Up next for Duke: Stingy Virginia defense

Duke and Ryan Kelly beat Georgia Tech Saturday, but it's Virginia's defense Thursday night that could be an eye-opener. John Bazemore/Associated Press photo

After holding on against Georgia Tech on Saturday for an 81-74 college basketball victory, Duke’s next game is an interesting one.

The Blue Devils (13-2, 1-0) will host Virginia (14-1, 1-0) Thursday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium (ESPN, 9 p.m.). While the Cavaliers didn’t have the most rigorous non-conference schedule in the country, Virginia did manage to beat Michigan, Oregon and LSU while only losing to TCU.

With its slower tempo, Virginia leads the conference in scoring defense, yielding 50.5 points per game. The Cavaliers are also in the top three in the conference in field-goal defense (38 percent) and 3-point percentage defense (27 percent).

Duke leads the conference in 3-point shooting, making 41.7 percent of its attempts from beyond the arc. It will be intriguing to see which strength wins out. 

Here’s what Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski had to say about the Cavaliers and their defense this morning on the ACC teleconference:

* “(Tony Bennett) has his system in place. He has guys who have played his style of basketball, which is a very good style of basketball, for a lot of competitive reps. In other words, he’s had a lot of games with guys playing that way. So guys are instinctively reactive. He doesn’t have a real young player playing. There’s no freshmen who are in the starting lineup. You have a couple of fifth-years guys, and another senior.”

* ”We’re not where they are in terms of being instinctively reactive. In the last game, we started two freshmen. We’re not at the same spot instinctively as they are. Hopefully, we’ll come closer to that by Thursday.”

* “They play together. It’s less possessions in a game for Virginia than our number of possessions, usually. But that’s the main thing – the main thing is they understand their jobs and they play together. They have each other’s back. It’s tough to get into the lane on them. They try to take away the post with the double team on the low post all the time.”

* “The double team is one thing. What the other three guys are doing is – I think where they do a great job is as that trap goes there, the other three react instinctively to where they are supposed to be. They know their duties and what they’re trying to get accomplished. They’re an outstanding defensive team.”

-- Jack Daly

Tar Heels widen gap on rest of ACC

Without even doing much of anything, really, you could make an argument that North Carolina further separated itself from the rest of the ACC over the weekend. The No. 3 Tar Heels coasted to an 83-60 victory against Boston College on Saturday. If anything, the 23-point margin of victory was less than most would have expected.

But look around the rest of the conference: Georgia Tech has been one of the worst teams in the ACC and has lost this season against Mercer and Fordham. But the Yellow Jackets gave Duke all it could handle in Atlanta. Florida State, which many thought would be one of the best teams in the ACC, lost by 20 at Clemson, which hasn't played well all season. And Virginia, off to its best start since the Ralph Sampson era, barely held on for a 52-51 victory at home against Miami.

Parity has been the norm in the ACC for a while now and the league’s coaches have successfully attributed that to the fact that there have been lots of good teams with good players. But that explanation won't hold up this season. Let’s face it: Some of the conference’s teams have been awful. Georgia Tech loses to Mercer and Fordham, but has a chance to beat Duke? Clemson loses to a bad Hawaii team, and a bad South Carolina team, among others, but beats Florida State by 20?

After one weekend of ACC play, you have to be even more convinced than you might have been before that UNC should dominate the league. The question isn’t when the Tar Heels might lose, but when they might fail to win an ACC game by double-digits.

-- Andrew Carter

Wolfpack's NCAA path: One down, 10 to go

Thanks to the posterizing play of C.J. Leslie and others, the Wolfpack beat Maryland to move to 1-0 in the ACC. They need 10 more ACC wins to get to the 11 coach Mark Gottfried says are needed to reach the NCAA tournament. Ethan Hyman photo

Three points from N.C. State's 79-74 win over Maryland on Sunday evening:

1. A little transparency can go a long way

Mark Gottfried told his team before the Maryland game that it needed to win 11 games in the ACC to make the NCAA tournament.

He told the media the same thing on Friday and then repeated his goals after the win on Sunday.

