Heels Tame Tigers

Great game by the Heels last night against Clemson.  Great doesn't really describe it.  The blow-out win inspired feelings of joy for me.  

Joy in seeing Ellington firmly back on track; he was the best player on the floor last night and played a complete game. 

Joy in seeing Ty Lawson play great defense and be aggressive on offense. 

Joy at seeing the Heels clamp down on defense, led once again by my man Danny Green (7 points, 5 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals, 3 blocks). 

Joy at the level of play from Carolina's wings, play so strong that Hansbrough's 20 and 10 were afterthoughts.

Joy at seeing Deon Thompson's scoring 15 points after a long slump.

Joy joy joy at watching some great Carolina basketball.  The Heels appear to be back in full Michigan State game form.  

Bring on whomever is next!

A Few Random Notes

• I'm not concerned about the bench scoring from the Heels.  I think in Davis, Frasor, Drew II, and Graves we have enough bench.  Graves is the best scorer on the list, and Davis good enough down low to be a threat on offense.
• Sad isn't the word, but I feel bad for Bobby Frasor.  His freshmen year he was fast and aggressive and did a great job directing a running offense.  Who can forget his play down the stretch at Duke in 2006?  But injuries have really slowed him down and instead of taking it to the hole Frasor spends a lot of time on the perimeter. I liked it when Roy gave him some minutes at the point versus Miami in the first half, but feel bad that injuries derailed a promising career at Carolina.
• One last Inauguration Day note.  Today was the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, a day when DC swells with anti-choice 'activists.'  I typed 'activists' because most of the crowd, at least 60 percent, was made up of high school and middle school kids from regional Catholic schools.  It seemed more like a field trip than a rally. Coming two days after inauguration day it's hard not to make comparisons between the two groups. The two most obvious differences for me were: 1) the Obama crowd was much more diverse in terms of ethnicity and age; 2) more striking, today's crowd seemed bored and was going through the motions, whereas the crowd on Inauguration Day was joyous.

Lot of that going around.

Obama's Speech

A few more thoughts on Inauguration Day.

I liked Obama's speech.  It started out somber, an interesting juxtaposition to the jubilant mood of the crowd.  I suppose Obama was playing to the national audience - rather than the party in front of him - in laying out America's challenges.  Starting off slow may have also been a device to remind folks that he is not our savior or a celebrity but a serious man facing serious challenges, a president calm, smart and ready to deal successfully with our current national predicament(s).

But the serious opening also set up the rest of the speech, which I thought was great.  Obama followed the litany of problems with his own confidence in his and our abilities.  I thought that part was great, very Kennedy 'Ask not what your country can do you' esque.  

And the closing was great, quoting St. Paul and George Washington among others.  I love the invoking of history, a trait I think that is typical of immigrants and immigrant kids.  In my opinion, immigrant households are generally more fascinated by the incredible history of the United States, the good parts and the bad parts.  It seems the longer one's family has been in the U.S. the more they take that history for granted, at least that's one first-generation American's opinion.

But for me, the best part of the speech was not so much the words but the connection between Obama and the voters. The President seems genuinely inspired by the voters, and safe to say our fellow Americans are very inspired by the President.

A Few More Obama Opines

• I really enjoyed the crowd shots in the paper and online today.  Many have commented on how diverse it was and how it looked like America.  But the best part of the crowd was how happy and optimistic and inclusive it was.  It also struck me as the opposite of the typical Bush crowd, which is a smug and exclusive one that enjoys reminding everyone how they are more American than the liberal rabble.  Dick Cheney seems to be the typical Bush crowd member.
• Funny to think that eight years ago and today I woke up and asked the same question: how did that guy become President?  Obviously, the tone and context of the two questions are completely different.
• We went to the Western states ball last night at the Convention Center.  Though we did stick around to see Obama we did see and hear a quick speech from Biden and ran into lots of friends and colleagues.  We were entertained by Marc Anthony - with wife Jennifer Lopez for one song - and though it was a cash bar I had a good time. It was simply fun to be part of the festivities, to go downtown wearing a tux to mark getting the country back and electing a new - and good - president.  

Great Day on the Mall

Pretty exhilarating day on the Mall today, to say the least.

It was great to:

• be surrounded by We The People on the Mall
• belt out 'This Land is Your Land' with the crowd as we waited for the ceremony to begin
• see Bush and Cheney leave
• see other elected officials like Pelosi, Markey and John Lewis as part of the festivities
• see how happy Joe Biden was about becoming vice president

and it was awe inspiring to:

• see Obama become president
• see the first family installed in Washington, and
• be part of history as an African-American and former community organizer and NYPIRG employee became President of these United States.
  

Just a fantastic day and fantastic event for our country.

