has won it's first two games in the tournament by an average of 35 it might have appeared as though ACC teams were not participating this year. In fact, what happened is that the lack of size (Duke), free throw shooting (Clemson), and talent (Miami) prevented each of these teams from getting to the Sweet 16. The true bench mark of College Basketball. Reaching the Sweet 16 allows every coach and player to take a sigh of relief. If you play in a BCS conference (ACC, Big Ten, Big East, SEC, Big 12, Pac-10) and you reach the Sweet 16 you can exhale. For the most part, your fans are just appreciative and will cheer their mouths off for you come Thursday or Friday. All you have to do is relax and play. The coaches for these teams are also at ease. They no longer have to consider their future with the program, or they're support from the staff (if this were in question0. In some cases, they might even receive a contract extension. It's a win win. Yes, these teams are expected to do whatever it takes to reach the final four but unless they go in to the tournament as a 1 seed they are excused if they fall short. Reaching this level is also a huge deal for non-BCS conference teams (everyone else), but for different reasons. These coaches will undoubtedly get interviews for open positions at BCS conference schools, and he might take one of those opportunities, so whatever success that school will have needs to happen now. Who knows if the next coach will be as successful. Also, these schools usually have a ton of upperclassman. This almost ensures that for many their Sweet 16 appearance will be their last opportunity to play big time college basketball, or any type of basketball viewed by more than (10,000 + people). Under the given circumstances usually the more talented BCS conference teams prevail. A lot of this has to do with their superior talent but the extraneous factors will more than likely play a roll in decided the victor. Who would you take your chances on? The confident big conference team with future NBA'ers and program stability or the poised small conference team with experienced players and a coach at the cusp of taking their career to a new level?....It's question posed every march and this year is no different.

ACC's road to the Final Four

Next up for the Tar Heels.....

#4 Washington State on Thursday.

followed by (with a Win) the winner between

#3 Louisville and #2 Tennessee

ACC Ballers Dunk of the Week....

North Carolina's Sophomore forward Deon Thompson throwin' down off the feed from Danny Green.

UNC handles Duke.....ACC TOURNAMENT WEEK (finally its here!!!!)

2008-03-10T11:58:00.000-07:00

The Big Game between then #5 Duke and #1 UNC lived up to the hype. A total of 12 former McDonalds All Americans participated in the game (13 if Bobby Frasor wasn't hurt). .Duke beat UNC on the road a month ago. UNC in turn beat Duke on the road on Saturday.. blah blah. It was actually a very good game as both teams battled to the end. Although the Heels were up by 11 at halftime everybody could sense a Duke run coming. Of course, at about the 5 and a half minute mark Scheyer put the Devils up 2 for the first time all game. This was then negated by a huge 10-0 Carolina run. The Devils would then miss several shots down the stretch and as Carolina would come away with the W. Sophomore two guard Wayne Ellington and Junior guard/forward Danny Green combined for 34 points while Junior forward Tyler Hansbrough chipped in 15 rebounds.

Duke 68 - Carolina 76
Fan Pick: Carolina

Final ACC Regular Season Standings (in conference, overall):

1. North Carolina (#1): 14-2, 29-2
2. Duke (#7): 13-3, 26-4
3. Clemson: 10-6, 22-8
4. Virginia Tech: 9-7, 18-12
5. Miami: 8-8, 21-9
6. Maryland: 8-8, 18-13
7. Wake Forest: 7-9, 17-12
8. Florida State: 7-9, 18-13
9. Georgia Tech: 7-9, 14-16
10. Virginia: 5-11, 15-14
11. North Carolina State: 4-12, 15-15
12. Boston College: 4-12, 13-16

The ACC tournament starts this Thursday and not a moment too soon. The brackets are up and it looks like 4 straight days of great ACC ball.

Thursday (First Round)

#5 Miami vs. #12 North Carolina State - 63-50 Miami
#8 Wake Forest vs. #9 Florida State - 70-60 Florida State
#6 Maryland vs. #11 Boston College - 71-68 Boston College
#7 Georgia Tech vs. #10 Virginia - 94-76 Georgia Tech

Friday (Quarterfinals)

#1 North Carolina vs. #9 Florida State - 82-70 North Carolina
#4 Virginia Tech vs. #5 Miami - 63-49 Virginia Tech
#2 Duke vs. #7 Georgia Tech - 82-70 Duke
#3 Clemson vs. #11 Boston College - 82-48 Clemson

Saturday

#4 Virginia Tech vs. #1 North Carolina - 66-68 North Carolina
#3 Clemson vs. #2 Duke - 78-74 Clemson

Sunday

#3 Clemson vs. #1 North Carolina - 86-81 North Carolina

ACC Ballers Dunk of the Week.......(ACC Tournament)

Can Deron Washington fly? This was pretty ridiculous.

Regular Season winding down.....ACC Championship on the line.

2008-03-03T06:47:00.000-08:00

With one more week left in the ACC regular season its becoming clear that the champion will be decided this Saturday, March 8th in Chapel Hill as #5 Duke takes on #1 North Carolina. Both teams are currently 12-2 in conference and each need to get through one more game (Duke plays at Virginia and UNC hosts Florida State) to ensure that the winner on Saturday wins the regular season crown outright. With this said, both teams are likely to go into Saturday night's game 13-2 and ready to bring it from the tip off. There's always been a bit of bad blood between these teams....

March 4, 2007

In addition there has been a war of words between Duke Coach Krzyzewski and UNC's Roy Williams. Coach K, discussing how Nolan Smith had been playing with a bad knee, mentioned that "unlike other schools we (Duke) don't release our injuries." The very next day coach Williams, in response to the Coach K's comments that he feels were directed at him chimed "Coach their own damn team, and I'll coach mine." Coach K definitely got under Roy's skin in this situation. Wouldn't be surprised if everyone of the injured UNC players who can return are playing on Saturday.

....Meanwhile ACC Sunday night hoops again lived up to expectations last night. On what was supposed to be a pleasant fair well to James Gist and Bambale Osby turned out to be a horror story for the packed house at Comcast Center (almost called it Cole Field House, I'm getting old). Everything was going the Terrapins way for the entire first and a good portion of the second half. Vasquez hit shots, Gist had a few monster blocks, The Terps were up something like 20 points with just over 11 minutes left. What happened after that I'm not so sure I can really explain....and I watched the game. What I did notice was that Clemson Senior forward James Mays, who had been suffering with an injury to his hand all year, began to dominate at the head of the press. Down 68-55, Clemson went on a 9-0 run in which Mays, who scored 7 of the 9, threw down a huge dunk to bring the Tigers within 4 with a bout 3 minutes left. Mays' athleticism sets him apart from most big men as Maryland clearly had no answer. He, along with Trevor Booker came alive in the second half and really beat up the Terrapins down low. A steal here, missed free throws there and Clemson had the game tied up at 70-70, and the ball, with about 14 seconds left....Clemson Freshman Terrence Oglesby does the rest.

Clemson 73 - Maryland 70
Fan Pick: Maryland

.....in other news Tyrese Rice of BC went for 46 in Saturday's loss at home to North Carolina. Rice had 23 in the first 7 minutes. Yea that's right, 23 in the first 7 minutes. Crazy, somehow BC still lost this game by 10.

ACC Ballers Dunk of the Week....

NC State Freshman J.J. Hickson gettin' up without lookin'

ACC Basketball Standings

2008-02-25T08:21:00.000-08:00

Two things I discovered this week. 1) Pooh Bear Mars is the best name in high school football and 2) Russell Westbrook is a highlight waiting to happen.

1) Pooh Bear's youtube highlight.

I checked on Scout.com and "Pooh Bear Mars" is how they list him (Although I'm pretty sure his real first name is Larvez). Check for yourself if you have doubts....

2). Russell Westbrook did it again. LenKendric Longmire is the most recent Pac-10 victim of Westbrook's ridiculous dunks.

