You can be forgiven if you don’t know much about Akil Mitchell other than the fact that he is a forward who plays for Virginia. In his first two years in the ACC, Mitchell was a role player backing up and complementing a veteran frontcourt stacked with the likes of Mike Scott and Assane Sene.  He played 22 MPG last year and averaged 4.1 PPG and 4.4 RPG. Those are decent numbers and all improvements over an even smaller role in his freshman year. However, with the departure of star player Scott, Mitchell has stepped into the limelight and performed magnificently. In 28 MPG this season, the 6’8″ forward is averaging 13.2 PPG and 9.2 RPG with a pair of assists and a steal a game thrown in for good measure. This is a remarkable improvement and currently Mitchell sits at fourth in the ACC in rebounds per game while he is just outside of the top 10 in scoring average. What makes this achievement all the more impressive is the tempo at which Virginia plays.

Akil Mitchell Has Made a Huge Leap This Season

As in recent years, Virginia plays at a mind-numbingly slow pace. There are only four teams in Division I that play slower than the Cavaliers, and Tony Bennett‘s team is clearly the tortoise of the conference. So what? This means that Mitchell’s per game production actually underrates how good the forward has been for his team. He’s a top five player in the conference in offensive and defensive rebounding percentage as well as a top five player in offensive efficiency for players who use at least 24% of their team’s possessions. This isn’t an issue of a player who just needed more minutes or a more featured role: Mitchell took a big leap this year, improving in all of his tempo-free metrics even as he took on more responsibility for the offense.

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Confirming a story first reported by CBS Sports, the Miami has announced that senior center Reggie Johnson will miss the next six to eight weeks due to a broken left thumb. Johnson had missed the past two games against Arizona and Indiana State, games that the Hurricanes lost. Miami had seemed poised for a breakout year after reeling off seven straight wins subsequent to an early season stumble against Florida Gulf Coast, including a marquee win against Michigan State at home.  The loss of the dominant big man and the playing slump of Kenny Kadji have made the formidable Hurricanes front line seem very vulnerable indeed.

Johnson’s Absence Will Put Miami in a Precarious Situation

How badly will head coach Jim Larranaga miss Johnson? When he’s on the court, the 6’10” Johnson bullies opponents with his 290-pound body. He is a fantastic rebounder and one of the nation’s very best on the glass. With a 26.9% defensive rebounding rate, he leads the conference while also posting a respectable 13.6% on the offensive boards. On the defensive end, he is a capable shot blocker (fifth best in the conference by percentage) and an imposing presence beneath the rim. Despite all of this, however, Johnson will be missed the most on offense. When he is on the court, the center uses 28.7% of all of Miami’s possessions, a usage rate that is only surpassed by the one-man team of Erick Green at Virginia Tech. While Johnson has sometimes struggled with his shooting from the field this season, the area where he truly excels is getting to the free throw line. Outside of Mason Plumlee, no one in the conference gets to the stripe more than Johnson, who converts a very respectable 71.4% of his free throw attempts.  Miami has numerous effective scorers, but the loss of Johnson really hurts.

