Rush The Court

Some afternoons, we’re going to do our best to point you to the developing stories and thoughtful writing from all over the ACC that has turned up during the course of the day.  So without further ado, here’s your Afternoon Delight.

• Four players from North Carolina have been named to the Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 list. Harrison Barnes, John Henson, Kendall Marshall and Tyler Zeller all made the cut for consideration of the most prestigious individual award in college basketball. Four guys picked from one school is the record in the history of the list, which is impressive for UNC, but less impressive for the rest of the conference; outside of the Carolina four, not a single other ACC player was tabbed. Who do you think should have made the cut? Matt’s got some thoughts that he’d like to share with you tomorrow.
• Jeff Borzello, of course, has the recruiting scoop for this weekend. While NC State had the big score landing Rodney Purvis, Wake Forest took an important step forward after last year’s disastrous season by landing 6’6″ small forward, Arnaud Adala-Moto. Likewise, North Carolina finally closed the deal on the big 6’10” Joel James. Both are nice gets, but Adala-Moto’s recruitment is an incredible sign for the Wake Forest faithful that Jeff Bzdelik might just be able to turn this thing around.
• Unfortunately, things seem increasingly dire at Maryland, with a mounting school-wide budget problem being compounded by an athletic department that has been operating with monetary losses for the past few years. While there has been movement to look for answers, it seems like so far there’s been little action. In late September, the Washington Post reported on a forum, open to the public, where ideas on how to fix the budget problem were solicited.  Sadly, the most widely suggested idea was that excessive profanity in the Comcast Center has been keeping families from taking in Maryland basketball games.
• A student paper for Boston College, The Heights, weighs in on expansion. For BC, the glass is half-empty and Matt Ulrich lays out the case for why the addition of Syracuse and Pittsburgh will hurt the Eagles in recruiting and league play. Boston College, positioned as a league middleweight, can’t help but see two to four extra losses in ACC play and tournament dreams that will now be even harder to achieve.