It was a typical week in the ACC for every team but Virginia. The Cavaliers had a 1-9 in conference record coming in, and although they had 3 games scheduled, they bumped their ACC record to 3-9, beating Boston College on the road and NC State at home. What about that other game they were supposed to play against Georgia Tech this past week? Yea, that got postponed due to a leaky roof at Alexander Memorial Coliseum in Atlanta this past Thursday. The ACC was forced to move the game to Monday March 3rd. Regardless, it's been a great week for the Cavaliers. They went undefeated for the week and have a week off to get rested/ready for a tough game at Miami on Saturday. To go along with this recent success, UVA commit Sylven Landesberg was named a 2008 McDonald's High School All American. He, along with seven other high school players that have committed to ACC schools, will play in the most prestigious high school all-star game in the country (basically if you make this game you're considered one of the top 30 basketball players in the US) on March 26 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Another ACC team that had a great week hails from the Sunshine state. Miami reeled off three wins last week against Georgia Tech, Duke, and Maryland. This impressive run has been lead by junior guard Jack McClinton who averaged 19 in these three Hurricane victories. The 22 points he dropped on #2 Duke kept the Devils from getting back in that game.

In the Fan Pick game this week UNC came out on top of Wake Forest at home. Same story here. Hansbrough bullied his way to 29 points. Ellington and Green shot well from the perimeter and UNC won for the fifth straight time. Most of you predicted this would happen while myself and someone else was wrong. I was thinking that Wake would take the momentum from the Duke win, coupled with UNC's lack of depth at the point guard position, and give UNC a run. So much for that.

ACC Standings (in conference, overall):

1. North Carolina: 11-2, 26-2
2. Duke: 10-2, 26-3
3. Clemson: 7-5, 19-7
4. Maryland: 7-6, 17-11
5. Virginia Tech: 7-6, 16-11
6. Miami: 6-6, 19-11
7. Wake Forest: 6-6, 16-9
8. Florida State: 5-8, 16-12
9. Georgia Tech: 4-7, 11-14
10. Boston College: 4-8, 13-12
11. North Carolina State: 4-9, 15-12
12. Virginia: 3-9, 13-12

Scoring:
(Name, Class, School, Average)

1. Tyler Hansbrough, Jr, UNC - 23.1 ppg (points per game)
2. Tyrese Rice, Jr, BC - 20.6 ppg
3. Sean Singletary, Sr, UVA - 18.8 ppg
4. Greivis Vasquez, So, Maryland - 17.5 ppg
5. Wayne Ellington, So, UNC - 16.7 ppg

Rebounding:
(Name, Class, School, Average)

1. Tyler Hansbrough, Jr, UNC - 10.5 rpg
2. J.J. Hickson, Fr, NC State - 8.6 rpg
3. James Johnson, Fr, Wake Forest - 8.3 rpg
4. Trevor Booker, So, Clemson - 8.2 rpg
5. James Gist, Sr, Maryland - 8.1 rpg

Blocks:
(Name, Class, School, Average)

1. Tyrelle Blair, Jr, BC - 3.6 bpg
2. Bambale Osby, Sr, Maryland - 2.3 bpg
3. James Gist, Sr, Maryland - 2.2 bpg
4. Trevor Booker, So, Clemson - 1.9 bpg
5. J.J. Hickson, Fr, NC State - 1.6 bpg

Assists:
(Name, Class, School, Average)

1. Greivis Vasquez, So, Maryland - 6.7 apg
2. Sean Singletary, Sr, UVA - 5.9 apg
3. Tywon Lawson, So, UNC - 5.7 apg
4. Tyrese Rice, Jr, BC - 5.1 apg
5. Eric Hayes, So, Maryland - 4.9 apg

Steals:
(Name, Class, School, Average)

1. Tony Douglas, Jr, FSU - 2.9 spg
2. Jeff Allen, Fr, Virginia Tech - 2.2 spg
3. Jeff Teague, Fr, Wake Forest - 2.1 spg
4. Cliff Hammonds, Sr, Clemson - 2.0 spg
5. K.C. Rivers, Jr, Clemson - 1.9 spg

ACC Ballers Dunk of the Week....

Deron Washington handin' out more facials.

Top Sophomores in the ACC.....

2008-02-18T06:18:00.000-08:00

This week's post will be spent on determining the best 2nd year players in the ACC. At this point most of these guys have played in about 50 or so games in their college careers and many have established themselves as legit ACC (and nationally recognized) players already. If most of these guys decided to stick around for another year the ACC will be even more competitive next year.

ACC Ballers All-Sophomore Team

First Team:

1. Tywon Lawson, Guard, UNC

One of the top point guards in the country. Lawson is predicted to be a first round pick in either the 08' or 09' NBA Draft. His 2.45 assists to turnover ratio is unbelievable considering how much he has the ball in his hands. This is Ty ballin' at the end of the first half in a game played earlier this year at home against Nevada.

2. Wayne Ellington, Guard, UNC

Top two guard in the ACC. Wayne can shoot. From close in to very far away he can put the ball in the basket. He's averaging 16.6 points a night and not to long ago went off for a career high 36 against Clemson. He can also do this....

3. Greivis Vasquez, Guard, UMD

Vasquez is averaging 17.3 points, 6.8 assists (ranked first in the ACC), and 5.4 rebounds per game this season. You could argue that he's the most versatile player in the league. Check out this dime he dropped to Ibekwe (last season) against Florida State.

4. Trevor Booker, Forward, Clemson

Big boy is averaging a shade over 11 points per and 7.9 rebounds per game. The 6'7, 240lbs. Booker has dominated several ACC teams inside and gave Tyler Hansbrough of UNC all he could handle in both of those epic UNC-Clemson matchups this season. Apparently he can also get big on you down low. See for yourself....

5. Deon Thompson, Forward, UNC

Thompson is just solid on the low block. He can score with both hands and has great touch down low. Last year, he played third fiddle to Hansbrough and 2007 NBA first round pick Brandan Wright. This year, he is the starter and an excelleng sidekick for Hansbrough. On a team where he might be the third or fourth scoring option he's averaging 9.2 points and 5.4 rebounds per game.

Second Team:

1. Eric Hayes, Guard, Maryland

Hayes is giving Gary Williams' squad 34 minutes a night while averaging 10 points and 5 assists per. A part of Maryland's recent success has to be attributed to Hayes' improved field goal shooting. From that UNC upset on Hayes has shot 47% from the field and 45% from behind the three point line.

2. John Scheyer, Guard, Duke

Scheyer has been clutch for the Blue Devils all year long. This year he fits in best coming off of Duke's bench but he started the majority of last season and is like a 6th starter for the Blue Devils. This is John earlier this year in the Maui hitting a baseline three.

3. Gerald Henderson, Guard-Forward, Duke

Henderson has been a monster all year long. His length and athleticism makes him the most difficult matchup problem for teams when they play Duke. He's scoring a bit over 12 points per game. His best asset is that he puts pressure on the defense and almost forces the defense to foul him. He's also great in transition and can jump out of the gym.

4. Landon Milbourne, Forward, Maryland

Landon has really come on as of late. I'd heard about his improvements this summer but didn't know all of this was coming. Milbourne's personal success is almost in direct correlation with his teams. When Landon plays well, the Terps win.

(more from him later)

5. Shamari Spears, Forward, BC

Spears' 6.5 rebounds per night leads his team. He's also averaging 10 points per game for a streaky BC team. Shamari is undersized but plays very big. In the next two years he'll be tough to deal with for the rest of the league.

ACC Sunday Night Hoops

Duke 73 - Wake Forest 86 (2/17/08)

Wake Forest freshmen James Johnson and Jeff Teague combined for 50 points and 20 rebounds as the Demon Decons jumped all over Duke. This was one of the few Duke games this year where they just couldn't break the game open in the second half. Again, an athletic scoring big man and a lightning quick guard gave the Blue Devils trouble. Sophomore guard L.D. Williams helped put Duke away with this....

ACC Ballers Dunk of the Week

Sophomore Landon Milbourne of Maryland introduces himself to Florida State's Uche Echefu.

ACC Recap....UNC goes 1-1 without Lawson and Maryland is on the rise....

