The Sleepwalking Version.
You Thought UNC's Letdown Was Bad: Clemson looked immensely worse in their game versus Charlotte losing by 10 and destroying, for the moment, any good will they enjoyed from taking UNC to the brink. All the talk of Clemson being legit is going to be muted for awhile since they failed to pick themselves up off the mat and handle the 49ers in a home game.
U-G-L-Y: NC State basketball. There is just no way around it which is a shame because I think everyone was pretty excited at the prospect of the Triangle rivalry operating at all points. Last night NCSU beat one win NC Central 54-29 in a fairly horrific execution of the game as we know it. What is worse Courtney Fells went down with a sprained ankle further compounding the misery in Raleigh, especially if that is a long term deal. NCSU basically just flew through Iceman's jet wash and are in grave danger of going into a flat spin from which they might not recover. And visiting Chapel Hill next is not high on the list of cures.
Yawn: Duke beating Temple and looking pretty bored in the process. Temple conveniently missed enough easy shots to make Duke's job much easier. At this point one has to question the wisdom of scheduling a two week plus break after the Pitt game. It seems like Duke was so much better, even in losing that game and some of the sharpness has been lost during the long layoff.
Georgia on My Mind: Georgia Tech lost a must win game as it pertains to any hope of making the NCAA Tournament. Georgia is not a bad team but given the margin of error for the Jackets in terms of being able to post a win total that will get them on the table for discussion for the Dance they can ill afford to lose any more games outside the ACC.
Non-Conference Slate Finished: Save a handful of games for some teams, most of the ACC has finished their non-conference slate. The schedule for this Saturday has five ACC games and then one to follow on Sunday night:
Saturday, Jan. 12th
NCSU at UNC, Noon
MD at VT, 2 PM
GT at Miami, 2 PM
Wake at BC, 4 PM
FSU at Clemson, 7 PM
Sunday, Jan 13th
UVa at Duke, 8 PM
Obviously UNC v NCSU is a huge game because of the rivalry. Miami needs to step up and prove themselves by not dropping a bad loss to GT. FSU v Clemson and UVa v Duke have early implications. Clemson does not want to start 0-2 and UVa could really benefit by stealing one from Duke in Cameron.
Now the fun begins!