The headline in the ACC this weekend was Miami suffering its first loss of the season, on the road at Wake. I am not going to fault Miami for losing to Wake. It's very difficult to go through a conference season undefeated and they were bound to have a bad game. I am a little surprised that they had a bad game on defense - I figured if they lost it would be because of a bad shooting night.
North Carolina picked up a big win this weekend over rival N.C. State. The Heels used a late run to put the game away, moving them closer to making the NCAA Tournament. N.C. State Coach Mark Gottfried has to be disappointed about how his team folded down the stretch.
Not a lot of drama this weekend: the six games were decided by 13, 15, 11, 21, 28 and 10 points. Here's hoping for closer games this week:
Tuesday:
Wake Forest at Florida State (9:00 p.m., ESPNU)
Florida State suffered a fatal blow in their NCAA Tournament chances, losing Sunday at last place Virginia Tech. Right now they are playing for positioning in the ACC Tournament and a possible berth in the NIT. They should be able to take care of home court against Wake Forest, who is due for a letdown off their biggest win in years.
Wednesday:
Virginia Tech at Miami (7:00 p.m., FSN)
This definitely looks like a mismatch, the first place team hosting the last place team. The Hokies did play well in their last game against Florida State, though, and almost beat Miami in Blacksburg. The Hurricanes could come out focused and mad after losing their first conference game. Or they could get caught looking ahead to their huge game with Duke.
Boston College at N.C. State (8:00 p.m., ACC Network)
It should be a good bounceback game for N.C. State, hosting Boston College. This is a tough two game stretch for the Eagles, with back-to-back road games at Duke and N.C. State. The Wolfpack still have a chance of a first round bye in the ACC Tournament.
Maryland at Georgia Tech (8:00 p.m., ACC Network)
Georgia Tech has been a lot more competitive recently, up until Sunday's game against Virginia, where they got smoked. Maryland really needs this win to build some wins for that NCAA Tournament resume. They have to play better than they did in their last road game at B.C. if they want to win this one.
Thursday:
North Carolina at Clemson (7:00 p.m., ESPN or ESPN2)
Both of Thursday's games are really important for bubble teams. North Carolina has been playing well, but they need to play well on the road to win this one. Clemson is tough at Littlejohn. They just haven't been able to close out games late.
Duke at Virginia (9:00 p.m., ESPN or ESPN2)
Huge opportunity for Virginia to come up with a signature win this year. They have played really well at JPJ. But Duke has looked very good in their last two games since losing to Maryland. The team that can hit more threes will probably win this one.
No comments:
Post a Comment