Wake Forest has already matched its conference win total (one) from last season thanks to a 58-53 win over Virginia Tech (who was 11-3 coming into the game). The win is the Demon Deacons’ best in the last two seasons, as the only two power conference opponents they defeated last year was Big 10 doormat Iowa and a short-handed Virginia team. Last year, CJ Harris scored six points in the final two minutes to seal the deal as the Cavaliers went ice cold from the floor. This year Harris again proved the late-game hero against a different commonwealth squad, knocking down two huge threes to answer Virginia Tech’s first lead with just over a minute to play and the go-ahead bucket on the Demon Deacons’ final possession.

CJ Harris Shows Wake Might Have a Future After All (AP/C. Burton)

This game showed just how far Wake Forest has come since last season. Other than 15 seconds late in the second half, the Deacons never trailed. Every Virginia Tech run was answered by a big bucket from Travis McKie (in the first half), Tony Chennault (in the second half) or Harris (at the end of the game). The team certainly won’t stay at the top of the ACC for long; it struggles taking care of the ball, forcing turnovers and with shot selection. But the win shows just how far Jeff Bzdelik’s players have come since last year.

McKie, once the most consistent scorer on an awful team, now has the ability to control significant portions of the game with scoring and, at least against the Hokies, on the glass. Especially in the first half McKie scored in a variety of ways, excelling at getting to the basket in the halfcourt and transition. He also managed to pull down eight rebounds despite questionable rebounding for much of the season (he struggles to get in position on defense in particular). The ten pounds McKie reportedly gained over the summer also shows up in his greater confidence to take contact at the rim.

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I can’t help but be deliriously and feverishly excited about the beginning of intraconference play, but before we get down to brass tacks, there are a few things that we should probably be talking about before we settle up the conference pecking order. Let’s go over a few suggested topics of conversation before actual basketball begins.

1. Virginia is for real. The Cavaliers’ national ranking is totally deserved and barring injuries or collapse, this team is poised to make some noise in March. Mike Scott is the flavor of the week amongst the college basketball stat-erati because, well he is kind of killing it, but Virginia’s slow pace means that he’s not getting enough credit for it. The Cavaliers are certainly capable of taking down Duke or North Carolina and the team’s consistency is something that every other team in the conference envies.

Mike Scott Is Really Good

2. Scheduling is a double-edged sword. Both Maryland and North Carolina State have the talent to make the NCAA Tournament, but both also have some scheduling issues that might get in the way of these aspirations. Maryland has a daunting conference schedule that includes two shots apiece at Virginia, North Carolina, and Duke, as well as a non-conference tilt with Temple. That gives the Terrapins plenty of chances to register signature wins, but it also means that there are seven games on the schedule that are more likely to be losses than not. Conversely, the NC State Wolfpack has two games apiece against Wake Forest, Boston College, and Georgia Tech. Mark Gottfried’s team is likely to rack up plenty of wins, but they have far less opportunities to make an impression with a certain tournament selection committee.

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The final score doesn’t reflect it, but in a night full of close games, the most exciting game of the night was probably between Miami and UNC Greensboro. Yes, seriously. Competitive until the final fourth of the game when Miami pulled away, this match-up featured some spectacular highlights and dueling 30-point games. Greensboro’s Trevis Simpson scored 36 points in a nearly unstoppable performance that included a ridiculous reverse alley-oop. Fortunately, Miami had a ready response in… Kenny Kadji? Yes, the transfer from Florida put up 30 points and 12 rebounds, scoring 10 of those points from the line in a game that saw the Hurricanes make 30 of 38 free throws.

The Southern Conference, however, got revenge in Winston-Salem. With C.J. Harris in street clothes, Wake Forest didn’t have the fire power to put away a feisty Wofford team that got its second big win of the year knocking off the Demon Deacons. It’s a good win for Wofford and a sharp reminder that Wake Forest really needs Harris to play and play well if they expect to have any success. Also upset at home? Boston College. The hapless Eagles gave Rhode Island their third win of the year in a game that could have provided the Eagles with some much needed momentum heading into a tough Atlantic Coast Conference schedule that starts in Chapel Hill on Saturday. Leave it to Boston College to finally manage to shoot 48.1% while holding their opponent to 30.9% and still lose.