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1. Chicago Tribune: Apparently some marginal prospect quietly and unobtrusively decided to accept a basketball scholarship to a little known college yesterday. Just kidding. Jabari Parker is going to Duke because he liked the school and thought Michigan State wasn’t a great fit with Branden Dawson already filling the role that Parker expects to play. It’s a huge get for Duke as Parker was the clear number one prospect in the Class of 2013 before Andrew Wiggins decided to reclassify.
2. State of the U: He’s not Jabari Parker, but Miami landed a nice verbal commitment for the season after next in four-star shooting guard Adonys Henriquez. Head coach Jim Larranaga and his staff have been busy trying to prepare the Hurricanes program for the departure of its veteran core. Since Henriquez is in the high school Class of 2014, he won’t be able to provide immediate help next season, but it is good to see that the recruiting work of Miami is bearing some fruit.
3. Washington Post: If you are undecided in terms of a potential career, I’d like to recommend becoming an assistant coach for the Maryland Terrapins. Apparently assistant Dalonte Hill is due a $25,000 bonus if Maryland makes the NCAA Tournament, while Bino Ranson and Scott Spinelli only receive $16,667 in bonus pay if the team goes dancing. Hill makes $307,440 in guaranteed pay, while Spinelli makes only $207,440. Ranson gets $182,400 with an extra $25,000 for media work. Sure the hours are long, the travel is crazy, and there is little to any semblance of job security, but when you make that much as an assistant, it doesn’t seem like such a bad trade-off.
4. Yahoo! Sports: North Carolina is not very good at basketball this year and people are talking about it after the Tar Heels were embarrassed against Texas on Wednesday night. The reasons why North Carolina is losing aren’t complicated: bad defense, wildly inconsistent offense, and a seeming inability to compete with the top rebounders in college basketball. If there is any solace in these problems, it’s the simple fact that these are fairly common issues for a team that is relying heavily on inexperienced big men. These things happen while power forwards and centers figure out how to be effective on the collegiate level. The good news is that most of these players will almost certainly get better with experience and time. Unfortunately for the Tar Heels, with conference play mere weeks away, the team really doesn’t really have that much time to jump-start this season.
5. Wilmington Star News: The Bob Cousy Award watch list was announced this week and it includes seven ACC players. The fairly comprehensive list has 80 names, but it will be cut down to 20 by New Year’s Day. Of the seven, Erick Green and Lorenzo Brown are probably playing at the highest level, but Quinn Cook and Pe’Shon Howard are very talented distributors on good teams (a factor that probably plays a bigger role than most would care to admit). Shane Larkin is in a similar situation to Howard, but both probably need superlative performances to make the cut.  Freshman Montay Brandon of Florida State is unlikely to make the next round since there are at least two other players on his own team who are probably better point guards than him (Devon Bookert and Ian Miller have higher assist percentages and offensive efficiency scores). Dexter Strickland is unlikely to be listed as one of the nation’s top 20 point guards, mostly because he plays at the point guard position for fewer than 10 minutes a game, spending the bulk of his time at shooting guard.

1. Sun News: In what was billed as the biggest game in Coastal Carolina history, Clemson did its part to make the night memorable for the Chanticleers. In an unseemly collapse, Clemson lost to Coastal Carolina on the road as a follow-up to last year’s home loss. With a final score of 69-46, the Chanticleers were convincing in their win over the Tigers while Brad Brownell’s team looked nothing more than hapless. Milton Jennings went 2-of-16 from the field and had five turnovers in 31 minutes, a throwback performance for the forward who seemed on the cusp of a solid offensive year. This game raises some troubling questions about the Tigers’ ability to merely compete in the ACC this season.
2. News & Observer: Texas delivered the other big ACC loss of the night, pulling away from a North Carolina team that threatened to rally but never held on to any momentum. UNC played a lethargic brand of turnover-heavy basketball that resulted in easy baskets for the Longhorns and a furious Roy Williams. Texas has had a disappointing season so far, dealing with the NCAA-imposed absence of Myck Kabongo and a loss to lowly Chaminade in the Maui Invitational. Yet against the Tar Heels, Texas looked sharp. Meanwhile, in Chapel Hill, it’s safe to assume that the players and coaching staff are going to have to rethink the team’s approach or else North Carolina will likely continue to look lost on the basketball court.
3. Wilmington Star News: While Duke easily won its last game against Cornell, the match-up came with a tinge of disappointment. Marshall Plumlee, the third of the Plumlee brothers, was set to make his Duke debut after a stress fracture had robbed him of the opening games of the season. Plumlee was on the court for about two minutes before returning to the bench with a “slight sprain.” The forward will likely sit out the next game against Elon as a precaution, but there has yet to be any indication whether this injury is serious.  It wasn’t the debut that Plumlee wanted,  but as long as this new injury doesn’t keep him out for long, I’m sure he will have other chances to make an impression on the court.
4. Fox Sports South: It’s hard to make too much of this, because it seems like this has happened often in recent years, but Miami has put together a nice string of victories and appears to finally be a legitimate contender for the conference title. The Hurricanes have looked good before, only to wilt under the weight of the conference schedule. Yet, the early returns are convincing: Miami looks really good. While experience suggests that we can’t be sure about this team, the bouquet of victories against Michigan State, Massachusetts, and Charlotte is very respectable.
5. Washington Post: The heavier players lost weight and the skinnier players gained muscle. In essence, that’s the bare bones of what a coach wants out of his strength and conditioning coach. At Maryland, the team and staff are working hard to do far more than meet this low standard. Kyle Tarp has done a remarkable job transforming the bodies of the Terrapin players and his methods and results seem like something that lots of other programs should seek to emulate (perhaps especially whoever ends up with former UCLA center Josh Smith).

