Fox Sports Carolinas: Andrew Jones does a solid job breaking down Duke‘s struggles this year. The article is specifically relevant on the end of the season, as I think the “lack of spirit” only settled in after the North Carolina game at Duke. But the issues are definitely there. I’d probably order my list like this (in order of greatest to least importance): (1) lack of a leader, (2) defense, (3) reliance on one player, (4) reliance on the three, (5) point guard issues. Some things are interconnected. The depressing thing for Duke fans is things may get worse before they get better depending on who stays and who goes this year.
Duke Basketball Report: Barry Jacobs took a look at the scoring decline in the ACC. Since 2001 when the league peaked–averaging 79.3 points a game–the scoring has been steadily dropping to this year’s low of 68.5. In 2001 the league’s lowest scorer (Florida State) actually averaged higher scoring than this year’s league average. Part of the recent drop can be associated with coaching turnover and conference expansion creating diluted talent and new styles (see: Boston College and Virginia, respectively). The rest is probably a part of the national trend of offenses getting more efficient while slowing down. I hope someone analyzes the roots of this phenomenon.
Raleigh News & Observer: Want to know one reason NC State looks a lot better as of late? Richard Howell is seeing more playing time. Howell and fellow frontmen CJ Leslie and DeShawn Painter all improved significantly, but Howell’s tendency to pick up quick fouls kept him off the court during the regular season. Howell’s presence is going to be extra-critical this weekend against Kansas, as he’s a significantly better rebounder than Painter. The Wolfpack will need his presence on the glass to help limit the Jayhawks to one shot.
Testudo Times: Ben Broman over at Testudo Times took a look at Nick Faust‘s season and very promising prognosis. Faust started the year horrendously on offense–largely because he was forced to take too large a role on an offense with too few weapons–but his talent has always been evident. Multiple people have said this throughout the year (especially down the stretch when things started clicking for the freshman): next year Faust could easily find himself on an All-ACC team. Frankly, he should probably find himself on two if his defense continues to improve and he gets his offensive mojo back.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: This is a very interesting interview with Brian Gregory. Probably the most insightful comment is on one thing he learned about the ACC, which was the physical nature of the conference. For a long time the Big East and Big Ten were known as the tough leagues (they still are), but the ACC is definitely becoming a tougher conference (Duke, Florida State, Miami and Virginia are very physical teams). I also thought Gregory’s reflection on his team was interesting even after taking it with a grain of “coach speak” salt.
Technical difficulties kept us from getting this up this morning. So here goes… an Afternoon Five.
Tallahassee Democrat: Deividas Dulkys got a pretty special family night surprise when his family from Lithuania surprised him the day before the game by showing up at his girlfriend’s apartment. Dulkys had quite the showing at the game including aunts from Chicago and his host family from Nevada, but no one told him that his parents and sisters were going to make the trip across the globe to see him play at Florida State for the first time. Stepping back a little, the Seminoles are also looking at their best chance to win the ACC Championship in program history.
Wilmington Star News: Speaking of special senior nights, Ty Walker‘s was supposed to be one of redemption. After three years of falling short of expectations and an indefinite suspension that kept him out for the first semester, his senior night was supposed to represent the new leaf he turned over this year. On the basketball court he was more active than ever, blocking shots with reckless abandon and fitting in surprisingly well for his first few games back. “I know people aren’t always going to be satisfied […] but at least I gave them something,” Walker noted. His mom even surprised him by flying across the country for his senior night last week. This article from Brett Friedlander gets at Walker’s side of the story.
Culpepper Star-Exponent: On the heels of the New York Times look at one of college basketball’s vaguest advantages, Whitelaw Reid finds a specific case. Now without seeing more data, I’m a little skeptical. The variable is what brand of basketball teams use. The home teams choose the ball. Virginia uses Nike basketballs; Sammy Zeglinski likes Wilson. The evidence (besides Zeglinski saying it has a “spongy feel”) is that two of the senior’s best games came against Maryland, a team that uses Wilson balls. As Reid points out, the NCAA Tournament also uses Wilson balls, so we should get at least one more data point to evaluate Zeglinski’s claim.