2008-02-11T07:56:00.000-08:00

This week we'll look back on the week it was for North Carolina. We all know they had the big game this past week against Duke in Chapel Hill but who could have guessed the most exciting game would be played this past Sunday against Clemson? Clemson. These two games were the first full games that the Tar Heels had played without starting point guard Ty Lawson and everyone was eager to see how they would fare. Here's how it went:

#2 Duke 89 - #3 North Carolina 78 (2/6/08)

Randomly Greg Paulus dropped 18 points by hitting three's from all over the perimeter against the undermanned Tar Heels. Paulus, who has been playing well as of late, hit one off balance three pointer while fading a way no less. At that point everyone realized that it might be difficult for UNC to come back, even with the game being in their arena. While the game had the typical big game feel of a UNC/Duke clash it never fully materialized into a gem. The key reasons being that UNC didn't show up as they normally do. A) Ty Lawson, their point guard and third leading scorer was hurt. B) Their second and fourth leading scorers, Ellington and Green, shot a combined 4-24. That means they basically got nothing from two of their top three scorers in a game against the number 2 ranked team in the country. I don't care how good Tyler Hansbrough (and he had 28 pints and 18 rebounds) is, that won't get it done. On the other side Duke and Coach K got big time contributions from freshman forward Kyle Singler and sophomore two guard John Scheyer. Singler dropped 14 (points) and 10 (boards) while Scheyer went off for 17. Very impressive game by Duke and their staff as it is obvious the Blue Devils are in the best shape of any team in the conference, if not the country. They basically ran UNC off the court. Should be very interesting in round 2 when Lawson comes back.

Clemson 93 - #3 North Carolina 103 2OT (2/10/08)

This game was the very much anticipated rematch of what happened just a short month ago. That first game ended in OT as UNC's sophomore guard Wayne Ellington hit his 5th three pointer of the game with .4 seconds left....This shot was a dagger and you've got to feel for the Tiger's after seeing this happen:

This game, however, finished up much differently for Clemson. While they didn't lose at the buzzer they did end up losing in heart breaking fashion. UNC , who had been tied with Princeton for having the longest home winning streak against one opponent, secured the record outright by handing Clemson it's 53rd straight loss in Chapel Hill (which is ridiculous). But I give credit where credit is due, and this Clemson bunch tried as best they could to get a W. Clemson, trying to make sure they didn't go down on the wrong end of history really came out strong in first half. Things seem to be going well as it looked as though Carlina was on the ropes. The Tigers were up 11 at the half and it felt like even more than that. Well what happend you ask? The second half started and Carolina blew up. Ellington hit jumpers from the corner, Hansbrough was a bull, and after an off night against Duke Danny Green returned to his normal self. While Hansbrough was clearly the game's MVP after going for an absurd 39 points and 13 boards, the biggest plays of the game might have been made 3rd string-turned starting point guard Quentin Thomas. Thomas, who had turnover issues early in his career made a huge layup to send the Heels' into the first OT.

....and then he hit these pair of free throws to put the game into double OT.

Once UNC miraculously managed to get into double OT it was a wrap. The Tigers had nothing more in the tank and Tyler Hansbrough just willed his way to win. One play Pyscho-T made both my my roommate and I with our jaws dropped. I would describe but it's best to just see for yourself. A 6'9 center playing perimeter defense should never be able to do this (starts 42 seconds into the video).

The Tigers (17-6, 5-4) will have other opportunities to rebound from this loss. Senior guard Cliff Hammonds went for 31 in the losing effort. Junior guard K.C Rivers added 14 points. For North Carolina (22-2, 7-2) the road get a bit easier as they go on the road to the play the Cavaliers of Virginia.

Best Game this Week:

Maryland at #2 Duke, Wednesday 2/13/08, 7pm

After a rocky start the Terps from Maryland have really hit their stride. This past week (2/2 - 2/9) the Terps have won three ACC games, two of which were on the road. Leading the way for the team from College Park has been 6'8 senior power forward James Gist. He's averaged 22 points and 8 rebounds per game during this stretch as he, along with the other four starters, have put this young team on their back.

Duke on the other hand has just been itself. Crushing teams with speed and skill while playing aggressive defense. The Blue Devils haven't lost in 08'. They are on an eleven game winning streak and really haven't been pushed since their loss against Pitt in the Garden. Which happened back in December.

ACC Ballers Dunk of the Week..

James Gist's put back on Hansbrough in Maryland's season changing upset win....

ACC Game of the week (2/03 - 2/10) - #2 Duke at #3 North Carolina (2/6)

2008-02-03T13:50:00.000-08:00

The ACC season has been all over the place as expected this year as the majority of the teams are either 3-4 or 4-3 in conference play. Got a chance to watch Maryland fend off Georgia Tech in Atlanta on Saturday and was impressed with the way the Terps' starters handled themselves in that environment. They easily handled Georgia Tech's press and basically kept the Yellow Jackets in check until the closing seconds. I've come to realize that most ACC games come down to the last one or two possessions when the host team is behind. Unfortunately for Tech their flurry of points down the stretch came to late as Bambale Osby and James Gist combined for 32 points and 20 rebounds. Another nice development for the Terps is the emergence of sophomore small forward Landon Milbourne. Landon is starting to come around as he's averaged about 15 points per game in his last two games. He had a great baseline drive and finish against Tech on Saturday and in the last two games he's had a huge offensive rebound and put back that seemed to give his team a jolt. On the flip side coach Williams and his Terps have several concerns it needs to address before tournament time. The two most glaring issues with Maryland right now are that they have no bench and Vasquez turns the ball over like it's his job. Greivis is a fantastic player and while he's putting up incredible numbers for a sophomore combo guard he has to take care of the ball a little better for the Terrapins to make a push in March.

The best play in the ACC came this past week as Deron Washington dunked (sadly) Virginia Tech's way into overtime against Virginia. While it wasn't as climactic as his last second, game clinching, overtime dunk a few weeks ago in Charlottesville,

in my opinion it changed the outcome and the momentum of the game. Basically Virginia Tech had been down all game but had somehow tied the game at 52 with 20 seconds left in regulation. Virginia's Sean Singletary missed a three point attempt at one end which was rebounded by Washington. Washington passed the ball off to a teammate, sprinted down the court, waited for teammate A.D. Vassallo to miss a layup, and then emphatically (it was really loud and I was only watching it on TV) dunked home the rebound. Clearly this sent the crowd into a frenzy. Somehow Singletary was able to draw contact on a drive to the basket even with everyone in the stadium knowing he was going to shoot. The Cavalier senior would then knock down two free throws to send the game into OT tied at 54. Unfortunately for the Hoos' that wasn't enough as Virginia Tech came out and absolutely dominated in the extra period. Tech's freshman big man Jeff Allen scored four points of Tech's 18 points in the extra period as the Hokies outlasted Virginia 72-65.

......On to the Game of the Week. At this point Duke and UNC have clearly seperated themselves from the pack. Duke handled Miami easily at home. The first half didn't go so well for the Blue Devils so the students decided to chuck the green environmental awareness shirts on the court at halftime. With normalcy restored Duke went out and crushed Miami in the second half. Seemed like every 60 seconds DeMarcus Nelson was on a fast break by himself. While Miami played much better at Cameron than many could have expected they just don't have the ability to execute like they needed to beat a team like Duke. Although the final score was 88 - 73 Duke Hurricane fans can find solace in knowing that 5 of their players scored in double figures. Like any game you always want to win on the road at Durham but unless you're a fan of a top 25 team you're really only hoping that your team plays well and doesn't lose by 50.....The UNC game ended about an hour or so ago and they finished up the week without a loss as well. While they handled BC by 22 they got a scare from FSU today. They ended up winning in overtime by 11 but they also lost point guard Tywon Lawson. At this point we don't know if he'll miss any games but he didn't return after he got hurt 4 mintues in to the game today. This doesn't bode well for them going into Wednesday night's matchup with the Blue Devils.

