The ACC Microsite is back after a brief hiatus. It’s been a busy couple of weeks with NBA Draft announcements and the like. We’ll be cranking out season recaps and scouting reports over the next few weeks, but to get things started, here’s five stories from this week.

1. Hampton Roads Daily Press: Virginia Tech got some bad news earlier when James Johnson, the Hokies’ associate head coach, resigned to take a position at Clemson. According to Johnson’s discussion with David Teel, the move wasn’t about money as much as it was about opportunity. That said, the biggest differences in Johnson’s new job at Clemson and his old job at Virginia Tech are his boss and his salary (which went up 33%).
2. Washington Post: The biggest news came yesterday when Virginia Tech announced Seth Greenberg‘s termination. The news wasn’t hugely surprising, though it came at a horrible time and totally out of thin air. My biggest issue with the firing was the timing. The Hokies’ season was over six weeks ago — why wait this long to pull the trigger? The answer seems to lie in the above article. Jim Weaver cited staff turnover as the primary reason for letting Greenberg go, though that seems to point to Greenberg’s prickly persona — which almost certainly alienated members of his staff and the athletic department — as the culprit.
3. Fox Sports Carolinas: CJ Leslie made a great decision to come back to NC State. Not only does his return make the Wolfpack the “on paper” team to beat in the ACC, but he wasn’t a first-round draft lock by any means. Not to say that earning a contract in summer league is something to be ashamed of, but it’s not the guaranteed money that he easily could be looking at with another strong season behind him.
4. Washington Post: Speaking of retaining assistants, Maryland shelled out quite a bit of money to keep Mark Turgeon’s staff intact. Turgeon’s staff collectively made just shy of $860,000 last year. The assistants’ collective salary is more than the budget of seven of the eight athletic teams the Maryland athletic department decided to cut to help balance the budget this past year.
5. MassLive.com: Former Duke star Chris Carrawell will be sitting on the bench for the New Jersey Nets during the team’s last week of regular season action. Carrawell spent the season as an assistant coach on the Nets D-League team, the Springfield Armour. It looked like Carrawell was heading towards a spot on Duke’s coaching staff until Jeff Capel rejoined about a year ago, pushing everyone back a peg.

1. The news of the day on Monday was without question the surprising firing of Virginia Tech’s Seth Greenberg. Our ACC Microsite covered the news yesterday, ultimately coming down on the side of this being a very dangerous move for the Hokie program, and we can’t say that we disagree. If this move were made a month ago, Virginia Tech may have been in a stronger position to make a run at a John Groce, Frank Martin, Trent Johnson, or even (gulp) Larry Brown. By pulling the trigger on Greenberg now, Athletic Director Jim Weaver has put himself in a position where a home run hire is just short of impossible — the objective now must be to not completely soil the bed with the next choice. Dana O’Neil writes that Weaver’s resolve broke when yet another Greenberg assistant, James Johnson, became the sixth to leave the staff in the last four years.
2. One of the top unsigned players remaining in the Class of 2012, Tony Parker, a 6’9″ forward from Lithonia, Georgia, announced that he will join UCLA’s star-studded class in Westwood next season. Parker joins top five prospects Shabazz Muhammad and Kyle Anderson along with top 75 player Jordan Adams to form the nucleus of a group that will ultimately decide head coach Ben Howland’s fate as a Bruin. Recall that it was Howland’s top-rated Class of 2008 — full of transfers, headaches, and bad decision theater — that laid the groundwork for the disappointing string of seasons from 2009-12 after a run of three straight Final Four appearances. With a massive front line returning along with transfer Larry Drew and this incoming crew of elite prospects, expectations will be sky high in the a renovated Pauley Pavilion next season.
3. Remember when Kentucky’s Terrence Jones went wide receiver on a long pass against Louisville in the Final Four, resulting in his plowing through a tiny Cardinal cheerleader in the end zone? After the UK victory, Jones went on record saying that he would find the girl later and bring her some flowers to apologize for the mishap. Showing his gentlemanly side, Jones on Monday kept to his word in bringing a bouquet of flowers to the young miss, Jerica Logue, and you can see their immediate interaction in this photograph taken by WHAS-11’s Maggie Ruper. We’ve noted this sort of strange bedfellows thing before on this site, but Kentucky and Louisville fans are sure making it hard to buy their bitterest rivalry meme when we keep seeing examples of class, mutual respect and decorum from both sides.
4. It’s not every day you’ll read a college basketball column referencing the Stephen Sondheim Theater in New York City in addition to student-athletes and the 1-and-done rule, but Mike DeCourcy shows his range by doing just that in this piece examining NCAA president Mark Emmert‘s lack of clarity on the issue. Of course, we’ve grown long in the tooth arguing that Emmert and others who think eliminating 1-and-done is better for college basketball in the long run simply don’t see the big picture. It’s a bit disconcerting that, as DeCourcy points out, Emmert’s message has proven not only incapable of staying on point — what does he really believe? — but the hype and hysteria surrounding what amounts to a small handful of players leaving after one year each season shows that facts aren’t all that important to those decrying the rule. Everybody knows that 1-and-done is not an ideal situation for anyone involved — the players, coaches, programs, and the NBA — but if it’s the necessary rest stop on the way to a two-year rule that will satisfy both Emmert and the NBA Player’s Association (who is currently holding up the deal), we’ll take it.
5. To close things out today, we’re a little less than a week from the official NBA Draft early entry deadline (April 29), so we won’t know the final list until then, but that didn’t stop Dick Vitale from dropping his latest Top 40 for the 2012-13 season. RTC will release its post-deadline Top 25 next Monday, but it says here that Louisville, Kentucky and NC State are overrated, while Michigan, Baylor and UCLA are underrated.