In less dramatic news, Virginia rolls on against a resilient LSU team. Quietly, the Cavaliers are going to enter ACC play riding an 11-game winning streak.

The Gut Check

• Alabama at Georgia Tech at 9:00 PM on ESPNU

Georgia Tech showed some promise early in the season with commanding victories over Virginia Commonwealth and Georgia. Yet after disappointing back-to-back losses to Mercer and Fordham, the Yellow Jackets have something to prove. Unfortunately for Brian Gregory‘s crew, a game against Alabama followed by an ACC opener against Duke is a pretty tough slate for a team looking to bounce back. While Alabama is certainly beatable, the Crimson Tide is one of a few elite defensive teams in the country, even with star JaMychal Green potentially sitting the game out with a shoulder injury. A win against Alabama would be a big win for Georgia Tech, but even at “home” (Philips Arena, at least for this game), only an extraordinary performance is going to get the job done.

The ACC-Ivy Challenge Finale

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

Okay, so the ACC-Ivy Challenge isn’t a real thing, but if it were, it would be tied up. The Ivy League’s wins come from Harvard‘s wins over Florida State and Boston College as well as Princeton‘s victory over Florida State. The Atlantic Coast Conference can claim a narrow Wake Forest victory over Yale, a NC State win over Princeton, and a dominating performance by Duke over hapless Pennsylvania. Tonight’s tilt between Maryland and Cornell will be the deciding game in the inter-conference series. Fortunately for ACC fans, Maryland has a pretty good chance of defending the conference’s honor. The Terrapins haven’t lost since November and have been playing at a higher level with the return of Pe’Shon Howard and the introduction of Alex Len. Meanwhile, though Cornell has some nice victories over Lehigh and Albany, the team has yet to win on the road. This is by no-means a gimme for Maryland, but if the new-look Terrapins can keep their December momentum going, I like their chances.

After a weekend of largely uneventful blowouts, lowlighted by the Ivy League getting the best of the ACC in an impromptu and unofficial interconference challenge that saw Harvard smash Boston College, Yale come within one point of defeating Wake Forest, and Miami losing to Princeton in triple overtime, the teams of the ACC face their final non-conference tune-ups before the beginning of league play. It has been an odd time for the conference and the balance of power is very much in the air. While North Carolina and Duke appear to still be the class of the conference and Boston College looks to be the joke of the conference, the other nine teams have yet to stake out clear identities or even a presumptive pecking order. With ACC play on the near horizon, teams are running out of opportunities to make statements in inter-conference play.

A Defensive Showdown

• Virginia at LSU at 7:00 PM on ESPN3.com

The Cavaliers are one team that has done a pretty good job in staking out an identity in the ACC. They are the clear third best team in the league, featuring a tenacious, unyielding defense and a probable All-ACC player in Mike Scott. Ironically, when Virginia takes its trip down to the bayou to take on the Tigers, they will be facing one of the most hard-to-pin-down teams in the nation. LSU’s early losses to Coastal Carolina, Northwestern, and the University of Southern Alabama were discouraging losses, but the fact remains that these Tigers have rebounded and haven’t lost a game since November. LSU has been getting it done on defense and despite the team’s youth and utter rawness on offense they have managed some impressive wins including a win over a very good Marquette team. Virginia is probably the better team and their tough defense figures to make life far too difficult for an LSU team that struggles to score against mediocre defenses. Still, Virginia is playing on the road, and Lousiana State certainly has enough talent to pull off an upset making this a game that should prove to be fairly intriguing.

The Last Likely Win For Boston College

• Rhode Island at Boston College at 1:00 PM on ESPN3.com

Boston College is going to have a hard time winning games in the ACC. Looking at Boston College’s conference schedule, it is hard to pick out games where the Eagles could be called the favorites, or failing that, even a reasonable pick. Outside of a home game against Wake Forest, the spring of 2012 could be a very tough time for fans in Chestnut Hill. It’s a bleak prospect, so hopefully this game will offer some succor to the Eagles’ fans. Rhode Island is having an equally disastrous season as BC, and with the game being played at home, I don’t think it would be crazy to call the Eagles the favorites. That’s something worth savoring, since this might be the last time this season that I can say that.

