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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The Cavalier Daily shares thoughts on Monica Wright.
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Coach Starkey at LSU shares a really good article from the Washington Post on Coach Tony Bennett. If you are not following Coach Starkey on Twitter, do it… always good stuff.
I’ve only been to a couple Virginia Men’s games and a practice, but judging from what I’ve seen… all of this is 100% true.
Coach Bennett & Family
Even going back to listening to him at his press conference, the guy is who he is… genuine, nice, incredibly sincere, while demanding what he believes in – what he is teaching. He speaks of the process of being successful and it is not limited to the court. His process is about being a good person, a successful person with how you conduct yourself, how you approach practice, approach school, approach your personal life. All of it correlates to being a winner and plays a roll in winning.
“The process” is working… a 75-60 win at North Carolina is a gigantic win. The game isn’t on ESPN360.com, but should be. If you can, find it and watch it. The defense is spectacular… I want to know what “The Roar” is… The All-Time record in the UNC – Virginia series?… 124-48 UNC, 63-5 UNC in Chapel Hill… opps, 63-6 now. 1-0 during the Tony Bennett era.
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We’re not talking about Leonard “Truck” Robinson, or even Darryyl “Truck” Bryant here…. I mean THE Truck, as in what we all see behind the arena on game days for our TV games. Obscure, unknown. Just sitting there minding it’s own business. Few know what really goes on behind the quiet presence of the outside walls of that vehicle. I had no idea.
Lyon Video Production Truck for ESPN2
Maybe it’s just me, but I had never seen the inside of a TV production truck. I’ve done some TV, a studio show “This Week in the NBDL” with Mike Crispino a few years ago, but that was a studio gig. That is NOTHING like THE Truck, LIVE – on site production. In the studio (at least the one I was in) there were a few people, it was quiet. Everything seemed pretty low key, simple.
I was able to get an invite to “observe” an ESPN basketball game from THE Truck. Did not know what to expect, what I was in for. Amazing.
First off, let’s talk about set up… you’ve seen THE Truck, it’s not that large. There are 16+ people inside THE Truck at all times. People are coming in and out of it all the time, through out the entire production.
I arrived at 5:20 pm for a 7:30 pm game. The action was already well into the flow. The anonymous, diligent professionals going about preparing the countless graphics, statistics, intros, video clips, screen shots for the live game presentation. I say anonymous because we as coaches as well as the fans never get to see these people or understand how hard they are working to make the game look so good. This is the scouting report and walk-thru phase for us basketball coaches. One of the amazing parts… much of the stuff that they seem to spend hours preparing before the live game… doesn’t even get used. As the game unfolds, there is constant re-doing, adding to and adjusting what was done before.
ESPN2's Production Crew for Maryland @ Virginia
There is so much going on, constantly… everyone talking on headsets at the same time, clacking away on computers, countless monitors full of video or different camera views and recorded material. All the while, no one seemed the least bit confused with all the action or ticked off that you everyone was talking over everyone else. The build up… the final meeting and rehearsal. Running like a well oiled machine.
As we’re getting close to game time, I soon realized that part is NOTHING compared to once the game starts. I felt a shot of adrenaline as the countdown started to being on the air. You could feel excitement rise in THE Truck. Game Time!
Tip off. Talk about precision chaos! The prep time was nothing compared to this!… Jeff, the producer, barking out commands – Scott doing the same, all coordinated, all in sync. Amazingly enough, there is very little stress coming from any of their voices… just instructions: which camera, when to zoom in, go wide, fade to another, bring in a stat or replay. Even a little bit of humor. Amazing.
ESPN2's Producers
They work in the live four-minute chunks coordinated with the scorers table and always wanting to steal a few extra seconds to make the presentation of our game more enhanced for the viewers. They are having fun. There are no time-outs, no real breaks in the action for this crew. The live game action is also cluttered with preparing for the next dead ball, media timeout or stoppage when they figure out what is needed to be placed into the presentation. The announcers (Carolyn Peck, Bob Wischusen and Rebecca Lobo) become extensions of the people in THE Truck, but honestly – very few in here listen to what they are saying. They realize this. It is all part of the show. I could hardly concentrate on what the announcers were saying about the game with all the action in side THE Truck.
All of this made me think of our role as coaches on the sidelines. Seeing nearly two dozen games over the last two months, I’ve seen screaming, teaching, ranting, raving, the calm, the studious – all of it. The calm, humorous, deliberate and directive manner in which this crew went about their business was re-affirming that is the best way to go.
After seeing all this action in THE Truck, I’ll stick to coaching… it’s WAY easier to manage than the presentation and production of a live basketball game!
A special thank you, again, to everyone involved and to those unseen who make live basketball games just amazing events to watch.
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Watched FSU @ OSU (Men) in ACC / Big Ten Challenge and found several nice Pick & Roll options. Enjoy.
Follow below link for 5 half court M-M sets.
No. 15 Ohio State beats No. 21 FSU 77-64
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