5 things to watch in ACC quarterfinals

GREENSBORO - After North Carolina and Wake Forest choked Thursday, N.C. State held on to salvage some of the in-state interest (along with Duke) for the quarterfinal round of the ACC tournament.

Here are five things to watch on Day 2:

1. Pack’s persistence. N.C. State will be exhausted Friday night after spending 40 minutes battling Clemson’s press in the first round.

How well the team can push through its fatigue will be a huge factor against Florida State. Tracy Smith played 37 minutes for N.C. State in the first round and faces a huge front line with Solomon Alabi and Chris Singleton that’s a challenge even for a rested player.

You know N.C. State can’t count on Scott Wood making seven 3-pointers again vs. the Seminoles, so Smith is going to have to show a whole lot of toughness against those big guys.

2. Jerome Meyinsse. The Virginia senior center’s out-of-nowhere strong finish has included a career-high 21 points in a loss to Duke on Feb. 28.

Meyinsse needs to have that kind of game again if the Cavaliers are going to have any kind of chance to pull a shocking upset against the No. 1 seed. The reality is, Duke’s perimeter players will pressure Virginia guard Sammy Zeglinski with much more determination than Boston College did when Zeglinski scored 21 points Thursday.

That means Meyinsse needs to get a lot of offense going for the Cavaliers in the low post against a physical Duke front line.

3. Zone busters. Miami’s zone caused Wake Forest fits Thursday, but the fact is, the Deacons don’t have the kind of perimeter shooters that Virginia Tech does.

ACC scoring leader Malcolm Delaney and catch-and-shoot specialist Dorenzo Hudson give the Hokies a backcourt that should be able to make enough 3-pointers to abuse Miami’s zone.

The last couple years, Clemson and then Florida State have made appearances in the ACC finals as schools better known for football than basketball. If they can do it, why can’t Virginia Tech?

4. Buzzing with motivation. If not for a crushing defeat on a last-second Cliff Tucker 3-pointer at Maryland on Feb. 20, Georgia Tech would have entered this tournament with an NCAA bid just about wrapped up.

The Yellow Jackets know they can play with this Maryland team, and that makes them dangerous. Point guard Iman Shumpert’s play against ACC player of the year Greivis Vasquez will be a key.

5. Favorites advance. The lower seed won in three of the four games Thursday.

Contrary to popular thinking, though, that makes it less likely that the top four seeds will fall Friday. No. 1 Duke, No. 2 Maryland, No. 3 Florida State and No. 4 Virginia Tech are rested and playing opponents that did not finish with .500 records in ACC play.

That bodes well for the four top seeds advancing to Saturday’s semifinals.

Ken Tysiac

A Different Kind Of ACC Tournament

Having been to more than 30 ACC Tournaments, I'm not sure I've ever been to one like this one.

It's only one day old but this one feels different -- and not in a good way. On Thursday, the tournament was missing several things, most notably a full house, a sense of passion and brilliant play.

The games were hard-fought but generally ugly. Wow moments were harder to find than Florida State fans.

Field goal percentages stayed in the 30s like the temperature did for too long around here. Even when N.C. State shot 52 percent in its victory over Clemson, it was workmanlike.

Tournament games tend to be quieter than regular-season games because of the make-up of the crowds. They're long on rich alums, short on noisy students. When the games get close, the noise cranks up but it never got seriously loud on Thursday. Maybe had the Tar Heels won but that, of course, didn't happen.

And there was a time when the thought of empty seats at the ACC Tournament was outrageous. But there were big chunks of empty seats on Thursday afternoon and noticeable gaps during the evening session. With the Tar Heels and Wake Forest already gone, seeing a full house today seems unlikely. Ditto for Saturday.

This tournament can still be saved. It's only one day old and the top teams play Friday. Maybe the electricity returns.

Maybe the saving grace will be a Duke-Maryland championship game on Sunday.

But that's still a long way away.

-- Ron Green Jr.

Meyinsse wins Prosser Award as top scholar

GREENSBORO -- Virginia senior center Jerome Meyinsse has been named the winner of the Skip Prosser Award as the top scholar-athlete in ACC men's basketball, the conference has announced.
Meyinsse is a three-time Academic All-ACC and ACC Academic Honor Roll selection. He is a member of the President of Virginia's student-athlete advisory committee and an economic major.
He is averaging 6.3 points and 4.1 rebounds, including 15.8 points and 5.5 rebounds over Virginia's final four regular-season games.

