The Confidential

The ACC Sports Blog

24 Jan 2012

The Confidential’s Basketball Top 30 for January 24, 2012

With over 300 teams in college basketball, the top 25 is just not enough anymore.  Here is the Confidential’s Top 30 for January 24, 2012:

  1. Syracuse (21-1).  The Orange suffered their first loss of the season on Saturday without key player Fab Melo.  Rebounded nicely, figuratively and literally, against Cincinnati.  Not fair to penalize them for losing long after Kentucky and Missouri did.  Next up: West Virginia.
  2. Kentucky (19-1).  Still waiting for that matchup against Florida.  Who else in the SEC can challenge them?  Next up: @ Georgia.
  3. Missouri (18-1).  Great win at Baylor.  Not much depth on this team, but they keep on winning the big games.  Next up: @ Oklahoma State.
  4. Ohio State (17-3).  Rolling along now.  Got an easy week with only a game against Nebraska.  Those are rare in the Big 10.  Next up: Penn State.
  5. Kansas (17-3).  No losses in Big 12 play yet.  Not winning by a lot, but they are certainly not losing.  Next up: @ Iowa State.
  6. Baylor (17-2).  The only losses have come from the top 5.  Need to avoid a let down loss in next outing.  Next up: Oklahoma.
  7. Duke (16-3).  Buzzer beater loss to Florida State was disappointing.  But it’s not losing by 33 points (ahem, Tar Heels).  Next up: @ Maryland.
  8. North Carolina (16-3).  Got back in the groove against the Hokies.  But they lost Dexter Strickland to injury for the season.  Next up: North Carolina State.
  9. Michigan State (16-4).  Rebounded from loss to Michigan by beating Purdue handily.  No bad losses for the Spartans yet.  Next up: Minnesota.
  10. Creighton (18-2).  Creighton beat San Diego State and just keeps on winning.  Oddly enough.  Next up: @ Drake.
  11. San Diego State (17-2).  Like Baylor, only two losses were to teams above them.  Coincidentally, one of those was Baylor.  Next up: @ Wyoming.
  12. UNLV (18-3).  Two more wins for UNLV.  Time for a road trip.  Next up: @ Boise State.
  13. Georgetown (16-3).  Hoyas now have a few wins in a row.  Will they extend the Panthers’ losing streak to 8 games?  Next up: Pittsburgh.
  14. Marquette (16-4).  This Marquette team is going to be tough in the Big Dance.  Nobody is going to want to play them.  Next up: South Florida.
  15. Kansas State (14-4).  Bounced back after a tough week to win both games.  They avoid the big three for another week too.  Next up: @ Texas Tech.
  16. Indiana (16-4).  Losses to Minnesota and Nebraska are showing that Indiana is not quite ready for the top 10.  Still, it’s already been a great turnaround.  Next up: @ Wisconsin.
  17. Virginia (15-3).  Destroyed Georgia Tech, but was then upset by previously winless in conference Virginia Tech.  Like Indiana, Virginia is ahead of schedule.  Next up: Boston College.
  18. Murray State (20-0).  The last unbeaten.  Deserve to be moving up for not succumbing to the pressure.  Next up: Eastern Illinois.
  19. Mississippi State (16-4).  Tough loss to in-state rival Mississippi.  But turned the switch back on by defeating Vandy on the road.  Next up: LSU.
  20. Michigan (15-5).  Battle Arkansas tough on the road.  A tough loss, but not the end of the world.  Next up: @ Purdue.
  21. West Virginia (15-5).  Three wins in a row for the Mountaineers.  The week ends with a tough trip to Syracuse.  Next up: @ St. John’s..
  22. Wisconsin (16-5).  Wins over Northwestern and at Illinois are looking good.  This team is primed to start moving up in the standings.  Next up: Indiana.
  23. North Carolina State (15-5).  Took care of business against Boston College and Miami.  Now they get to go to wounded North Carolina.  Next up: @ North Carolina.
  24. Florida (15-4).  Only game was a win over LSU.  Nice, but not worthy of significant movement.  Next up: @ Mississippi.
  25. Florida State (13-6).  This team may be ranked too high with the losses they have, but destroying North Carolina and beating a good Maryland team and top 8 Duke on the road is a great week.  Next up: @ Wake Forest.
  26. Wichita State (17-3).  Nice road win at Northern Iowa.  Giving Creighton a run for the league title.  Next up: @ Evansville.
  27. UConn (14-5).  Just when you thought UConn was playing better, they go out and lose to streaking Cincinnati at home and mediocre Tennessee on the road.   Next up: Notre Dame.
  28. St. Mary’s (19-2).  Beat Pepperdine and Santa Clara for two more wins.  Next up:  @ Loyola-Marymount.
  29. Dayton (14-5).  After a tough out-of-conference slate, Dayton is coming on stronger.  That win at Temple is looking better now too.  Next up: @ St. Joseph’s.
  30. George Mason (16-5).  If a major conference team wants this slot, they need to avoid a split.  The Patriots have won 9 of 10 games.  Next up: @ Hofstra.