1. Wilmington Star News: North Carolina State entered this season as the favorite to win the ACC, but a few shaky games and some tough losses gave fans reason to doubt if this team could live up to its lofty expectations. Now, dodging the question of whether or not these expectations were ever reasonable, the Wolfpack is starting to look like a real contender. In a victory Tuesday night over Stanford, the team’s four core veteran starters all scored over 15 points and looked cohesive. Though NCSU’s vaunted freshman class was mostly quiet while the veterans did their thing, the signs are clear that this squad could be very good by the time March rolls around.
2. Fayetteville Observer:  Mark Gottfried has given his team quite a bit of UCLA flavor, drawing upon his experience as an assistant coach for the Bruins for nearly 10 years, but the rest of the staff brings over some of that same culture. Director of Operations Jeff Dunlap played for UCLA, as did the Director of Player Development Larry Farmer. Of course, while Dunlap played during Gottfried’s time in Los Angeles, Farmer represents a different era. His teams went 89-1 and won three NCAA titles as a player on the legendary John Wooden squads that featured Bill Walton and Sidney Wicks. Farmer would later coach at UCLA for a few seasons in the 1980s, but those seasons naturally pale before his place as a player on the greatest dynasty in men’s college basketball. I can’t speak for how effective Farmer is or will be at developing NC State players, but if his talent is anywhere close to his acumen in telling stories about partying with Bill Walton, then he will definitely be a substantial resource.
3. Washington Post: Very quietly, the Maryland Terrapins have put together a nice 9-1 record, blemished only by a surprisingly close season-opening loss to Kentucky. Now, granted, since that game, the caliber of competition that Maryland has been playing has been somewhat lacking, yet a win over a George Mason team that beat Virginia, a blowout victory over Northwestern, and a collection of convincing landslide wins over the likes of Monmouth and South Carolina State paint the picture of a team that could be very good. Alex Len has gone from unknown foreign prospect to one of the top prospects in the NBA draft, yet, somehow, Maryland remains unranked. It’s a small thing, and something that doesn’t really concern the team that much, but don’t be surprised when Maryland starts popping up in the polls sooner rather than later.
4. ESPN: Dexter Strickland was never a point guard. In high school he played at the wing and, in his own mind, he was always a combo guard. Yet in his college career at North Carolina, Strickland has often been used at the point, spelling Larry Drew II, Kendall Marshall, and now Marcus Paige as needed. Somehow, the defense-and-dribble-drive focused guard became a true point guard, and so far this season, Strickland ranks fourth in the ACC in assists per game. Though he still plays the bulk of his minutes at shooting guard, a combination of experience and a more cerebral  approach to the game have made him one of the better distributors in the conference, and an asset to the Tar Heels as a second ball-handler and playmaker alongside the freshman Paige.
5. Syracuse Online: Michael Gbinije had a very brief career at Duke before transferring to Syracuse. Yet, because of the strange alignment of this particular historical moment, namely both Mike Krzyzewski and Jim Boeheim passing the 900-win threshold and the weirdness of conference realignment, means that Gbinije will have managed to play under the two winningest coaches in college basketball history as soon as Boeheim passes Bob Knight. He is also notable (or he will be notable) as being the only player in history to play on two separate ACC teams once Syracuse arrives in the league next season. I wouldn’t say this really means anything in particular, but it’s a nice weird footnote.

