ACC (or any NCAA) Basketball Discussion Thread

The JC NCAA Basketball Thread is dead and I've gotta basketball jones! I know we've got some State, FSU, and UNC fans out in these forums, and I imagine we have some others we just haven't heard from yet. So come on in and support your team! We all know the ACC is the heart of basketball in this country, and the league schedule is getting ready to really heat up as the last of the non-conference games get played.

Georgia Tech and Wake had a great game last night. That's the unfortunate part of playing in the ACC. Everybody beats everybody up all season and suddenly you're wondering how you're .500 in a conference and still a top ten team in the nation!

I'll be looking forward to UNC/FSU Thursday night. The Heels need to step it up in the conference. They should be 3-0, but they have these horrible mental letdowns late in games and it's come back to bite them against Maryland and WFU.

 

ESPN's Silver Anniversary All-ACC Team

G - Michael Jordan - North Carolina
G - Mark Price - Georgia Tech
C - Ralph Sampson - Virginia
F - Christian Laettner - Duke
F - Len Bias - Maryland

Well, that's an interesting list. Can't help but notice the omissions of David Thompson, Tim Duncan, and James Worthy right off the top of my head. It's always hard for me to judge players in this manner because I always want to consider their pro careers even though you really shouldn't for a college team. Dook players are always prototypical college players because they inevitably become role players in the pros. Also makes you wonder how guys like Kenny Anderson, Jerry Stackhouse, and Rasheed Wallace would have turned out had they stayed at least through their junior years.

 

I also have to wonder where in the heck is David Thompson. Many people, like Dick Vitale, think that Thompson was one of the best players ever in college basketball. Like then Jordan beat out Thompson for the ACC's best player of all time or whatever, I think people included pro careers when they should have just focused on what they did in college. I like Jordan but he shouldn't have beaten Thompson in my opinion.

 

It is kind of weird how these things are figured. The voting panel for the ESPN team included Vitale, Mike Patrick, then a bunch of local newspapers writers in ACC territory like Caulton Tudor. When Vitale showed his own personal All-ACC team, he had Worthy and Kenny Smith on his team instead of Bias and Price.

I'm not sure who voted The ACC 50th Anniversary Basketball Team, but I remember David Thompson got the most votes followed by Laettner, Sampson, then Jordan. Yet Jordan and Mia Hamm got ACC all-time athletes. I don't understand the voting process at all.

 

Yeah, I hear ya, Dal. It's a shame the ACC comes out and dominates in the pre-season then they have to beat each other up and mess up those good records.

As far as the Silver Anniversary All-ACC Team, it's hard to pick when you're talking about the last 25 years. I think Jordan is definitely a must. Of course I'm going to say that since I am a Carolina fan. The other 4 I'm not so sure of. I know Mark Price was one of the best point guards around back then. Then you have others such as Phil Ford, Kenny Smith, Kenny Anderson, Bobby Hurley, Chris Corchiani, Ed Cota and soon to be included Raymond Felton. The Center position I think would have to go to Sampson although Duncan is a good pick too. I know there are probably a few others who are just as deserving. The Forward positions are probably the hardest to pick. There are so many to choose from. Len Bias, Christian Laettner, David Thompson, James Worthy, Jerry Stackhouse, Vince Carter, Rodney Rogers, the list goes on.

Not sure how they decide who get it but I think they should let the fans decide.

 

Another nice weekend of ACC ball. Florida State is definitely making some strides, especially at home. Then State upset Georgia Tech, so once again the ACC standings resemble nothing going on in the Top 25. I guess the big one this week is the Wolfpack coming to Chapel Hill Wednesday night.

 

And you know I'm not gonna miss that one.

 

Wow! BJ Elder dropped 36 on Clemson tonight. Granted, it's Clemson, but still, 36 points against anyone in the ACC is still a great game.

 

Well, my Tarheels had me scared for a while but they pulled it off tonight against State. Losing 4 in a row to them was bad enough, I don't think I could have handled a 5th. Hopefully, they will dispose of Clemson on Saturday then it's gonna be a tough first half of February. Duke, Wake, Tech, and Maryland in that order, then Florida State again at home. They really need to win these home games and at least one of those away games to stay in the thick of things in the ACC.

 

That was a good game last night. State really kind of set the tempo, so UNC was fortunate that their defense turned up at the end. It was hard to get into a good rhythm for the entire game though. The refs would let it go 2-3 minutes at the time, then they'd call 4-5 fouls almost consecutively at both ends and kill the flow. Not really sure what's up with Julius Hodge. He's sort of slowed down the last couple of games. Then again, McCants really didn't light it up last night either. That breakaway dunk Jackie Manuel had was pretty sweet, even though he later blew that alley-oop dunk. There are two great games tonight (OK actually, one should be great and one should be a blowout) - Wake/Maryland and Dook/FSU. I think FSU's little cinderella run is about to come to an end, but I hope not.

