Rush The Court

The marquee match-up between North Carolina State and Miami gave the conference-leading Hurricanes a little more separation as they remain on top of the conference heap, still undefeated in Atlantic Coast Conference play. Below them? Well it’s a heap of something.

1. Virginia is Third in the ACC Standings. I wouldn’t have been able to guess that, despite following the conference with a feverish intensity. Last night they lost to lowly Georgia Tech, and now Virginia sits at 5-3 (along with a North Carolina team that Virginia beat). In addition to the Yellow Jackets, the other two conference teams to hand the Wahoos losses are Clemson and Wake Forest. What is going on? The Cavaliers are a shining example of this season’s remarkable home court advantage in conference play. Virginia has won all of its home games and lost all but one of its road games (against Virginia Tech). The home team has won a stunning 70% of games this season. On top of that, Ken Pomeroy has Virginia spotted as having the easiest league schedule in the ACC. In more concrete terms: It’s easy to have a good record when you have yet to play a single road game against a team with a winning record in conference play.
2. Boston College Is A Bad Team With A Good Offense. In conference play, Boston College trails behind only Duke, NC State, and Miami in terms of offensive efficiency. This isn’t surprising if you watched the game against Clemson: BC shot 57.8% from the field and 55% from beyond the arc, highlighted by freshman Joe Rahon draining 6-of-7 threes, giving his team the win. Still, make no mistake: This team is so bad defensively that it more than offsets the sterling offensive performances that the Eagles have been turning in. Duke leads the conference in offensive efficiency with a mark at 110.0. The second best offensive team in the conference? Whoever is playing Boston College. The average offensive efficiency of BC opponents in conference play is 108.5.
3. If Maryland Didn’t Turn the Ball Over So Much, They Would be Incredible. After a strong opening night performance against Kentucky, many thought that Maryland could be on the cusp of a great season. The returns on the season have been disappointing thus far. Even when Maryland wins big, the team is maddening. The Terrapins absolutely punked Wake Forest to the tune of a 26-point win, yet they did so in a game where they also managed 19 turnovers. On the season, Maryland has turned the ball over on 22.6% of its possessions. That’s an abysmal figure, well below the conference and even national average. Coupled with Maryland’s own philosophy of not pressuring other teams for turnovers, the turnover battle is pretty much a lost cause for the Terrapins. The crazy thing is that in spite of that, Maryland’s offense has been very efficient offensively thanks to high percentage of inside shots and an other-worldly season on the offensive glass.  If Maryland could figure out a way to cut down on all the turnovers, this team would become very dangerous, very quickly.
4. Rebound Totals Are Kind Of Pointless.  Duke managed only 23 rebounds against Florida State. What does that tell you about the game? Florida State had 21 rebounds. What does that tell you about the game? Florida State had eight offensive rebounds while Duke had six. Based on this information, would anyone be able to deduce that Duke won this game in  a 19-point rout? Probably not. Rebound totals on their own don’t give much context, and sometimes offensive rebounds are an even more deceiving measure. Mason Plumlee’s five total rebounds and two on the offensive glass were game-highs. There aren’t a lot of offensive rebounds when your team is shooting 60.8% from the field. Couple that kind of shooting with the slowest game that Duke has played all year and you have a recipe for confusingly unreadable rebound totals.
5. Erick Green Is Bothered By Bigger Defenders. Though North Carolina needed overtime and some clutch shooting by Marcus Paige to get the win over Virginia Tech, they did find a way to slow down the conference’s most dangerous scorer. Green was held to 16 points on 7-of-21 shooting, which marked only the second time this season that the dynamic guard scored fewer than 20 points. North Carolina managed to bottle up Green by sticking big, long-limbed guards on him, namely 6’7″ Reggie Bullock and 6’5″ Leslie McDonald. Green had a hard time shooting over the length of these two and the Tar Heels’ discipline at avoiding contact paid dividends. This was the first game in the entire season that Green didn’t even attempt a free throw.
6. Miami’s Three-Headed Center Is Scary. Reggie Johnson was the Hurricanes’ hero with his last second tip-in to give Miami the win over NC State, but as a whole, Miami’s center rotation has become the stuff of nightmares. Johnson, along with Julian Gamble and Kenny Kadji, each played about 25 minutes against NC State. Together, they combined for 44 points (58.6% from the field, 9-of-10 from the line) and 17 rebounds. It looks like Gamble will continue to receive playing time despite Johnson’s return, and the decision has already started to pay dividends for coach Jim Larranaga.