1. News & Observer: Everyone agrees that Duke is the best basketball team in the nation. As silly as the rankings in the media and coaches poll can be, for many schools, a place at the top of one of these lists is a rare feather in the cap. Yet in Durham, the top of the polls isn’t anything worth getting excited about, a reasonable stance when a team has topped the polls so frequently. Of all the numbers that speak to Duke’s dominance in this area, I think this is the most stunning: During Mike Krzyzewski’s tenure, Duke has played more games as the top-ranked team than they have as an unranked team. That is nothing short of incredible.
2. CBS Sports: In more numbers-related news, Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim achieved his 900th win last night against Detroit. Boeheim is in rarefied air, and it seems very likely that the Orange coach will easily retire with the second spot in all-time career wins (Krzyzeski is all but uncatchable at this point). Boeheim, with his incredible win total (and win percentage!), is one of the true living legends of the college basketball world. It’s worth taking a moment to realize what a big deal it is that this man is going to be coaching in the ACC next season and beyond.
3. Washington Post: A short Virginia Tech rotation just got even shorter. Freshman Marshall Wood has broken a bone in his left foot and will be out indefinitely. Wood was in the midst of a fairly successful opening campaign of his college career, playing 18 minutes a game off the bench, and serving as the third big man in the Hokies’ frontcourt rotation. While fellow freshman Joey van Zegeren has seen some playing time at this spot, his propensity for fouling may mean that Virginia Tech embraces a smaller line-up with swingman Jarell Eddie seeing some time at power forward like he did last year.
4. Wilmington Star News: Speaking of impressive freshmen campaigns, it’s time to talk about T.J. Warren‘s impressive start for NC State. Garnering a second ACC Rookie of the Week nod, Warren has barely missed since the beginning of his time with the Wolfpack. Shooting 69.1% from the field, he’s easily been the most accurate player in the conference as well as posting the third best field goal percentage nationally. While it’s unlikely that Warren will continue to shoot the ball at such a torrid pace, right now it’s amazing to watch a forward shoot from all over the court and never expect to miss.
5. Blogger So Dear: Wake Forest athletic director Ron Wellman recently tried to address the dismal state of Demon Deacons basketball. While Wellman’s defense of coach Jeff Bzdelik reflects admirable loyalty, it also underscores the main issue that has been bothering many Wake Forest fans: It doesn’t seem like anyone employed at the university sees what is so obviously happening to what was once one of the best basketball programs in the nation. Martin Rickman does a great job breaking down the complete failure of leadership in Winston-Salem.

1. The Telegraph: Georgia Tech is about to look different. Stacey Poole, a sophomore transfer from Kentucky, is now eligible to play for the Yellow Jackets and his younger brother Solomon Poole was recently cleared by the NCAA as well. The brothers were both highly-rated guards in high school and have the potential to make a big difference for Brian Gregory’s team. While Mfon Udofia and Brandon Reed offer veteran leadership at the guard spots, the Poole brothers offer the team additional depth and some breathing room that the guard rotation has been missing.
2. Sun Sentinel: Miami may have a team loaded with veteran talent, but sophomore Shane Larkin has become a major key to the Hurricanes’ early success. The speedy point guard has been an ironman, playing more available minutes (88.2%) than any other player in the conference. With an increased scoring responsibility, Larkin has responded by taking his shooting to a higher level. His true shooting percentage is 68.1%, as Larkin is posting truly gaudy numbers from the field. While his shooting is likely to cool off as the season wears on, the sophomore’s greatly improved play will be key to a potential match-up against Arizona in the Diamond Head Classic.
3. Fox Sports South: Few players are as important to their team as NC State’s Lorenzo Brown. While the Wolfpack is loaded with talent, Brown is the clear catalyst that turns a group of talented players into a truly effective team. It’s no secret to the team or to their opponents that the fortunes of Mark Gottfried’s team hinge on the combo guard. When Brown plays well, the team wins; and when he doesn’t, the team struggles. With apologies to freshman Tyler Lewis, Brown is the team’s only proven distributor and playmaker. As talented as this team is, without an active playmaker, their ball movement and offense grinds to a halt. It’s just like the old proverb says: As Lorenzo Brown goes, so goes the Wolfpack.
4. SB Nation:  Boston College center Dennis Clifford is apparently close to returning to action after a right ankle injury sidelined the sophomore. Though BC has several talented options at the forward position, Clifford is a true seven-footer who is a capable and proven running mate for Ryan Anderson. Fellow sophomore KC Caudill has been used sparingly by head coach Steve Donahue this season, while Andrew Van Nest, the 6’10” transfer from Harvard, has struggled to see consistent minutes.
5. Tallahassee Democrat: What’s wrong with Florida State? Everyone’s favorite ACC parlor game took a turn for the intense when the Seminoles lost three in a row, and the team’s most recent landslide win against hapless Maine on December 9 did little to assure fans that the defending ACC Tournament champions were ready to repeat. So what’s wrong with Florida State? Maybe it’s the freshmen. In recent years, no one would dare call Leonard Hamilton’s teams “soft,” but that’s the very concern that the coach lays out when discussing his new post players who simply aren’t yet accustomed to the tenacious and physical play inside that has been a hallmark of the Seminoles in recent years.