For Fans Only

• UNC Greensboro at Miami at 9:00 PM on ESPN3.com
• Wofford at Wake Forest at 7:00 PM on ESPN3.com

Miami’s tough loss against Princeton on Friday seems like bad news for UNC Greensboro. The Hurricanes will be out to prove that the loss was a fluke and will be eager to crush their over-matched Southern Conference foe. If you change the home team to “Wake Forest”, the previous result to “a narrow win against Yale”, and the Southern Conference opponent to Wofford, you will likely have a creeping feeling of déjà vu.

1. Washington Post: Virginia Tech‘s kicker was arrested and charged with breaking and entering into an on-campus residence before pulling a gun on those living there (also known as the far more serious crime of “home invasion”). How does that relate to the basketball team? Well… the resident was Dorenzo Hudson. Allegedly, Hudson’s roommate stole “a large amount” of marijuana from the defendants. Regardless, this is the type of story that decidedly does not go away or end well. We’ll certainly keep you posted on any forthcoming details.
2. Wilmington Star News and Charlotte Observer: Continuing with the bad news, Torian Graham de-committed for the second time (only hours after re-committing) to NC State yesterday. Graham, a consensus top-50 recruit from Durham, said “something came up” but did not elaborate on the story. It should be noted that Graham has a history of transfers (he’s also on his third high school), which certainly points to potential academic eligibility issues. From comments Pack Pride got from Graham later in the day, it sounds like he still wants to play for the Wolfpack (which certainly supports the academic theory).
3. Five-Star Basketball: For some more positive NC State hoops news, Adam Zagoria and Harrison Sanford are both very impressed with Mark Gottfried‘s first recruiting haul. Even without Torian Graham, the class is shaping up to be one of the best NCSU classes in years — especially if the coaching staff can land Amile Jefferson or Ricardo Gathers. Specifically, Jefferson was very positive in his review of the Wolfpack. Gottfried’s staff is also trying to expand its scope to the national level and is looking at a very talented group of 2013 targets from all over the country.
4. Wenatchee World: Tony Bennett took over for his father, Dick Bennett, at Washington State and was very successful. But Virginia is his first time building a program from scratch, which takes more effort from the coach as well as the players: “There’s no substitute for experience. It was that way with those guys at Washington State — [Virginia players] took their lumps their first two years. And the previous group before that just had to scrap and claw for any bit of respectability.” Well after a hot start, the Cavaliers are back in the Top 25 for the first time in four years.
5. Hampton Daily Press: David Teel takes a crack at the 18-game conference schedule once Pittsburgh and Syracuse arrive by looking at Mike Krzyzewski‘s model. Coach K wants the conference to move to one permanent rival with four “rotating” home-and-homes and the eight remaining teams played only once. While I agree with Tell that Duke and North Carolina are obvious (and essential) permanent rivals, but Wake Forest and NC State? That’s not to say the two schools don’t have a rivalry, but I’m not sure it’s at the “duh” level of the Tar Heels and the Blue Devils (in fact, NC State’s rivalry with North Carolina is much more heated). While I like the added diversity of Coach K’s proposition, I think it’d be a shame to lose games like North Carolina-NC State or Duke-Maryland (seriously, can you imagine if Duke didn’t have to play in College Park every year and vice versa). I vote for keeping the number of permanent partners the same.

There was only a single ACC game last night, but it was a doozy. After a last-second C.J. Leslie shot, the Wolfpack narrowly escaped with a win against St. Bonaventure on the road. Of course, North Carolina State shouldn’t have needed the last minute heroics, but a win is a win in Rochester or Raleigh. Tonight, there is a nice slate of games, including the latest installment in a fun inter-conference series.

