ACC Game On: 01.12.12

KCarpenter

13 years ago

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The middle of the ACC is so muddled that honestly I don’t know what to make of last night’s results. Of course, after all my talk, Alex Len was barely a factor in the Terrapins victory over Wake Forest, while forwards James Padgett and Ashton Pankey grabbed six offensive rebounds apiece, enough to make up for a lousy shooting night all around for Maryland. It’s a nice performance for the under-heralded freshman Pankey, but for Padgett, we really should have seen this coming. Somehow this willowy, 6’8″ junior continues to lead Division I in offensive rebounding percentage. I don’t know how he does it, but the Terrapins owe at least one win to him.

The Terps and Len Snuck Past Wake Forest Last Night in College Park (AP)

Meanwhile in Raleigh, the ever-promising Wolfpack took a slide backwards in a loss to Georgia Tech. While North Carolina State showed moxie on offense and won the possession battle, Mark Gottfried‘s team lost the war by allowing a truly mediocre shooting team to score at will. Now, will the Yellow Jackets go 9-for-15 from three-point land in any other game this season? Probably not. Whether you want to chalk this win up to hot shooting or not, it’s becoming increasingly clearer that NC State needs to start taking defense seriously or more embarrassing losses are soon to follow.

The Heavyweight Bout

Virginia at Duke at 9:00 PM on ESPN

Let’s be clear about this: A loss by a visiting team at Cameron Indoor doesn’t mean that much. It’s expected. No matter how good your team is, odds are that you will lose to Duke at home. This isn’t to say that this game means nothing, but merely to help manage expectations. As good as Virginia has been this year, they are the underdogs, and even if this game was taking place in Charlottesville, I’d probably still call them the dogs. Of course, lots of folks are talking about how Virginia’s pack-line defense leaves it vulnerable to good perimeter shooters, which Duke has. While this makes logical sense, this weakness might not be real: Opponents have made only 27.0% of threes against the Cavaliers this year. It’s the 11th-best such mark in the nation. The perimeter might be a red herring against Virginia. If Duke wants to win, the better move might be to take it right to the money-man himself: Mike Scott. In Ryan Kelly, Mason Plumlee, and Miles Plumlee, the Blue Devils have the talent and versatility to wear out the key cog in Virginia’s offensive system. Duke will find a way to score, even against great Virginia defense, but the real question of this game is whether Duke’s suspect defense can stand against a merely adequate Cavaliers offense. That question, combined with who wins the pace war (quicksilver Blue Devils vs. molasses Cavaliers) may very well be far more relevant than who gets the hottest from three.

The Undercard

Clemson at Boston College at 7:00 PM on ESPN2

Listen: I’m having a really hard time watching Boston College. I’ve watched a lot of their games this season because I am a basketball junkie with a bit of masochistic streak. That’s me, though. You don’t have to watch this game. Still let’s play a game and come up with reasons to watch this match-up: 1) If you are an Eagles fan who trusts Ken Pomeroy’s projections, this is one of the three remaining games that BC has the highest chance of winning. How high is that chance? 18%. Yikes. 2) If you are a Clemson fan, a decisive win here would help assuage your fears about your maddeningly inconsistent team. 3) If you want to see Andre Young score over 30 points, this would be a really good night to watch Clemson play.

KCarpenter (269 Posts)

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