The Confidential

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Archive for the tag “North Carolina”

27 Jan 2014
2 Comments

The Streak Prevails

Clemson Men’s Basketball starts the week after an ugly loss to UNC last night, improving their record to 57-0. That record of course being the Tarheels have won 57 times against the Tigers while in the Dean Dome, the Tigers never seeing a victory.

UNC is off to a slow start in ACC play but now improves to 12-7 overall and 2-4 in the ACC. Clemson started off hot, being 4-1 in the conference just last week, now drops to 13-6, 4-3 after two consecutive losses to Pitt and Carolina. The Tigers have a tough conference schedule coming up, facing FSU, Syracuse, and Notre Dame on the road.

To note any highlights from last night’s game from a Clemson standpoint, would be a disservice to our readers. The Tigers played flat on defense and hesitant on offense. Seeing it first hand in the Dean Dome was taxing. Stops on defense were rare and the Tigers shot 34% from the field. That’s 18 field goals made out of 53 attempts. It was not a great night for the Tiger offense, to say the least.

Leading scorer, KJ McDaniels, came up with 13 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. He was the game leader across the board for the Tigers. McDaniels has proven to be an offensive leader this season, but he can’t do it on his own. Adonis Filer came up with 12 points of his own, as did Landry Nnoko. Nnoko is improving but between him and Sidy Djitte at center, too many passes slipped through their hands down low in the paint for would be easy points.

To end on a high note, the Tigers finished the night 19-25 at the line, giving them a 76% free throw percentage for the night.

Clemson at UNC

This Clemson team is young, consisting of four freshman, four sophomores, and five juniors to make up the Tiger squad. Playing on the road, especially in Chapel Hill, is tough and the Tigers have their work cut out for them in the coming weeks.

In other Clemson news, a non-basketball related highlight of the evening was having Clemson football coach, Dabo Swinney, in the Dean Dome last night. Sitting a few rows behind the Clemson bench, the dynamite coach just signed a new 8-year contract with Clemson, keeping him a Tiger through the 2021 season. At halftime, Clemson fans throughout the dome stopped by to take pictures with the Orange Bowl Champion, including yours truly. It’s a check off my bucket list and as much as it pains me to say, I guess I have Chapel Hill to thank for that.

Clemson takes on Florida State this Saturday in Tallahassee. Catch the ACC matchup at 3pm on ESPN2.

Posted by marystewartb in ACC Network, ACC only, Basketball, Clemson correspondent, Conference News, Correspondents, Game Review, News, Opinion, Results and tagged , , , , , ,
15 Jan 2014
6 Comments

The ACC’s New World Order

Earlier this year, Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim answered a question about how it felt to be a part of what might be the best basketball conference in history.  To which he replied, “We already were.”  Referring, of course, to the Big East in its former configuration.

Now this correspondent is an old-school ACC guy, so naturally I bristled a little.  As did many of us.

And the thought crossed my mind, “wait until he gets into the conference schedule for real…”

Read more…

Posted by mikemab2000 in ACC only, Basketball, NC State Correspondent, Opinion and tagged , , , , , , , , , ,
12 Jan 2014
27 Comments

The ACC–a Football Conference?

So, here we are… a few years after the Big 10 went on a colonization imperialistic expansion spree.  The expectation was that the Big 10 would leverage Ohio State/Michigan and its history to catch up to the SEC in that sport (the money sport).  Here we are in 2013-2014 and it does not appear to be shaping up that way.  Instead, it appears that the Big 10’s basketball has passed its football, the ACC has set up its football to pass its basketball.  For this year anyway.  Consider:

Read more…

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Conference Realignment, Football, Opinion and tagged , , , , , , ,
11 Jan 2014
17 Comments

ACC Attendance by the numbers

An interesting point was made by acaffrey in the comments section of his recent article regarding potential division realignment in the ACC and the ramifications of moving to a schedule with 10 conference games.

The schools that pack their stadiums need 6 or 7 home games a year.

Coincidentally, I started compiling the attendance data for ACC home games just before the end of the regular season but never got around to completing a full post. So, it was a good reminder and a perfect opportunity to look deeper at which schools can boast the best attendance. Read more…

Posted by Vinnie Saltine in ACC only, Football and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
17 Dec 2013
2 Comments

The Confidential Correspondents’ Basketball Poll: December 17, 2013

The votes are in.  It is time to reveal this week’s Confidential Basketball Poll.  As a reminder, if you want to be part of our football bowl Pick’em, head over to Yahoo and group 20211. Returning to hoops, here is the top 10:

1.  Syracuse, 10-0, 59 Points (5 first place votes).  The Orange are off to a great start, winning Maui and nice wins over Indiana and St. Johns.  Next big game: Villanova on 12/28.

