ACC Stock Watch: January 31
Posted by Mick McDonald on January 31st, 2017Each week during the ACC season, RTC will review the last seven days to discuss the teams, players and anything else trending across the league.
STOCK UP
Georgia Tech. Now THAT is how you get the attention of the NCAA Tournament selection committee! The Yellow Jackets blasted Florida State at home last week before winning on Saturday on the rare but delightful “fast break lay-up buzzer beater” against Notre Dame. Georgia Tech is now 4-2 in its last six games and has absolutely moved into the discussion for an NCAA Tournament bid. The key has been the Yellow Jackets’ improved defense, as head coach Josh Pastner is employing a tricky zone that has forced opponents into a slew of bad shots, particularly from three-point range. Georgia Tech held the Seminoles to their lowest Offensive Rating (75.7) of the season and the Irish to their second-lowest (92.3).These big wins at home are no doubt important, but Pastner also needs to show that his team can win on the road. The Jackets will get the chance this week with trips to Clemson and Wake Forest.
Is freshman Ty Jerome the secret weapon for Tony Bennett to get Virginia deep into the tournament? (AP)
Virginia. The Cavaliers were *this* close to putting together one of the most impressive weeks of the entire college basketball season. Already carrying a dominant road victory over Notre Dame into Sunday’s match-up with top-ranked Villanova, the Cavaliers led for most of the way before a buzzer-beating tip-in gave them the loss. Perhaps even more surprising than Virginia’s success last week was the play of freshman Ty Jerome. Normally relegated to just a few minutes per game in giving senior point guard London Perrantes a breather, head coach Tony Bennett gave him a huge opportunity to deliver. Not only did he score a career-best 15 points in 24 minutes against the Wildcats, but he ran the offense well enough to allow Perrantes to play off the ball. Furthermore, he was not afraid to take the big shots, hitting several including a game-tying runner in the lane. Was this a temporary mirage, or is Jerome now a key cog to a Virginia team that appears to be putting it all together as we approach the home stretch?
Miami. The bubble is a precarious spot for any team and the corresponding feelings of uncertainty are even more dramatic when a team’s best win by the end of January is… Stanford, on a neutral court? At Pittsburgh? NC State at home? Jim Larranaga’s bunch, perhaps more than any bubble team in college basketball, needed a signature victory to add to its profile, and they got just what the doctor ordered with an impressive victory Saturday over North Carolina. The key to the Hurricanes’ win was in keeping the Tar Heels off of the offensive glass — as a result, North Carolina logged its second lowest offensive rebounding rate of the entire season (22.9%). Miami now has four of its next six at home, so they’ll have a few more chances to add to that still-thin NCAA Tournament resume. Up first is a reeling Florida State squad in a rivalry game in Coral Gables.
STOCK DOWN
Florida State. Welcome to life on the road in the ACC. Yes, the Seminoles won at Virginia in their first ACC road contest of the season, but that took a superhuman effort from Dwayne Bacon (and the team as a whole shooting over 50 percent from three-point range). In their last three road contests, however, the Seminoles have been handled easily by North Carolina, Georgia Tech and Syracuse, and have been downright dreadful on offense, shooting just 37.3 percent from the field and 30.7 percent from three-point range. Florida State still has five road games left on its schedule, including trips to Notre Dame, Duke and Miami. If the Seminoles have designs on winning an ACC championship, they need to figure out how to fix what is ailing them away from the friendly environs of Tallahassee.
Mike Brey has a great starting 5, but he needs more from his bench as the Fighting Irish head towards March. (Matt Cashore/USA Today Sports)
Notre Dame. When winning on the road in this league is so difficult, teams cannot afford to drop back-to-back home games. Yet that is exactly what Mike Brey’s team has done after losing to Virginia and Duke. One of the big issues Notre Dame faces has been its notable lack of bench production. T.J. Gibbs and Rex Pflueger contributed 14 combined points in the loss to Duke last night, but in Notre Dame’s two previous losses, the entire bench combined for just 11 points. Notre Dame’s starters play a lot of minutes, but Brey needs to get something more from his bench if he hopes to make a deep run into March for the third straight season.