"That's our goal, I'm not afraid to say it," Gottfried said Sunday night.

It's one thing to say it to the team but it's another to tell the media, which is a rare piece of transparency, and honesty, from a coach (even if it is a motivational device to show his team his faith in them.)

For example, a day earlier, North Carolina coach Roy Williams took the traditional coach-to-media stance when asked what he told his team during a lengthy postgame talk after a lackluster win over a Boston College.

"It's like Vegas," Williams said Saturday. "Things you say in the locker room need to stay in the locker room."

That's not to condemn Williams, it's the coach's prerogative to share what he wants with the media (which across the board in 2012 is typically as little as possible), rather to commend Gottfried on a good move.

Gottfried never got the chance to "win" his press conference, that went out the window with the "sabotage" subterfuge from his boss, but N.C. State's coach made up for the lost public-relations opportunity after Sunday's win over the Terps.

"I didn't come here to play in anything other than the NCAA tournament," Gottfried said. "Now, whether we get there or not, that's a whole another story. We do probably do have a long, long way to go but I'm not ever going to hide from that."

He continued:

"I have a job to do. I'm here to do a job. I was hired to do a job. I know what that job is. We just have to grind them out, get tough and get better."

That's the kind of talk that endears a coach to a fan base, especially after beating an ACC rival it hadn't since 2006.

2. C.J. Leslie keeps getting better

With 20 points and 11 rebounds, Leslie was the best player on the court.

His assist was noteworthy as well, since it came on the fast break and he was willing to give the ball up, to Scott Wood in this instance, rather than force an ESPN highlight.

Leslie's biggest issue last season as a freshman was consistency. He has had no such problems as a sophomore and with a new coach.

Shot selection has been Leslie's biggest on-court area of improvement. The increase in his shooting percentage is proof of that, 53 percent (68-128) compared to 43 percent (123-284) last season.

In Leslie and Lorenzo Brown, N.C. State has two talented, All-ACC caliber players 10 other ACC teams don't (yes, even Duke).

That's why the stated goal of 11 wins is not as far-fetched as the historical precedent (once since 1975) suggests.

3. Terrell Stoglin can go

N.C. State tried every different defensive combination on Maryland guard Terrell Stoglin and contested almost every one of his 16 field goal attempts but the Pack couldn't stop him.

Stoglin poured in 25 points, with six 3-pointers, and did so while being defended primarily by a  taller C.J. Williams (6-5) but also a shorter Alex Johnson (5-10).

Now, Stoglin's not 6-1, as he's listed by Maryland, but he's strong and quick and understands how to use his body to get his shot off.

Pe'Shon Howard had a relatively quiet game, eight assists aside, which is why State won, but it wasn't for Stoglin's lack of effort.

Forward Richard Howell put it best when asked about Stoglin: "That kid can score."

-- J.P. Giglio

Boston College vs. UNC: The good, the bad

CHAPEL HILL - No. 3 North Carolina defeated Boston College 83-60 in the ACC opener for both teams. A look back at the highlights and lowlights from the Smith Center:

Why the Tar Heels won: North Carolina used a 10-0 run to take control in the first half, and then opened the second half on a 10-2 run. Outside of those two stretches, this was a surprisingly a pretty even game. Boston College, with its 12 first-year players and nine freshmen, showed some toughness and didn’t really go away. The Tar Heels, meanwhile, played well in stretches but had too many mental lapses, coach Roy Williams said. UNC won comfortably and should have. Even so, it was probably a tad closer than the 23-point final margin indicated.

The good: The Heels dominated in the paint, where they outscored the Eagles 46-26. And Harrison Barnes had one of his better games of the season. He finished with 25 points, made 10 of his 15 shots, and had one highlight-worthy dunk that brought the crowd to its feet during the first half. In fact, UNC’s entire front court played well. The big three of Barnes, John Henson and Tyler Zeller combined to score 59 points and they made 23 of their 36 field goal attempts.