A few random notes:

• It was really cold, but the crowd was fine with it. Other than a few cold toes we faired well; Ariadne, Evan and Alison toughed it out
• We had no problem whatsoever - no problem at all - with the Metro. We got there at 9 am, didn't wait for a train for more than 3 minutes; ditto on the way home from Farragut North. Kudos Metro!

Off to the Mall

We're off to the Mall, and I've already started crying describing the magnitude of this day to the kids.  

Obama Eve

I'm incredibly excited as we approach Inauguration Eve.  Or maybe I'm excited because Wayne Ellington broke out of a season-long slump AND Bush is finally leaving office AND Obama is about to become president.  Either way, I'm excited.

I blogged in November about how much the election meant for America, Americans and our democratic institutions and culture. Two months later, I'm still exhilarated by Obama and the American electorate.  I can only add two comments to those earlier November blogs.

One, i think this election marks a shift in the American electorate.  The public gets it, whether that it is the role of government, clean energy, race relations in the U.S. - pick any topic.  The changing demographics and the increase in young voters marks a dynamic shift in our politics.  I should be cautious about making such a broad statement, especially only four years after Rove et.al. made similar ones, but we could be on the verge of a long Democratic run similar to the one brought about by the stock market crash of 1929.  Post-Katrina, post-Madoff/financial crisis people value government and conversely distrust money much in the same way Americans did in the 30s and 40s.  That shift in favor of government activism and faith in liberalism led to Democratic control of Congress - at least the House - for 40 years!  And during that run Congress passed some of the best laws in the history of laws: the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act, the Wilderness Act, the Fair Housing Act, another Voting Rights Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, etc. etc.  

If the next 40 years were half as productive it would be a great era.  Here's hoping it comes true.

Two, the election of an African-American reaffirms the great American myths, actually moves them from myth to reality.  One of the most pernicious facets of the African-American experience - most pernicious for blacks than for the country as a whole, to be clear - is that it mocked all of the best American ideals, ideals such as 'all men are created equal' and 'work hard and you'll get ahead' and 'anyone in American can grow up to be president.'  For as long as there has been a United States those very powerful and important American ideals did not apply to African-Americans.  Worse actually, since the opposite was true about slavery; work hard and you'll get nothing. 

Though we are far from a perfect union - actually something our Founders did not think we could achieve so they set their sights on a more realistic goal of a 'more perfect' one - the election of Barack Obama means that for the first time in our nation's history the African-American experience has finally been completely woven into the full fabric of America.  

The evolving American electorate and a great candidate named Barack Obama made that happen, and that should make every American proud as we approach a very momentous Inauguration Day.  It certainly makes me feel that way.

Inaugural Notes

• Ariadne and I will head down to the Mall to watch the ceremony on one of the big screens they are setting up and to be amongst we the people.  If you're in DC let me know if you want to join us.
• The SIerra Club was able to secure two tickets for me and Alison to go to the Western States ball on Inauguration Night.  Depending on how I look in my tux I may or may not post photos from that night.
• Happy Martin Luther King Day, too.  The symbolism of that day and Inauguration Day speaks for itself.
• Despite the absence of Chicago-based Wilco from the show I enjoyed today's concert on the Mall.  I was especially impressed by the singing of all five verses of 'This Land is Your Land,' including the subversive ones (about bread lines and violating private property).  Seeing Pete Seeger - who was black balled as a Communist and banned from TV until the late 60s - at an event like that was like seeing Muhammed Ali light the torch at the 1996 Olympics - a man who less than 20 years prior to that event was imprisoned for opposing the draft and Vietnam.  Two guys who persevered and saw their country change for the better.  And Obama becomes president!  Pretty cool 'only in America' stuff.

Obama Hoops Press

Great article in today's Post by John Feinstein about Obama's brother-in-law Craig Robinson, the coach at Oregon State.

Another good Obama/hoops article is in this week's SI. How good is the article: it mentions Dean TWICE!

Heels Successfully Push Season Reset Button

Carolina's season started anew tonight, with 6 minutes left to go in the first half against the U.  From that point on, Carolina dominated, and in the process reinvigorated their season.

This game had BC written all over it.  A good team that came in unintimidated, and hit a number of difficult shots early to build a lead that Carolina could not whittle down - despite generally running their regular offense centered on getting Hansbrough lots of looks.  Jack McClinton was having a Tyrese Rice kind of half, and the Heels were down.

Perhaps the sheer number of touches Hansbrough got caused others to fall asleep, at least offensively, but whatever the reason Caroline trailed 24-32 with 6 and half minutes left in the opening stanza.  Despite Hansbrough's effectiveness - 17 points in 14 minutes - and Danny Green's great all around play, the Heels were down and the bad BC juju was starting to reemerge.

