BUZZKETBALL CENTRAL: ACC Round Up

Kerry Blackshear led all scorers with 21 in @HokiesMBB first win of 2019. pic.twitter.com/XOSt88JaxP— ACC Digital Network (@theACCDN) January 2, 2019

Hey there Hokies round ball fanatics. As we entered the beginning of the ACC schedule on a high note I thought it a good time to take a look around the conference. So far this season the ACC is a combined 146-43. It seems like a respectable number, especially considering no team in the conference has a losing record at this point. There are seven teams ranked in the AP Poll. There are some feel good stories in how Pitt has rebounded and how well Boston College is doing. The number is a bit deceiving though as the conference also has some warts already this season. Several teams won holiday tournaments, including the Hokies winning the Charleston Classic.

New Trophies for the ACC

De'Andre Hunter had 20 points and nine rebounds to help No. 4 Virginia beat No. 25 Wisconsin 53-46 on Friday in the Battle 4 Atlantis championship game. https://t.co/ctl7ga9GBr pic.twitter.com/R8UFyT4wZf— WDBJ7Sports (@WDBJ7Sports) November 24, 2018

UVA – Bad Boys Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis – Beat #25 Wisconsin in the final

Virginia Tech wins Charleston Classic in impressive fashion https://t.co/spdyKKzSkR via @CollegiateTimes— Devin Shepard (@drashawnshepard) November 23, 2018

VT – Charleston Classic – Beat #23 Purdue in the final

NC State – Wolfpack Classic (Home cooking scheduling) faced the Mercer Bears in the title game

Fort Myers Tip-Off Champs! 🏆Boston College takes out Loyola Chicago for the title. pic.twitter.com/FJdrqJChfp— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) November 22, 2018

Boston College – Inaugural Fort Myers Tip Off – Beat Loyola-Chicago in the final

Pitt holds off St. Louis 75-73 in Barclays Center Classic https://t.co/aoVbefNjNC pic.twitter.com/JiKhENC3ct— FOX2now (@FOX2now) November 22, 2018

Pitt – Barclays Center Classic – Beat Saint Louis in the final

Notre Dame – Gotham Classic – Beat Duquesne in the final

Just short

Florida State lost to Villanova in the Advocare Invitational title game

Duke lost to #3 Gonzaga in the final of the Maui Invitational

Clemson lost to Creighton in the final of the Cayman Islands Classic

Miami lost to Seton Hall in the final of the Wooden Legacy

ACC/Big10 Challenge ended in a tie, with the Hokies laying the biggest egg in that competition, even if it was 5 vs 8 or 9

Critical Wins for the ACC

Duke opens the season with a 118-84 thrashing of Kentucky. Later on they added a solid win over #8 Auburn.

Florida State takes down #19 LSU and #19 Purdue, when Purdue was still playing like a ranked team.

Virginia Tech starts the sadness for #23 Purdue in the Charleston Classic Championship.

Virginia puts down #24 Wisconsin and #25 Maryland in back to back games.

UNC comes out on top over #17 UCLA and #4 Gonzaga

Louisville upset Michigan State in the ACC/Big10

Syracuse pulled the upset over #16 Ohio State

NC State takes down #7 Auburn

TERRIBLE LOSSES

Boston College loses to IUPUI early on and Hartford to close out the OOC schedule – As good as the story has been for Boston College, who find themselves at 9-3 so far this season, losing to IUPUI is never acceptable. They mailed this game in after giving up a 10 point lead in the first half. This is only the second win over an ACC team since 2001 for IUPUI, who beat Georgia Tech back then. The Eagles decided they weren't done with puzzling losses by letting Hartford beat them for the second time in three years, 79-78 in overtime.

Pitt loses to Niagra – One of the other feel good stories for the ACC is how Pitt has rebounded this season to start 8-3 after finishing last year 8-24 and 0-18 in ACC play. All that said, Pitt lost on a last second shot to Niagra, who was playing without their top player. Pitt only closed the gap late in the game but Niagra controlled this contest most of the second half, getting up by as many as 12. The most disheartening this for Pitt in this game is that they managed to force 24 turnovers and still couldn't find a win.

Notre Dame loses to Radford – Radford is a much improved team compared to where they were a couple of years ago. That said, Notre Dame should not find themselves on the wrong side of the score sheet against the Highlanders ever. The Irish just could not contain the outside shot and Radford took full advantage of it.

Syracuse loses to ODU – Syracuse went into the second half against ODU with an 11 point lead. It went steadily downhill from there. The Orange had no answer for B.J. Stith, who scored 18 points in the second half to lead Old Dominion over Syracuse 68-62. Stith was 10-11 from the free throw line in the second half to help the Monarchs win this game.