The Marquee Match-Up

• Texas at North Carolina at 7:00 PM on ESPN2

The Longhorns and the Tar Heels have played a December game for the past few years, and despite Texas’s recent winning streak, the games are usually fairly close. With a highly-touted North Carolina team playing in Chapel Hill, Roy Williams‘ squad comes to this game as the clear favorite. Texas is young and small, but the ability to field a lighting-quick line-up that features J’Covan Brown and freshman sensation Myck Kabongo could challenge North Carolina. Kendall Marshall is the straw that stirs the powder-blue drink and unfortunately, he lacks the lateral quickness to defend fast guards. Since both players demand coverage, this isn’t an issue that can be solved by merely throwing Dexter Strickland at the problem. Still, if the Tar Heels stand poised to struggle defensively against the speed of Texas, the Longhorns will have their own defensive problems with a long and tall North Carolina team.

A History Lesson

• Virginia at Seattle at 10:10 PM

Seattle used to be a basketball powerhouse. Elgin Baylor led the Redhawks to an NCAA championship game in 1958, where the team lost to Kentucky. Since then, Seattle vanished off the college basketball map, playing in the NAIA for over twenty years before rejoining the NCAA in 2001. This year is only the third season that Seattle has played in Division I since the seventies. I bring this up as a way of explaining that Seattle University is still in the process of rebuilding its program since what were effectively fallow years. Playing in historic KeyArena, the newly nationally-ranked Cavaliers have a very good chance at extending their win streak against the over-matched Redhawks.

A Rare Sight

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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.
• That’s right, the ACC Digital Network launched this season. Check out JR Reid break down North Carolina‘s softness and the conference power rankings. So far the coverage is fairly limited, but as it expands this could become one of the better sources of information for ACC fans.

Power Rankings

1. 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 »

1. C-Ville: Storming The Floor‘s Eric Angevine hits a home run with his profile of Virginia center Assane Sene. Sene is from Senegal and has a very unique story. I don’t want to steal the story’s thunder, but let’s just say burritos, Taylor Swift and football all are discussed.
2. Wilmington Star News: Ty Walker is ready to “walk the walk” after serving a ten-game suspension resulting from an offcourt incident earlier in the year. He’s certainly saying everything right. And I think Jeff Bzdelik achieved his goal, which was “to help the New Hanover (NC) High product, who is on pace for a degree in communications in May, become a better man.” I don’t think that Walker is destined to have a Zoubek-esque turnaround this season, but I think he’ll be very important for Wake Forest’s relative success this season. Even if he doesn’t score a lot of points, if Walker can crash the glass and play solid defense in the middle, he’ll be a hugely important asset for the Demon Deacons.
3. Raleigh News & Observer: John Maddrey is a lawyer but — more importantly — he’s one of the statisticians behind the television broadcasts at ACC games. He’s had his position since 1982, meaning he’s covered 29 straight ACC Tournaments and 56 total Duke-North Carolina games. In a slower stretch of basketball, it’s always interesting to get a peek behind the curtain at how broadcasts work (I just wish Luke DeCock had asked him how the internet has changed doing game stats).
4. Washington Times: Patrick Stevens posts a collage of little nuggets from Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon. In a quick summary, Terrell Stoglin missed practice Thursday and Friday after tweaking his ankle; Pe’Shon Howard is out of his boot and doing some drills; he also praised Berend Weijs. But the most interesting part of the presser, to me at least, was Turgeon’s frustration with his non-stop schedule. It’s easy to forget just how much work goes into being a top-tier coach. In addition to the events and fundraisers he has to attend, Turgeon made it clear he didn’t like the team’s schedule during his last chance to retool before going into ACC play. It won’t lengthen his Christmas break, but I think Turgeon can spend plenty of time working on his own team (based on the quality of opponents the Terrapins face between now and then).
5. Miami Herald: Former Georgia Tech star Kenny Anderson was arrested Sunday for leaving the scene of an accident. But if you read a little closer, it sounds like he might have been charged with a more serious offense (I mean, he admitted to drinking, slurred his speech and crashed his Escalade into a tree… seriously, if you’re slurring your speech, you’re over the limit). Anderson is currently coaching at a private Jewish day school. He played for nine NBA teams during his 15-year career and made the All-Star game in 1994.

