- Washington Post: Apparently there’s a new book out about the beginnings of ACC basketball. Unfortunately, said book is called ACC Basketball in a stroke of hackneyed inspiration that I imagine is prevalent amongst retired history professors. Despite its title, the book sounds fascinating. Professor J. Samuel Walker wanted “to capture the impressive progress made on both academic and athletic fronts without blinking when discussing more unsavory aspects of ACC basketball,” and was successful, according to this review. So if you’re still shopping for an ACC hoops fan, you might want to check your nearest bookstore (or Amazon).
- Soaring To Glory: Where does Boston College go wrong? Working with a small sample size, Soaring To Glory tries to answer when the Eagles start to collapse. The general consensus is that it starts in the second half, though based on the first chart from this story, it’s even earlier than that. The Eagles are currently on pace to join Utah as the worst power conference teams in the history of Ken Pomeroy’s rankings (to be fair, Utah just joined a major conference). They’ve got to beat Wake Forest’s dreadful #251 finish from last season.
- Testudo Times: Maryland has had an eventful start to the season, even if it hasn’t been littered with success. The next six games should be, with all but two of them being true “guarantee” games (Maryland should still be a heavy home favorite in the other two). In the meantime, keep an eye out for Alex Len, the highly touted international seven-footer, who will finish his ten-game suspension during the upcoming stretch. If nothing else, he’s worth five fouls and a lot of length. Additionally, it sounds like Pe’Shon Howard‘s injury is healing quicker than expected, so his tentative return date may come against Cornell on January 3.
- Searching For Billy Edelin: Speaking of the Terrapins, SBNation‘s resident national basketball blog took a look at Terrell Stoglin‘s transformation from last year. I want to address a few of the concerns brought up in the article. First, I think Stoglin’s assist rate going down is as much of a product of Jordan Williams leaving as it is Stoglin changing. Becoming the first (and often only) option has also forced Stoglin to be a much more aggressive offensive player. It will be very interesting to see how Maryland’s identity changes with the pending additions of Len and Howard.
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia Tech‘s new coach Brian Gregory takes on in-state rival Georgia today. Neither team is off to a particularly strong start, as both lost much of their talent from last season. Georgia Tech hasn’t won at Georgia since 1976 (though for 14 years the game was played at a neutral site). I like Georgia to win this one, but it’ll come down to Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Glen Rice, Jr., the best scorers for their respective teams. Even though neither of these teams is at its peak, rivalry games like these in December are always fun.