ACC Roundup - Six Games Saturday, And Some Teams Are Already Close To Desperate
And desperate teams make for great games.
In Saturday’s ACC Action, Syracuse visits Chapel Capel Hill, NC State goes to Louisville, Virginia heads down to Wake Forest, Florida State hits Notre Dame, BC flies down to Clemson and Miami and Virginia Tech tangle in the nightcap.
We’re a bit intrigued by the Syracuse-UNC game because Syracuse actually matches up fairly well with UNC. We were really impressed with Maliq Brown when the Orange visited Duke and given that Armando Bacot has been pretty up and down, Brown might get the better of him. The guards are tall and could give UNC trouble and Chris Bell and Quadir Copeland could give Harrison Ingram some trouble too. But UNC’s defense is vastly improved.
We’re not betting on Syracuse here, but it could get interesting, particularly if UNC is not prepared. They’d have to cooperate in an upset.
Louisville pulled off a shocker at Miami but NC State’s defense, we think, will be the deciding factor. DJ Burns could give Louisville fits as well. And if you haven't been paying attention, freshman Dennis Parker is really coming on. Add in the frustration of losing to UNC and you have to go with the Pack here.
Virginia is struggling to be sure and a young team hasn’t yet fully grasped Tony Bennett’s system. Wake is probably further along than Virginia, but at some point the Cavs will start to get it. That won’t help their size problem and it might not be in time for Saturday. Wake is a lot bigger and probably quicker. If Virginia’s defense was up to normal standards, maybe. But right now we’d take Wake, at least partly because Steve Forbes is much better than Bennett is at quickly building a roster. In fact, he’s about as good as it as anyone is.
Things get really interesting in the other three games. Florida State has won five out of the last six but Notre Dame has developed tremendously since Micah Shrewsberry’s eruption after the ugly loss to The Citadel. They’re just 3-2 since then but the losses were to NC State by two and to Duke by 12. However, the Irish were in that game until quite late.
They’re playing brilliant defense and the offense is coming along. It should be another tight game. We’re so impressed with what they’ve done that it’s hard to pick against them right now.
At 1-3 in the conference, Clemson has dug a hole. Boston College is 10-5 which doesn’t sound that great but given how bad they were not too long ago, 10-5 is pretty good. Both teams play with great intensity but Clemson’s defense against Virginia Tech was really bad. At one point, Brad Brownell grabbed Joe Girard to push him into a better defensive position. He was really unhappy with the way Clemson defended so that’s almost certainly not going to happen again. Practice in Tiger Town has probably been pretty miserable this week.
There’s a lot of pressure on Clemson right now but there’s a lot on Miami too and visiting Cassell right now is not the best time. Virginia Tech is improving rapidly as Clemson found out last time out. We’re not sure what’s going on with Hunter Cattoor - he was kicked in the head and may be in the concussion protocol. We don’t know that for sure but Mike Young apparently said he was still having symptoms so that could be it.
Obviously he’s a major factor for the Hokies so stay tuned on that.
Losing to Louisville wasn’t just an ugly loss for Miami. It was a huge hit for Miami’s NET rankings: Louisville is #233. That’s a catastrophic loss really. Losing to Virginia Tech would be less problematic but would still hurt. The ‘Canes have fallen out of the Top 25 and their NET ranking is now 62.
Obviously not having Cattoor would be a break for Miami. However, this game is in Blacksburg and Cassell can be (but is not always) a great pit. Miami could have a long evening.
Saturday’s ACC Action
- Syracuse @ UNC || 12:00 || ESPN
- NC State @ Louisville || 12:00 || CW
- Virginia @ Wake Forest || 2:00 || ESPN2
- Florida State @ Notre Dame || 2:15 || CW
- Boston College @ Clemson || 3:00 || ACCN
- Georgia Tech @ Duke || 5:00 || ACCN
- Miami @ Virginia Tech || 7:00 || ACCN
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- Louisville vs. NC State preview
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- CRAWFORD | Respect begins at home: Payne hopes Louisville can earn some vs. N.C. State
- NC State aims to revive offense against Louisville
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- Perfect at home, Wake Forest welcomes Virginia
- Preview: What Virginia Basketball fans need to know about Wake Forest
- Cavaliers search for first road victory at Wake Forest
- Florida State looks to continue reversal of fortune at Notre Dame
- Game Notes: FSU Men’s Basketball travels to face Notre Dame on Saturday afternoon
- Previewing Notre Dame men’s basketball vs. Florida State in South Bend
- Florida State men’s basketball proudly leaning on full roster to win
- Miami tries to shake ugly loss when it visits improving Virginia Tech
- What you need to know as UM men’s basketball team faces big road test at Virginia Tech