Backcourt - This is the area of the game that the Blue Devils have to dominate for an entire game. Paulus, Henderson, Scheyer, and Nelson have to play well and if Lawson is playing they have to do it for 40 minutes, not just the second half. These four all average between 10 and 15 points per game and have the ball in their hands the majority of the time in Coach K's up and down style. This tempo should definitely favor Duke as well if Lawson is out. UNC's backup point guard, the much maligned Quentin Thomas, will only be serviceable at best for Roy Williams and the Tar Heels. Luckily for Thomas he'll be running with big time sophomore two guard Wayne Ellington. Ellington is averaging a hair under 17 a night and is shooting 40% from behind the three point arc. Regardless of whether UNC goes with a hobbled Ty Lawson or Thomas they still have Ellington to shoot them back in the game if and when Duke goes on there patented runs. To go along with Ellington the Tar Heels have the extremely athletic Danny Green on the wing as well. Green is averaging 12 points per game as a reserve and is good for at least one WOW play a game. Lastly, but certainly not least is the matchup between DeMarcus Nelson and UNC guard Marcus Ginyard. Ginyard always D's up the opponents best guard and usually shuts them down. He really gets after it on D and is certainly Carolina's best on ball defender. If you haven't seen much of him think of a slightly shorter Jackie Manuel with slightly less athleticism but more tenacity on D. Ginyard is decent on offense but he is rarely called upon to shoot. On the other hand Nelson, a defensive star himself, is Duke's leading scorer and will have to do his best to score whenever he can. Taking Nelson out of the game offensively would severely reduce Duke's chance to win. On the flip side, it's also not out of the question that Gerald Henderson Jr. will be too physical for his former high school and McDonald's All America teammate Wayne Ellington to handle, forcing Coach Williams to put Ginyard on him. Clearly this is going to be the matchup to watch as their is ton of backcourt talent on both teams. While both backcourts' will throw punches I think Duke's experience and depth should win out here. Advantage Duke.

Frontcourt - This is where UNC, and any other top 25 team, should have an advantage against Duke. Basically UNC has about 3 or 4 guys who are bigger than anyone on Duke's roster. The Blue Devils clear lack of size should hamper them against Tyler Hansbrough, who right now might be the front runner in the National Player of the Year race. Hansbrough has basically dominated his opposition this year by averaging 21 points, 10 boards, and a little under 2 blocks a game. The guy also gets to the foul line enough to shoot 10 free throws a game. Along with the man dubbed 'Pyscho T' the Heels have 6'8, 240lbs Deon Thompson and 6'9, 235lbs Alex Stephenson for the Dukies to try and match up with. This will probably be a struggle all night as Duke's two starting front court players, sophomore Lance Thomas and freshman Kyle Singler, each go about 6'8 and 220lbs. While Singler and Thomas are more mobile that Carolina's front court they are definitely going to have trouble on the glass. Hansbrough brings down everything and Thompson and Stevenson can dominate games inside once they going. Most impressive game I saw of Thompson came last year as a freshmen when he went 7-8 with 14 points at Arizona. He would be getting a lot more recognition if arguably the best player in college basketball wasn't on his team. This is a no brainer as the Heels' clearly have the advantage.

Prediction - My guess here is that the Heels' get off to a hot start being at home. With Lawson they jump out early and lead by maybe 8 or 10 going into half time and without him they are up maybe 2 or 3. Duke will come back in the second half and basically have the game tied, or even a slight lead, by the 8 or 9 minute mark. Ol Roy will probably call a timeout to remind his team to keep feeding Hansbrough, which they will do, and Carolina will win by 2 as a last second shot by Scheyer front rims.

....ACC Ballers Dunk of the Week

BC Freshman guard Rakim Sanders gettin' up on Kansas.

ACC Basketball Standings

2008-01-28T06:15:00.001-08:00

In case you weren't aware #3 Duke defeated Maryland at Comcast Center last night 93-84. Demarcus Nelson lead Duke in scoring (27), rebounding (7), and assists (4). To add on he also had 4 steals, many of them completely changed the momentum of the game. This game played out almost as expected as the Terps got 46 points and 20 boards form Gist and Osby but in the end Duke's perimeter players were too good. To go along with Nelson's 27 Gerald Henderson Jr. went off for 23 and freshman point guard Nolan Smith added 14 points to go along with 6 boards.....

This week we are focusing on the ACC Standings. The ACC season has gotten started and already there has been upsets and a buzzer beater.

Wayne Ellington goes for 36 and the game winning three at Little John against Clemson.

Along with Duke/Maryland game I got a chance to watch another ACC game last night (to quote a friend 'ACC Sunday night hoops is one of the greatest ideas ever.') and it lived up to expectations in terms of entertainment. Behind senior point guard Matt Causey Georgia Tech overcame a 10 point half time deficit to beat Virginia on the road last night in overtime. Causey scored 12 in overtime along and hit a three pointer from what seemed like several feet past the nba three. I got a chance to see the game and came away very impressed with both point guards from Tech. Georgia Tech's starting point guard Maurice Miller had a nice showing as well scoring 11 points in a variety of ways before leaving the game for good with an ankle injury. Virginia's Calvin Baker scored 16 for the Cavs but BMOC (big man on campus) freshman Gani Lawal was huge inside for Tech. He scored 15 tough points and grabbed 6 boards as well. He's a beast right now and next year he'll be even better.

With this said, there is plenty of season left. Most teams in the conference have only played 5 conference games and as result have about 11 games left. I expect the standings will be shaken up more than a few times as some teams go on win streaks and some teams bottom out. As of 1/28/08, this is what the standings look like.

ACC Standings (in conference, overall):

1. Duke: 5-0, 17-1
2. North Carolina: 4-1, 19-1
3. Boston College: 3-2, 12-6
4. Clemson: 3-3, 15-5
5. Virginia Tech: 3-3, 12-8
6. Georgia Tech: 3-3, 10-9
7. Miami: 2-3, 15-4
8. North Carolina State: 2-3, 13-6
9. Wake Forest: 2-3, 12-6
10. Maryland: 2-3, 12-8
11. Florida State: 2-4, 13-8
12. Virginia: 1-4, 11-7

Scoring:
(Name, Class, School, Average)

1. Tyler Hansbrough, Jr, UNC - 22.0 ppg (points per game)
2. Tyrese Rice, Jr, BC - 20.0 ppg
3. Sean Singletary, Sr, UVA - 18.1 ppg
4. Wayne Ellington, So, UNC - 16.8 ppg
5. Greivis Vasquez, So, Maryland - 16.5 ppg

Rebounding:
(Name, Class, School, Average)

1. Tyler Hansbrough, Jr, UNC - 10.1 rpg
2. James Johnson, Fr, Wake Forest - 8.3 rpg
3. Trevor Booker, So, Clemson - 8.2 rpg
4. Jeff Allen, Fr, Virginia Tech - 8.1 rpg
5. J.J. Hickson, Fr, NC State - 8.0 rpg

Blocks:
(Name, Class, School, Average)

1. Tyrelle Blair, Jr, BC - 4.3 bpg
2. James Gist, Sr, Maryland - 2.5 bpg
3. Trevor Booker, So, Clemson - 2.1 bpg
4. Bambale Osby, Sr, Maryland - 2.1 bpg
5. J.J. Hickson, Fr, NC State - 1.7 bpg

Assists:
(Name, Class, School, Average)

1. Sean Singletary, Sr, UVA - 6.7 apg
2. Greivis Vasquez, So, Maryland - 6.3 apg
3. Tywon Lawson, So, UNC - 5.8 apg
4. Eric Hayes, So, Maryland - 5.4 apg
5. Tyrese Rice, Jr, BC - 5.1 apg

Steals:
(Name, Class, School, Average)

1. Tony Douglas, Jr, FSU - 2.7 spg
2. Jeff Teague, Fr, Wake Forest - 2.4 spg
3. James Mays, Sr, Clemson - 2.3 spg
4. Jeff Allen, Fr, Virginia Tech - 2.1 spg
5. Cliff Hammonds, Sr, Clemson - 2.1 spg

.......ACC Ballers Dunk of the Week
(keep in mind that these dunks didn't necessarily take place this week).

L.D. Williams gettin' big on Georgia Tech.

ACC game of the week (1/20- 1/27) - #3 Duke vs. Maryland (1/27)

2008-01-22T08:42:00.000-08:00

Pretty wild week in the ACC as UNC goes down to the once strugglin' Terps of College Park. I was on the way back from a women's college basketball game and didn't get a chance to see Murlin's big win until Sunday morning when I caught a replay. Best part about Maryland is that they have two battle tested guards in Vasquez and Hayes. I especially like the fact that Greivis Vasquez impacts the game in several different ways. He is the only player in the conference that leads his team in scoring (16.6 ppg) and assists (6.3 apg) while also being the team's third leading rebounder (5.4rpg)....

Now that that's out of the way I'd like to congratulate Deron Washington of Virginia Tech for being recognized as the Best Dunker in the conference.

Ya know, it's hard to argue with this.

