Monday, February 26, 2007

ACC week in review: If it's close, it's trouble for Heels

As long as the game is a blowout, North Carolina is fine. But the Tar Heels are 0-3 in games decided by four points or fewer. They still belong at the top of the ACC rankings because they’re tied for the ACC lead and have the best overall record. But if they don’t play better in the closing minutes of tight games, they might not be the last ACC team standing in the conference tournament or the NCAA tournament.
Rankings
1.North Carolina (24-5, 10-4)
2.Virginia Tech (20-8, 10-4)
3.Virginia (19-8, 10-4)
4.Maryland (22-7, 8-6)
5.Duke (22-7, 8-6)
6.Boston College (19-9, 10-5)
7.Georgia Tech (18-10, 6-8)
8.Florida State (18-11, 6-9)
9.Clemson (19-9, 5-9)
10.N.C. State (14-13, 4-10)
11.Wake Forest (13-14, 4-10)
12.Miami (11-17, 4-10)
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Senior D.J. Strawberry scored a career-high 27 points Sunday as Maryland defeated North Carolina 89-87. That win assured the Terrapins a spot in the NCAA tournament regardless of what they do the rest of the season.
COACH OF THE WEEK: Gary Williams has Maryland on a five-game winning streak after the Terrapins appeared in danger of missing the NCAA tournament for the third straight season. The late surge has been especially impressive because the Terrapins rely heavily on freshmen – Greivis Vasquez and Eric Hayes – at guard.
PLAY OF THE WEEK: Center Josh McRoberts broke Clemson’s suffocating press and drove the length of the floor at 6-foot-10 to help Duke take the steam out of the Tigers’ second-half rally as the Blue Devils won 71-66.
DUNK OF THE WEEK: Clemson freshman center Trevor Booker hustled down the floor for a two-handed power dunk early in the first half against Duke, energizing the crowd at Littlejohn Coliseum.
ON DECK: Duke at North Carolina on Sunday will be a dandy, of course. Maryland at Duke – which features the ACC’s two hottest teams – also is a big rivalry game that will take place in an electric atmosphere Wednesday. But the best game this week could be one of the biggest games in the history of the Commonwealth of Virginia. On Thursday, Virginia and Virginia Tech – which share the ACC lead with North Carolina – meet in Charlottesville.
-- Ken Tysiac

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Welcome to Garyland. Fear the Turtle!

Anonymous said...

"Maryland at Duke – which features the ACC’s two hottest teams – also is a big rivalry game that will take place in an electric atmosphere Wednesday..."

Are you f'ing retarded? Coach Sweaty and his twerps are not, I reiterate, NOT Duke's rival. Geez...thanks for giving them an even bigger head than they already had.

The twerps admittedly cause us (Duke) problems--all games with us and them represent a, "rivalry," game that nobody else gives a fVck about...'cept for the twerps and their sweaty one timer coach...ONE timer...they've done jack shit since then and will continue to do the same, NCAA tourney or not...face it, they truly are better off on their usual path--NIT--than be in the NCAA...at least there they have a very slight chance of winning...um...something.

Anonymous said...

heh, typical Dookie response. i love how we make you punks so uptight with this rivalry talk. Obviously it is a rivarly or you wouldn't continuously bring it up.

Anonymous said...

I can tell by the vitriol in "Blue's" comment that the fact that Maryland has taken five of the last seven games from Duke clearly indicates that an intense rivalry now exists between the schools. It's also interesting to note that "Blue" points out that Gary Williams is a "one-timer"; I can still remember Coach K being the bridesmaid multiple times before Grant Hill brought him Duke's first national championship.

Upon further inspection of "Blue's" post, I surmise that my previous reference to "vitriol" is probably outside of his vocabulary. Blue, for your edification:

vit-riol: sharpness or bitterness of feeling, as in speech or writing; venom.

Duke men's basketball has had its heyday; the Duke women are still looking for their first championship. They almost had it last year, except that they lost to...M-A-R-Y-L-A-N-D.