1. Keeping It Heel: Ben Williams wrote this article before North Carolina‘s loss to Miami, but essentially he argues that the Tar Heels’ lack of veteran talent means there’s no “fix” to the team’s problems. I agree that there’s no fix, but it’s not about veteran talent. This team has talent (that admittedly isn’t used to being the first or second options on the floor). The problem is that the players don’t fit together quite right. Reggie Bullock and James Michael McAdoo aren’t wired to be the most aggressive guys on the floor, there’s no true post presence, and the freshmen can’t fill in the holes. But it is very true that this team has a much lower ceiling than its predecessor.
2. Hampton Roads Daily Progress: Whitey Reid evaluated Virginia after its letdown loss at Wake Forest earlier this week. He praised freshmen Mike Tobey and Justin Anderson for their play, but he should have called out upperclassman Joe Harris in addition to Jontel Evans. Both finished with a team-high four turnovers, and Harris shot abysmally from the floor. The turnovers were the difference in the game, though. It was the Cavaliers’ worst job protecting the ball all season, and they paid for it.
3. Soaring To Glory: This is a really good glass-half-full look at Boston College. One huge thing mentioned that many people may not know is that Boston College didn’t win any road games last season. This year’s team has already won two (at Virginia Tech and at Penn State). That shows some mental toughness and grit that simply wasn’t there last season. The roster is also slowly beginning to resemble an ACC-quality roster, as there’s talent through most of the starters this year. I’m not sure Steve Donahue will ever recruit a roster 10 deep with ACC talent, but he’s moving in the right direction.
4. Tallahassee Democrat: Florida State and North Carolina had disappointing non-conference campaigns. Both finished with one good win, though the Seminoles’ losses look a lot worse than those of the Tar Heels. But the two teams appear to be diverging in conference play. Florida State has bounced back with two road wins to start off conference action — including an impressive double-figure comeback to win at Maryland. North Carolina is 0-2 in conference play for the first time since 2008-09, and it doesn’t look like a focus issue. However the conference divergence only makes the Tar Heels’ trip to Tallahassee tomorrow more interesting. If North Carolina hopes to come away with a win, its bigs have to match up well with the Seminoles.
5. Washington Post: Speaking of the Terrapins’ loss to Florida State, Mark Turgeon thinks his team (and coaching staff) panicked down the stretch. Over a three-minute period, Maryland made seven substitutions to try to stop the bleeding. It’s safe to say a weak non-conference schedule definitely hurt along with so much youth in leadership roles. Suddenly Maryland has gone from the trendy runner-up pick in the ACC to a complete unknown.

mpatton (576 Posts)

This entry was posted on Friday, January 11th, 2013 at 6:01 am by mpatton and is filed under acc, microsites, morning 5. Tagged: boston college, florida state, Joe harris, jontel evans, mark turgeon, maryland, north carolina, virginia. 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.