Tell us what you think.  Is anyone unfairly missing?  Anyone too high or too low?

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Rankings and tagged , , , , ,
23 Jan 2012

ACC Lacrosse Schedules

While basketball and football are the $$$ sports for all conferences, including the ACC, there are other sports being played.  One sport rising in popularity is lacrosse.  And it will only get more popular when Syracuse and its historically great lacrosse team join the ACC.

Believe it or not, the lacrosse season is right around the corner.  Here are the team schedules.

Duke, courtesy of goduke.com:

Date Opponent Location Time (EST) Results Media
  Sat, Jan 28  Navy (Exhibition) Durham, N.C.   8:30 a.m.
  Sat, Feb 04  Blue vs. White Durham, N.C.   12:00 p.m.
  Sat, Feb 11  Rutgers Durham, N.C.   12:00 p.m.
  Sat, Feb 18  Notre Dame South Bend, Ind.   1:00 p.m.
  Fri, Feb 24  Penn Durham, N.C.   7:00 p.m.
  Sun, Feb 26  Jacksonville Durham, N.C.   1:00 p.m.
  Sat, Mar 03  Maryland * College Park, Md.   1:00 p.m.
  Sat, Mar 10  Loyola Baltimore, Md.   12:00 p.m.
  Mon, Mar 12  Harvard Durham, N.C.   7:00 p.m.
  Fri, Mar 16  North Carolina * Durham, N.C.   5:00 p.m.
  Sun, Mar 18  Dartmouth Durham, N.C.   1:00 p.m.
  Sat, Mar 24  Georgetown Washington, DC   12:00 p.m.
  Tue, Mar 27  Brown Durham, N.C.   3:00 p.m.
  Sun, Apr 01  Syracuse East Rutherford, N.J.   4:00 p.m.
  Sat, Apr 07  Marist Durham, N.C.   TBA
  Fri, Apr 13  Virginia * Charlottesville, Va.   6:00 p.m.
ACC Tournament
  Fri, Apr 20  Semifinals Charlottesville, Va.   TBA
  Sun, Apr 22  Finals Charlottesville, Va.   3:30 p.m.
spacer
  Fri, Apr 27  Denver Denver, Colo.   10:00 p.m.

 

Maryland, courtesy of umterps.com:

Date Opponent / Event Location Time
02/18/12 vs. HARTFORD College Park, Md. 1:00 p.m. ET
02/24/12 at Georgetown Washington, D.C. 7:00 p.m. ET
03/03/12 vs. DUKE * College Park, Md. 1:00 p.m. ET
03/06/12 at UMBC Baltimore, Md. 7:00 p.m. ET
03/10/12 vs. MARIST College Park, Md. 1:00 p.m. ET
03/17/12 vs. VILLANOVA College Park, Md. 1:00 p.m. ET
03/24/12 at North Carolina * Chapel Hill, N.C. 12:00 p.m. ET
03/31/12 vs. VIRGINIA * College Park, Md. 12:00 p.m. ET
04/06/12 vs. NAVY College Park, Md. 7:00 p.m. ET
04/14/12 at Johns Hopkins Baltimore, Md. 6:00 p.m. ET
04/20/12 ACC Semifinals Charlottesville, Va. TBA
04/22/12 ACC Finals Charlottesville, Va. TBA
04/25/12 at Mount St. Mary’s Emmitsburg, Md. 7:00 p.m. ET
04/28/12 vs. BELLARMINE College Park, Md. 1:00 p.m. ET
05/05/12 at Colgate Hamilton, N.Y. 1:00 p.m. ET