Raleigh New & Observer: It’s a speculation time of year: March Madness, the NFL Draft and that sports purgatory before the NBA Playoffs and baseball season’s starts. It’s also about time to start talking about who is leaving college for the NBA. As Caulton Tudor points out, 13 of 15 All-ACC selections were underclassmen. I don’t really agree with Tudor’s rankings. Maybe I’m naive, but I think Terrell Stoglin will stick it out at least one more year in College Park. He’s far from a sure bet, and needs to show a wider range of skills to attract first round eyes. The same would apply for Glen Rice, Jr., but his indefinite suspension will definitely be a factor. I think the sure-fire departures are Harrison Barnes, John Henson and CJ Leslie. Who knows with Austin Rivers? If he gets a lottery promise, I expect him to leave (which seems likely considering the dearth of good guards this year). Still, this is something that will become very important in a few weeks.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Congratulations Brian Gregory, Mark Turgeon, Jim Larranaga and Mark Gottfried. You finished your rookie year in the ACC. For many coaches, the second year is the toughest, but Turgeon and Gregory were trying to build up programs left in disarray after Gary Williams and Paul Hewitt’s respective departures. Larranaga has plenty of talent, but he only should lose DeQuan Jones and Malcolm Grant from an already talented team; Gottfried’s team will return plenty of firepower and boasts the top recruiting class in the conference. Factor in an extra year of experience against the league titans, and we should expect more success from the conference as a whole next year.
Western Kentucky announced yesterday that its new head coach was its current head coach. Despite starting his career at 4-7 since taking over for Ken McDonald, the school has opted to retain the services of Ray Harper. Citing the difficult circumstances that Harper inherited with taking over the team in early January, the school claimed it had “total confidence his ability to return our program to prominence”. Based on his record at the Division II level where he was named national coach of the year four times in nine season while winning two national titles and claiming four runner-up finishes (one was later vacated) the Hilltoppers might be moving in the right direction very soon.
Critics of the NCAA will have one less thing to rail against at schools opposing the previously accepted proposal allowing schools to award mulityear scholarships failed to reach the veto threshold. When the rule was passed in August 2011 it was hailed as a small, but important concession for athletes, whose scholarships and academic/career goals can swing with a coaching change or an injury. However, a few months later, a large number of schools petitioned the NCAA asking for a repeal of the rule leading to Friday’s vote. Needing 62.5% (more than 206) of the 330 institutions to vote against it for a repeal, the schools were only able to get 62.12% (205 votes) so when the NCAA parades around its new multiyear scholarships remember that it was two votes away from having it repealed and not everybody voted (the NCAA would only say more than 90% voted).
There are a lot of way to have your bubble burst and Purdue appears to have taken the most publicly embarrassing one. On Friday, the team suspended starting point guard D.J. Byrd and dismissed starting guard Kelsey Barlow following an incident that morning where Byrd was arrested for public intoxication while Barlow, who had been thrown out of the bar earlier that night apparently came back with several teammates including Robbie Hummel where Barlow reported hit a bouncer and was arrested. Even though they are still technically in contention for a NCAA Tournament bid with every other team bubble team falling apart this seriously damages their chances of making any kind of run.
It will be an eventful few days for several members of the 1988-89 North Carolina State team. On Saturday, in one of the more bizarre interactions between an official and the crowd that we have seen, veteran official had Chris Corchiani and Tom Gugliotta removed from the stands in a game between NC State and Florida State even though they did not appear to do anything that you typically see fans get ejected for and afterwards did not offer any explanation for his actions. Yesterday, the school announced that tomorrow it would honor that Wolfpack team that Corchiani and Gugliotta were on in a tribute to the team before Tuesday’s game against North Carolina as part of its inaugural “Wolfpack Unlimited” award that honors the spirit of Jim Valvano. According to Debbie Yow, the school’s Athletic Director, the 1988-89 team was up for consideration before Saturday’s events although she did not specify how those events impacted her choice.