Wake Forest (take your pick) loses to St Joes by twenty 89-69, which isn't necessarily terrible in that St Joes is a decent opponent. Wake Forest then managed to squeeze in a loss to Houston Baptist 93-91. Then capped off the OOC schedule with a second ACC loss to Gardner Webb 73-69. Not one of these games did the Demon Deacons have any semblance of defense, allowing both opponents to shoot over 45% from the perimeter.

Georgia Tech loses to Gardner Webb – Yes, the same team the Hokies beat 87-59, and are a respectable 8-5 on the season so far, but none of that account for the Yellow Jackets getting chewed up by the Bulldogs in a 79-69 loss. GT allowed GW to shoot better than 50% from the field and 40% from the perimeter.

Miami starting 5-0 and then losing their next four - The Hurricanes were rolling right along in their Out of Conference schedule, winning all five to start with. Then they lost the championship game of the Wooden Legacy tournament by two while having several chances to get the win in the last thirty seconds of the game. After that it was a tailspin for the Hurricanes, with losses to Rutgers in the ACC-Big10 Challenge, followed by getting kicked around by the Ivy League with losses to Yale and Penn.

ACC Standings and indented after the team write up are Injuries or other Players not playing

Considering the Hokies and Notre Dame have played the only ACC game so far, here is where things stand:
#1 Duke (11-1) Blah, blah, blah Zion, other freshman, so dominant, etc. etc. If you haven't gotten the scoop on Duke than you were lucky enough to miss every broadcast about sports in the last four months. Williamson is a stud but has some definite freshman flaws, especially if he gets stymied in the paint. Kind of surprising, he has only led Duke in scoring in five games so far, with Barrett leading in the remaining eight games. The biggest way to get Duke out of their game though has nothing to do with Williamson or Barrett. You need to get Freshman Point Guard Tre Jones uncomfortable where he averages 5.6 assists per game right now.

#4 UVA (12-0) LOLUVA is waiting for January 15th to see how they perform against the Hokies. The Wahoos haven't really faced many challenges but do have wins over #25 Wisconsin and #24 Maryland on the season. I still don't know what to make of this UVA team though because as much as their defense is as usual, stout, but the scarier aspect is that this is a team that has learned how to score as well. They even closed out the year by putting up 100 points on Marshall. Yeah 100 points and the majority of their games they have scored 70 or more.

Kihei Clark – Guard, Wrist Injury and is out indefinitely

#9 Florida State (12-1) Seminoles getting some mid season push, winning 7 straight after their loss to Villanova in the Advocare Invitational. Top wins over Florida, #19 LSU, #19 Purdue, and UConn.

MJ Walker, Sophomore Guard – hurt his ankle against UConn in a win. Walker is considered a Day to Day injury, only missing one game so far, averaging 9.3 PPG, 3 RPG, 1.8 APG, 1.3 APG

#10 Virginia Tech (12-1, 1-0)

#15 North Carolina (9-3) The Tar Heels are a combination of Seniors and Freshman, with two each in the starting lineup. Cameron Johnson, who seems like he has been there so long he should be a statue, is leading the Tar Heels in scoring alongside Senior Forward ¬Luke Maye. Freshman guards Coby White and Nassir Little round out the foursome averaging double digits on the season. The losses are to #19 Kentucky, #7 Michigan and Texas and top wins over Stanford, #17 UCLA and #4 Gonzaga.

Coby White – Freshman Point Guard – Ankle Injury – Day to Day but likely to continue playing through the injury. He sat out the UNC Wilmington game on Dec 5th but played against Gonzaga on Dec 15th. Likely will play against #19 Kentucky on the 22nd. He is averaging 15.2 PPG, 2 RPG, 3.9 APG, and almost 1 SPG. He is shooting 42% behind the arc.

#18 NC State (12-1) The Wolfpack, led by Senior Guard Torin Dorn took down #7 Auburn right before Christmas and their only loss was to #22 Wisconsin. They definitely have a high powered offense, getting to 100 points three times and over 80 in ten of their thirteen games so far. They gain separation from their opponents by hitting 45 more three pointers.

Ian Steere – Forward, Transferring
= Braxton Beverly, Sophomore Point guard suffered a fractured hand in late October that required surgery. He only missed one game and it doesn't seem to have slowed him down much but his numbers are not what they were last season either as he has struggled to shoot the ball.

Clemson (10-3) – This is likely the most experienced team the Hokies will face all season, with four seniors in the starting rotation and all four averaging better than 9.2 PPG. The only non-senior is Sophomore Forward Aamir Simms from Palmyra, VA. Clemson so far has losses to Creighton, Nebraska and #22 Mississippi State. Top wins are over South Carolina, Radford, and Georgia. Expect Clemson to be a late season bubble team so not a team you will want in your path late in the season.