Ken Tysiac

5 things to watch in ACC Tournament first round

While the four top seeds – Duke, Maryland, Florida State and Virginia Tech – watch and relax, seeds 5-12 in the ACC will try to survive their dreaded first-round conference tournament games Wednesday in Greensboro.

Roy Williams will try one more time to rouse his underachieving North Carolina team against an opponent (Georgia Tech) that’s defeated the Tar Heels twice. A surging N.C. State team will attempt to recapture the magic from its run to the finals from its first season (2007) under coach Sidney Lowe.

Wake Forest has a chance to continue the momentum from a win over Clemson in the regular-season finale that was preceded by four straight losses. Here are five things to watch on the opening day of the ACC tournament:

1. N.C. State center Tracy Smith vs. Clemson’s front line.

Smith is to N.C. State’s offense what Emily Procter is to CSI: Miami. If you lose that one appealing character, it’s suddenly a crime show with some PG-rated gore and science that even the cast probably doesn’t understand.

If you shut down second-team All-ACC selection Smith (17.0 ppg), N.C. State doesn’t have many options on offense who are guaranteed to make an opponent pay for the extra attention given to Smith.

And in Trevor Booker and Jerai Grant, the Tigers have a pair of players who could give Smith trouble. Booker made the ACC’s all-defensive team and averages 1.5 blocked shots per game.
Grant averages 1.8 blocks – third best in the ACC – and had a huge block late in Clemson’s 73-70 win Jan. 16 at N.C. State. Smith scored 13 points in that game.

“You’ve just got to deny him the ball,” Booker said. “. . .The farther out he catches it, the lower his percentage is.”

If the Tigers can hold Smith to 13 or fewer again, the Wolfpack will have difficulty advancing.

2. Ish Smith in transition.

Without question, Wake Forest senior point guard Ish Smith is the fastest player in the ACC.
As such, he has faced all kinds of defensive strategies designed to keep him from getting the Deacons’ fast break going.

“We’ve seen it all,” Wake Forest coach Dino Gaudio said Wednesday. “We’ve seen it all at some point in the season.”

Smith listed some of them Wednesday:

- After opponents’ made baskets, the forward guarding Wake Forest’s inbounds passer has faceguarded him.

- Opposing guards have picked him up full-court and tried to bump him early to keep him from getting a quick head of steam.

- Some opponents who don’t usually play zone defense have retreated quickly to their spots.
Late in the season, Smith faced a new strategy that proved successful to a certain extent as Wake Forest lost four straight games. Instead of bumping him early, opposing guards began sprinting back to the top of the key in an attempt to beat him down the court and force him to initiate a halfcourt offense.

If they continue to do that, the key for Smith will be to pitch it ahead to teammates who can get free runs to the basket because opponents are spending so much energy trying to locate and slow down Smith. Gaudio said it’s imperative for the rest of the Deacons to run up the floor and not just wait for Smith to make a play on his own.

3. Early evening turnover count.

Two young backcourts, with a lot of freshmen and sophomores playing their first meaningful ACC tournament minutes, could make for a sloppy game with North Carolina meets Georgia Tech at 7 p.m.

North Carolina has averaged 18 turnovers in its two losses to Georgia Tech.

On Feb. 16, Georgia Tech turned it over 20 times against the Tar Heels.

“Whoever doesn’t turn the ball over is going to have a great chance to win,” said Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt. “Because I think we’re both very talented teams. We’ve got good frontcourts. Both of us have good wing players. It just comes down to guard play and making sure we’re taking care of the basketball.”

4. Ugly opener.

If you have difficulty getting out of bed this morning, there’s no reason to rush to the first game of the tournament, which starts at noon.

Virginia has lost nine in a row and suspended its best player, Sylven Landesberg, for the rest of the season. Boston College has dropped six of its last nine.

One big question about the ACC tournament after the conference expanded to 12 teams was what impact two straight days with four games each would have.

For years, fans in this part of the country said that Friday at the ACC tournament was one of the best days in sports because there can be four great games on the same court on the same day.

That still can be true. But there also can be four ugly games on the same court Thursday. If you can’t handle eight games in two days, missing the opener this year would be a good way to conserve your energy for the more interesting action later.

5. Booker on the low block.

Clemson first-team All-ACC forward Trevor Booker said he’s comfortable if teams make him catch the ball on the perimeter.

But the reality is, that’s where opponents – and that should include N.C. State today - want him to catch it.

Booker said teams have tried all manner of defense against him this season.

“They’ve doubled me,” he said. “They’ve tripled me. They’ve played a sagging defense, trying to make our other guys make plays to beat them. They’ve denied me. I’ve seen it all.”

