1. Run the Floor: If recruiting means anything, the ACC is well on its way to regaining its place as top basketball conference in the land. Not counting the Big East defections (all of which will improve the quality of the conference), 17 of the 75 committed players in the ESPNU Top 100 will play in the ACC during their collegiate careers. Unlike the last few years, it’s not just Tobacco Road hauling in the five-star prospects: it’s Florida State capitalizing on the publicity following its ACC championship; it’s Georgia Tech and Maryland starting to tap into their bountiful recruiting homes; and it’s NC State regaining its place among the relevant.
2. Raleigh News & Observer: Luke DeCock and Caulton Tudor answered five burning questions about the ACC in this piece (albeit with a bit of a Tobacco Road tilt). The most interesting of the questions is whether ACC Tournament Friday can be saved. DeCock makes a very interesting suggestion: Leave lower bowl ticketing the same (tickets split between teams), but make the upper level general admission. Especially while the ACC Tournament is in Greensboro (and Duke, North Carolina and NC State are all relevant), the problem isn’t a shortage of fans. It’s a shortage of fans able of getting a handle on some tickets.
3. Wilmington Star News: Speaking of NC State, CJ Leslie is ready to step up and lead this Wolfpack team. As a freshman, he had all of the ability in the world but often looked like a totally disinterested guy playing pick-up ball, choosing to troll the perimeter rather than get to work in the post. Down the stretch last season, Leslie found his groove. He used his athleticism to work over bigger defenders away from the basket and his height to frustrate smaller defenders. Based on his play at the end of last year, the biggest question about him coming out of high school — his maturity — is starting to look optimistic.
4. Southern Maryland Online: After short stints playing overseas, former Maryland point guard Eric Hayes is coming back to College Park to try his hand at coaching. Hayes joined Mark Turgeon’s staff as a graduate assistant this season. His father was a very successful high school coach at Potomac High School for over two decades, which means Hayes spent his whole life looking at basketball through the eyes of a coach.
5. The Heights: Austin Tedesco asked the question “Can [Boston College] be a new Duke?” And his very important point gets lost in the extreme nature of his question. His point boils down to the fact that a coach’s first real recruiting class’ success is very important in program building — meaning Ryan Anderson, Patrick Heckmann and Dennis Clifford will need to do well if Boston College is to improve significantly under Steve Donahue. However, the Duke comparison is a little more far-fetched for three simple reasons: (1) Duke had far more recent basketball success when Mike Krzyzewski took over over three decades ago; (2) Duke sits in a college basketball hotbed, both of local talent and local fandom; and (3) Coach K is a once-in-a-generation coach. Donahue may turn out to be an exceptional program builder, but to immediately compare him with the most successful coach in the modern era sets the bar unreasonably high.

mpatton (576 Posts)

This entry was posted on Friday, November 2nd, 2012 at 6:01 am by mpatton and is filed under acc, microsites, morning 5. Tagged: boston college, cj leslie, duke, eric hayes, florida state, georgia tech, maryland, nc state, north carolina, steve donahue. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.