“A season with few bright lights grew even dimmer Friday.” That opening sentence from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution sums up our thoughts on Georgia Techdismissing Glen Rice Jr. from its team. Normally, the loss of a player who leads your team in scoring, rebounds, and steals is crippling, but when you had already lost 12 of your last 14 you cannot get much worse. This suspension is Rice’s second of the season as he was also suspended for three games earlier this year for violating unspecified team rules and while the school would not go into detail about what led to the dismissal they did say that it was not basketball-related. Fortunately for the Yellow Jackets their last four games are against four of the teams they are competing against to stay out of the ACC’s cellar. With three of those games at home perhaps they can avoid finishing dead last in the conference.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Brian Gregory is trying to make Georgia Tech tougher, scrappier. To start he has a list of “non-negotiables,” which grows as the year continues. Gregory started with attending class and turning in assignments. Now he’s added boxing out, closing out and helping on defense. The punishments for failing to do so? Having to execute a box out on the sidelines three times, having to close out the full length of the court in proper form and having to take three charges from teammates. It’s always interesting to get a look, however brief, behind the scenes.
Raleigh News & Observer: Duke’s win over Maryland looked more dominant than it was. The Blue Devils struggled to keep the heat on all game, but ended on a 13-2 run that obscured just how competitive the game was. One constant was Miles Plumlee, who absolutely destroyed the boards. The eldest Plumlee finished with a Mike Krzyzewski-era record 22 rebounds in the win. After the game he cited Brian Zoubek as inspiration for his play this season.
Searching For Billy Edelin: Terrell Stoglin wasn’t happy about the loss to Duke. He was even less happy about riding the pine for parts of the finish. Unfortunately, he displayed that frustration to the world fairly explicitly on Twitter following the game. Stoglin is owning the tweets though. He never said his account was hacked and never deleted them. To me that’s a good sign, but keep an eye on his attitude. He wouldn’t be the first or the last disgruntled player to depart early, but his loss would put the Terrapins back at least a year.
Charlotte Observer: Here are four somewhat random thoughts on basketball. The second could be the most important, as we’re already seeing a very down attendance year. Moving the conference tournament to Atlanta won’t help, especially in Georgia Tech’s rebuilding season. Another interesting point is that the NCAA tournament won’t have any sites in North Carolina in 2013.
Washington Post: Speaking of down attendance, Mark Giannotto takes a look at Virginia Tech‘s issues specifically. First, the Hokies have struggled a lot since knocking off Duke last season. Second, they raised the prices on the tickets. Combine the two with a middling economy and more games being televised, and that probably covers most of the issue. The question remains whether the problem is–like the athletic department thinks–a one year issue, or a long-term battle.
Georgia Tech is in the middle of a very disappointing season. It’s 6-10 overall, and conference play hasn’t made anything better (the Yellow Jackets are 1-4 in the ACC). But Glen Rice, Jr.‘s play is anything but disappointing. Sure, he’s a little inconsistent. But the swingman is Brian Gregory‘s best offensive player by a mile. He’s their best scorer and “creator and distributor.” The numbers actually back up the assertion, as Rice has the highest assist rate and lowest turnover rate of any starter. His playmaking abilities are why Gregory is planning to play Rice at point the next couple of games — versus Miami and North Carolina.
Brian Gregory is Looking to Glen Rice Jr. to Run His Offense.
Just for an idea of how important Rice is for Georgia Tech, the Yellow Jackets are 1-7 when he has an offensive rating of less than 100. The only win was against Georgia. When his offensive rating is above 100, the Yellow Jackets are 5-3. Two of those losses were a very close loss to Duke and an even closer loss at Clemson. The moral of the story is that Georgia Tech this season is only as good as its best player. I like the move by Brian Gregory to shake up an offense that hasn’t put up 20 points in the first half in its last three games. If nothing else Rice should have the ball in his hands a lot more often, which can’t be a bad thing.
