I love international basketball. I love it because it gives lots of standout college players a place to work hard and earn a spot in the NBA outside of the limelight of the American media-sports-industrial complex. More importantly, however, I love international basketball because it gives lots of collegiate standouts a place to be unabashedly goofy. ACC fans likely remember Sylven Landesberg, the 2008-09 conference Rookie of the Year who seemed poised to break out in a big way after a brilliant freshman season for Virginia. At the end of his sophomore year, Landesberg was suspended from the team for failing to meet academic obligations. He didn’t come back.

Cut to the present: Landesberg plays in the Israeli league for Maccabi Haifa, displaying his legitimate basketball talents as well as his incredibly goofy side. So, without further ado, The Best International Basketball Non-Basketball Video Clip of An ACC Standout (displacing the Italian GQ interview of former North Carolina player Danny Green talking about dancing): Landesberg singing a high-rent karaoke version of “Empire State of Mind” for television.

Without Milton Jennings, Clemson came remarkably close to a road upset of Virginia last night. Clemson’s more balanced attack looks like it will work out well for the Tigers while their disruptive defense was a nightmare for a Virginia team that struggled to hold on to the ball. Virginia, on the other hand, gutted out the tough win thanks to the super-efficient performances of Mike Scott and Joe Harris. Scott scored 23 points on 11 shots with ten rebounds and three blocks while Harris scored 19 points on nine shots, leading the team to 55.8% shooting from the field. Meanwhile, North Carolina managed a 15-point win on the road despite shooting 31.0% on the road in Winston-Salem. Such is the power of effective defense and managing 21 offensive rebounds.

Virginia Withstood Another Close Game To Get A Win (AP/J. Raoux)

Middle-Weight Brawl

• Maryland at Miami at 8:00 PM on ESPN3.com

Miami has a a Sunday date at Cameron Indoor and is riding a two-game winning streak where the Hurricanes have handled their business against the likes of Georgia Tech and Boston College that doesn’t yet qualify as momentum. Miami has been playing well, but a win against a Maryland team that has shown flashes of brilliance with Terrell Stoglin and a talented if underutilized frontcourt is a good start. It’s unclear if Miami has any answer for Stoglin, but it seems certain that Maryland doesn’t have any deffensive answers for the array of firepower at Jim Larranaga’s disposal.

Read the rest of this entry »

There is no doubt that the way the Seminoles are playing right now, they are underrated. The defense is good, but let’s be totally clear, the reason that Florida State is on a crazy five-game winning streak that includes a dominating win over North Carolina and a win over Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium isn’t because of their defense (well, I mean, partly obviously, but roll with the rhetoric). Florida State is winning because of what appears, at this moment, to be one of the more unstoppable offenses in the ACC. I know that probably sounds wrong, but it’s true. Right now, Florida State has the fourth-best defense in the Atlantic Coast Conference. In conference play, the best defensive efficiency numbers belong to Virginia and North Carolina, which isn’t too surprising. More surprising? Third place is North Carolina State. In conference play, the Wolfpack have been better defensively than the Seminoles. Leonard Hamilton‘s team is still playing pretty well defensively, but despite their reputation, Florida State’s win streak is due to torrid, red hot offense.

Don't Sleep On Florida State's Defense Or They Will Put You To Bed (AP Photo / S. Cannon)

Duke owns the best offense in conference play, but Florida State actually has had better offensive execution than every other team in the conference. In fact, Florida State has played better offense than North Carolina in conference play. That might seem crazy to you, and you might be thinking that I have gone off the deep end, diving into a pool of stat-wonk Kool-Aid, but if you don’t trust efficiency stats, just check out shooting percentages. Since the beginning of conference play, Florida State has shot 41.2% from beyond the arc, easily the best mark in the ACC. Here is a quick list of field goal percentages from the Seminoles’ last four games.