Now back to the matter at hand. Duke versus Murlin. Crazy Terps fans will come up with ways to make fun of Paulus and Scheyer. Maryland will go on a really scoring drought. Duke will get a few calls they don't deserve. Osby and/or Gist will be in foul trouble. With about one or two minutes one of the teams will be up a 2 or 3 and the other team will try and execute a designed play or two to win the game. That's how it's always been and after Murlin's win at UNC there is no reason to think they won't play Duke tough at home.

Backcourt:

Duke has a lot of guards. John Scheyer is giving Coach K 11.4 ppg and 40% three point shooting off the bench. Scheyer would start for every other team in the conference with the exception of UNC (he might start there as well). The two reasons why he doesn't start gives you an idea of just how talented this Blue Devil team is. Sophomore Gerald Henderson Jr. and senior DeMarcus Nelson have combined to average 27.4 points and 12.8 rebounds per. Nelson is shooting an ridiculous 51.6% from the field. Unheard of for a guard. This quality depth at guard just might be what does Maryland in. While Maryland sophomores Greivis Vasques and Eric Hayes have helped their 7 freshman teammates along as best they can, they aren't going to be able to prepare their your teammates for the pressure Duke will apply. The best the Terps can hope for is that Hayes and Vasquez stay out of foul trouble so that Gary doesn't have to go with one of two backup freshman guards he has on the roster.

Yes, for Duke the point guard situation is a bit iffy as the much maligned Greg Paulus is still manning the position. Unfortunately for the Terps Coach K has been grooming McDonald's All-American freshman Nolan Smith to play that spot. Smith has been called upon to D up on the opponents best handler and to this point has done a pretty good job. With this said, Hayes can help negate a bit of the backcourt advantage that Duke possesses if he can put enough defensive pressure on Paulus. When Paulus struggles to bring the ball up court Duke's offense isn't nearly as crisp. If this happens it'll be interesting to see how fast Duke turns to Smith. All things considered Duke still has the advantage here.

Frontcourt:

Advantage Maryland. All you need to know is that Gary Williams has seven frontcourt players at his disposal and the blue devils have about 2 legit post players. Granted, the best front court player on either team is freshman Kyle Singler and he plays for Duke, but i doubt he will be enough to against Maryland's starting front line of Landon Milbourne, Bambale Osby, and big time James Gist. Gist, Osby, and Milbourne have all played well at different times in the season but not until Saturday in Chapel Hill did they each play well in the same game. Against UNC the Terps' frontcourt trio combined for 48 points, 19 rebounds (13 of those were Gist's), and 3 blocked shots. I'm thinking that the momentum from Saturday will carry over to this coming Sunday's big game.

While Maryland has a favorable matchup down low, Duke is still Duke. They have two formidable low post players in Brian Zoubek and Lance Thomas. The only issue for them is depth. If either of these players gets into foul trouble or simply too fatigued to go Duke will have very little to turn to. Singler can cover most power forwards in a pinch but Gist and Osby are way too physically mature for him.

As this novel post might indicate this game should be fantastic. There will be emotional outburts from fans, players, and coaches at each whistle. The Comcast Center should be loud and filled with an absurd amount of Terps fans (You get an idea of how many people are there when the camera guy pans over to the student section). I know some times I have to convince others that certain games will be good but Duke/Maryland speaks for itself. I'm going with Maryland to win by 3 or 4 due to bad free throw shooting by Duke down the stretch. Enjoy it.

....and new to ACC Ballers is the ACC Dunk of the Week:

This week we have Virginia freshman Mike Scott throwing one down against Virginia Tech.

Who is the best dunker in the ACC?

2008-01-13T06:46:00.000-08:00

Before I get to the crux of this post I wanted to acknowledge that the people have spoken and they believe Sean Singletary will be the 2007-2008 ACC Men's basketball player of the year. I believe that a lot of Virginia fans check out this blog. Regardless, I hope they're right. Singletary is definitely my favorite ACC player to watch and if you haven't figured out already I'm a Cavalier fan, through and through.

Each week I try to write something that will offer some foresight as to how the league championship will be decided. Might give you stats, might offer opinions on certain players, and maybe I'll give you my analysis on certain games. Not this week. This week we focus on something we've neglected for far too long. The question has subconsciously been on my mind all week as I've scoured youtube for dunks....While I haven't found anyone who can do this like UCLA's Russell Westbrook,

I found some plays that will definitely make you turn your head. My job: To show you as many dunks as I can this week. Your job: Watch as many dunks as you can and vote who you think is the best ACC dunker.

1. Courtney Fells, Jr, NC State - This might be my favorite one. One of those "I gotta get to the rim quickly and you're in my way" dunks.

2. Deron Washington, Sr, Virginia Tech - Not a game, not a game, not a game. We talkin' about practice.

3. Danny Green, Jr, UNC

4. Gerald Henderson, So, Duke

5. Courtney Fells, Jr, NC State

6. James Gist , Sr, Maryland

7. Deron Washington, Sr, Virginia Tech - Again.

8. Isaiah Swann, Sr, FSU

9. Wayne Ellington, So, UNC

10. Courtney Fells, Jr, NC State

11. Demarcus Nelson, Sr, Duke

12. James Gist , Sr, Maryland

13. Deron Washington, Sr, Virginia Tech (there's plenty of his dunks on youtube).

14. James Mays, Sr, Clemson

15. Gerald Henderson, So, Duke - If you're not in the mood for an over exaggerated Duke moment I suggest you turn the volume down for this. The Duke announcers are at 'their best.'

16. Dwayne Collins, So, Miami

17. Wayne Ellington, So, UNC - It didn't count but this was pretty sick.

18. Tyler Hansbrough, Jr, UNC - The guy he dunked on is 7'8 Kenny George of North Carolina Asheville.

In case you were wondering about what's actually going on in the league aside from dunks there are a host of games for you to check out. Virginia goes to #7 Duke tonight, Maryland goes to #1 UNC on Saturday, and #19 Clemson travels to #7 Duke on Saturday as well. This is an important week for teams like Georgia Tech, Florida State, and Maryland as each has gotten of to a rocky start and need a strong conference season to even be considered for the NCAA tournament.....Ok. Now that we've gotten that out of the we can get back to our first topic. Remember that these are only the first set of dunks for the week. I'll continue to put up more and more dunks all week. Don't forget to vote!

2007-2008 ACC Statistical Leaders

2008-01-06T08:49:00.000-08:00

Just in case you need a reason to get pumped up about the true beginning of the ACC season.....Watch Mr. Gist crank that highlight reel dunk on UCLA's Alfred Aboya.

This week we'll be looking at the numbers. While the only numbers that really matter in college basketball are wins and losses, individual statistics give you an idea of who and what teams rely upon to succeed. Keep in mind that these numbers have come largely against out of conference competition as many teams have yet to begin their ACC seasons.

Scoring:
(Name, Class, School, Average)

1. Tyler Hansbrough, Jr, UNC - 22.4 ppg (points per game)
2. Tyrese Rice, Jr, BC - 19.8 ppg
3. Sean Singletary, Sr, UVA - 17.8 ppg
4. Greivis Vasquez, So, Maryland - 16.9 ppg
5. J.J. Hickson, Fr, NC State - 16.8 ppg

Rebounding:
(Name, Class, School, Average)

1. Tyler Hansbrough, Jr, UNC - 9.6 rpg
2. Trevor Booker, So, Clemson - 9.2 rpg
3. James Johnson, Fr, Wake Forest - 8.7 rpg
4. Jeff Allen, Fr, Virginia Techh - 8.0 rpg
5. Anthony King, Sr, Miami - 7.9 rpg

Blocks:
(Name, Class, School, Average)

1. Tyrelle Blair, Jr, BC - 4.2 bpg (wow)
2. James Gist, Sr, Maryland - 2.4 bpg
3. Bambale Osby, Sr, Maryland - 2.2 bpg
4. Trevor Booker, So, Clemson - 2.2 bpg
5. J.J. Hickson, Fr, NC State - 1.8 bpg

Assists:
(Name, Class, School, Average)

1. Sean Singletary, Sr, UVA - 6.8 apg
2. Greivis Vasquez, So, Maryland - 6.1 apg
3. Tywon Lawson, So, UNC - 5.5 apg
4. Eric Hayes, So, Maryland - 5.4 apg
5. Tyrese Rice, Jr, BC - 5.2 apg

Steals:
(Name, Class, School, Average)