The bad: Williams and his players spoke a lot about raising their intensity entering ACC play but the Tar Heels were a bit sluggish to start. About eight-and-a-half minutes into the game, UNC led just 15-14 before going on that 10-0 run. Plus, the Heels allowed Boston College to hang around. UNC built a 21-point lead early in the second half, only to see the Eagles cut it nine with about nine minutes to play. That frustrated Williams. So, too, did his team’s defensive lapses in the second half, when UNC failed to properly play screens that led to three Eagles’ baskets. The Tar Heels’ bench has been solid for much of the season but it was unproductive on Saturday. Reggie Bullock, James Michael McAdoo and P.J. Hairston combined to make 4 of their 19 attempts from the field and they scored 11 points as a group.

Key stat: The Tar Heels made 23 of their 35 field-goal attempts inside the paint. But they were just 8-for-31 outside of the lane. And just 3-for-17 on 2-point shots outside of the paint. If the Heels shoot better from the outside – both beyond the arc and inside of it, then UNC wins by at least 30.

Key stat II: Barnes, Zeller and Henson combined for 59 points and made 23 of their 36 shots from the field. When the Big Three are playing that well, UNC will be difficult to beat.

UNC player of the game: Barnes. Finished with 25 points and did it in a variety of ways – on the inside and from the outside. He made 3 of his 4 3-point attempts and also picked his moments to go to the basket and be aggressive.

Quotable: “You can’t make that pass. We have a lob for a dunk and you throw it over the backboard. I told him at 61, I can make that pass. Never had a guy that does a better job looking up and having the vision on the court that he does. But I really got ticked off there for a couple of minutes when it got down to nine or 10. But it wasn’t because it got to nine or 10. It was because we decided not to help down in the post, and Kendall goes and helps down in the post and his guy makes a three. And we say go over the screen, Harrison went below the screen, his guy makes a three. Next time he goes below the screen, Z steps out and help and they throw it Z’s man for a layup. You can’t make those kinds of mistakes.” –UNC coach Roy Williams, first on his frustration with Kendall Marshall’s errant lob to Harrison Barnes, and then on his team’s defensive lapses in the second half.

-- Andrew Carter

Duke's young team still learning to be great

ATLANTA – When it was suggested to Mason Plumlee that Duke looked a bit fragile during stretches of Saturday’s 81-74 win over Georgia Tech, the Blue Devils’ junior forward didn’t disagree.

“I would just say it’s part of having a young team,” Plumlee said. “I wish I wasn’t still saying this now, but the more we’re in these situations and close games, the better we’ll get at it. We’re getting better.”

Easy to overlook after Duke’s 78-73 loss to Temple on Wednesday is the fact that this Blue Devil team is still a relatively young, inexperienced team. In addition to the underclassmen who are playing key minutes, juniors such as Ryan Kelly, Seth Curry and Mason Plumlee have all taken on more expanded roles than in years past.

Growing pains, in other words, are to be expected.

“I know people think of Duke and we’ve got these chiseled guys who have been – they’re all-Americans right away,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “That just doesn’t happen.”

It is also important not to evaluate the Blue Devils’ non-conference schedule solely on the basis of one or two games. Duke did a lot of things well in November and December, starting with its win at the Maui Invitational and continuing through its triumph over Washington at Madison Square Garden.

“Temple was the end of 14 non-conference games,” Krzyzewski said. “We’ve played a hellacious schedule. We want to make sure that we don’t judge what we’ve done by one game rather than take a look at the collection of what we’ve done.”

All that said, it is clear fifth-ranked Duke (13-2, 1-0 ACC) has some growing to do.

In light of the performance against the Owls, Krzyzewski said defense was the one area where he wanted to see improvement against the Yellow Jackets.

“We have to be better defensively on the perimeter,” he said. “We’re small on the perimeter. We have Quinn and Seth and Austin, who could be a point or a combo playing at the other wing. Athletic perimeters have hurt us. That’s one of the reasons we lost against Temple. … We have to keep getting better at that.”

The Blue Devils were inconsistent on defense against the Yellow Jackets, allowing Glen Rice Jr. enough open looks to score 28 points. Georgia Tech entered the game as the worst 3-point shooting team in the ACC, but it made 46.2 percent of its long-range shots against the Blue Devils.