Matt Patton is the RTC correspondent for the Atlantic Coast Conference. You can follow him on Twitter @rise_and_fire.
Reader’s Take
Top Storylines
Wake Forest’s Dynamic Duo: The Demon Deacons may not be the prettiest team to watch, but CJ Harris and Travis McKie are lighting up the box score. We knew (even if I, in a gaffe of all gaffes, left him off my All-Freshman team last year for Ryan Harrow) Mckie was going to be one of the ACC’s top players this year, but Harris has been a very pleasant surprise. The pair are efficiently combining for nearly 57% of Wake Forest’s points through the first 10 games of the year. Harris has already made as many threes as he made all last season on 18 less attempts, and he’s significantly more effective inside the arc. It remains to be seen how Harris will adapt to the defenses of ACC play, but so far he has to be leading the “surprise of the year” category.
Duke’s Post Presence: That’s right: after two solid years of berating the Plumlees as overrated and generally poor basketball players, it’s time to give credit where it’s due. Mason Plumlee has developed into a very good big man. No, he can’t make a free throw to save his life, but he’s much better offensively everywhere except the boards than he’s been the last few years. He developed a couple of solid post moves, stopped turning the ball over as much and learned to hold his ground on defense. If he can either learn to crash the offensive glass or hit 60% of his free throws, I’m confident in saying he’ll be one of the top three or four bigs in the ACC this season.
North Carolina (8-2) stays atop the rankings with a hard-fought win over Long Beach State, which better get rewarded by the Selection Committee in March for playing such a tough non-conference schedule. The Tar Heels dominated on the inside with John Henson and Harrison Barnes leading the scoring, but it is worth noting that this is another game where four Tar Heel starters played more than 30 minutes. Read the rest of this entry »
Triangle Business Journal: The numbers are somewhat questionable, but the ACC has the highest differential between the percentage of basketball players that graduate and the percentage of normal students that graduate, with a whopping difference of 41%. I say the numbers are questionable because they don’t account for athletes transferring, athletes entering the NBA Draft, or member schools having extremely high graduation rates to start. Basically, you don’t want to rip the conference too much, but the discrepancy is too large to ignore. If athletes are being “compensated” with a scholarship, shouldn’t more of them be graduating? I’d like to see the numbers after adjusting for players who transfer in good standing and those who leave for the pros.
Baltimore Sun: At times this season, Mark Turgeon has looked pretty bad on the sideline. He’s tried to keep his cool, but sometimes it’s not worth it. Turgeon told Jeff Barker that it’s not his win-loss record that gets under his skin; it’s whether his team plays the game the right way by “doing the little things.” I didn’t get a chance to watch the end of the game versus Mt. St. Mary’s last night, but my guess is Turgeon looked pretty anguished as he watched a double digit lead nearly evaporate.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Hold your horses! I may have buried Brian Gregory and the Yellow Jackets too soon. After a commanding win at Georgia, I’m ready to give them a second chance. Led by Glen Rice, Jr., Georgia Tech had its offense firing on all cylinders and some solid defense to boot. This win was big for Gregory, as it’s the type of early win that buys some confidence and support from fans.
Hampton Roads Daily Press: Tony Bennett wasn’t thrilled with his team’s defense against George Mason. I’m not thrilled with this writer’s choice of good dribble penetrators (actually I don’t mind, but Kendall Marshall should not be worried about because of his dribble penetration). Luckily, the Cavaliers’ offense came ready to play, knocking down over 60% of their shots. The other good news is that Sammy Zeglinski seems to be getting back into the thick of things, scoring a game-high 18 points. Virginia needs his shooting if it wants to get past the first round of the Big Dance.
Fayetteville Star News: Tyler Zeller is on the brink of becoming the 64th player in North Carolina history to score 1,000 points in his career. Right now, Zeller stands at 999 points. A thousand points in a collegiate career is a great accomplishment. Roy Williams tried to help Zeller get to four digits before pulling the starters against Evansville but, “we kept him in there, called his play, and Kendall turns the stupid ball over.” He’ll get another shot against Long Beach State this weekend.