Kellen Carpenter (@kellenlc) is an RTC correspondent and ACC microsite writer. He filed this report after Saturday’s game between North Carolina and UAB in Chapel Hill.

In North Carolina’s Saturday win over UAB, the difference between this team and Roy Williams’ teams of the past became readily apparent. Gone are the days of dominant interior scoring powered by Sean May, Tyler Hansbrough, Tyler Zeller, and John Henson. For nearly 10 years, North Carolina has followed a simple blueprint for success: an up-tempo, forward-centric offense that draws fouls and scores from the free-throw line. Hansbrough, naturally, was the epitome of this approach, a bruising big man who set the NCAA record for the most made free throws over the course of his collegiate career.

The Power Game of UNC Past Isn’t Apparent This Season

This year’s incarnation of the Tar Heels is distinct from those of the recent past. In the second half of Saturday’s game, North Carolina fueled its separation from UAB with a barrage of threes launched by a small lineup that featured 6’5” P.J. Hairston at the power forward position. The team shot 10-of-23 from the arc, and 18-of-21 from the free throw line. However, of the 18 made free throws, only two of them came from North Carolina’s post players. This team is simply different. By going small and spreading the floor, North Carolina opens up space in the lane for attacks off the dribble while also maintaining the threat of a potentially deadly perimeter game.

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1. CBS Sports: So this Mason Plumlee kid looks pretty good, huh? Duke‘s middlest Plumlee has come into his own this season with a series of dominating performances that have him looking better than ever. Plumlee has been good  for most of his college career, but it looks like he has turned the corner from good to great this season. Right now, he arguably looks like the best player in the country on an excellent team that has already won more big games in November than most teams will win all year. Duke looks scary good right now, and a lot of that starts with this Plumlee.
2. Boston Globe: Speaking of turning a corner, it looks like Boston College may be ready to turn one of its own. After a series of losses to start the season, the Eagles beat Penn State as part of the ACC/Big Ten challenge, led by freshman Olivier Hanlan’s 22 points (powered by a remarkable 19 free throw attempts). So, how did this Canadian kid end up at Boston College? It seems that it’s the payoff of head coach Steve Donahue’s surprising recruiting range (he’s as likely to draw players from California and Canada as conventional ACC territory) and Hanlan and his family’s own persistence.
3. Washington Post: It looks like Virginia guard Malcolm Brogdon will be out for the rest of the season. Tony Bennett has stated that the plan is for Brogdon to redshirt this year while he recovers from a broken bone in his foot that has not been healing as well as had been previously hoped. The pressure for Brogdon to return has been somewhat ameliorated by the return of senior Jontel Evans who had been dealing with his own injury. Evans played in Virginia’s last game against Wisconsin, coming off the bench to play a quiet 16 minutes.
4. Daily Press: Virginia also figures to see some big changes in scheduling due to the departure of Maryland and the arrival of Louisville to the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Terrapins have met the Cavaliers on the hardwood twice every year for the past 71 years, a staggering history. Though the rivalry between the two schools isn’t as sexy as some other conference rivalries, it seems a shame to bid adieu to so much history. In John Swofford’s conference call about the addition of Louisville, the commissioner stated that the Cardinals would be basically follow Maryland’s old scheduling spot, which means that Louisville is going to be, at least on paper, Virginia’s official conference rival. It’s an understandable move, but one that seems a little silly considering the fact that the Cardinals might be a more natural rival for Virginia Tech, a school that used to share a conference (Metro) with Louisville.
5. Raleigh News & Observer: It’s not even really a debate: David Thompson is the best basketball player in the history of the ACC. Now, fans have a chance to buy some of his stuff. Like many of his similarly aged compatriots, Thompson is selling some of the mementos from his great career in basketball. One of these items happens to be his championship ring from North Carolina State‘s 1973-74 national title. Bidding ends Saturday if you happen to have at least $16,000 or so in cash that you want to plop down for a legendary piece of Wolfpack basketball history.