• Read the rest of this entry »

1. Huffington Post: Dave Ungrady found out that one of CJ Leslie‘s role models is Maryland’s tragic hero, Len Bias. While Leslie is definitely thinner than Bias, their games do have a little resemblance. Leslie has a long way to go before claiming a spot with the all-time ACC great, but his developing jumper and tremendous athleticism definitely evoke some memories of Bias’ play. Leslie’s parents also used Bias’ story to teach him a valuable lesson about the dangers of drugs — especially for star athletes.
2. Miami Herald: First year ACC coaches Jim Larranaga and Mark Turgeon have a history. Back when Turgeon was the coach of Wichita State and Larranaga was the coach of George Mason, they faced off three times in two seasons. George Mason took the first two meetings, a BracketBuster matchup and again in the Sweet Sixteen (en route to the school’s Final Four appearance). But Turgeon’s Shockers had the last laugh, beating the Patriots the night they hung the Final Four banner the next season. Hopefully, this history will raise the stakes on this week’s game at Miami.
3. Hampton Roads Daily Press: It’s becoming a bit of a broken record with this Virginia team. Every game is low-scoring, and every game is close. Critics point to Virginia Tech’s upset over the Cavaliers as proof that the team’s system creates “too close for comfort” games night in and night out. Yet again on Tuesday, Virginia eked out a win over a lesser ACC opponent, Clemson, on the back of a great shooting night. Mike Scott and Joe Harris won the Cavaliers the game, going 15-20 from the field for 39 points. The game was a perfect advertisement for Scott’s incredible season, as he finished with 10 rebounds in addition to the nearly 20 points. That said, despite the strong veteran performances, Clemson had a chance to tie the game with under a minute to play, down three with the ball. Even though Virginia survived, that’s the danger of low-possession basketball. Late-game runs can totally erase a very strong performance.
4. Sports Illustrated: Florida State was in trouble after a 20-point beat-down to Clemson. Even I jumped off its bandwagon. Between a lackluster conference opener and only managing 10 points in the first half against Princeton (who is currently 1-2 in the Ivy League), it looked like the Seminoles were totally out of it.  But the team finally came together. A major reason is that Bernard James stepped up and got everyone on the same page. Regardless of a change of attitude, the Seminoles’ resurgence has been incredible. They’ve stopped turning the ball over and are one of the top shooting teams in the ACC. It’s likely that those two stats may regress a little bit, but I still expect Leonard Hamilton’s team will be here to stay.
5. Lost Lettermen: Take a look at the top 10 uniforms (and worst) in college basketball. Maryland checks in as the worst uniforms in the conference (and second worst in the country), though I think there’s a little grief being piled on from the team’s atrocious football digs. Boston College also earns a spot in the bottom 10 thanks to too large of lettering and a clash in styles. Not surprisingly, Duke checks in to the ‘good’ top 10 (its home whites are classic) and North Carolina sits at the very top of the list.

It was a lazy Sunday in the ACC when North Carolina dominated a hapless Georgia Tech team and Miami handled Boston College. I’d like to say today’s slate looks more competitive, but that wouldn’t really be honest. Still, watching two teams that are on a roll and two teams that are trying to figure things out may be instructional. Let’s go with that: tonight’s slate will be instructional.

The Dynamic Duo vs. The Legion of Doom

• #5 North Carolina at Wake Forest at 9:00 PM

It’s becoming more than abundantly clear that with the possible exception of Ty Walker, Wake Forest has no offense outside of Travis McKie and C.J. Harris. It’s a shame, because McKie and Harris are seriously good players, but the rest of the team’s inability to provide much of any support has doomed this year’s Wake Forest team. Yes, this year is definitely better than last year and I suspect Wake Forest has at least one big upset they will pull off before the end of the season, but barring a break-out from some other player on the team, Wake Forest is just not very good. Meanwhile, Reggie Bullock is working out all too well in a starting line-up that is just starting to get scary. Consider this: at the beginning of the season, Harrison Barnes, Tyler Zeller, John Henson, and Kendall Marshall were all legitimate All-ACC players. Reggie Bullock, in terms of offensive efficiency as well as defensive efficiency, is beating all four. Meanwhile Stilman White seems to be adjusting well to his limited extra minutes, P.J. Hairston‘s shooting slump seems to be over and Desmond Hubert is picking up any slack in James Michael McAdoo’s game. I’m still thoroughly skeptical of the “Justin Watts as point guard” experiment, but I certainly prefer it to the minutes he was playing at power forward. In short, North Carolina looks really good right now and Wake Forest may have already hit its ceiling which didn’t seem very high in the first place.