Washington Post: Apparently there’s a new book out about the beginnings of ACC basketball. Unfortunately, said book is called ACC Basketball in a stroke of hackneyed inspiration that I imagine is prevalent amongst retired history professors. Despite its title, the book sounds fascinating. Professor J. Samuel Walker wanted “to capture the impressive progress made on both academic and athletic fronts without blinking when discussing more unsavory aspects of ACC basketball,” and was successful, according to this review. So if you’re still shopping for an ACC hoops fan, you might want to check your nearest bookstore (or Amazon).
Soaring To Glory: Where does Boston College go wrong? Working with a small sample size, Soaring To Glory tries to answer when the Eagles start to collapse. The general consensus is that it starts in the second half, though based on the first chart from this story, it’s even earlier than that. The Eagles are currently on pace to join Utah as the worst power conference teams in the history of Ken Pomeroy’s rankings (to be fair, Utah just joined a major conference). They’ve got to beat Wake Forest’s dreadful #251 finish from last season.
Testudo Times: Maryland has had an eventful start to the season, even if it hasn’t been littered with success. The next six games should be, with all but two of them being true “guarantee” games (Maryland should still be a heavy home favorite in the other two). In the meantime, keep an eye out for Alex Len, the highly touted international seven-footer, who will finish his ten-game suspension during the upcoming stretch. If nothing else, he’s worth five fouls and a lot of length. Additionally, it sounds like Pe’Shon Howard‘s injury is healing quicker than expected, so his tentative return date may come against Cornell on January 3.
Searching For Billy Edelin: Speaking of the Terrapins, SBNation‘s resident national basketball blog took a look at Terrell Stoglin‘s transformation from last year. I want to address a few of the concerns brought up in the article. First, I think Stoglin’s assist rate going down is as much of a product of Jordan Williams leaving as it is Stoglin changing. Becoming the first (and often only) option has also forced Stoglin to be a much more aggressive offensive player. It will be very interesting to see how Maryland’s identity changes with the pending additions of Len and Howard.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia Tech‘s new coach Brian Gregory takes on in-state rival Georgia today. Neither team is off to a particularly strong start, as both lost much of their talent from last season. Georgia Tech hasn’t won at Georgia since 1976 (though for 14 years the game was played at a neutral site). I like Georgia to win this one, but it’ll come down to Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Glen Rice, Jr., the best scorers for their respective teams. Even though neither of these teams is at its peak, rivalry games like these in December are always fun.
Grantland – ESPN: Shane Ryan has a slightly different take on Duke‘s loss at Ohio State than I did, especially regarding Austin Rivers‘ performance. He likened the performance to Kyrie Irving’s game against Arizona last season. I vehemently disagree with the idea that Irving or Rivers gave Duke less of a chance at winning, though. I also disagree with the new criticism (not necessarily from Ryan) of Rivers that his style will work well in the NBA but not in college. How does that make sense? If someone can score against the top defenders in the world, why shouldn’t they be able to score against less talented opponents? It’s true Rivers’ game is different than the average college star, but that means Mike Krzyzewski has to find the way to best integrate his star frosh into the system, not the other way around. Ryan’s most interesting point is that “Mason Plumlee effectively played Jared Sullinger to a draw.” I agree with this, even though I think Sullinger could have been more dominant if his team had needed more from him.
Greensboro News-Record: Speaking of Duke – Ohio State, did you know that Duke had won 35 straight November games dating back to 2006 before last night? Oh wait, the Worldwide Leader and many other media outlets crammed the stat down your throats. These arbitrary winning streaks are a huge pet peeve of mine because they provide very little context for the game at hand. Current winning streaks (including ones that date back to the previous year), home winning streaks and conference winning streaks matter. Qualifying it with a month doesn’t. I’m glad Eddie Wooten agrees with me.
Georgia Tech didn’t need an ACC/Big Ten matchup to find a challenge, just another day in the maiden season of Coach Brian Gregory.