How important is Booker’s offense to Clemson? He has shot 50 percent or better from the field in five of the Tigers’ last eight games. Clemson has won all five – and lost the other three.

Ken Tysiac

Clemson hones pressure for N.C. State

GREENSBORO - While some teams used Wednesday’s open practices for half-speed shooting drills, Clemson worked hard on its full-court pressure defense in preparation for Thursday’s ACC tournament game against N.C. State.

“We just believe in going hard and sharp the day before the game,” said Clemson coach Oliver Purnell. “The more you go harder and sharper, you have an opportunity for it to spill over into the game.”

That strategy has worked for Clemson all season. The Tigers have forced an ACC-high 17.4 turnovers per game, so protecting the ball will be a key for N.C. State in the 9 p.m. first-round game against N.C. State.

The Wolfpack did an excellent job of that in the teams’ first meeting, a 73-70 Clemson win on Jan. 16 in Raleigh. Both teams committed 11 turnovers in that game.

Clemson shot just 30.1 percent from 3-point range during conference games, so getting easy baskets in transition off turnovers is an important part of its offense.

“It’s all about pressure defense,” Clemson center Jerai Grant said. “The more turnovers the other team has, the better chance we have of winning.”

Ken Tysiac

Hewitt hopes he's wrong about Heels

GREENSBORO - Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt doesn’t want to be right again.

Duke’s Kyle Singler shot 2-for-13 from the field against Georgia Tech in the teams’ first meeting. Hewitt said afterward that if Singler got as many open shots the next time the teams played, the Yellow Jackets would be in trouble.

Sure enough, Singler shot 8-for-10 and scored a career-high 30 points against Georgia Tech in the second meeting.

On Wednesday, Hewitt was reminded of that exchange as he spoke of the seventh-seeded Yellow Jackets’ ACC tournament opener against No. 10 seed North Carolina. Georgia Tech has defeated the Tar Heels twice, but Hewitt has said he wouldn’t want to face North Carolina in March.

“I hope I’m not right again,” Hewitt said. “They’re a lot like us. They’re a young basketball team. You take a look at the turnovers, and we’re near the bottom. That’s what it’s going to come down to. Whoever doesn’t turn the ball over is going to have a great chance to win.”

Hewitt and Georgia Tech (19-11, 7-9 ACC) probably have more at stake than any other team in this ACC tournament. Every Yellow Jacket win will add more credibility to a somewhat shaky resume for the NCAA tournament.

But with the team’s accomplishments through Wednesday, ESPN analyst Joe Lunardi projected Georgia Tech as making the NCAA field with an at-large bid.

“It’s somewhat comforting, but it also may not be true,” Hewitt said. “They do get it wrong. Somebody said Lunardi gets 96 percent or 97 percent right? There’s that three percent I’d like to erase.”

Ken Tysiac

Miami's season rewarding for N.C. native Adams

Former Middle Creek High guard Garrius Adams knows Miami is facing a difficult road in the ACC tournament as the No. 12 seed.

“We have to win four games in the next four days,” Adams said after the Hurricanes’ open practice Wednesday at the Greensboro Coliseum, “and that’s the toughest road you can take.”

This has been a challenging season for Miami as a team, but it’s been rewarding in many ways for Adams, a freshman who was recruited to the Hurricanes by coach and Burlington, N.C., native Frank Haith.

When he left his hometown of Apex, he was strictly a shooting guard and was just a shade under 6-foot-5. Now he says he’s a legitimate 6-6, and he’s been playing a lot of small forward.
He put on 17 or 18 pounds in order to be able to handle a more physical position. He started seven games, all in ACC play, and has averaged 4.0 points per game. On defense, he has provided a spark with 23 steals, third on the team.

“My role has changed since high school,” he said. “. . .It’s made me grow up. It’s made me get stronger. It’s made me much wiser.”

Along with Durham’s Julian Gamble and Winston-Salem’s Reggie Johnson, Adams gives Miami three players who are from North Carolina hometowns. Haith, who has spoken often about following the ACC tournament while growing up, said it’s special for them to be playing in their home state.

“I think there’s no question for the North Carolina kids they’re excitedabout this,” Haith said. “They’re like me -- they grew up in this state, knowing the passion for basketball and being a part of ACC basketball and now havingthis opportunity.

“For those guys, it’s exciting. And for all our guys, youwalk out in that arena and you feel the atmosphere. Being here inGreensboro, I have a definite appreciation of it being here in Greensboro.”