Read the rest of this entry »

1. Washington Post: Remember how Lefty Driesell complained about Maryland naming its court after Gary Williams? Well, he’s still talking. I’ll just pick out some choice quotes:
   

   “Everybody’s gonna think well Gary Williams’s players are the ones that put Maryland on the map. You know, Maryland was on the map before Gary got there.
   [On Georgia State’s court being named after him] Yeah, it sure is. Well, you know, they never had a successful program before I got there. Never.
   I think Mark Turgeon’s gonna win a couple of national championships.
   [On how Williams should have been honored] Well, I don’t know. You know, he got banners up there for winning the national championship. Maybe like the Orioles do, put a statue out back.”

   The moral of the story is Driesell isn’t happy and isn’t hiding his opinions.

2. Beyond the Arc: Mike Miller sat down with Adam Rowe of Duke Hoop Blog to talk about the Blue Devils. One thing I really wish Rowe had mentioned is the lack of a versatile wing on the perimeter defensively. Kyle Singler was a big part of Duke’s defense the last four years. Combine his versatility with Nolan Smith’s on-ball pressure and you got a top defensive team despite not having ludicrous athleticism (as Arizona exposed in the NCAA Tournament). This year’s team doesn’t have that versatility and only Tyler Thornton applies great on-ball pressure. One of the more interesting points Rowe made was that Thornton is often credited as a great defensive stopper when he really is just good at playing physical defense and getting into passing lanes (though I think stopping, outside of shot-blockers, is generally a team stat on defense).
3. ACC Sports Journal: Frank Haith had a reputation in the ACC “as a nice guy who recruited good players and did a middling job molding them into competitive teams.” Frankly, that’s probably generous. Haith was frequently panned, especially following last season when he brought back an experienced and talented squad but did little with it. But Haith’s success at Missouri stands in stark contrast with perceptions at Miami. Is it the perfect storm of the right players? I don’t know. What I do know is that Haith put on a miniature coaching clinic last night against Rick Barnes (another ACC coaching alum) when he went zone against Texas, shutting down J’Covan Brown entirely on the final possession of Missouri’s one-point win over the Longhorns in Austin.
4. The State: Bad news coming out of Clemson, as Milton Jennings will be suspended because of  “‘failure to comply’ with the team’s academic standards.” Failure to comply is an interesting word choice — maybe just a slip of the keys, but that doesn’t sound like a grade issue. It sounds like a cheating, class cutting or missed assignment issue. The last of those options seems the most likely as Jeff Borzello tweeted yesterday that Jennings “should be back soon.” It hasn’t been a great season for Jennings off the court between this and getting into it with Brad Brownell.
5. Washington Post: I always love it when coaches talk some trash. And Shaka Smart fired some shots across the Commonwealth of Virginia, saying “the reality is if you go by the numbers, if you go by postseason, if you go by even guys going to the NBA, the best programs in the state are in the CAA. It’s really not even close.” My guess is Tony Bennett has something to say about that. Most years Seth Greenberg would probably be a little more outspoken too.

Fun Fact: Richard Howell is on pace to break NC State’s foul record of 110 (set by Ilian Evtimov). He already has 73 in the books and doesn’t appear to be slowing down.

1. CBSSports.com: Gregg Doyel hits the nail on the head in this column (by the way, Doyel covered the ACC for the Charlotte Observer before going to CBSSports.com and wasn’t exactly close with Mike Krzyzewski over the years) on Duke‘s Cameron Crazies. The one caveat is that he didn’t really offer a solution to the boredom and lack of ownership. For comparison’s sake Coach K offered his thoughts (courtesy of Duke Hoop Blog):
   

   “Our crowd sometimes becomes fans instead of part of the game. Overall, our crowd has been part of what we’ve done. They haven’t come there to watch us play. They’ve come there to compete with us. I think this year it’s more of watching us play and cheering us on. When you do that you don’t really understand the game situations as well. You don’t have a feel for the game. You can’t be as on point. That doesn’t mean we don’t love them. But, this team needs it more and would benefit from that support.”

