Men’s ACC basketball notebook

By Andy Johnston                   For the AJC

Some folks say it’s parity. Others are beginning to worry that this is a down season for the ACC.

The ACC continues to be the top-rated conference in the Sagarin and Pomeroy rankings, but only Duke and Georgia Tech are ranked in the AP Top 25, and the Blue Devils might have knocked the Yellow Jackets out of next week’s poll with their 86-67 victory on Thursday night.

Every team has at least four losses, and Duke, which is considered the ACC’s best team, was crushed by Big East-power Georgetown on Sunday. One thing is for certain: The conference doesn’t have a dominant force like last season’s North Carolina team that won the national championship.

“It’s where we are now. It’s where this conference is at,” North Carolina State coach Sidney Lowe said. “Any given night, you don’t know who is going to win. One team can knock off a nationally ranked team and then play another team that’s not ranked and lose to them. One thing you do know is that this league has a lot of talented players. If those talented players decide they’re going to be better and they’re going to get after it, they’re going to win.”

The fall of North Carolina (13-9, 2-5 ACC) has corresponded with the rise of both Maryland (15-6, 5-2) and Virginia (14-6, 5-2), which are tied for second behind Duke (18-4, 6-2). The parity is evidenced by the fact that 22 of ACC’s 46 games have been decided by eight points or less, including 13 by fewer than four points.

The balance might lead to only six ACC teams making the NCAA tournament, but all 12 entered this week in the top 110 of the RPI.

“It’s become a night-in and night-out grinder,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “It’s a challenge of every team to be at their best.”

Out of his shell

Freshman Jordan Williams is providing Maryland with an inside boost.

He posted his third double-double of the season in Maryland’s loss at Clemson on Sunday. The 6-foot-10 Williams then added 14 points in a win at Florida State on Thursday, reaching double-figures for the seventh time. His 13 rebounds Sunday were a career-high.

“[He provides] what we didn’t have last year, [which] is an inside presence,” Maryland coach Gary Williams said. “This year, when we’re playing well, we can throw the ball into Jordan and expect something good to happen.”

Possible return

Clemson guard Demontez Stitt has missed the past two games with a sprained foot, but coach Oliver Purnell hopes to have him back for Saturday’s game at Virginia Tech. Stitt had started 52 consecutive games before the injury.

On the ball

Malcolm Delaney, who scored 21 points in Virginia Tech’s 74-70 victory over North Carolina on Thursday, leads the ACC in scoring (19.8) and 20-point games (11).

N.C. State’s Julius Mays has made 20 consecutive free throws and is shooting 89.5 percent from the line (51-for-57).

Trevor Booker needs 19 rebounds to become the second player in Clemson history with 1,500 points and 1,000 rebounds. With 1,584 career points, he would join Notre Dame’s Luke Harangody and Texas’ Damion James as the only active players with 1,500 points and 1,000 rebounds.

Kyle Singler, playing with an injured right wrist, had career highs with 30 points and eight 3-pointers in Duke’s victory over Georgia Tech.

Must-see TV

Don’t sleep in, or you might miss Wake Forest’s game at Virginia, which begins at noon Saturday (WATL). On Wednesday, Duke plays at North Carolina at 9 p.m. (ESPN) in the first game of the season in that heated rivalry. They’ll also meet at Duke on March 6.

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Women’s college basketball notebook

There was a sense of relief in the way Georgia post Angel Robinson exhaled, following her team’s 49-46 overtime victory over No. 19 LSU on Thursday, snapping a three-game losing streak.

With the offense scoring a season-low 42 points in regulation, it could easily have gone the other way. It’s only the second time in coach Andy Landers‘ 987 games at Georgia that his team has won a game in which it scored fewer than 50 points.

As has happened so often this season for the Lady Bulldogs, defense carried the day.

After allowing 60 or more points in seven of the previous eight games, No. 14 Georgia (19-4, 6-4 SEC) emphatically reversed that trend. And after five of the previous six opponents shot better than 41 percent, the Tigers shot 27.3 percent — the third-lowest field-goal percentage for a Lady Bulldogs opponent this season.

Robinson said the defensive performance is a sign that the team is headed in the right direction.

“It’s taking one step; we’re not completely back where we want it,” Robinson said. “I’m glad we took one step. On Sunday [against South Carolina], we need to take another step.”

Ardossi honored

On Monday, Georgia Tech forward Brigitte Ardossi was named the ACC Player of the Week for her performance the previous week, when she averaged 22 points and 12 rebounds in home wins over Miami and Virginia Tech. She’s the first Yellow Jacket to earn this distinction since Chioma Nnamaka in February 2008.

Ardossi entered the season as a relatively unheralded player in the conference but has been Georgia Tech’s most consistent post presence and is playing her way into consideration for All-ACC honors.

In ACC play for the Yellow Jackets (18-5, 4-3 ACC), Ardossi entered Friday second in the league in scoring (18.9 points) and tied for first in rebounds per game (8.9). She also was eighth in free-throw percentage, leading the team at 83.6 percent.

Panthers’ struggles

Georgia State took two more losses this week, along with more blizzard conditions on a road trip through Virginia, making for another challenging trip back to Atlanta.

A 53-39 loss at Virginia Commonwealth and a 61-53 loss to Northeastern at home leaves the Panthers at 12-9 and 3-7 in Colonial Athletic Association play this season. That’s four losses in five games and seven out of nine since a win over UNC Wilmington on Jan. 3 moved the Panthers’ record to 10-2.

The bright point in the loss to Northeastern was Danyiell McKeller, who had career-highs in points (27) and steals (6). The senior is fourth in the CAA in scoring with a 19.3-point average and fourth in steals with 2.5 per game.

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Virginia’s Monica Wright

The Cavalier Daily shares thoughts on Monica Wright.

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Early signing period conference breakdown

The ACC was the clear winner of the conferences during the early signing period. Seven teams from the conference rank among the top 25 recruiting classes in 2010, and 21 nationally ranked players signed with a school from the ACC.

Rivals.com recruiting analyst Jerry Meyer breaks down and rank the recruiting efforts of each conference for the early signing period.

Conference Rankings
1. ACC | 2. SEC | 3. Big East | 4. Big Ten | 5. Big 12 | 6. Pac-10

CONFERENCE BREAKDOWN:

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The Art of Leadership

Leadership:

The art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.

~Dwight D. Eisenhower

Richie Adubato was the master at this.  My time with him in New York and Washington taught me so much about dealing with people.  It is truly a gift.  He was able to adapt to any personality and use his sense of humor, his huge basketball acumen and his genuine niceness to empower even the toughest personalities to do what he needed them to do and think it was their idea.

I think the Leadership 501 site is a great resource for positive ideas on evaluating and building leadership.

Eisenhower quote from Leadership 501

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