The Washington Post‘s Hokies Journal tweeted on Monday:”Two sources have confirmed that Seth Greenberg has been fired as Virginia Tech men’s basketball coach. Got the news 2 hours ago.” The news was confirmed by an online presser held by the athletic department at 4 PM. Based on the size and prominence of the story on the athletic department website, Jim Weaver isn’t having any second thoughts either. But he probably should.

Seth Greenberg Out At Virginia Tech.

Virginia Tech firing Seth Greenberg is a stupid idea — especially considered in light of the late April timing of Greenberg’s dismissal. Unless the Hokies have a candidate lined up for the job, they’re very likely to get stuck with a new hire worse than Greenberg. I understand the frustration of constantly sitting on the NCAA Tournament bubble; I understand no fan base wants to be told “you should be happy with mediocrity” (see: Herb Sendek); and I understand getting better is about taking chances from time to time. But now was not the right time for two major reasons.

1. Greenberg significantly improved Virginia Tech during his nine-year tenure. Since taking over the helm in Blacksburg, Virginia Tech earned 20-win seasons in four of its last six seasons. Before Greenberg showed up for the 2003-04 season, the Hokies had owned one winning record since Bill Foster left in 1997. The nine years before Greenberg showed up, the Hokies were 132-133 (0.498); he boasted a 167-117 record (0.588) during his tenure.
2. It’s April 23. Nearly all good coaches looking for jobs already have them, and almost all of the attractive candidates have re-upped with their old schools. Signing period is almost over. Now is not a good time to find a basketball coach.

There’s still a chance this could work out, but without any high-level assistants available to promote, it’s not going to be easy. The Hokies’ associate head coach, James Johnson, left for Clemson last week. I’m not sure who Virginia Tech will hire, but I’ll be surprised if he’s as good a coach as Seth Greenberg.

Who’s Got Next? is a weekly column by Josh Paunil, the RTC recruiting guru. We encourage you to check out his website dedicated solely to college basketball recruiting, National Recruiting Spotlight, for more detailed recruiting information. Once a week he will bring you an overview of what’s going on in the complex world of recruiting, from who is signing where among the seniors to who the hot prospects are at the lower levels of the sport. If you have any suggestions as to areas we are missing or different things you would like to see, please let us know at rushthecourt@yahoo.com.

Lead Story: Top-20 Power Forward Tony Parker To Announce His Decision Monday

Class of 2012 Power Forward Tony Parker Will Commit Monday.

Second-Best Undecided Senior Will Decide Between Five. Class of 2012 power forward Tony Parker has had one of the most secretive recruitments in the Class of 2012. The 6’9″, 273-pound big man has kept all of the recruiting analysts guessing since the beginning and many popular guesses have come and gone ranging from Ohio State and Duke to more recently UCLA and his hometown team, Georgia. But Monday at around 3:30 or 4 PM, according to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, Parker will finally announce his college intentions. His final five consists of Duke, Georgia, Kansas, Ohio State, and UCLA. I doubt he will go to Kansas or Georgia so that leaves Duke, Ohio State, and UCLA. It seems to me that the two schools with the best shot at him are Ohio State and UCLA and if I had to bet on where he goes I would pick UCLA, but honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if he choose any of the five schools except for Kansas. So, in order, I think the schools that have the best shot with him are UCLA, Ohio State, Duke, Georgia, and then Kansas. If he does indeed choose UCLA, that would give them arguably the best recruiting class in the country between their class of Parker, point guard Kyle Anderson, and small forwards Shabazz Muhammad and Jordan Adams.