   I think both Doyel and Krzyzewski are probably right. The Cameron atmosphere was developed as Duke got more talented. It gradually became more and more controlled in the 1990s and eventually morphed to its present state. Other than big games (I’m thinking of Maryland and North Carolina recently) and big-time players, the Crazies don’t seem as connected with the game as in the past. It has started to feel like more of a show. Basically, I think Coach K describes the current issue that led to the problem brought up by Doyel.
   Author’s Note: As a side note, Coach K gave a pretty scathing press conference after Duke beat St. John’s at home. It’s worth a watch.

2. ACC Sports: Adrian Atkinson (normally our North Carolina defensive-charting connoisseur) took a look at Duke’s most used lineups this season. Remember, he’s only using Duke’s conference games so the sample size is fairly small, meaning you should take the efficiencies with a grain of salt. That said, I think his overall conclusions are fairly interesting. Duke’s most effective lineup is Tyler Thornton, Seth Curry, Austin Rivers, Mason Plumlee and Ryan Kelly. It’s a little surprising to me that this lineup isn’t used more often given the fact that its defensive efficiency is so outrageous. It’s also worth noting that Duke’s defense drops off dramatically by just replacing Thornton with Andre Dawkins. Even worse than that (shockingly) is replacing Ryan Kelly with Miles Plumlee (which leads me to believe that both Plumlees are good defenders at the five, but horrid defenders at the four). Anyways, these numbers are fascinating and worth a look.
3. Fox Sports South: Apparently, Harrison Barnes isn’t a fan of pink shoes. At halftime against Georgia Tech Sunday, Barnes switched from the team’s pink kicks to the normal ones. Andrew Jones makes it sound like Barnes really struggled in the pink footwear, but Barnes was 4-8 from the field with 11 points at the half. More interestingly, Barnes shared his pregame soundtrack and meal. Tunes: John Legend. Food: “I always eat mashed potatoes, rice, spaghetti, chicken and steak […] Two pieces of chicken, one piece of steak, [and the] steak’s cooked medium.”
4. Palm Beach Post: If you told me one ACC coach would get a midseason contract extension I wouldn’t have been surprised. Pretty much all but two coaches appear to be doing strong jobs; Jeff Bzdelik and Jim Larranaga are the outliers (I also would probably hold my horses on Steve Donahue and Brian Gregory until I see them recruit, but that’s different). But it was Larranaga who got himself a three-year extension through 2019. Larranaga looks older than many of his coaching brethren, but he’s only 62. My guess is that the extension came (at least in some part) indirectly associated with the current NCAA investigation of Miami athletics.
5. Charleston Post and Courier: It’s not directly related to the ACC, but former Georgia Tech coach Bobby Cremins is taking a short medical leave that will probably last until the end of the season. Cremins did a terrific job putting College of Charleston on the map the last few years, though his trip to the Final Four at Georgia Tech stands as his career’s crowning achievement. Assistant coach Mark Byington will take over in his stead. The details of Cremins’ medical issues weren’t announced, though it’s reportedly not life-threatening and may be sleep-related.

EXTRA: Dan Wolken thinks college basketball should push its season back to January (moving March Madness to May) in order to shirk college football and the NFL, attempting to keep casual sports fans from ignoring the regular season. It may be in the NCAA’s best monetary interest, but I can’t see something this drastic happening without a big push. Still it’s an interesting piece.

On an exciting Saturday of ACC play, everything pretty much went as expected. Virginia Tech’s surprising slide to the bottom of the conference continued at the merciless hands of Terrell Stoglin, while Clemson found a little more consistency in its defeat of Wake Forest. The North Carolina State – Virginia game was as close as expected, and included the expected Cavaliers win, while Duke came away with its win against St. John’s despite a surprisingly close game thanks to the Herculean efforts of Moe Harkless (30 points and 15 rebounds). Duke won the game with its increasingly refined and balanced offensive attack, but the fact that game remained close speaks to the Devils’ troubles on defense.