 

 

North Carolina, courtesy of tarheelblue.com:

2011-2012 SCHEDULE
Date Opponent / Event Location Time
09/30/11 Alumni Chapel Hill, N.C. (Navy Field) 7:00 p.m. ET
10/09/11 vs. Ohio State (Exhibition) Baltimore, Md. (Calvert Hall High School) 12:00 p.m. ET
10/16/11 vs. Bucknell (Exhibition) Chapel Hill, N.C. (Navy Field) 11:00 a.m. ET
02/04/12 vs. Denver (Exhibition) Chapel Hill, N.C. (Navy Field) 11:00 a.m. ET
02/11/12 vs. Penn State Kennesaw, Ga. (KSU Soccer Stadium) 1:00 p.m. ET
02/12/12 vs. Mercer Atlanta, Ga. (The Lovett School) 1:00 p.m. ET
02/18/12 vs. Detroit Chapel Hill, N.C. (Fetzer Field) 12:00 p.m. ET
02/25/12 at Navy Annapolis, Md. 12:00 p.m. ET
03/03/12 vs. Lehigh Chapel Hill, N.C. (Fetzer Field) 7:30 p.m. ET
03/06/12 at Penn Philadelphia, Pa. 7:00 p.m. ET
03/10/12 vs. Princeton TV Baltimore, Md. (M&T Bank Stadium) 11:00 a.m. ET
03/16/12 at Duke TV Durham, N.C. 5:00 p.m. ET
03/21/12 vs. Dartmouth Chapel Hill, N.C. (Fetzer Field) 4:00 p.m. ET
03/24/12 vs. Maryland TV Chapel Hill, N.C. (Fetzer Field) 12:00 p.m. ET
04/01/12 vs. Johns Hopkins TV East Rutherford, N.J. (MetLife Stadium) 6:30 p.m. ET
04/07/12 vs. Virginia TV Chapel Hill, N.C. (Fetzer Field) 12:00 p.m. ET
04/14/12 vs. Hofstra TV Charlotte, N.C. (American Legion Memorial Stadium) TBA
04/20/12 ACC Tournament Semifinals TV Charlottesville, Va. 5:00 p.m. ET
04/22/12 ACC Tournament Finals TV Charlottesville, Va. 3:00 p.m. ET
05/05/12 vs. Michigan Chapel Hill, N.C. (Fetzer Field) 7:00 p.m. ET

 

Syracuse, courtesy of suathletics.com:

Date Opponent Location Time/Result TV Details
Sun, Feb 5 Le Moyne/Hofstra (Exhib.) Carrier Dome 10 a.m. Details
Sun, Feb 12 Maryland (Exhib.) Carrier Dome 12 p.m. Details
Sun, Feb 19 Albany Carrier Dome 2 p.m. TWCS/SNY Details
Sun, Feb 26 Army Carrier Dome 2 p.m. TWCS/SNY Details
Sun, Mar 4 Virginia Charlottesville, Va. 4:30 p.m. ESPN Details
Sat, Mar 10 * St. John’s Queens, N.Y. 1 p.m. Details
Sat, Mar 17 Johns Hopkins Baltimore, Md. 4 p.m. ESPNU Details
Wed, Mar 21 * Providence Carrier Dome 7 p.m. TWCS/SNY Details
Sun, Mar 25 * Villanova Carrier Dome 2 p.m. TWCS/SNY Details
Konica Minolta Big City Classic
Sun, Apr 1 Duke E. Rutherford, N.J. 4 p.m. ESPNU Details
Sat, Apr 7 Princeton Carrier Dome 4 p.m. TWCS Details
Tue, Apr 10 Cornell Ithaca, N.Y. 7 p.m. TWCS Details
Sat, Apr 14 * Rutgers Charlotte, N.C. 11 a.m. ESPNU Details
Tue, Apr 17 Hobart Geneva, N.Y. 7 p.m. TWCS Details
Sat, Apr 21 * Georgetown Carrier Dome 3 p.m. ESPNU Details
Sat, Apr 28 * Notre Dame South Bend, Ind. 5 p.m. ESPNU Details

