1. Baltimore Sun: And then there were none. The ACC’s 2012-13 season officially came to a close Tuesday night when Maryland lost to Iowa in the NIT semifinals. The bright lights at Madison Square Garden (and the Hawkeyes’ press) forced 17 Maryland turnovers, which led to 27 Iowa points. Iowa also opted to use zone, which makes perfect sense against a team with a group of guards who struggle beyond the arc. Thus ends a frustrating season for the Terrapins, who couldn’t overcome its youth in the backcourt. The Terps’ season ended on a high note with a strong ACC Tournament performance before making the biggest stage of the NIT.
2. Streaking the Lawn: Brian Schwartz has a good breakdown here of areas where Virginia players need to improve this offseason. Tony Bennett’s team has a lot of talent coming back next year, but the Cavaliers also need to improve in many ways. First and foremost, they need someone to step up and play point guard. But the biggest place to look for improvement is from this year’s freshmen. The young Cavaliers struggled defensively this year, which isn’t a surprise give how different Bennett’s system is from most high schools. At a minimum things look very good moving forward in Charlottesville.
3. Orlando Sun-Sentinel: Miami will take a big step backwards next year, that much is certain. But if Jim Larranaga can make something positive of a year where he potentially loses all five of his starters (four to graduation, one to the NBA Draft), it could be good for the program going forward. The good news is Miami’s success (and proximity to Lebron James and Dwyane Wade and apparently an endless supply of awesomely garish shoes) this year should provide positive results on the recruiting trail going forward.
4. Keeping It Heel: With the ACC now out of the postseason, it’s time to start looking ahead to the ACC’s new members. Coach K came out and said what we all know: “It makes us the most powerful basketball conference, I think, ever.” That sounds about right. And while the coming change makes me and other fans nostalgic, the prospect of more Duke-Syracuse and Louisville-North Carolina games should make up for it very quickly.
5. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Pittsburgh had a rough couple of days. After getting bounced in the Round of 64, the Panthers also lost Trey Zeigler to transfer (the second of his college career) and Steven Adams to the NBA Draft. Adams averaged over seven points and six rebounds a game in a promising freshman campaign. Zeigler was less important, but his loss still won’t help Jamie Dixon’s process of building a conference contender next season.

mpatton (576 Posts)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 3rd, 2013 at 6:15 am by mpatton and is filed under acc, microsites, morning 5. Tagged: maryland, miami, steven adams, trey zeigler, 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.