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1. Duke Basketball Report: The other day I pointed out the tunnel vision for Charles Bloom‘s national championship stat. Barry Jacobs took it several steps further, charting national titles since 1990 and 1980. Duke and North Carolina own more championships than any other conference since either date (seven since 1990 and eight since 1980). Even more impressive, the pair own more Final Four appearances than any other conference since 1990 (each school has as many semifinal showings as the Pac-12 over that span).
2. NBCSports.com: Boston College’s second leading scorer Matt Humphrey is hitting the road for the second time, transferring away from the Eagles after just one year, as Humphrey had already transferred from Oregon. Because Humphrey is graduating from Boston College, so he’ll be able to play immediately wherever he ends up. Despite his inefficiency, Humphrey did average more than 10 points per game on this year’s team. Look for Patrick Heckmann to pick up the slack once he fully recovers from mononucleosis.
3. Wilmington Star-News: James Michael McAdoo decided to come back to North Carolina for his sophomore year despite many projecting he’d go in the lottery of this year’s NBA Draft. His decision was well-received by the Tar Heel faithful, as it closed the “on-paper” gap between them and NC State. However, with stories like Harrison Barnes’, Jared Sullinger’s and Jeremy Lamb’s, it’s tough not to wonder if McAdoo is making the right financial decision for his future.
4. Gobbler Country: Here are individual report cards for all of the players on Virginia Tech’s roster. My one issue is that Cadarian Raines only got a B. Sure Raines wasn’t exactly a world-beater the whole season, but he looked terrific down the stretch. He’s strong, appears fine on the court for extended stretches, and knows how to get deep position (which is virtually unstoppable). I’m not sure how anyone could have expected more. It will be interesting to see if the Hokies try to feed him more down low next year. I expect them to make a pretty big leap forward with nearly all of their key pieces coming back (minus Dorenzo Hudson and Victor Davila). Dorian Finney-Smith and CJ Barksdale should be very good players to compliment Erick Green.
5. Seminoles.com: In an award selection less surprising than Anthony Davis winning player of the year, Bernard James won the USBWA’s Most Courageous award. I don’t need to tell you James’ story, which was even more in the spotlight with Florida State’s success. The other recipient this year was Tennessee women’s head basketball coach Pat Summit.

1. Hampton Roads Daily Press: Speaking of tall lanky game-changers in college basketball, Ralph Sampson finally was elected to the Naismith Hall of Fame. You can blame the delay on his injury-laden NBA career and a combination of Sidney Lowe, Michael Jordan, and Sam Perkins (who kept him from ACC Championships in 1983, 1982 and 1981 respectively). Sampson was truly a once-in-a-generation player. At 7’4″ and athletic, he was comfortable smoking opponents from inside and out. He’s also one of two players to be chosen the consensus national player of the year three times (Bill Walton is the other).
2. Yadkin Valley Sports: This is a great article on Victor Davila, who watched his senior season evaporate from the bench with a groin injury. Davila is a product of Puerto Rico by means of the foothills of North Carolina. Here’s to hoping he finds some basketball success overseas before having to get a real job.
3. Durham Herald-Sun: Steve Wiseman checks in with questions facing Duke in the offseason. I will try to answer them. Will Mason Plumlee return? No idea. Will Rasheed Sulaimon make an impact as a freshman? Yes. He’s a great shooter and looks like a solid defender (albeit in the McDonald’s All-American game). Will Duke pick up any transfers? I think Alex Oriakhi comes if Plumlee leaves; Trey Zeigler seems more likely. Strengths? Definitely scoring, though the defense should get better with the addition of Alex Murphy. Speaking of Murphy I think he will start next year, and Marshall Plumlee will get decent minutes off the bench (to commit fouls if nothing else).
4. Fox Sports: Here’s Andrew Jones with Florida State‘s final report card for the season. I think he’s a little harsh on the Seminoles’ offense, though their nonconference play certainly merits a harsh rating. The real question is what Leonard Hamilton can put together losing so many players. The team was so deep last year that he’ll still have plenty of players coming back with experience, but things will look very different in Tallahassee next year (Michael Snaer is the difference to me).
5. NC State Technician: While part of me agrees that CJ Leslie should stick around for another year (namely, he’s not a first round lock), I abhor these types of articles. Players know fans want them to come back. I think the jump Leslie made between last year and this year was the difference between a flame out career and sticking around in the NBA. He matured a ton between last year and this year. If Leslie comes back, he’s definitely preseason first team All-ACC and should be in the running for conference player of the year (on a team that might be picked on top of the league).