1. Tony Douglas, Jr, FSU - 2.6 spg
2. Jeff Teague, Fr, Wake Forest - 2.5 spg
3. James Mays, Sr, Clemson - 2.4 spg
4. Cliff Hammonds, Sr, Clemson - 2.2 spg
5. Tywon Lawson, Fr, UNC - 2.1 spg

Team Field Goal %

1. North Carolina - 50.3%
2. Duke - 49.8%
3. Georgia Tech - 47.4%
4. Florida State - 47.3%
5. Clemson - 47.1%

Team Three Point Shooting %

1. Miami - 43.2%
2. Duke - 42.3%
3. Clemson - 40.7%
4. Virginia - 40.5%
5. North Carolina - 37.7%

Team Free Throw Shooting %

1. Florida State - 78.5%
2. North Carolina - 73.7%
3. Georgia Tech - 71.4%
4. Maryland - 70.8%
5. Virginia - 70.8% (played one less game and attempted less free throws than Maryland)

Just a quick glance at these statistics explains why teams like North Carolina, Miami, Clemson, and Florida State have gotten off to such great starts. This season, much like almost every other season, the team statistics are a better indication of how good a team is than anything else. For example, Maryland is off to below par 9-6 start yet are well represented amongst the individual leaders in the conference. On the flip side, 8th ranked Duke is 10-1 and has no players in the top 5 of any of the individual statistical categories listed. What the Blue Devils do have going for em' is that they are ranked 2nd in both team 3 point and team field goal shooting percentage. In conclusion, if your team makes a high percentage of their shots they'll probably win basketball games. I also know that if you score more runs than the other teams in baseball you will win as well. It's a shame that everyone isn't born with this ability to deduce.

ACC game of the week (12/30 - 1/6) - #20 Clemson vs. #1 North Carolina (1/6)

2007-12-30T15:02:00.000-08:00

ACC ball is starting to pick up and there were a few big games to choose from this week. Virginia at Xavier should be a great game to watch as should #3 Kansas at Boston College. After looking at the schedule though it be hard to say that either of those games matter more than Clemson at UNC next Sunday. The Tigers have won 11 of 12 games this year with their only loss coming against Ole Miss a little over a week ago. Coach Oliver Purnell has a deep squad this season as Clemson has 4 guys averaging over 10 points a game and 9 guys getting over 15 minutes a night. Maybe having so many players giving them good minutes can help them compete with the All-Americans on the other team. Carolina has won all 12 games they've played this season and have won their last two by a margin of 35 and 36 respectively. As expected, the Tar Heels seem to be playing the best ball of all the ACC teams going into Conference play. This should be a competitive game as Clemson wants to make people forget about last years late season breakdown and UNC is looking to go wire to wire.

Backcourt - Carolina's Tywon Lawson is one of the top 5 point guards in the country and he'll definitely be the best one on the floor next Sunday. Clemson's freshman point guard Demontez Stitt is having a decent year for a true freshman and dropped 15 on Samford yesterday. This should give him more confidence going into this game. It also helps Stitt to have senior guard Cliff Hammond and 6'5 junior K.C. Booker on the wings. Rivers is averaging over 16 a night (team best) and a little over 7 rebounds as well. K.C. is the only guard in the conference ranked in the top 10 in rebounding. Clemson should stay in this game as long as they get him going. While the Tigers' guards have been playing well Lawson's speed alone should give the Tar Heels an advantage in this matchup. We've already went on about how great Ellington, Ginyard, and Green have played and their size should give the shorter Clemson guard's problems. It bodes well for you when your point guard is in the top 5 assist leaders in the conference and your your two guard is in the top 5 in scoring. I'd go with Carolina.

Frontcourt - While Clemson has several talented low post players the Tar Heels have Player of the year candidate Tyler Hansbrough. He leads the conference in scoring (22 ppg) and rebounding (9.6 rpg), and free throws made (93). In fact, Tyler is hittin' more free throws than UVA's Sean Singletary (number 2 in free throws made) has shot. While Hansbrough might be tough to handle for one player, Clemson has at least three post players to throw at him. Led by James Mays Clemson's front court has bullied most of their opponents. Mays goes 6'9 230lbs. and considered the NBA for a bit this past summer. His biggest asset is his athleticism as he can do things like this:

To go along with Mays the Tigers have 6'7 240lbs sophomore Trevor Booker. Booker is 3rd in the conference in rebounds per game (9.3) while shooting 60% from the field this season. The matchup inside is the one opportunity that Clemson has to win this game. If they can keep Hansbrough in check they can keep the game close and have a shot to win at the end. Tyler doesn't have too many bad games though and for that reason I like Carolina here as well.

While this should be a great game there's no reason to think that Carolina won't go on a few of those classic runs and keep Clemson at least 8 to 10 points away throughout the game. The Tiger's best chance is to keep their front court players out of foul trouble so they can keep the Heels off the glass late in the game. I think Carolina takes this one by the middle of the second half but Clemson goes on a run at some point late in the game to make it interesting.

ACC Game of the Week (12/23-12/30) - Nevada vs. #1 North Carolina (12/27)

2007-12-23T16:56:00.000-08:00

The best ACC game you'll find this week is on Thursday as the Nevada Wolf Pack come to Chapel Hill to play the number one ranked Tar Heels of North Carolina. While it's unrealistic to expect Nevada to have the quality depth that the Tar Heels possess you shouldn't sleep on the Wolf Pack. The good news for Wolf Pack fans is that after a rough start their team has won their last 5 games and are finally beginning to come into their own. NBA prospect Marcelus Kemp has increased his scoring average to 19.1 and is averaging almost 6 boards a game. He should keep Nevada in the game and even give them a shot to win if North Carolina plays horribly. Unfortunately for these same fans UNC is on an eleven game winning streak and will probably not play bad enough for them to lose this game. Here is a quick look at the matchup:

1. Point Guard - UNC's laser quick Sophomore Tywon Lawson is one of the best point guards in the country. He's so good that the best song in the history of youtube basketball clips was used in his video (the song is 'Cold World' by Tribeca). In fact, I'm willing to bet that Bobby Frasor, UNC's backup point guard, would be too much for Nevada to handle. Who is Nevada's point guard you ask? Well I looked a second a go and it's a guy name Armon Johnson. No disrespect Armon but I think it's going to be a long day for you. Advantage Tar Heels.

2. Shooting Guard - The best player in this match up is UNC Sophomore Wayne Ellington. Ellington, the 06's McDonald's All American, is averaging a little over 17 points a contest and can score with any guard in the country. While Nevada's Brandon Fields has averaged a respectable 12.5 point per game he won't be able to outshine Ellington. Advantage - Tar Heels.

3. Small Forward - This will be the best match up of the night. Nevada's Marcelus Kemp can ball. Plain and simple. He was an NBA prospect last season and decided to come back for his Senior season to drop even more buckets. Across from him will be UNC Junior Marcus Ginyard. For those that don't know Ginyard is a lock down on ball defender. In fact he is the best on ball defender in the ACC and perhaps the country. His athleticism and length give most college guards fits. While Ginyard will probably force Kemp to shoot tough shots Kemp will probably score a lot as his team will need all the points they can get. Advantage - Wolf Pack.

4. Power Forward - This is the only position on the court where both teams don't get much production. North Carolina's 6'8, 240lbs. Sophomore Deon Thompson was supposed to be the perfect compliment to All Everything Center Tyler Hansbrough. Last season he shot almost 56% from the field but this season he has seen his field goal percentage dip to 48%. On the other side Nevada's Sophomore power forward is not really asked to do much offensively. He is mainly in the lineup to provide a big body down low. Normally I would say this matchup is a wash but because Thompson is the more talented player the Heels get the nod here. Advantage - Tar Heels.

5. Center - UNC has Tyler Hansbrough and the Wolf Pack don't. The Wolfpack's starting center these day is 6'11 Flint, Michigan native JaVale McGee. While at first glance it seems like this will be UNC's biggest advantage it actually is not. McGee is a talented big guy averaging almost 13 points and 9 boards a game. Against a California-Berkeley's big time front court (both interior players for the Bears are NBA prospects) JaVale scored 19, had 9 rebounds, and blocked 6 shots. While I think he will cause Tyler problems at times with his length Tyler should get the best of this match up due to his experience and overall skill level. Hansbrough is everyone's All-America and deservedly so. Advantage Tar Heels.