 

Virginia, courtesy of virginiasports.com:

Date Opponent Location Time (ET) Results Media
  Sat, Feb 18  Drexel at Philadelphia, Pa.   2:00 p.m.
  Tue, Feb 21  VMI Charlottesville   7:00 p.m.
  Sat, Feb 25  Stony Brook Charlottesville   12:00 p.m. ESPN3
  Tue, Feb 28  Mount St. Mary’s at Emmitsburg, Md.   4:00 p.m.
  Sun, Mar 04  Syracuse Charlottesville   4:30 p.m. ESPN
  Tue, Mar 06  Vermont Charlottesville   7:00 p.m.
Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic (M&T Bank Stadium)
  Sat, Mar 10  Cornell at Baltimore, Md.   1:30 p.m. ESPNU
  Sat, Mar 17  Ohio State at Columbus, Ohio   1:00 p.m.
  Sat, Mar 24  Johns Hopkins Charlottesville   2:00 p.m. ESPNU
  Sat, Mar 31  Maryland * at College Park, Md.   12:00 p.m. ESPNU
  Sat, Apr 07  North Carolina * at Chapel Hill, N.C.   12:00 p.m. ESPN
  Fri, Apr 13  Duke * Charlottesville   6:00 p.m. ESPNU
ACC Championship
  Fri, Apr 20  Semifinals Charlottesville   TBA ESPNU
  Sun, Apr 22  Finals Charlottesville   3:30 p.m. ESPNU
Mile High Classic (Sports Authority Field at Mile High)
  Fri, Apr 27  Penn at Denver, Colo.   7:30 p.m. ESPN3

 

 

 

 

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Lacrosse
23 Jan 2012
1 Comment

Tar Heels Lose Dexter Strickland to Season-Ending Injury

While it is difficult to be too critical of a team ranked in the top 10, most people figured that the #8 North Carolina Tar Heels would be a top 2 or 3 team all season.  It hasn’t quite panned out that way, including losses to UNLV and a 33-point drubbing by Florida State.  It now gets worse for the Tar Heels, who will be losing Junior Dexter Strickland for the rest of the season with a torn right ACL.

Obviously Strickland is not one of the top 3 for North Carolina.  Everyone knows that Harrison Barnes, John Henson, and Tyler Zeller are the leaders and future NBA players.  And Kendall Marshall has been the distributor.  But Strickland was a key figure for North Carolina on the defensive end.  Coach Roy Williams had this to say about the Strickland injury:

“That’s a big-time loss for us,” Williams said of Strickland, who tore the ACL in his right knee Thursday night and will be sidelined for the rest of the season. “He was our best perimeter defender, gave us some minutes at the backup point guard spot, could really run to help our break.

“He’s a big-time loss for us, and hopefully somebody else will be able to step up and be able to do a much better job defensively each and every night to help make up for Dexter.”   [See article.]

Strickland averaged 7.5 points and 1.3 steals per game for North Carolina on the season.

Sophomore Reggie Bullock is likely to be the starter.  Bullock is 8.4 points and 4.4 rebounds per game off the bench.  Strickland also subbed for Marshall at the point, which means that Freshman Stilman White is going to have to handle that chore.  White has not been used much this year and is averaging less than a point and assist per game.

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball and tagged , , ,
23 Jan 2012

The Infinity Coaches’ Charity Challenge on ESPN.com

The Confidential is proud to note the inclusion of several ACC coaches in the Infinity Coaches’ Charity Challenge being held over on ESPN.com: The Challenge.  The coach with the most votes will have $100,000 donated to the charity of choice for that coach. Like any good (pick political party you do not like), vote early and often.

Among the current and former ACC coaches are:

To learn more about any of the coaches’ chosen charities, links are provided.