Today in Carefully-Framed Stats:

Since 1993, the #SEC has won six NCAA men’s hoops titles, tied with the ACC for most during that time.

— Charles Bloom (@SECPRGuy) April 3, 2012

(That would be ignoring the ACC’s three consecutive championships from 1991-1993.)

1. Tar Heel Blog: Good news and bad news for North Carolina fans. The good news is James Michael McAdoo‘s father said “our intentions and his intention is to be at Carolina next year.” The not-as-good news is that his postseason performance has him showing up in DraftExpress’ top 20 prospects, so he’ll be sitting down with his family to discuss his options. I think if he comes back, McAdoo is an all-ACC talent and will go in the top 10 of next year’s draft. But that’s a lot of money to leave on the table. Oh, and this post has a picture of Harrison Barnes in a hyperbaric chamber!
2. Hampton Roads Daily Press: Nothing like the coaching carousel and early entries to get reporters on anti-Twitter soapboxes (though, seriously people should probably vet their Twitter sources a little more). I’m purely speculating, but my guess is SMU has reached out indirectly to Seth Greenberg to gauge his interest. How else could he be tied to the coaching search? However, I agree with David Teel in principle that Greenberg isn’t far along in the process if anywhere at all. If the Mustangs are serious about the $2 million salary, we’ll find out soon enough if Greenberg was contacted: Just see if he renegotiates his deal.
3. Tallahassee Democrat: Speaking of coaching pay… Leonard Hamilton doesn’t get paid as much as other coaches with his same success. Hamilton earned $1.5 million dollars this year, which fell behind Mike Krzyzewski, Mark Turgeon, Roy Williams and Tony Bennett in a conference full of new coaches (Turgeon’s salary wasn’t listed in the study, but he makes just under $2 million a year). It’s time for Florida State to ante up. If the Seminoles are serious about competing on a consistent basis, they need to put the money on the table. And that’s not just Hamilton’s pay; that’s assistants’ pay and facilities upgrades too.
4. Raleigh News & Observer: For once the McDonald’s All-America game wasn’t about Duke or North Carolina. It was about NC State, who has three alumni joining Mark Gottfried’s squad next year. Rodney Purvis played the best game, but Tyler Lewis and TJ Warren got points on the board too (positive buzz also surrounded Duke commit Rasheed Sulaimon). Meanwhile potential ACC recruit Amile Jefferson didn’t have a great week according to scouts. But take all-star game performances with a grain of salt.
5. DraftExpress: Well it’s time for this year’s annual Triangle Smackdown, featuring a much more prominent NC State presence than in years past. Enjoy.

1. Durham Herald-Sun and Inside Carolina: The ACC is very involved in the race to get Connecticut transfer Alex Oriakhi. According to Jeff Goodman, Kentucky, North Carolina, Duke, NC State, Florida, Temple, Xavier, UCLA, Missouri, George Mason, Virginia Tech, Virginia and UNC Charlotte have all reached out to the rising senior big man. Additionally, Kentucky, Florida and Missouri may not be able to recruit him because the SEC has a rule against one-year transfers. I’d be a little surprised if Oriakhi ends up at North Carolina (though he should definitely wait a couple weeks to see who will be coming back) or Virginia Tech, but Duke and NC State certainly have a lot of need and Virginia would have tons of minutes too.
2. BC Interruption: Speaking of Connecticut and Oriakhi, apparently the suits in Storrs aren’t interested in Oriakhi transferring to Boston College, according to Eric Hoffses. I haven’t seen this from any major media outlets yet, but it wouldn’t shock me to see the Huskies holding a grudge against the former Big East member. Unfortunately, Boston College is the closest to home Oriakhi could get at a major conference school, as he grew up in Lowell, Massachusetts.
3. CSN Washington: It sounds like everyone may have jumped the gun on Sam Cassell, Jr.‘s, commitment to Maryland. That is to say, he’s not committed. But the younger Cassell definitely made it sound like he was on Twitter. This makes me think his father told him to take his time and take more visits to try and inform his final choice. I’d be a little surprised if he doesn’t end up in College Park, but we’ll have to wait to find out.
4. Raleigh News & Observer: One assistant on Tobacco Road was tapped for a head coaching gig, but it wasn’t Chris Collins. Jerrod Haase, a longtime assistant for Roy Williams, will be moving on to coach UAB. Haase played for Williams in the mid-1990s at Kansas before joining his staff in 1999. The new question is who will replace him. Jackie Manuel and Bobby Frasor are putting some time in with the team now, but I’m not sure their couple years of experience each merits an assistant coach position already.
5. Orlando Sentinel: The Leonard Hamilton updates have disappeared recently. First he was tied to the Illinois coaching opening; then he was receiving a contract extension. But neither has been confirmed or even furthered so far. Instead, it looks like business as usual for Hamilton, whose stoic on-court demeanor carries over to his laconic disposition when addressing things pertaining to himself. No news is probably good news for Seminole fans (as is Hamilton’s age), but here’s to hoping he stays in Tallahassee.