But don’t let a lopsided final score fool you; Georgia Tech hung with Northwestern for most of the first half behind an outstanding game from sophomore Jason Morris (who had a career high 21 points). Surprisingly, what let the Yellow Jackets down was defense. Georgia Tech will be very raw offensively, but they have the athletes (and coach) to play very good defense. If they don’t want to be in the bottom three of the conference, their D will have to improve.
Raleigh News & Observer: Like Georgia Tech, NC State got blown out in the second half (to a fairly good Indiana team). But the Wolfpack loss should be a good learning experiment. Lorenzo Brown played very well and CJ Leslie recorded a double-double off the bench. But like the Yellow Jackets (and Duke yesterday), the Wolfpack defense struggled. This NC State team should be an interesting one to watch: It has the talent for an NCAA berth, but also has the inconsistency to miss the NIT. If I were a betting man I’d choose the former, but talk to me after a couple more tough nonconference matchups at Stanford and against Syracuse.
Greensboro News-Record: In 2008 Roy Williams went off on Coach K, “I don’t give a crap what somebody else says, but coach their own damn team, I’ll coach my team.” Eddie Wooten turned that back on the Tar Heels’ coach in response to Williams most recent drama with the fans behind North Carolina’s bench. It’s surprising that Williams cares so much about the space directly behind the bench. I know those seats are reserved for boosters (a term which includes all season ticket holders), but one guy selling (or giving away) his ticket to a game out in Las Vegas does not seem like a big deal.
Grantland: Shane Ryan’s post about Duke‘s developing guard play is very interesting to read knowing the result of the Maui championship game against Kansas. Ryan breaks down Duke’s evisceration of Michigan’s zone with screenshots (a trend that I am really starting to enjoy). Ryan looks at the blend of talent and Duke’s system, though he ignores the possibility of Tyler Thornton coming off the bench and hitting the biggest threes of his life… But in all seriousness, it’s amazing how much Mason Plumlee’s play in that game got written off by a prayer (and the Seth Curry travel before it). The story went from Mason Plumlee locking down Thomas Robinson the last eight minutes while sinking clutch free throws for Duke to a desperation heave, but that’s a different post for a different time.
BC Interruption: The Eagles’ SBNation blog takes a look at the best player on a young, bad Boston College team. His name is Patrick Heckmann. Possibly because he played at high-level competition in Germany, Heckmann seems like the most consistently aggressive player on the Eagles. Heckmann also has the advantage of size and solid athleticism. Heckmann is far from a finished product, but he’s definitely a little light in what could be a very long season on the hardwood in Chestnut Hill.
Washington Times: Maryland‘s beatdown at the hands of the Iona Gaels pointed out a lot of flaws. Mark Turgeon is blaming himself for the inconsistency from his players. The bottom line is the Terrapins have a long way to go. Sean Mosley has picked up where he left off two years ago, but the rest of the team is struggling. But Turgeon clearly isn’t used to losing:
It’s hard to be good. Right now, we’re taking the easy way out. We don’t run the defense because that’s hard. We don’t box out because that’s hard. We don’t execute our plays against pressure because that’s hard.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Doug Roberson checks in with coaches from around the state of Georgia, including Georgia Tech‘s Brian Gregory, to talk about who inspired them as children. Gregory’s inspiration came from an old high school counselor, who told Gregory, “If you work hard and are a good person then usually things work out pretty well.” It’s definitely interesting to see where coaches, whose job requires inspiring student athletes every day, derived their inspirations.
Raleigh News & Observer: Michael McAdoo‘s lawsuit against North Carolina and the NCAA was dropped this week, but the process is far from over. McAdoo’s lawyer is planning on filing an appeal next week. McAdoo was ruled permanently ineligible after the NCAA’s investigation of North Carolina’s infractions under Butch Davis because of academic fraud. McAdoo was signed by the Baltimore Ravens after being drafted in the NFL’s supplemental draft. The lawsuit is one of many against the NCAA currently that could mean major changes for the organization in the near future.