Rivers and Duke Survived St. John's Upset Bid in Cameron Saturday

Taking Care of Business

• Miami at Boston College at 1:00 PM on ESPN3.com
• Georgia Tech at North Carolina at 6:00 PM on ESPNU

Boston College and Georgia Tech are the two worst teams in the conference. Virginia Tech and Wake Forest have similarly bad records, but each team shows flashes of potential that makes each squad seem a little less damned than their bottom-of-the-standings compatriots. Though Miami hasn’t shown it yet, the emergence of Kenny Kadji and Shane Larkin means that the Hurricanes can put at least five very good players on the court. This team is still figuring things out, but it’s unclear if Boston College’s team even understands the concept of basketball. Meanwhile, Georgia Tech is going to have a hard time matching up with North Carolina. Defense appeared to be an early strength of Georgia Tech, but since the beginning of conference play, the Yellow Jackets have been the worst defensive team in the conference while still managing to remain thoroughly underwhelming offensively. The simplest recipe for beating the Tar Heels has been an effective perimeter attack paired with aggressive ball pressure, and unfortunately for Georgia Tech, these are two things that this team can’t actually do that well. Daniel Miller is a good enough defender in the post to effectively handle either Tyler Zeller or John Henson, but it’s unclear who takes whichever player Miller doesn’t guard. Worse, on the offensive end, Miller is limited, and against the North Carolina frontcourt, he might really struggle to score. Miami and North Carolina are clear favorites, but Boston College already has a pair of surprising conference wins, and somehow Georgia Tech has beaten North Carolina in the past four match-ups. Hard to hang your hat on either of these fun facts, but it’s at least something.

Thursday night was not a good night for people who like close games. Despite admirably hanging tough for a chunk of the game, there was no way Boston College was going to out-tough Virginia, with or without Assane Sene. Meanwhile, upset-minded North Carolina State received a stern reminder in Chapel Hill that their turn around isn’t complete just yet. Saturday, however, offers some intriguing story lines, capped up with an epilogue to Thursday night’s action.

Prime Time Showdown

NC State Not Quite Ready For Prime Time

• Virginia at North Carolina State at 8:00 PM on ESPN2

The Cavaliers bounced back from their surprising loss to Virginia Tech last weekend with a command performance against the thoroughly outgunned Boston College. Playing in Raleigh against a North Carolina State team that was embarrassed on Thursday, Virginia has a more challenging task ahead of them. Both of these teams are probably among the top five teams in the conference, but both have a lot to prove. If Virginia wants to have any hope of remaining in the polls, they need an overpowering road win against the Wolf Pack. North Carolina State, on the other hand, needs a win by any margin. The blessing and curse of the conference schedule for NC State is that it’s relatively soft. The team will finish the year with plenty of wins, but their chances for quality wins are few and far between. Taking care of a beatable Virginia team at home is a must if NC State wants to be playing basketball throughout March.

Read the rest of this entry »

Matt Poindexter is an RTC correspondent. He filed this report after the UNC-NC State game in Chapel Hill Thursday night.

After Dexter Strickland tore his ACL in the North Carolina’s win at Virginia Tech last week, many Tar Heel fans worried Roy Williams wouldn’t be able to fill the junior’s spot as starting shooting guard and backup point guard without a severe disruption. Reggie Bullock would likely move into the starting lineup and Stilman White—a freshman usually relegated to playing at the end of blowouts—would see more important minutes as Kendall Marshall’s primary backup. Other names were tossed around: Could Harrison Barnes be a point-forward? Former UNC star Eric Montross thought Justin Watts, the team’s all-purpose reserve, should run the team when Marshall needs water breaks. Williams even suggested the Tar Heels may go without any point guard at all sometimes. “We’ll be looking for anything else we possibly could have,” Williams said. But for this Tar Heel team, “anything else” means more than just rearranging the depth chart. Kendall Marshall is taking a mind-and-body approach now that Strickland isn’t available. “One thing I’m trying to do different is work on my breathing throughout the game. I’m not letting my highs get too high in my emotions because that can really take the energy out of you,” Marshall said after Thursday’s 74-55 win over North Carolina State.

How Will UNC Handle the Loss of Dexter Strickland?

Instead of simply playing White more, Roy Williams is trying to surround the young point guard with as much offensive firepower as possible when he steps onto the court. In previous games, White most often played with UNC’s inexperienced second team or with walk-ons in the waning minutes. Against NC State, White had Tyler Zeller and Harrison Barnes to pass to when he entered with 12:34 left in the first half. When White relieved Marshall again with 4:28 to go in the half, he joined Zeller, Barnes, John Henson, and Bullock on the floor. By substituting with White at those moments—each just before a media time out—Williams orchestrated longer rests for Marshall.

Read the rest of this entry »