Also, former Duke player Johnny Dawkins, coach of Stanford, is competing for the Boys & Girls Club of the Peninsula.  Former North Carolina player, and coach of SMU, Matt Doherty is competing for the Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity.  Both players are in the West Region.

If any former players or coaches have been omitted, please let us know.

Again…vote early and often.

 

 

 

 

 

Posted by acaffrey in Basketball, Uncategorized and tagged , ,
23 Jan 2012

ACC Basketball Rankings: January 23, 2012

This is particularly complex with Pitt and Syracuse not yet in the ACC, but it can still be done.  Here is how we view the ACC basketball schools as of January 16, 2012:

1.  Syracuse (20-1)  The Orange finally lost–to Notre Dame on the road.  The absence of Fab Melo was crucial, but the team did not play like a top 25 team, much less a #1 team.  Still, it’s just one game and nobody below them has played better on the season.

2. Duke (16-3)  The loss at the buzzer to Florida State was very disappointing.  Duke is accustomed to defending its home court.  No real shame in the loss overall.

3. North Carolina (16-3)  North Carolina rebounded against Virginia Tech.  Big test this week against North Carolina State.

4. Virginia (15-3)  Dominating win at Georgia Tech early in the week.  Stunning loss to Virginia Tech.

5. North Carolina State (15-5)  North Carolina State is still on a roll.  It will be interesting to see how they do at North Carolina this week.

6. Florida State (13-6)  Beating Duke, Maryland, and North Carolina is a definite plus for the Seminoles.  Still, with 6 overall losses, Florida State is not ready for the top 5 yet.

7.  Virginia Tech (12-7)  Week began by having to deal with an angry North Carolina squad.  Ended with a very nice win over Virginia.

8.  Maryland (12-6) Losing to red hot Florida State on the road and Temple on the road makes this a tough week.  Still viable for the Big Dance though.

9. Wake Forest (11-8) Took care of business at Boston College.  Unfortunately, they get to host streaking Florida State next.

10. Miami (10-7)  Finally got that first conference win.  That it was against Clemson makes it slightly less impressive.  Going to need to string together some wins very soon.

11. Clemson (10-9)  Beating Georgia Tech salvaged a difficult week, which began with losses to Duke and Miami.  Next up?  Miami.

12. Pittsburgh (11-9)  0-7 in Big East play says it all.  As tough as they played against Syracuse, they could not overcome Louisville at home.

13. Georgia Tech (8-11)  Two more losses for the Yellow Jackets, who are seeing their post-season hopes slip away.

14. Boston College (7-12)  After getting some momentum, the Eagles are back to their losing ways.  Not looking good for post-season play.

Agree?  Disagree?  Let us know!

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Rankings and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
22 Jan 2012

ACC Basketball Recap: January 21, 2012

Saturday was a big day in the ACC, as several teams played.  Here is the recap for the action on January 21, 2012.

It has already been discussed how #1 Syracuse was the last of the major conference teams to lose its undefeated status.

The next biggest result was Florida State’s stunning, last-second upset of #4 Duke on the road, 76-73.  That is two HUGE wins in a row for Florida State against the ACC’s two best teams.  For those that were not watching, Austin Rivers of Duke scored with 4.9 seconds to time the game up at 73-73.  Out of timeouts, Florida State quickly inbounded the ball to Luke Loucks, who raced up court and got the ball to Michael Snaer.  Snaer let go a three-pointer with less than one second to go that gave Florida State the victory as time expired.  With that, Duke’s 45-game home winning streak ended. It was a team effort for Florida State, though, as six different players scored at least seven points.  Xavier Gibson led Florida State with 16 points, while Snaer added 14.  Austin Rivers led Duke with 19 points.  With the win, Florida State improves to 13-6.  With the loss, Duke drops to 16-3.  The two teams are atop the ACC standings with a 4-1 conference record.

In an early game, Maryland was unable to keep its hot stretch alive, losing to Temple on the road, 73-60.  This means that Temple has now defeated both Duke and Maryland on its home court.  Terrell Stoglin led Maryland with 20 points, while Pe’Shon Howard scored 15.  Compounding the loss was an injury to the ankle of Terps’ center Alex Len in the first half.  No word yet on the severity.