 

Thursday night is the big one - UNC/Dook. Of course after blowing it against Clemson, I don't know what to think of this game. When looking at personnel, you'd think UNC has the better lineup, but they are so inconsistent you can never tell how they'll play. Also, JJ Redick is unconscious from the field these days. Last year Manuel did a good job of following him around the floor the whole game and he didn't hurt us. I'm sure Redick's smartened up and it seems his range is well beyond NBA 3-point land, so at what point do you feel safe stepping off him? Half court? If UNC doesn't bring its defense, it could get ugly very quickly. If it stays close the whole way, I think Roy can make some coaching moves that'll should get him his first ACC victory over Coach K.

 

Whatta game! It was typical UNC/Dook. Unfortunately Sean May continues to struggle inside against physical big men. He is just too much of a finesse guy and is easily bullied in the lane against anybody with size. Manuel did an incredible job on Redick all night, but in typical UNC fashion, they couldn't stop the big shot at the end. They've shown they can hit the big shot to win or tie it, but they haven't shown they can play game-winning defense yet. Dook could conceivably run the table now in the second half of the season now.

 

Yeah, I was pretty upset after the loss since it was such a close game and they had a chance to win. It's okay though, I didn't expect too much of Roy's first season at Carolina. Give him some time. New players next season. Once he gets rolling with the recruiting it's gonna be ON! Roy's the best at what he does and it won't be long before the Heels are back on top where they belong.

 

All right! Big road win at Wake Forest for the Heels! Of course at this point, a win in my basement would be great. I could see possibly getting into the tournament with a 7-9 ACC record, but 6-10 would be pushing it - I don't care how tough the ACC is. Now we turn around and have to do it again at Georgia Tech. NC State continues their big road run smoking UVA. I can't imagine they won't be ranked next week. They've been just outside the poll the last few weeks. We might see NCSU and FSU come in with WFU possibly dropping out.

 

Another road choke for the Heels. What does it say about a team that basically leads the country in scoring, yet they continue to lose big games. No D! Arrgh! This year continues to illustrate that perhaps Matt Doherty was not as big a problem as some might've thought. It could all just be coming back to a bunch of spoiled kids getting their way.

 

I agree with you there, Dalton. They just can't get rolling with the wins. It's win, lose, win, lose. Racking up too many L's. And I don't think Doherty was the main problem either the last 3 years. Heck, last season wouldn't have been so bad if May hadn't broken his foot. They'd have had another 20 win season easily. And that's coming off a 8-20 season the year before.

 

Oh State! You're killin' me! You knock off Dook and then choke down at Clemson while Dook gives you a freebie shot at first place by losing to Wake! I'm in that "if not UNC, anybody but Dook" club. Though I really could care less about State, I'll take them over Dook any day of the week. The Wake/Dook game last night was great. That is the way every team should approach Dook - just go right at them. They're a bunch of finesse guys and they can't handle somebody who will outmuscle them, particularly when the refs aren't giving them the game which is not uncommon.

Maryland's got Georgia Tech tonight. The Terps need to handle their homecourt the rest of the season. I know they're ACC, but they are bubble-icious right now. One or two slip-ups could be bad news for the Terps.

 

NC State, NC State, NC State!!!

That's all I have to say.

JMK

 

I bumped into Julius Hodge at Crabtree a couple of weeks ago. I mean literally, I bumped into him. He is a stick, but he must be all-muscle to be banging around with all those guys every night on the court. I didn't see him as I was actually trying to avoid somebody else and it was just too crowded.

I am glad NCSU beat Washington tonight. Always love to see the ACC get a win out of conference.

ECU also had a big win this weekend knocking off TCU, which is huge since TCU destroyed Louisville earlier in the week. ECU may play themselves into the CUSA tourney and it looks like they're peaking at the right time. Anything can happen once the tourney gets started.

 

Who is ECU. Just kidding. Thought the game went pretty good. Being from Texas, sometimes I pull for the Texas team, but getting my masters from ECU changed my mind this time.

Glad to see ECU doing better. Anyone interested in going to an ECU game?

JMK

 

I used to go to ECU basketball pretty regularly when I worked at the TV station because the sales department gave us free tickets, but I haven't been this year. I guess the regular season is about over now. I'm not sure how many home games they have left.

I just turned down an extra press pass to go the UNC/NCSU game on Sunday. I had plans that would've kept me from getting their on time which sucks. The last time I was courtside at a UNC/NCSU game, Julius Peppers stepped on my ankle and I was sure it was broken. But the whole time all I could think was I hope he didn't turn his ankle. Fortunately it wasn't career-threatening for either of us.

Round 2 tomorrow . . . UNC/NCSU!! UNC gave one away at Charlottesville and State's coming off a huge road win at GT. UNC was pretty fortunate to win the first game, so I can't see it happening again in Raleigh. Still, the whole league has really battered each other all year, so it's more than conceivable that UNC could actually be focused for this game.

 

Woo-hoo! Wolfpack sweep! Once again State set the game tempo, but UNC managed to play within it and McCants lit it up again. Hopefully we won't have a Clemson letdown. Looks like Manuel and Felton are questionable for the game right now.

 

Aaargh! I'm so freakin' annoyed! Typical UNC ball game today. If you want to beat Carolina, just have the ball last! We can hit the big shot all day long, but cannot defend against the big shot. The announcers spend five minutes talking about how UNC should not let Jarrett Jacke get the last shot, but who gets wide open in the circle? Ugh.

 

NCSU-YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!78-71 over FSU. 'nough said.