Bench - UNC has at least 5 guys that could probably start on Nevada. UNC's Danny Green is averaging 13 off the bench and would be probably be the Wolf Pack's second best player if here on their team. Advantage Tar Heels.

Coaches - I'll take Roy Williams over most coaches in the country. Mark Fox is a very good coach but he has a ways to go before he builds a resume quite like Roy's. Advantage Tar Heels.

That's 6-1 in favor of North Carolina. From this you might say that I don't think the Wolf Pack have a shot.....You're right. Should still be enjoyable as Nevada does have NCAA tournament experience and should put up a fight.

Storm Watch: Hurricanes are coming on.

2007-12-16T08:28:00.000-08:00

The Miami Hurricanes are 9-0. Not the football team, not the baseball team, but the basketball team is undefeated in mid December. Yes, it is Frank Haith's team that is off to their best start in six years. The Hurricanes are led by Baltimore's own Jack McClinton who is averaging just under 15 points a night. The keys to Miami's success has been their ACC leading 44.1% three point field goal percentage and their 42.9 rebounds per game average (second best in the league). That's a pretty easy formula for success. Grab every rebound and hit a lot of three pointers. What many (including myself) overlooked about this Miami team is that they are huge. They have six players who are at least 6'7 232lbs. This is a huge advantage for a team that does not have the consistent guard play that the upper echelon teams in the league possess. The big men, led by 6'9 242lbs fifth year senior Anthony King have been aggressive both offensively and defensively and have taken some of the pressure off of the guards. This season has progressed exactly how Haith would like......and we'll show you how.

While the Hurricanes have yet to play an ACC game they have played some formidable competition. Their first game of the year against Florida Southern (11/9/07) turned out as expected as the Canes' handled the Mocassins easily. After this game it was off to the O'Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off to take on Marist in the opening round game. Miami took care of Red foxes and it was clear that this year's Miami squad will be able to handle the opponents they should. Game 3 however was a different animal altogether. They took on a very talented VCU team led by big time point guard Eric Maynor. You might remember Maynor (if you don't remember, watch) absolutely abusing the Duke guards in that round of 32 game in last year's NCAA tournament. Well, things weren't much different for Miami's guards as Maynor went off for 27 points and 6 assists but in this contest Miami got a little bit more. McClinton went off for 23 and Anthony King went to work with 10 points, 15 rebounds, and 3 blocks as Miami went on to win by 6 at home. Two days later 6'7 junior guard Brian Asbury dropped 16 (3-4 from three point land) on Providence in the Puerto Rico tip off championship game (11/18/07) as the Canes' would win that contest by six.

Six days later the Hurricanes were back on the main land for the first of three straight home games against Morgan State, Alabama State, and St. John's respectively. The Hurricanes would take care of these challenge pretty easily and beat a decent Florida International team by 13 on the road before heading to Starkville, Mississippi to take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs. This was the first true test for 8-0 Miami as they had yet to face a team with a physically imposing point guard like the Bulldogs Jamont Gordon. Gordon combines NBA size and skills at the point guard position and is a very difficult match up for any college guard. Well if you heard what happened already it was apparent that Jack McClinton didn't get the memo. He lit up the Bulldogs for 29 on 5-10 three point shooting and the Canes' garnered a huge out of conference road win. On that third Sunday in March when the Hurricanes will be at home watching the NCAA tournament show they can be at ease a bit knowing that they won 3 tough out of conference games early on in the season. The new challenge for Frank Haith's squad is to see if they can make it through the ACC regular season unscathed.

ACC Season is here.....and I'll be jumping up and down like I'm in a student section. So should you.

2007-12-09T10:07:00.000-08:00

With the regular season officially kicking off tonight it is a great time to revisit the ACC basketball predictions. Many teams have played between 7 and 9 games and the coaches have further established which rotations they will use. Not much has changed at the top but the middle of the pack looks a little bit different. This year the ACC is very competitive as the conference won the ACC/Big Ten Challenge for the ninth straight year. ACC teams went a combined 8-3 in the challenge this year proving that once again it is the premiere conference in the country. With this said, here are the updated rankings:

Team Predictions (updated 12/9/07):

1. North Carolina: Still the best. Simply put this team has an unreal amount of talent. They are getting a combined 38.4 points per game from their top 3 wing players (2 starters, 1 bench player). Danny Green is averaging 14 a game on 55% shooting from the field.
2. Duke: Solidly the second best team in this conference. They could have a scare against more experienced opponents like Clemson but they should finish no worse than second this year. Things are going well for you when your 8th man (Taylor King) shoots 50% from three point range and averages just under 10 points per.
3. Maryland: Gary is relying on a lot of freshman this year to provide valuable minutes but they have still have great experience at both guard sports. The key for them is that Eric Hayes is looking to score more. They'll be in good shape all season because their starting backcourt can create scoring opportunities for everyone else. Hayes and Vasquez are averaging a combined 11.4 assists per game.
4. Virginia: Big win at Arizona, tough loss at home against Syracuse (should be noted Sean Singletary had strep throat). The biggest surprise here is the vastly improved play of Adrian Joseph. The 6'7 forward is averaging 12 points and about 9 rebounds per game. Virginia will get some much needed help on defense when Tunji Soroye returns in mid to late January.
5. Clemson: Clemson is undefeated again at this point in the season but this year they have played some more formidable opponents. They also have 4 guys scoring in double figures each night.
6. North Carolina State: They have dropped due to 3 bad losses. I know they are lacking a point guard but you can't lose to East Carlina, get blown out at Michigan State, and lose to New Orleans at home. They'll be better once Tennessee transfer Marques Johnson becomes eligible next semester.
7. Florida State: This team is off to a great start (9-2). They have a great resume win against in-state rival Florida and really haven't gotten much from their highly touted freshman big men yet. Once Julian Vaughn becomes a bit more comfortable he and Alabi should really help this team inside.
8. Boston College: They are also off to a decent start but they still lack scoring and outside shooting. Two of their top 3 point shooters are freshmen.
9. Georgia Tech: Their record (4-4) doesn't indicate the type of team they have. They have played quality competition thus far while trying to recover from losing their starting point guard and small forward from last season. Getting 6-8, 235lbs. Zach Peacock will help the Jackets in both three point shooting and rebounding. He's tough on the opponents big man.
10. Miami: Undefeated Miami has more than exceeded expectations up to this point. I still think they will struggle in the ACC but they have definitely much better than last year. Great win on the road at Providence as well.
11. Virginia Tech: Less than impressive point guard play and youth in the backcourt will be difficult for them to overcome.
12. Wake Forest: Wake is slowly rebuilding. They have a very talented freshman in James Johnson and highly touted recruiting class coming in next year.

Medford's Finest: Kyle Singler

2007-12-02T05:53:00.000-08:00

It would not be an exaggeration to say that Duke Freshman Kyle Singler was the biggest thing to happen to his hometown - Medford, Oregon- in the last half-century. Medford rallied around Singler as he carried his South Medford High School team to state supremacy and national renown.

Kyle's father, mother and grandfather (among other family members) were Pac-10 athletes, so his pedigree is true. His high school team featured his brother and younger cousin: three fundamentally-sound Singlers running circles around their competition. Were it not for Lake Oswego's Kevin Love (son of former NBAer Stan Love), Singler most likely would have won back-to-back-to-back state titles.

Singler's array of skills led his legion of gap-toothed followers on a statewide barnstorm, especially during his Junior and Senior year, as the Medford faithful made the hours-long trip up Interstate 5 to watch him play in nationally-recognized tournaments like the Les Schwab Invitational.

Watching Singler in high school, what stood out were his fundamentals, consistency and competitive edge. It's fairly common to see the most-skilled player on the court working his ass off to win games; it's less common to see the same player play end line to end line for 40 full minutes. It's even less common to see that player, at 16 or 17 years of age, playing the game hard, to win, and playing it the right way: boxing out, bounce passes, ball in the triple-threat position immediately upon receiving a pass on the wing, dribbling with his head up at all times, making free throws, getting low when playing defense in the post. The kid just does it all, and does it all well.

In conclusion, Kyle Singler was born to play for Duke University and Coach K. He knows it, the Medford faithful know it, and soon a national audience will know it.

