Matt Patton is the RTC correspondent for the ACC.

Conference Recap

The ACC had a down year though North Carolina’s Kendall Marshall-led resurgence and Florida State’s Sweet Sixteen appearance helped a little bit. Before and during the season, Duke was the runaway favorite in the conference: Kyrie Irving’s toe injury obviously was the pivotal point that brought Duke back down to earth. Equally pivotal (in the reverse direction) was Marshall’s move to starting point guard for North Carolina. With Larry Drew II at the helm, there is no way the Tar Heels could have come close to surpassing Duke for the regular season title. The down year did not really surprise most people, and despite lofty preseason expectations (read: people forgot how highly rated North Carolina was to start the season) I think the perception is that the league at least lived up to preseason expectations with a couple of notable exceptions: NC State, Wake Forest, and Virginia Tech. NC State had NCAA Tournament talent, but did not come anywhere close to sniffing the Big Dance; Wake was arguably the worst major conference team in the country; and Virginia Tech once again found itself very highly seeded in the NIT. On the flip side, Clemson and Florida State both exceeded expectations.

Roy Williams and Kendall Marshall led a mid-season resurgence that resulted in a trip the Elite Eight. (News Observer/Robert Willitt)

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***** – quit your job and divorce your wife if that’s what it takes to watch this game live
**** – best watched live, but if you must, tivo and watch it tonight as soon as you get home
*** – set your tivo but make sure you watch it later
** – set your tivo but we’ll forgive you if it stays in the queue until 2013
* – don’t waste bandwidth (yours or the tivo’s) of any kind on this game

Brian Otskey is an RTC contributor.

Three key conference clashes from different leagues take place tonight with two of the home clubs desperately needing a win. All rankings from RTC and all times eastern.

#17 Wisconsin @ #20 Michigan State – 7 pm on ESPN (****)

Leuer Made the Midseason Top 30 Wooden Award List, Yet Many Fans Couldn't Pick Him Out of a Lineup.

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***** – quit your job and divorce your wife if that’s what it takes to watch this game live
**** – best watched live, but if you must, tivo and watch it tonight as soon as you get home
*** – set your tivo but make sure you watch it later
** – set your tivo but we’ll forgive you if it stays in the queue until 2013
* – don’t waste bandwidth (yours or the tivo’s) of any kind on this game

Brian Otskey is an RTC contributor.

Be sure to check out some games from the Old Spice Classic and the 76 Classic during your Thanksgiving festivities today. Rankings as per latest RTC Top 25. All times eastern.

Old Spice Classic: Boston College vs. Texas A&M — 12 pm on ESPN2 (***)

Each team has loaded up on cupcakes to start the season but that couldn’t help Boston College. The Eagles suffered an embarrassing home loss last Thursday to Yale, rated #232 by Ken Pomeroy. A 30-point effort from Reggie Jackson was not enough as BC allowed Yale to shoot 50% from the floor en route to an eight point triumph. Defense will be important for Boston College against a Texas A&M team that is connecting on 47.5% of their FG attempts so far. The Aggies are led by forwards Nathan Walkup, Khris Middleton and David Loubeau. With their best players in the front court, expect A&M to own a rebounding advantage over the undersized Eagles. Boston College sports just three players 6’8 or taller, while Texas A&M has six on the roster and five who’ve played minutes this year. The key matchup will be Loubeau against Joe Trapani of the Eagles. Trapani has averaged double figures for his entire college career, including his freshman season at Vermont. He is also a threat from deep, although he’s had a tough time shooting the trey this year going 2-10 thus far. The guards from The Heights must rebound the ball effectively in order to minimize their shortcomings on the boards up front. Jackson has been terrific for first year head coach Steve Donahue, averaging 19/5/5 in three games. He’ll team with Biko Paris in the back court against B.J. Holmes and Dash Harris for A&M. Mark Turgeon’s guards don’t score much but they do a wonderful job of getting others involved (nine APG combined), especially key on a team where the strength lies in the forwards. Texas A&M has recognized this and the guards haven’t tried to do too much. Both teams struggle mightily shooting the three but Texas A&M should have an advantage there as they shoot five percentage points better and defend the perimeter much more effectively than the Eagles, ranking #24 in three point defense. Boston College is #286 in the same category. One thing BC does do very well is keep control of the ball, averaging only eight per game. That’s good enough for the #1 ranking in turnover percentage this year. Texas A&M should be the favorite here as the matchups really benefit the Aggies. The Eagles need a strong defensive effort and great rebounding from their guards in order to win this game.

Old Spice Classic: Georgia vs. Notre Dame — 7 pm on ESPN2 (***)

With the status of star Trey Thompkins still doubtful, Georgia enters a crucial set of games looking to pick up some key non-conference wins in hopes of making the NCAA Tournament for only the second time since 2002. It begins tonight against a Notre Dame team that lost Luke Harangody but still has the pieces to make an NCAA run. The Fighting Irish return four core players and add Purdue transfer Scott Martin, finally healthy after sitting out two years (one for transferring, one after a torn ACL). Ben Hansbrough has been on fire, hitting 53.5% overall and an eye-popping 16-27 (59.3%) from three. Against a highly suspect Georgia defense which ranks #122 in efficiency and almost dead last (#335) against the three, expect Hansbrough to light it up yet again. The problem for Georgia is that it doesn’t end there. Mike Brey also welcomes back Tim Abromaitis, a guy who burst onto the scene last year and made his three’s at a 43% clip. For Georgia, Travis Leslie, Jeremy Price and Gerald Robinson have stepped up nicely in Thompkins’ absence. The 6’4 Leslie has picked up the slack on the glass, leading the team with eight rebounds a game. Without their star, Georgia is a bit undersized and their rebounding has shown it, grabbing only 34 per game this season. That will be a problem against an Irish team stacked with wings and forwards in the 6’5-6’9 height range. Notre Dame has pulled down 46 RPG and should hold an edge again in this game behind Tyrone Nash. The 6’8 Nash is averaging 12/8 while shooting over 50% from the floor and 80% from the line, impressive for a big man. If Thompkins is out as expected, he’ll battle against Price in the post. Price has had a great start to the year for Mark Fox, shooting 64.5% overall. Notre Dame’s strength is obviously offense, ranking #7 in efficiency and in the top 100 in almost every offensive category. The Irish also struggle on defense so expect a lot of points and a lot of threes in this game. An underrated matchup is at the point guard position between Georgia’s tandem of Robinson and sophomore Dustin Ware and Notre Dame’s freshman Eric Atkins. Ware played the point exclusively last year and now has some help in Robinson, a transfer from Tennessee State. Atkins has been steady for ND through three games and shows a lot of promise. Replacing Tory Jackson is not easy but Atkins has done an admirable job so far. He’ll be a formidable four year player for Mike Brey. These teams are similar in terms of their numbers and style, but with Georgia probably missing Thompkins we like Notre Dame in this one. The Irish are deeper and more experienced, plus they should have a field day from behind the arc. That’ll be too much for a Georgia team, who struggled with Mississippi Valley State and St. Louis, to overcome.

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