ACC Roundup – Finally, Some Good Games

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There were two Friday games but they were basically meaningless, given the level of competition: Mississippi Valley State got wiped by Florida State, 96-49 and Morgan State was clobbered by Cal, 97-50.

There’s really nothing much to say about games like these. The Delta Devils came in 1-10 and let 1-11 and Morgan State came in 2-8 and left 2-9. Both opponents were dreadful.

However, even with the lame-ass opponent, it is worth noting that Cal is now 11-1.

We’re at the end of the Holiday Doldrums for ACC Basketball which means conference ply starts soon – but not quite yet.

We have another 10 days of blah basketball on this and that side of Christmas, starting on Saturday, when the following games happen: Montana is at Louisville, Lafayette visits Georgia Tech, Elon buses up to Virginia Tech, UNC and Ohio State square off in Atlanta in the CBS Sports Classic, Northeastern checks in at Syracuse, Maryland and Virginia renew ties and Stanford gets a test from Colorado in the Hall of Fame series in Phoenix.

Obviously some of these are meaningless unless the ACC team loses. Those would involve Louisville, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and Syracuse. Those are pretty lame. They might turn into good games, but there’s no reason they should, so let’s focus on the rest. One note first: point guards Mikel Brown and his backup Kobe Rogers are both out. Won’t matter.

UNC and Ohio State should be fun. The Buckeyes have a rarity these days, Bruce Thornton, a guy who stuck with his team through adversity and improved year over year. Now he’s a 6-2 senior who is averaging 21.8 ppg, shooting 60.2% – keep in mind he’s 6-2 – and also averaging 5 rebounds and 4.4 assists. You have to respect and appreciate that.

Ohio State is 8-2 with losses to Pitt and Illinois. It’s a game UNC should win but given their occasional lack of focus and a great player in Thornton, an upset is definitely possible, if not likely. Caleb Wilson is a lot to overcome.

Keep in mind though that UNC is going to work Seth Trimble back into the rotation and that means that Trimble, Luka Bogavac and Dereck Dixon will all have to make adjustments. Our working theory is that Hubert Davis has poor people skills and possibly bad management skills as well. This could be a major factor here. Of course things could also go perfectly and UNC could just smoke Ohio State like a Christmas turkey.

Maryland and Virginia is an interesting game in many ways. Obviously it’s an old ACC rivalry, but Buzz Williams used to coach Virginia Tech, so that’s another layer, and both he and Ryan Odom are new coaches so there’s that too.

Virginia is 9-1 and #23 nationally while the Terps are 6-5 with bad losses to Gonzaga, Alabama and while Maryland hung with Michigan for the first half, eventually they lost that one by 18.

We’d have to assume Virginia should win here but given the history, an upset wouldn’t be surprising.

As far as Stanford and Colorado go, we’d certainly go with the Cardinal if Kyle Smith had Ebuka Okorie back, but that’ll probably happen after Christmas.

Donavin Young has been out all season to date and he probably won’t be back either. If it weren’t for Duke’s Cam Boozer, Okorie would have an argument for ACC Rookie of the Year, but Boozer and UNC’s Caleb Wilson are both probably ahead of him.

Still, Okorie is averaging 21 ppg, which is a big hit, but we’d still bet on Smith’s coaching chops.

Finally, a note of concern for Jai Lucas’s Miami program as Marcus Allen has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. His season is done as he moves on to something far more pressing. All best wishes to him for a full recovery and a return to the sport he loves.

Saturday’s ACC Action