2. Pitt, 10-0, 50 points (1 first place vote).  The Panthers make it 1-2  for former Big East teams atop the ACC standings.  Next big game: Right now, vs. Cincinnati!

3. Louisville, 9-1 (47 points).  More former Big East action, as the Cardinals slot in at #3.  The sole Cards loss was to UNC.  Next big game: @ Kentucky on 12/28.

4. Duke, 8-2 (43 points).  The Blue Devils have losses to #1 Arizona and Kentucky.  And a nice win over Michigan.  Next big game: UCLA on 12/18.

5. North Carolina, 7-2 (39 points).  The Tar Heels have losses to Belmont and UAB.  Wins over MSU, Louisville, and Kentucky make this team quite an enigma.  Next big game: Texas on 12/18.

6. Wake Forest, 8-2 (30 points).  Not sure the Demon Deacons deserve the #6 spot with few quality wins, but there is a lot of mediocrity between #6 and #12 right now.  Next big game: @ Xavier on 12/28.

7. Notre Dame, 8-3 (20 points).  The Fighting Irish have some really bad losses.  But that win over Indiana seems to have folks excited again.  Next big game: Ohio State on 12/21.

8. North Carolina State, 7-2 (13 points).  The Wolfpack are looking for a really good win to help offset some tough losses.  The chances will come.  Next big game: @ Tennessee on 12/18.

9. Virginia, 7-3 (10 points).  Like the teams immediately above it, hard to find a good win for Virginia.  Not hard to find some bad losses.  Next big game: @ Tennessee on 12/30.

10. Clemson, 8-2 (7 points).  At first, this looks like a football record and pick.  But Clemson has a nice win over Temple and acquitted itself well against Arkansas.  Next big game: @ Auburn on 12/19.

The rest: Florida State (5 points), Georgia Tech (4 points), Maryland (4 points), and Virginia Tech (1 point).  Miami and Boston College did not receive votes.

What do you think?  Feel free to share your poll.

 

Posted by acaffrey in Basketball, Correspondent Poll, Correspondents, Rankings and tagged , , , , ,
02 Dec 2013

Tar Heel Panic-o-Meter Level- MODERATE

It’s been almost a month since the Confidential looked at the current Tar Heel basketball team and not a lot has changed-

We still have no idea who this team is, or what they’re capable of.

Read more…

Posted by Mr. Tar Heel in ACC only, Basketball, Opinion, Poll, Predictions, UNC Correspondent and tagged , ,
01 Dec 2013
2 Comments

ACC Bowl Projections: 11-teams

The Confidential has been saying for weeks now that the ACC had a great chance of getting 11 bowl-eligible teams and detailed the scenarios needed to make it happen. I’m very proud to report that the scenarios we projected occurred almost exactly to plan.

The good news is that, thanks to Syracuse’s win over Boston College to close out their regular season, the Orange are now 6-6 and are bowl eligible for the second consecutive year. Furthermore, the ACC can now boast that they have 11 teams that are eligible for post-season play. That’s a record for the Conference and matches the SEC’s best.

The bad news is that thanks to Clemson’s complete meltdown on National TV against their in-state rivals, the ACC is likely to only have 1 representative in the BCS. Granted that one representative will likely be Florida State in the National Championship Game, but losing out on a 2nd BCS team not only means lost revenue (approx. $18M) but also makes it more difficult to find bowl sites for the remaining 9 bowl eligible teams.

Worst of all, that means that there is a good chance that at least one bowl-eligible team from a Power Conference will not be invited to a bowl game this year. Currently Syracuse, Pittsburgh, and North Carolina are all on the bubble. Read more…

Posted by Vinnie Saltine in ACC only, Bowls and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
30 Nov 2013
6 Comments

Rivalry Day in the ACC

The Confidential acknowledges that Pitt/Miami have already squared off, but there is little argument that the game did not feature a rivalry at the same level as most of the games this week.  Still, Miami’s win kept them alive in the battle to reach the ACC Championship game.  But the main event is today’s slate of games.  Let’s take a closer look.

Read more…

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Football and tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,
23 Nov 2013
3 Comments

ACC Bowl Picture: the Quest for 11 teams

Week 13 ended in the ACC and the bowl picture is one-step closer to being finalized. As this blog has been projecting for the past few weeks, the ACC is still on track to place 11 teams in post season play. Read more…

Posted by Vinnie Saltine in ACC only, Bowls, Football and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
16 Nov 2013
4 Comments

ACC Bowl Picture: A case for 11 teams (Part 2)

Last week, we looked at some of the scenarios that could play out to get 11 ACC teams in postseason play. And so far, the plan is coming to fruition.

With week 12 in the books, two more teams have clinched bowl eligibility bringing the total number of teams that will go bowling up to 8, with three more that are still fighting for the requisite six wins. Read more…

Posted by Vinnie Saltine in ACC only, Bowls, Football, Predictions and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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