In another early game, Wake Forest traveled to Boston College and pulled out a victory, 71-56.  The Demon Deacons held the Eagles to a mere 31.1% shooting from the field.  Wake Forest built an 8 point lead at the half and nearly matched it with a 7 point margin in the second half.  Ryan Anderson led Boston College with 13 points and 11 rebounds.  Travis McKie was the scoring leader for Wake Forest with 20 points.  Ty Walker added 11 rebounds, while McKie grabbed 10 boards.  With the win, Wake Forest improves to 11-8.

In Clemson, the Tigers were able to hold off a Georgia Tech second-half rally, winning 64-62.  Clemson led at the half by 15, but nearly squandered the win.  Glen Rice, Jr., led the Yellow Jackets with 19 points, all but 4 of them in the second-half.  The big star of the day for Clemson was Andre Young, who scored a career high 29 points with seven 3-pointers.  With the loss, Georgia Tech drops to a disappointing 8-11, as post-season hopes are fading fast.  At 10-9, Clemson has a glimmer of hope in that regard.

Finally, Pittsburgh’s losing streak continued, as the visiting #23 Louisville Cardinals defeated the Panthers in Pittsburgh, 73-62.  Something had to give as both teams were on terrible streaks.  Ultimately, Louisville prevailed, extending Pitt’s losing streak to 8 games.  Both teams had reason to be optimistic with the return of injured stars, Kyle Kuric (Louisville) and Tray Woodall (Pitt).  But it was Kuric that did the most damage, scoring a season-high 21 points.  Pitt was led by the fourteen points scored by Ashton Gibbs and Lamar Patterson.  Next up for Pitt is a home game against Providence.

 

ACC Saturday Standouts:

Scoring

Andre Young, Clemson   29 points

Terrell Stoglin, Maryland   20 points

Glen Rice, Jr., Georgia Tech & Austin Rivers, Duke   19 points

 

Rebounds

Ty Walker, Wake Forest & Ryan Anderson, Boston College   11 rebounds

Travis McKie, Wake Forest & Sean Mosely, Maryland   10 rebounds

 

Assists

Lamar Patterson, Pittsburgh & Scoop Jardine, Syracuse   7 assists

Tony Chennault, Wake Forest   6 assists

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Game Review and tagged , , , , , , ,
21 Jan 2012
1 Comment

Syracuse Finally Loses

After starting the season 20-0 and enjoying the #1 ranking for six straight weeks, Syracuse has finally lost.  Notre Dame was able to control the game tempo and hit a number of big three-pointers to win at home, 67-58.

Give credit to Notre Dame coach Mike Brey who was able to get his team to do what so many of Syracuse’s prior victims would not–control the tempo.  So far this season, Syracuse has been dynamic in using its defense to convert turnovers and then scoring in transition.  Notre Dame played a much more deliberate game–forcing Syracuse to defend for 25 seconds and then taking a good shot.  The strategy worked perfectly.

Syracuse was also hampered by playing without starting center, sophomore Fab Melo.  Melo is not on the current road trip, which includes the games against Notre Dame and Cincinnati.  With Melo, Syracuse was not a very good rebounding team.  Without him, they were terrible as Notre Dame had a 37-24 edge.

The player of the game was Junior Jack Cooley, who used the voice in the middle to his advantage with 17 points and 10 rebounds.  Six of those rebounds were offensive rebounds.  Notre Dame also hit 8 of their 16 three-pointers. With the win, Notre Dame improves to 12-8, including a 4-3 conference record.

In contrast, Syracuse hit 30% of their three-pointers, en route to a 34% shooting night.  Despite it all, Syracuse kept the game within striking distance.  James Southerland led Syracuse with 15 points.  With the loss, Syracuse drops to 20-1 and will fall out of first place in Monday’s polls.  They play Cincinnati that night, so there will be little time to regroup.

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Game Review and tagged , , ,
21 Jan 2012

This Day in ACC History: 24 Years Ago (Duke @ North Carolina)

Today, in another installment of This Day in ACC History, the Confidential takes a look at a regular season game between the Duke Blue Devils and the North Carolina Tar Heels on January 21, 1988, 24 years ago.