1. ESPN: Despite almost everyone saying Tony Parker will not go to Duke, the Blue Devils seem to always be on his list. This is a pretty interesting article on Parker and his family going through the pros and cons of some of the schools he’s still considering. Parker’s biggest knock on Duke seems to be a concern about developing bigs. While I see the recent evidence, I think it’s also worth pointing out the successful Duke big men (cut directly out of Parker’s mold) like Elton Brand, Carlos Boozer and Shelden Williams. I definitely see where his unease is coming from though.
2. ACC Sports Journal: This is good stuff from Barry Jacobs on players leaving early for the NBA Draft. Austin Rivers is hiring an agent, but the choices of some other talented underclassmen have yet to come to light. It’s become a fact of life — top talent rarely stays four years (Tyler Zeller is the exception). We’ll definitely have some more draft coverage as players declare.
3. SBNation: This is a solid article on North Carolina’s disappointing finish with a closer look at Harrison Barnes. It’s still impossible for me to tell about Barnes’ pro prospects: He’s looked great in flashes (he hit four of his five field goals against Kansas in a two-minute stretch), but he disappeared in the second half. His numbers look the same as last year, but his 40-point outbursts and clutch moments are missing.
4. Hampton Roads Daily Press: JT Thompson is transferring from Virginia Tech. After two straight season-ending knee injuries, he’ll leave the Hokies with a degree “and a lifetime of friends.” Thompson is transferring to be closer to his young daughter in order to become a full-time parent. The move shouldn’t kill the Virginia Tech frontcourt, as it still returns Cadarian Raines, Dorian Finney-Smith and CJ Barksdale in addition to bringing in a couple of freshmen.
5. Testudo Times: With Terrell Stoglin coming back to College Park, it’s time to look at his season and prognosis. It’s clear Stoglin and Mark Turgeon have to work out their differences; it’s also clear that unless a lot changes over the summer (really I think it would be his senior season before he’d be able to run it effectively, but I’d like to see him get some time at the one). The good news for Maryland fans is Stoglin wants to improve his draft stock, and that should be mostly in line with Turgeon’s vision.

1. Tallahassee Democrat: This is a pretty cool article about the last time Florida State won a basketball championship. That was 1991 in the Metro Conference (the year before the school joined the ACC), and the Seminoles were led by another clutch guard named Charlie Ward. This Florida State team doesn’t have the NBA talent of those teams from the early 1990s, but it’s coming together at the right time.
2. South Florida Sun-Sentinel: Miami is down about missing the NCAA Tournament, but the Hurricanes have something to prove in the NIT (where they garnered a #2 seed). Luckily, Durand Scott was reinstated by the NCAA, though his presence was sorely missed in Miami’s loss to Florida State in Atlanta (only to make matters worse, it was a game that probably would have put the Hurricane resume over the top). I hope the players mean it; I want to see Miami with a chip on its shoulder, both in the NIT and regular season next year.
3. Washington Post: Seth Greenberg is looking to possibly flesh out his roster a little bit this offseason. While he’s apparently OK with adding a junior college transfer, Greenberg made things very clear: “We’re not gonna take a warm body, we’re not gonna take a guy that’s gonna win us a game. I want to take a guy who has a chance to graduate.”
4. Soaring To Glory: Here’s a solid post on things to expect from Boston College next year. I think the author hits the nail on the head for the most part — especially on the team’s conditioning issues late in the season — though I think more emphasis should be given to guys Lonnie Jackson and Patrick Heckmann (whose fall was precipitated by a bad bout with mono). I think Ryan Anderson will develop, but he’ll need a second and third option more than anything next year.
5. Wilmington Star News: Brett Friedlander thinks NC State could be poised for a deep tournament run if it can keep focused. I have my doubts (specifically about the team’s depth), but I generally agree. The biggest thing will be avoiding the Selection Sunday hangover game the first weekend against San Diego State. The Wolfpack are capable of winning that game but will need to avoid costly turnovers and foul trouble at all costs. They also can’t get off to a slow start and need stars CJ Leslie and Lorenzo Brown to embrace the spotlight.