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

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)

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.

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.