Currently, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons are sitting on a 6-4 record. It’s not a great 6-4, but it’s not terrible either. Wins against Nebraska and Loyola (Maryland) are nice, and losses against Arizona State and Richmond aren’t impressive, but they aren’t damning. By December 15 of last year, Wake Forest had a 6-4 record, albeit with some ugly losses to the likes of Stetson and Winthrop. After that date, the squad managed only two more wins. Considering the ugliness of last season, it’s understandable if fans feel a bit queasy about the sense of déjà vu. Still, despite the similarity of record and the familiar names on the roster, the Demon Deacons are progressing by leaps and bounds.

Travis McKie And C.J. Harris Are Handling The Offensive Load For Wake

Sophomore Travis McKie’s performance was the highlight of last year’s bleak campaign and the good news is that he has picked up right where he left off. Despite handling a heavier portion of the offensive load, McKie has been able to maintain production at a very high level. I should clairfy what I mean when I say that McKie is handling “a heavier portion of the offensive load.”  No one in the ACC is on the floor as much as this guy. McKie leads the conference by averaging 35 minutes per game. He is on the floor 86.9% of the time. The guy is an iron man, and yet he manages to produce. McKie is second in the league with 18.6 PPG, only beaten by the insane production of Maryland’s Terrell Stoglin, who is averaging 22.5 PPG. McKie is doing it fairly efficiently too with a 59.9 true shooting percentage. Aside from Stoglin and Mike Scott, the sophomore is perhaps the best primary offensive option in the league.

Still, McKie’s role as a first-rate scoring option isn’t what makes Wake Forest so deadly. That distinction belongs to C. J. Harris, a player who has really blossomed this year. Last year, according to Ken Pomeroy’s ratings, Harris posted a 93.6 offensive efficiency rating while taking 15.6% of the team’s shots. This year? Harris has an offensive efficiency rating of 117.7 while taking 25.1% of his teams shots. That’s an insane improvement. So now, not only does Wake Forest have the conference’s second-leading scorer, but it also has the conference’s third leading scorer (17.9 PPG). It might have sounded crazy this time last year, or even two months ago, but Wake Forest easily has the most productive scoring tandem in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

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1. Fayetteville Observer: It’s December, which means it’s time for the dreaded “guarantee” games. But the games serve a purpose. They make money for both teams; they give players more time to study for finals, which are currently going on at several ACC schools; and they teach young players how to win (or at least give them some valuable confidence). But don’t despair! Tickets to these games are much easier to buy and the conference season is just around the corner.
2. Charleston Post and Courier: Clemson needs someone to be “the man” this season. Andre Young has been great, but he generally sticks to jump shots and facilitating the offense. Brad Brownell is looking for a guy who can create his own shot when things aren’t going the right way. Personally, I’m not sure there’s a player with that kind of attitude on the Tiger team this season. The closest player to a go-to guy–based on skill set–is Milton Jennings, but Brownell thinks Jennings lacks the “confidence” to take over right now.
3. Winston-Salem Journal and Wilmington Star News: Wake Forest just got a little bit deeper. The Demon Deacons got Ty Walker back after a 10-game suspension for violating the team’s conduct policy this summer landed the seven-footer on the bench to start this season. Just be careful not to overestimate Walker’s impact. Mostly, he provides another tall body who can help pick up some of the minutes when Carson Derosiers is on the bench.
4. BC Interruption: A quick look at the ACC and just how “down” the conference is this year. Basically, the conference only has four teams in the top 50 of Ken Pomeroy’s rankings (luckily all four are in the top 30) compared to six the last four years (and nine in 2006-07!). The other issue is that three teams are outside of the top-100 with Boston College bringing up the rear. That means that barring a major shake-up in conference play, the ACC looks like a four-bid league (thank goodness for the Pac-12).
5. Republican-American: Maryland fans rejoice (or pine about how much better the team would be with him)! Jordan Williams has signed a two-year deal with the New Jersey Nets for a little under $500,000. The NBA lockout ended just in time for Williams, who was headed to Poland to play professionally.

EXTRA: I’m late on this, but you have to watch this video starring former North Carolina coach Matt Doherty.