The calm before the storm.
Remind Me Not To Play State in a Close Game: Whatever else might be wrong in Raleigh and for all the trouble they have on offense, the Wolfpack is able to win the close ones. NCSU pulled another game out of their rear orfice(and I mean that in the most positive manner possible) with a putback dunk from Ben McCauley at the buzzer. The notable part of that play is the fact McCauley inbounded the basketball 94 feet away and sprinted the length of the court to arrive just in time to put the Gavin Grant miss back in. It was one of those plays you could not have designed and hope it worked. Wake Forest on the other hand deserved the lose for not doing anything of consequence on the final play.
Virginia is The Best 1-6 Team in the ACC: To quote a Cavalier fan friend of mine. It is amazing UVa has an All ACC guard in Sean Singletary and they cannot put together some semblance of a win streak. Elsewhere in Virginia, the Hokies sweep the aforementioned Wahoos on the strength of 15 points, 12 rebounds and a new haircut by Deron Washington.
This Week's 3rd Place Team: Right now VT has the game lead at 5-3 and a one point win over Maryland. GT was looking really good until they ran into the Terps over the weekend. Clemson ripped BC to prove they are still a very good team which will likely hold true until the next game when they lay an egg and lose.
Duke Continues to Look Okay: Duke may have beaten Miami by 15 but they also only shot 41% from the floor, shot 40 FTs hitting 26 of them and making 12-30 three pointers. The key to this win is Duke getting foul calls and getting to the FT line which is not too dissimilar to what UNC does with Tyler Hansbrough. Duke gets most of their foul calls from penetration and most of their two point baskets come from the same. Bottom line? Keep Duke out of the lane which keeps them off the FT line and from getting any layups. That leaves them only shooting threes and I think you can take your chances there.
Mid-Week Schedule: UNC and Duke. Do any of the other games matter? Well, yes they do, especially VT coming to Raleigh on Tuesday which promises to entertain us at various levels except ESPNU stole the game. The MD-BC rematch is always a fun one and carries significant implication for the 3rd place battle in the ACC. GT and Wake likewise would like to distinguish themselves while FSU and Miami play a game even people living in Florida do not care about. And the Thursday game is Clemson-UVa which was probably thought to potentially be a great game many moons ago.
Tuesday, February 5th
VT at NCSU, 7 PM
Wednesday, February 6th
MD at BC, 7 PM
GT at WF, 7 PM
FSU at Miami, 7:30 PM
Duke at UNC, 9 PM
Thursday, February 7th
Clemson at UVa, 7 PM