At various times, Austin Rivers, Mason Plumlee and Kelly all seemed to have some confusion over who they were guarding or where they were supposed to be on the defensive end. Rivers was taken out in the first half after losing his man.

Even if Duke is still a work in progress, the win over the Yellow Jackets will help the team’s confidence heading into Thursday’s game against Virginia.

Between practices and team meetings, the two days in between the Temple and Georgia Tech games were arduous. The Blue Devils’ players said it was nice to have some positive reinforcement on the back side.

“The coaching staff believes we have a lot of potential and we can be a really good basketball team,” Kelly said. “We weren’t moving in the right direction leading up to Temple, and we needed to change the direction of our mentality and the way our team was playing the game of basketball. We did that (Saturday).”

-- Jack Daly

UNC forward James Michael McAdoo is 'doubtful' for Saturday's ACC opener against Boston College

James Michael McAdoo has a sprained ankle.

CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina coach Roy Williams said Friday that freshman forward James Michael McAdoo is “doubtful” for the Tar Heels’ ACC opener on Saturday against Boston College (2:30 p.m., WBTV channel 3).

McAdoo, who has averaged 6.3 points in 14.5 minutes of playing time per game, suffered a sprained left ankle during practice on Wednesday. McAdoo sustained the injury when, after jumping, he came down on Tyler Zeller’s foot. X-rays that UNC’s medical staff conducted Thursday were negative, a team spokesman said.

McAdoo did not practice on Thursday, Williams said. If McAdoo is unable to play, the Tar Heels will be without a key frontcourt reserve in their ACC opener. McAdoo has averaged 9 points per game in UNC’s past four games.

“It would be a game-time decision and I would think [he is] doubtful,” Williams said.

-- Andrew Carter

Pack's Gottfried: Murray State can go undefeated

Murray State's fans aren't the only ones who believe in the Racers. N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried, a former Murray State coach, thinks the 15-0 Ohio Valley Conference team can go into the NCAA tournament undefeated. John Wright/The Paduca (Ky.) Sun

There are still four undefeated teams in college basketball. With nothing but Ohio Valley Conference teams left on the schedule, 15-0 Murray State may have the best chance of any of them to become the first unbeaten since Indiana in 1976.

N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried thinks so: “Yes, they can,” he said Friday.

Gottfried certainly has reason to believe in the Racers. He spent three years there in his first college head-coaching job, a period in his career he remembers fondly for both the experience and the environment.

“They’re having a heck of a year, and I’m really happy for them,” Gottfried said. “It’ll be interesting to see them at the end, because I think they’re going to win a lot of games. I think they can go undefeated.”
Syracuse (16-0), Baylor (14-0) and Missouri (14-0) are the other undefeated teams.

Having coached there, Gottfried also knows just how much pressure there will be on Murray State to win the OVC tournament, especially if the Racers lose a conference game or two along the way. In his third season there, in 1998, Gottfried’s team was 28-3, but there was no guarantee of an at-large bid if the Racers lost the championship game.

“They have a heck of a win now at Memphis, although Memphis isn’t a top-10 team like we thought they were, it’s still a good win,” Gottfried said. “But the rest of their schedule is just kind of OK. If an ACC team played that same schedule, you’d be criticized. But they’ll get a break for it. I hope they get in (as an at-large). I think they will. I think they can go undefeated.”

That may not be the only difficult question the Racers pose for the NCAA selection committee. What kind of seed would an undefeated Murray State team get? In addition to Memphis, Murray State has wins over 14-2 Southern Mississippi and 11-4 Dayton. The highest-rated opponent on Murray State's remaining schedule is 3-12 Austin Peay, although the Racers will host a Bracketbusters game in February that could be against a quality opponent -- Long Beach State, Wichita State and St. Mary's are all among the road teams available.

Andy Glockner of SI.com found five examples of mid-major teams with gaudy records from the past 14 years; seeds ranged from No. 3 to No. 13. At 25-1, Princeton received a No. 5 seed in 1998, which may offer the best comparison to a one-loss Murray State team.