Malik William – Sophomore Forward – Concussion – He has yet to suit up for the Tigers this season but only played 4.4 MPG last year contributing 1.5 PPG so doubtful this is a major impact.
Marcquise Reed – Graduate Senior Guard – Knee sprain in a win over St Peters two weeks ago and is considered Day to Day, is a huge loss for Clemson in any game he doesn't play. He has missed two games so far and is the Tigers leading scorer at 19.4 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 3.4 APG, and 1.6 SPG
Trey Jemison – Freshman Center – Knee Injury - No determined return, has only played in three games so far this season with neglible statistical impact. Still, not having a 7 foot, 254 lbs player to put out there has to hurt you somewhere.

Pittsburgh (10-3) Pittsburgh already has more wins than it did last season after going 0-16 in the ACC. They could do that same thing again with this team but I see Jeff Capel and his team stealing several wins down the stretch. This is a much more talented youth movement at Pitt than what is going on for Notre Dame. Pitt has three freshman in their starting five, all averaging in double figures, including leading scorer Xavier Johnson, from Bishop O'Connell in northern Virginia.

Peace Ilegomah – Sophomore Center, 6'9, 240 lbs Transferring due to lack of playing time. Was only getting 4.3 MPG.

Notre Dame (10-4, 0-1) As Hokies fans got to see yesterday, a youth movement is afoot at Notre Dame. Between injuries, transfers and illness, the Irish are counting on as many as four freshmen to play significant time as they get into ACC play.
Elijah Burns – Center, Transferred to Siena where he has been cleared to practice but is awaiting clearance to play right away. He was Co-Captain before announcing his decision to leave.
Rex Pflueger – Senior Forward, tore his ACL against Purdue on the 15th and is out for the season. Averaging 8.2 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 3.7 APG and was shooting 40% from the perimeter.
Robby Carmody – Freshman Guard, Shoulder injury after four games and is out for the season.

Boston College (9-3) – Probably the best feel good story of the ACC so far, BC has a couple bad losses but also has wins over Loyola Chicago, Minnesota, and Depaul. Still difficult to tell how they are going to do in the ACC. Picture the Hokies two years ago, and that gives you an idea of where the Eagles are at. As Ky Bowman goes, so go the Eagles.

Lousiville (9-4) – Chris Mack is already off to a solid start with the Cardinals but seems to be missing that killer instinct so far on the roster. Louisville's losses are all to good basketball programs, including #5 Tenn, Marquette, Indiana and #16 Kentucky. Scary for opponents in the ACC is the depth of the Louisville bench, where they can easily count on as many as 10 players to contribute in most games.

Syracuse (9-4) – The Orange came into the season in the rankings and expected to be a major step forward for Boeheim and company compared to the last few years. That hasn't been the case but they are stingy on defense in their storied 2-3 Zone. Their losses are to UConn, #13 Oregon, #14 Buffalo and Old Dominion. Really, only the Old Dominion loss is a head scratcher with how Buffalo is playing this season. The major Achilles heel for this team is their inability hit shots from the perimeter, where they are shooting 29.9% on the season.

Miami (8-4) Miami still hasn't recovered from Hernandez having to sit throughout the OOC schedule and still has no guidance on when or if he will be available to play. They also were hurt by the Pay for Play Court case in other areas as several key recruits for this season backed out and a couple other players transferred out of the school after the news broke about Miami being involved even though not much evidence has been found to make Miami guilty of much in this case.

Deng Gak – Freshman Forward – 6'10, 211 Lbs. Knee injury that required surgery and is out for the season with a six to eight month timeline to recover. Gak had been averaging 2.5 PPG, 1.1 BPG, 4.1 RPG and just over half an assist in 14.6 minutes per game. He had however seen his playing time steadily increasing so likely would have played a larger role later in the season.
Dewan Hernandez – Center – Eligibility issue based on FBI Corruption scandal listed him as receiving payments but no evidence so far has shown that he has, Averaged 11.4 PPG, 6.7 RPG, 1 BPG last season for the Hurricanes so a major blow for the Hurricanes to be missing this starter.

Georgia Tech (7-6) The primary problem for the Ramblin Wreck is their inability to play offense. They are fairly stout defensively, giving up the second fewest PPG in the ACC at 61.8.

Wake Forest (6-5) This was a season that the Demon Deacons were expected to step forward with five seniors returning. That said, its been a major bust with the senior class with only one playing more than a minor role. The Deacons have had to rely on Junior Guard Brandon Childress, who leads them in scoring with 16.6 PPG.
Jamie Lewis – Suspension, out indefinitely

Let me know if you have any questions about the conference and I will look to address them in the comments.