Any match-up between these bitter rivals is always noteworthy.  Both teams had very good years, with North Carolina losing in the Elite Eights and Duke losing in the Final Four.  Duke actually swept North Carolina in three matchups in 1987-1988.

But the first one was the toughest, as Duke had to travel to North Carolina on January 21, 1988.  Duke was able to pull out the victory in exciting fashion, 70-69.  In fact, GoDuke.com considers this game one of its top 10 moments in Chapel Hill and provides this summary:

Duke’s chances didn’t look too good heading to the Smith Center for their 1988 meeting with No. 2 ranked North Carolina. The No. 9 Blue Devils were coming off a dispiriting homecourt loss to Maryland and appeared to have little offense beyond junior star Danny Ferry.

But what the ’88 Devils did have was defense – maybe the best overall defense in the Krzyzewski era. Although UNC star J.R. Reid abused the smaller Devils inside for 28 points, with UNC down a single point in the final minute, he couldn’t get the ball when it counted. Duke, which got 19 points from Ferry and a vital 22 points from Kevin Strickland, tenaciously held on to its 70-69 lead.

UNC missed three straight shots, failing to take the lead, but got the ball back for one last chance. A second before the buzzer sounded, sharpshooting guard Jeff Lebo launched a potential game-winner from the left baseline. His shot was blocked by 6-foot-5 jumping jack Robert Brickey as Duke claimed the first of three victories over the Tar Heels in 1988. 

So this game went right down to the wire before Duke was able to grab the victory.

The Tar Heels were led by a famous name.  Sophomore J.R. Reid scored 27 points, while another Sophomore, Scott Williams, added 14.  Both players had double-doubles as Reid grabbed 13 boards and Williams snared 10.  Junior Jeff Lebo had 10 assists for the Tar Heels.  Other than the final score, Reid was unstoppable, converting 11 of 13 field goals attempts.  Although Duke’s defense was impressive that year, North Carolina converted 65.9% of its shots in the game.

The Blue Devils were also led by some familiar names. Senior Kevin Strickland scored 22 points, while Junior Danny Ferry scored 19.  Ferry just missed a triple-double as he had 10 rebounds and 7 assists.  Ferry, of course, gained some recent notoriety by being the Cleveland Cavaliers general manager during most of the Lebron James era.  He is currently Vice President of Basketball Operations for the San Antonio Spurs.  See here.

Do you remember this game?  Please feel free to share any details…

After a lengthy NBA career, JR Reid is not an assistant coach at Chowan University. Image courtesy of Chowan University. http://gocuhawks.com/news/2011/9/22/GEN_0922112429.aspx

This Day in History is a feature that relies heavily on information obtained from Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Basketball Games, Michael O’ Hara, McFarland & Company, Inc. (2008).  Special thanks to that fine publication.

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, This Day in ACC and tagged , , , , ,
20 Jan 2012

Weekend Preview: January 21-22

As is often the case this time of year, there are a number of ACC games this weekend in college basketball.

Saturday

In an unusual 11:00 a.m. start, Maryland will ride its relative hot streak into Temple for an out-of-conference game.  Both teams are 12-5.  As Maryland seeks to overcome its 3-3 start by getting itself onto the bubble, a road victory over a decent Temple team would do the trick.

At noon, Wake Forest will look to rebound from its loss to Duke when it travels to Boston College.  Wake Forest is 10-8 and Boston College is 7-11.  However, Wake has lost 4 of its last 5 games.  Boston College is a surprising 2-2 in ACC play after a 5-9 start to the season.

In the battle for 10th place in the conference standings, Georgia Tech heads to Clemson for a 2:30 pm matchup.  Clemson is looking to stay above .500 with a win, while Georgie Tech is looking to get within striking distance of .500.

In the premier matchup of the day, Florida State will try to work its Saturday magic for a second week in a row–this week at #4 Duke.  Last week, Florida State demolished North Carolina at home.  As impressive as last week was, if Florida State can upset Duke, this week will be even more impressive.  Tipoff is at 4:00 pm.