1. Miami Herald: Though the ACC/Big Ten challenge ended in a 6-6 stalemate, the Miami Hurricanes got the emotional highlight by upsetting the ranked Michigan State Spartans, causing a good ol’ fashioned court rush in Coral Gables. The Hurricanes have been on the verge of a big-time breakthrough in college basketball for years now and a nice win in November over a name-brand team at home is just the start that this team needed. After shaky losses to St. Leo’s in an exhibition and then to Florida Gulf Coast, it seemed like Miami was headed for another year as a firmly ensconced member of the ACC’s basketball middle class. This win is a warning shot to the rest of the ACC: Miami is ready.
2. ESPN: As expected, the ACC has voted to add Louisville as a new member to replace departing Maryland. Louisville, when added, will have the highest budgeted athletic department in the ACC and a recent history of success across a wide range of sports. After this vote, it looks like the ACC is willing to stand pat, nominally content with 14 teams and the on-paper upgrade of swapping Maryland for UofL. Louisville’s mascot, notably, is a cardinal that has teeth that are frightening and increasingly nightmarish the more you think about it.
3. CBS Sports: Of course, the apparent loser in the addition of Louisville is Connecticut, which has been eagerly anticipating a coveted invitation to the conference. Although the Huskies’ membership was apparently supported by Duke, North Carolina, Wake Forest, and Virginia, the importance of football and the harsh realities of the realignment landscape won out. Matt Norlander postulates that Louisville was targeted for right now because it is a school that had plenty of suitors in some of the other major conferences while Connecticut likely has little appeal to the same folks aside from the ACC. Connecticut’s geographic location as well as limited football relevance isn’t likely to draw the interest of the SEC or Big 12, while the Big Ten appears to have bigger fish to fry. The sad truth is that it seems highly likely that the ACC voted to add Louisville and not Connecticut because the conference feels confident that they are the only horse in the race to poach UConn.
4. Post and Courier: Milton Jennings did not play for Clemson in the Tigers’ Wednesday night tilt against Purdue. The mercurial senior was arrested early Wednesday morning for possession of marijuana and was subsequently suspended by head coach Brad Brownell.  This is not Jennings’ first time in the doghouse, having been suspended on at least two other occasions for clashing with the coach and academic issues, respectively. Jennings has been the leading scorer for this Clemson team and was expected to be the focal point of the Tigers’ offense.
5. Pack Pride: When North Carolina State takes the court against Connecticut in the Jimmy V Classic next week, the team will be wearing some sharp new uniforms intended to honor the event’s namesake and the legendary Wolfpack coach. It’s a nice tribute to Jim Valvano and the uniforms are certainly distinctive and special.
   

   NC State will honor its former coach. (Photo Credit: Pack Pride)