“It’ll be interesting. It’ll be a tricky one for the committee,” Gottfried said. “I don’t think they can be a 1 or 2 seed, I don’t think you can realistically do that. They’re going to play now, when you look at it, and I was in that league so I know, they’re going to play 12-14 games against 200 RPI teams and up, so it’s going to be a little tricky. I do think they’re really good. They’ve got a nice team.”

-- J.P. Giglio

Gottfried assesses N.C. State's NCAA chances

N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried says teams who make NCAA tournament will earn their way in. He thinks the Wolfpack needs 11 ACC wins to accomplish that.  Ethan Hyman photo.

In addition to his comments about N.C. State's ACC goals, Wolfpack coach Mark Gottfried offered his expanded thoughts on the Wolfpack's NCAA chances on Friday.

Gottfried, who took Murray State and Alabama to the NCAA tournament seven times in 14 seasons and worked as an analyst for ESPN the last two seasons, has a firm grasp on the process and the selection committee's criteria.

At No. 49 in the most recent official RPI on the NCAA's web site, the Wolfpack is in bubble territory as it begins ACC play on Sunday against Maryland.

"The teams that go to the tournament are going to earn their way in," Gottfried said.

Gottfried thinks N.C. State will need to win 11 ACC games to get into the tournament but correctly pointed out that conference record is not a critical factor to the selection committee.

"If you get to 12 or 13 wins in the league, you could have played 15 games against Broughton High School, you're probably in," Gottfried joked.

Gottfried said N.C. State's strength of schedule will help its NCAA cause come March, assuming it can win its share of ACC games.

The NCAA's version of the RPI doesn't list N.C. State's strength of schedule but Jerry Palm, of CollegeRPI.com, does and has the Wolfpack's schedule at 36th.

"The (selection committee) will look at who you chose to play in those 13 to 15 non-league games and how you did in those games," Gottfried said. "We intentionally upgraded our schedule, hopefully that will help us at some point in time."

Improving the SOS has been a point of emphasis for Gottfried, whose early teams at Alabama were left out of the NCAA tournament because of shoddy out-of-league schedules. Even losses to Syracuse (No. 1 in the official RPI), Indiana (15) and Vanderbilt (32) will help the Wolfpack.

Finding wins in the ACC against top 50 RPI teams --  Duke (2), North Carolina (12) and Virginia Tech (40) -- and top 100 teams -- Miami (61), Virginia (65), Florida State (71), Wake Forest (85) -- will ultimately determine the Pack's postseason fate.

N.C. State hasn't been to the NCAA tournament since 2006, which is the longest drought in the ACC.
"We could have helped ourselves a couple of nights," Gottfried said. "There's no question, but I think with the strength of schedule and who we played, I think we're going to put ourselves in a great position -- if we're fortunate enough to be in the discussion."

-- J.P. Giglio

Scouting: How one team sees Tar Heels

Does North Carolina's Tyler Zeller dislike contact? At least one of the Tar Heels' December opponents -- and not necessarily Nicholls State, thinks so. GETTY IMAGES photo.

CHAPEL HILL - True story: A team that played at North Carolina in December left a copy of its scouting report on a copier in the Smith Center. And that scouting report, which includes a few lines about each of the Tar Heels’ top eight players, made its way to me.

I thought it’d be interesting to share it because it provides some insight into how an opposing team prepared to play UNC. I won’t identify the team that came up with this scouting report. The Tar Heels, of course, played six games at home in December.

So here’s how this particular team broke down each of UNC’s top eight players (punctuation, sentence structure, etc., are exactly as it reads in the scouting report):

STARTERS

Kendall Marshall:  “Very crafty. Pushes the ball with the pass. Doesn’t like pressure. Must have active hands to affect vision.”

Dexter Strickland: “Very aggressive in transition. Driver!! Their best defender – Always running through passing lanes.”

Harrison Barnes: “Very efficient on offense. Good 3pt shooter. On dribble pull up. Make him uncomfortable.”

John Henson: “Long and very active. Wants to spin off of you in post. Hates it physical. Hates pressure on perimeter. Physical block outs.”