#1 Syracuse will take its 20-0 record into Notre Dame on Saturday at 6:00 pm.  Notre Dame always plays Syracuse tough at home, as they usually have the outside shooters to give the 2-3 zone fits.

At 9:00 pm, Pittsburgh tries to stop the bleeding when it hosts #23 Louisville.  After starting 11-1, the Panthers have lost seven in a row.  Louisville has its own bleeding problems.  After starting 12-0, Louisville has lost 5 of 7 games.  One of these teams will get back on track in a big way tomorrow.

 

Sunday

North Carolina State looks to make it three wins in a row as they take on Miami.  The host Hurricanes are a disappointing 10-6 so far, but they have the talent to beat the Wolfpack.  Both teams need momentum, as North Carolina State would like to crack the top 25 and Miami would like to make a run for the Big Dance.  Game time is noon.

At 6:00 pm, Virginia Tech heads to #15 Virginia in a matchup of bitter rivals.  Before the season, one would have thought that the Hokies would have been the ranked team, if any.  At this point, they are just looking for the first conference win.  The Cavs are 2-1 in conference so far.

 

 

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball and tagged , , , , , ,
20 Jan 2012

ACC Basketball Recap: January 19, 2012

There were several big games on Thursday, January 19, 2012, for the ACC.  Importantly for the ACC’s reputation, the favored team won all four games.

In the most anticipate game, #8 North Carolina rebounded from its debacle at Florida State by traveling to Virginia Tech to beat the reeling Hokies, 82-68.   It wasn’t easy for the Tar Heels, who trailed by four at halftime.  But a 19-0 second-half run turned made all the difference.  Harrison Barnes led North Carolina with 27 points, while Josh Henson contributed 16 points and 16 rebounds.  Erick Green was one of four Hokies in double-figures, leading the team with 17 points.  With the loss, Virginia Tech falls to 11-7 and 0-4 in conference.  With the win, North Carolina improves to 16-3.

In Durham, #4 Duke toppled Wake Forest 91-73 to maintain its perfect conference record.  Andre Dawkins led the Blue Devils with 21 points, but Ryan Kelly and Austin Rivers each added 20 points.  Kelly also added 10 rebounds.  Wake Forest was overmatched by Duke’s depth and size.  But four of its starters scored in double-figures, led by CJ Harris’s 20 points.  With the loss, the Demon Deacons drop to 10-8 and 1-3 in conference.  Duke improves to 16-2 overall, including 4-0 in conference play.

The other ranked ACC team, #15 Virginia, traveled to Georgia Tech and won big, 70-38.  The Cavs suffocating defense held Georgia Tech is under 30% shooting on the night.  They also out rebounded their hosts, 41-22.  As usual, Mike Scott led Virginia with 18 points and 7 rebounds.  Georgia Tech falls to 1-3 in conference and a disappointing 8-10 overall.  Virginia improves to 15-2 overall, including a 2-1 conference record.

Finally, North Carolina State improved to 14-5 on the season by beating visiting Boston College, 76-62.  Although Boston College struggled in non-conference play, the Eagles had some momentum heading into the game with a 2-1 conference record.  But the Wolfpack and its home court advantage were too much.  Scott Wood led North Carolina State’s balanced attack (6 players with 8 or more points) with 16 points.  Richard Howell had 11 points and 16 rebounds–alone providing for North Carolina State’s 44-28 rebounding advantage.  Boston College drops to 2-2 in conference play and 7-11 on the season.  North Carolina State in now 3-1 in conference play.

 

Individual Leaders:

Scoring:

Harrison Barnes, UNC, 27 points

Andre Dawkins, Duke, 21 points

Ryan Kelly, Duke, 20 points & Austin Rivers, Duke, 20 points

 

Rebounds:

Josh Henson, UNC, 16 rebounds & Richard Howell, NCState, 16 rebounds

Ryan Kelly, Duke, 10 rebounds & Travis McKie, Wake, 10 rebounds

 

Assists:

Lorenzo Brown, NC State, 11 assists

Tyler Thornton, Duke, 8 assists & Kendall Marshall, UNC, 8 assists

Erick Green, Va Tech, 5 assists & Jontel Evans, UVA, 5 assists

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Game Review and tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

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