Ken Tysiac and Luke DeCock

Maryland's Williams is ACC Basketball Coach of the Year

Maryland's Gary Williams is a landslide winner for the ACC coach of the year award in a vote by members of the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association.

The outcome was announced Tuesday, shortly after Terp senior Greivis Vasquez was voted league player of year. Georgia Tech's Derrick Favors was the winner in the top-rookie vote.

Tudor: Five ACC tournament 1st-round upsets to remember

When the ACC Tournament begins Thursday in Greensboro Coliseum, don't be shocked if 12th-seeded Miami eliminates No. 5 Wake Forest.

The 12-seed has won three of four first-round games since the league expanded to its current size in the 2006-07 season.

Georgia Tech did it just a year ago in Atlanta, knocking out No. 5 Clemson, 86-81.

The first resounding upset in ACC Tournament history was No. 6 Clemson’s first-round win over No. 3 N.C. State on the Wolfpack’s Reynolds Coliseum home court in 1962. That Clemson team, which finished 12-15 overall, did in Duke in the semifinals but eventually lost to Wake in the championship game.

Following are the five most memorable first-round stunners.

1. Maryland 71, N.C. State 49

March 10, 1989, Atlanta

The 8th-seed Terps (1-13 ACC,9-20 overall) won with such ease over the top-seeded Wolfpack (10-4, 22-9) that both sides were left virtually speechless. In fact, Terps coach Bob Wade was feared to have suffered a heart attack in the minutes following the game. John Johnson and Tony Massenburg combined for 42 points while Wolfpack star guards Rodney Monroe and Chris Corchiani were held to 20 combined. Wade was on the bench a day later when reality set in and North Carolina destroyed his team, 88-58, in the semifinals.

2. State 66, Duke 60

March 7, 1997, Greensboro

Seeded No. 8, the Pack (4-12, 17-15) had to beat Georgia Tech in a play-in game to earn a shot at the top-seeded Blue Devils (12-4, 22-9). Herb Sendek’s first State team was down by six points at halftime but took over in the second half behind freshman playmaker Justin Gainey and wing sharpshooter C.C. Harrison (28 points).

The Pack then stunned Maryland in the second half before falling to No. 3 seed Carolina in the championship game.

3. Wake Forest 69, Clemson 62

March 6, 1987, Landover, Md.

The 7th-seeded Deacons (2-12, 14-15) knocked out what may have been the best Clemson team (10-4, 25-6) of all time. Bob Staak’s second Wake team got 21 points each from 5-foot-3 playmaker Tyrone Bogues and wingman Rod Watson and put on a spectacular second-half performance after Clemson led 34-22 at intermission. The Deacons almost duplicated the win a day later but finally fell to N.C. State in double overtime when Pack forward Mike Giomi sparked a late surge.

4. Wake 54, UNC 52 (OT)

March 8, 1973, Greensboro

In the seven-team era, the Deacons (3-9, 12-15) had finished last in regular season while Carolina (8-4, 25-8) had a lineup that included Bobby Jones, George Karl and Mitch Kupchak. Carl Tacy’s first Wake team was a 20-point underdog but controlled the tempo from the start and got 18 points from guard Eddie Payne. Against powerful Maryland the following day, Wake led by four at the half but eventually fell, 73-65

5. Miami 67, Maryland 62

March 8, 2007, Tampa, Fla.

The No. 12 seeded Hurricanes (4-12, 12-20) got 17 points from guard Jack McClinton and used a match-up zone defense to frustrate the No. 5 Terps (10-6, 25-9), who trailed by 13 at halftime and couldn’t fight all the way back. McClinton got 16 points in the second round against Boston College, but Eagles held on for a 74-71 win after going to halftime down by 10.

-- Caulton Tudor

Maryland's Vasquez named ACC Basketball Player of the Year

Maryland guard Greivis Vasquez has been voted Player of the Year in ACC basketball by members of the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association.

A senior from Caracas, Venezuela, the 6-foot-5 guard was named on 39 of 53 ballots cast. Duke guard Jon Scheyer was second with 12 votes and Virginia Tech guard Malcolm Delaney received the other two.

"This means so much to me," Vasquez said. "After four years of working so hard, to be the ACC Player of the Year is unbelievable. I don't have enough words to express how happy I am for my teammates, my coaches and my whole country. People in Venezuela have been so supportive and making me a better player and a better person."

Vasquez is the sixth Maryland player to win the award and the first since Juan Dixon in 2002.

-- Caulton Tudor