Tyler Zeller: “Runs pipe hard. Jump hook over left and right shoulder. Play the ball early. Hates it physical.”

RESERVES

Reggie Bullock: “Shooter. Offensive rebounder. Looks for 3’s in transition.”

James Michael McAdoo: “High energy offensive rebounder. Runs floor hard.”

P.J. Hairston: “Shooter. Looking to shoot at all times. Doesn’t guard.”

In addition to the player breakdowns, the scouting report included a “team summary” about UNC. That read like this:

Offense:

-Transition team looking to ball ahead and run the pipe

-Secondary – Carolina Break & 5 up

-Half court – Pus for Barnes/Shuffle for Bigs

Defense:

-Deny wings

-Run and jump after TO’s

-Hard help on ball screens

-Marshall and Barnes don’t want to guard

 The offensive keys for this particular team:

-Run it right back at them

-Earn space/get open/be strong

-Execute/screen/drive

And the defensive keys for this particular team:

-Transition D

-Defensive rebounding/Physical box outs

-Getting after Marshall

So there you have it: an opposing team’s scouting report on UNC.

Some quick thoughts:

-Notice that the same sentence was used to describe both Henson and Zeller: “Hates it physical.” That’s the rap on both those guys, though when I asked Henson earlier this week whether he hated it physical he just smiled. He said he understood that’s the scouting report for both him and Zeller, and that teams will try to play them rough.

-This particular team certainly didn’t give much respect for Hairston’s defense. “Doesn’t guard.” Hairston’s offense is further along than his defense – don’t think anyone would dispute that – but it will be interesting to see how Hairston develops as a defensive player. Certainly that’s a point of emphasis for him.

-This particular team acknowledges Marshall’s excellent court vision and wants its players to have active hands to disrupt that vision. Easier said than done.

-Strickland is sometimes the forgotten man among UNC’s starting five but it’s clear he received a lot of respect in this scouting report. This particular team was afraid cautious about his ability to drive, and warned its players about his defense.

-- Andrew Carter

Duke looks to bounce back vs. Georgia Tech

Duke is heading to Atlanta this afternoon for Saturday’s ACC opener against Georgia Tech (ESPNU, noon).
While the Yellow Jackets have been underwhelming so far this season – Georgia Tech has lost three games in a row, falling to Mercer (ouch), Fordham (double ouch) and Alabama by 25 points – the game will be an intriguing one for the fifth-ranked Blue Devils (12-2) after Wednesday's loss at Temple.

After an intense day of practices and meetings Thursday, it will be an ominous sign if Duke doesn’t come up with a strong performance. Ryan Kelly, Andre Dawkins, Seth Curry and, to a lesser extent, Austin Rivers all have something to prove after lackluster efforts against Temple.

And expect the Blue Devils to be especially active on the boards after allowing undersized Temple to outrebound them Wednesday night.

A strong performance Saturday won’t necessarily show Duke has internalized the lessons of Wednesday’s loss to Temple. The Blue Devils will have to demonstrate that in the upcoming weeks when the memories of Temple defeat aren’t as fresh.

Duke had a string of solid performances after its blowout loss at Ohio State. But against Temple, the team seemed to forget about all the progress it had made and what it had been done to make that progress, especially on the defensive end.

In that sense, Georgia Tech is just a first step.

But an important one.

With the ACC season starting, here are three other dates that stand out on the schedule (aside from games against North Carolina, which everyone always circles):

1. Jan. 12 vs. Virginia (ESPN, 9 p.m.). The Cavaliers had as good a non-conference season as anyone in the ACC, losing only once. Virginia can use this game as a measuring stick for its progress.

2. Feb. 2 at Virginia Tech (ESPN/ESPN2, 7 p.m.). Outside the trip to Chapel Hill, this could be the toughest remaining road game for the Blue Devils. Duke has something to prove away from Cameron after its last two performances in hostile environments.

3. Feb. 16 vs. N.C.State (ESPNU, 9 p.m.). The Wolfpack look better under Mark Gottfried, but this game will be important because Duke plays three of its next four on the road. It will want to make sure its house is in order before leaving Cameron for an extended stretch.

-- Jack Daly