- Ben Golliver
(http://draftkevindurant.blogspot.com/)

Swoosh: Isaiah's Swann Song

2007-11-25T06:42:00.000-08:00

This week's focus is on the Florida State senior guard Isaiah Swann. Seven games into his final season Isaiah is averaging a team high 16.6 points and 3.9 assists per game while leading his team to a record of 5-2. Swann has improved his game in almost every facet, the most noticeable being his three point shooting percentage. He shot a remarkable 41% from three last season with big Al Thornton diverting the defenses attention. This season, as the teams primary scoring option he is shooting a ridiculous 51% from the three point line. Let that register for a second. On the highest level of college basketball you can play he is making every other three point shot he attempts. That's incredible. If that's not enough for you he is also perfect from the free throw line this season making all 25 of his attempts.

As it might seem, basketball has always come easy to Isaiah Swann . Under coach Dan Harwood he lead Magruder high school (Rockville, MD) to a state championship as a freshman. That's right, as a freshman he was the best player on a Maryland State basketball champion. Apparently, as though he missed the memo on how to be a big time 15 year old basketball player, he was very humble as well. I got a chance to speak with coach Harwood and he told me one of his favorites stories about Swann took place back in 2001, just before Magruder would march through the playoffs for their first state championship. Harwood explained that Swann wasn't playing well defensively in a game against Blair High School, a week before the playoffs were to begin. As a result, he decided that he wouldn't start Swann for the next game but was apprehensive about the move because he wasn't sure how Isaiah would react. Could you imagine if the move didn't work, Isaiah nor the team took well to it, and they didn't play up to their potential? Fortunately for Harwood it worked extremely well. He said Isaiah was actually OK with the move to the bench and clearly the team was as well as they would go on to win it all. Coach Harwood added "The way he handled that. He's always been a great kid."

In high school, the only thing that could stop Isaiah from dominating on the court was his commitment in the classroom. You see, that 01' championship season at Magruder was his second attempt at 9th grade and he was forced to miss a large part of his sophomore basketball season due to academic struggles as well. It is hard to understand why the kid who Coach Harwood said 'worked hard on his game' and 'loved to play' wouldn't do all that he could to stay academically eligible. In fact, I decided to write this story because I remember reading about his issues in the Washington Post, the transfer to Oak Hill, then the move to Hargrave Military Academy, and wondering what would ever come of the talented guard from the DC area. Well I now have my answer. Isaiah Swann is an All-ACC caliber basketball player and most importantly he is scheduled to graduate from Florida State University at the end of this academic year. In addition I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that he will be graduating in good academic standing at FSU. To me this says that Isaiah has taken an improved approach to his education, not just doing the bare minimum to get by. Congratulations Isaiah. Coach Harwood, myself, and the entire DC area are proud of you. Keep doing your thing.

ACC Game of the Week (11/18-11/25) - Maryland vs. #2 UCLA

2007-11-18T08:51:00.000-08:00

This week's big game takes us to Kansas City, Missouri for the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic matchup between #2 ranked UCLA and Maryland. By the way, does it seem like anyone can sponsor one of these basketball tournaments? I can't wait for the day I'm watching the Gebco Classic (Baltimore, MD) on ESPN and I see this commecial Go Gebco! Disclaimer: If that's not funny to you there is something wrong with you, not me. Anyways, while UCLA appears to be the superior team they are without All-Pac 10 point guard Darren Collison and Maryland's James Gis t is averaging a more than respectable 21.5 ppg and 8.5 rbg. While these two players play large roles for their team clearly most of the hype going in is on National Freshman of the Year candidate Kevin Love and deservedly so. The highly ranked freshman is averaging a 20.7 points and 10.3 rebounds in his first three games but this will be his first test against big time basketball competition. Unfortunately for Kevin, Gary Williams has assembled a front line at Maryland that is a bit more competitive than those of his first three opponents (Portland State, Youngstown State, and San Bernardino). Bambale Osby, Jerome Burney, Braxton Dupree, and the aforementioned Gist will prove to be too much for Love and frontcourt partner Lorenzo Mata. Gist is the best athlete either team has inside. Advantage Murlin!

In the backcourt the situation gets a bit more interesting. UCLA will come out with with Russell Westbrook at point guard with smooth Josh Shipp at the two and big time Luc Richard Mbah a Moute running the 3 spot. Westbrook and Shipp have Final Four game experience and loads of talent. Both will get paid in full to play basketball in the near future. Their athleticism and skill set could pose a problem for Maryland's backcourt. Pretty much, Maryland likes to play a lot of man to man and I don't think their point guard Eric Hayes can't check Westbrook, end of story. On the flip side Westbrook doesn't seem that comfortable on the free throw line, which might come back to haunt him in a game that should be close at the end. Hayes is a 93% free throw shooter. Moving to the wing it is fairly evident that Josh Shipp might be the best basketball player on the court at tip off. He's a cerebral basketball player that can get off his shot whenever he wants. To add to UCLA's fire Mbah a Moute is also a very intelligent player. He made a few passes last week that were ridiculous (the good ridiculous). Mbah a Moute doesn't have the ball handling to help as much on the perimeter but he will certainly help on the glass. Advantage Bruins.

My x-factor for this game is Maryland two guard Greivis Vasquez. I'm willing to bet he is one of the few college players averaging over 16 point a game to also put up almost 7 assists and 6 boards a contest as well. Vasquez is a dynamic player and his energy gets his team into the game. He can create this frenzied environment that invigorates his teammates and fans. In college basketball this is huge. I wrote 3 paragraphs about this game and now I'm realizing I only need one sentence. If Vasquez plays big, Maryland wins. Unfortunately I think Shipp's defense will be too much for him and as a result, UCLA will win. Feel free to call me out if you disagree. I'd do it to you.

ACC Basketball Predictions

2007-11-11T07:28:00.001-08:00

ACC Basketball is here again and not a moment too soon. There are several intriguing stories this season that will dictate the standings by seasons end. Will Landon Milbourne be the small forward Gary and the terps need to win? Can Kyle Singler (watch, he's number 33) and the other Duke freshmen provide the scoring and athleticism that they sorely lacked last season? Can Virginia maintain the momentum from last year's magical season without J.R. Reynolds?......This is the beauty of the ACC, every team can win on any night. How many conferences can boast that their 10th place team (Florida State) has brought in the nation's fifth best high school center (five star Solomon Alabi)? With that said I give you the the first ever ACC Ballers season preview:

Team Predictions:

1. North Carolina: Their talent, depth, and athleticism should prove too much for everyone else. Watch for Wayne Ellington to have breakout year as a sophomore after a solid first year.
2. Duke: Talent. Singler, Nolan Smith (watch) and Taylor King should be the influx of talent that this program needed.
3. Maryland: Might be high for some people's liking but they have the ingredients of a good acc team. Young but experienced backcourt and a big time front court player in senior James Gist.
4. North Carolina State: Sidney Lowe has infused new life into this program. They've got the talent inside to beat anyone in this conference but point guard play is an issue. Can Farnold Degand be the solution? I'm not sure, but we'll see. Apparently 07' McDonald's All American power forward J.J. Hickson (watch) is the real deal.
5. Virginia: In college hoops, guards win games. Senior Sean Singletary has been the best point guard in the conference for the past two seasons. He'll retain that title this season as well.
6. Clemson: Played a very soft schedule last season and it hurt them come ACC season. James Mays leads the way here.
7. Georgia Tech: They get Lewis Clinch, their leading scorer before his suspension, back to go along with high school All American Gani Lawal.
8. Florida State: Tough team with experienced guard play. They need a big year from Uche Echefu.
9. Boston College: Lost two first round picks on the front line in Jared Dudley and Sean Williams and will have a tough time making up that loss of production. Junior point guard Tyrese Rice will have to do more than ever this season.
10. Wake Forest: Tough off season for the Demon Deacons. They'll look to sophomore point guard Ishmael Smith to run the show.
11. Virginia Tech: Lost two big time guards and now must rebuild. This could be a very long season in Blacksburg as they have to find a way to replace the almost 29 point per game they lost in the backcourt. The heralded freshman from Washington, DC Jeff Allen should contribute inside though.
12. Miami: Jack McClinton, the junior guard from Charm city leads the way. He needs some help though, and it doesn't look like he'll get it this year.