1. The Daily Tar Heel: I’m not sure how this story isn’t getting much play, but the North Carolina student newspaper didn’t want to be outdone by the Duke Chronicle. They point out a major discrepancy between the Wainstein report and the document sent to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (the group responsible for North Carolina’s accreditation). The Wainstein report pinpointed 1993. The SACS report said they may have gone back until 1989. Dean Smith’s second national championship was in 1993. The school spokesperson said it was just semantics (the SACS report only points out the potentially “irregular” classes). History professor Jay Smith doesn’t think it’s just a difference in words though. Suffice to say we still haven’t heard the end of this case.
2. Hampton Roads Daily Press: More bad news for Justin Anderson. From all accounts, he was set to come back against Louisville this weekend, but had to get an appendectomy Thursday. While the surgery shouldn’t keep him out in the ACC Tournament, that extra game would have likely helped Anderson get back into the swing of things for when it counts (the NCAA Tournament). Now, as an ACC die-hard it pains me to say this, but the Cavaliers don’t have anything to prove against the ACC–though a revenge win against Duke to win a second straight would be quite the statement–but Tony Bennett and his team need a Final Four this year to cement its legacy beyond the conference.
3. New York Times: Fun story on a Syracuse fan named Geoff Herbert. Herbert was born mostly deaf, and has made a Twitter following by lipreading Jim Boeheim during games. Personally I think Herbert should monetize his skills. He drops the (mostly PG) knowledge on Twitter for free. But an uncensored account? I’d probably pay for that. Herbert’s translation adds a fun side to watching a game.
4. Syracuse Post Standard: Chris McCullough is planning to stay at Syracuse a second year. Coming into the season a lot of people thought he’d have a chance to leave for greener pastures, but tearing his ACL changed that. McCullough is taking his recovery pretty slowly (he doesn’t plan on trying to play until December). His return also gives him a chance to see a lot more possessions, since he won’t be sharing the lane with Rakeem Christmas. He’s also a reason to be more optimistic about the Orange next year.
5. Washington Post: John Feinstein has an interesting thesis (this sounds sarcastic, but hang with me). He writes that the reason teams are struggling to score is they can’t shoot. That’s too simple. The main reason teams can’t score is they are playing slower than ever before. That’s not to say Clemson is a team of sharpshooters. Brad Brownell usually isn’t in the running for great defenders who can also shoot. While he jokes about recruiting guys who can’t shoot, I’m sure he recruits the best players for his system. You can run offense to get easier shots. You can’t really hide a below average athlete on defense. I think it might be true that players are worse at shooting now than 20 years ago, but evidence goes against that idea. Free throw shooting has been essentially flat for 20 years. I think the difference is defenses are getting better, and players are playing faster.

mpatton (576 Posts)

This entry was posted on Friday, March 6th, 2015 at 8:01 am by mpatton and is filed under acc, microsites, morning 5. Tagged: brad brownell, chris mcCullough, clemson, jim boeheim, justin anderson, north carolina, syracuse. 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.