At that point the season turned, and it was turned by Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington.

Lawson started the season as the Tar Heels' best player.  With Hansbrough slowed by injuries Lawson led the Heels to their early successes in Maui, a home win against Kentucky and the huge blow out win over Michigan State.  But he's also been outplayed recently.

But Ty got his groove back the last four minutes of the first half - improbably on the defensive end.  Starting with a great hustling steal against McClinton at the four minute mark Lawson led Carolina's comeback, a comeback that turned an eight point deficit to a four point half time lead. The surge was made possible by his smothering defense on McClinton while Carolina's offense turned steals and blocked shots into fast breaks at the end of the first half.

Unlike the games against BC and Wake, Lawson outplayed an all-ACC caliber guard tonight.

In the second half Wayne Ellington relieved Lawson in turning around the season. After a scoreless first half Ellington really got his groove back - to say the least - hitting 7 three-pointers in the second half. During one stretch he hit 8 shots in a row and led Carolina to a 20 point cushion over the Canes.  Ellington had been in a funk all season really, and prior to the Miami contest his high for the season was TWO made threes in a game.

Having Lawson and Ellington back to their expected form once again makes this a dangerous team.  Even if Deon Thompson continues to struggle, having Hansbrough, Green, Lawson and Ellington hitting their collective strides - and hitting shots and playing defense - puts the swagger back and restores the aura for this year's Carolina basketball team.

A Few More Heel Notes

• Ed Davis got some of his groove back too tonight.  He had two huge blocks in the last four minutes of the first half, two offensive rebounds, and a nice put back.  He and Green had tremendous games on the defensive end tonight.
• An unsung hero was Bobby Fraser, who was on the floor the last two minutes of the first half guarding McClinton. Fraser still struggles mightily on offense, but he held McClinton scoreless at a key juncture of tonight's win. Interestingly, during that stretch Carolina had Frasor, Davis, Green, Hansbrough, and Ellington on the floor.
• Hansbrough is the MAN.  But you'll get an argument from many that Danny Green is indeed the MAN.  Regardless, those two kept Carolina in the game in the first half by their damnselves.  Hansbrough had 20 first half points and was a one-man band for much of that stanza.  Green had those two massive blocks in the first half and hit the three pointer at the end of the first 20 to give Carolina a 4 point margin.  Green finished the night with 12 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks.
• Looks like Ginyard will red shirt this season. I feel sorry for him, but at least we'll have him next year where he can perhaps metamorphose into David Noel  
• How about that dunk by Miami's Daquan Jones?  One of the nastiest I've seen in a long time; it was Stackhouse-at Duke-esque.
• Wake looked impressive in winning at Clemson today.  They had too many talented bigs for the Tigers.
• During the telecast Vitale predictably shilled for a beleaguered coach, in this case Gary Williams.  He predicted a surprise win when in reality Maryland has been more renowned of late for surprise and shocking losses.  Not gonna happen Dickie V.

Anyway, Clemson - who is 0-55 in Chapel Hill for one of the most amazing records in sport - come to Carolina on Wednesday. Can't wait to see the Heels come out for that game, and to watch Lawson and Ellington help Green and Hansbrough make this a great season.  Go Heels!

Heels Get Back on Track

Carolina looked like Carolina again on Thursday in defeating ACC-bottom dweller Virginia in Charlottesville.  Carolina got out to an early lead, and the Cavaliers could only make it a game when Roy went to an odd line up at the 10 minute mark of the first half.

Carolina did the things a classic Tar Heel team does:  feed the post and get good shot, and run every time you get a chance.  The best news from this game was the play of Ty Lawson.  He ran often - quite often the result of nice defensive plays by my man Danny Green - and did a great job feeding Hansbrough.   Psycho-T got lots of touches, lots of trips to the free throw line, and lots of points.  Both Tys looked good, with Hansbrough netting a double-double.

Danny Green had another typical Danny Green game: some steals, some 3s, some great D, and a freak nasty dunk.   His versatility makes his a great Heel, but also an intriguing NBA prospect.  The fact that he makes plays on both ends, and has cut down on bad plays, could translate into a later first round draft pick in the June draft.

So lot of good things to take away from this game, but it's hard to gauge how good a team is when it plays Virginia, a team that lost to Liberty University earlier in the season.   Nonetheless, it was the first ACC win of the season and a road game at that so I shouldn't quibble.

The Heels host the Hurricanes Saturday a 9 pm.  Miami seems to be back up and is on a six-game winning streak.  Their last win was a come from behind victory over lame Maryland on Wednesday.

ACC NOTES

• Big game today between number 3 Wake and number 9 Clemson in the lesser Carolina.   I wonder when the last time there was an ACC game between two top 10 teams and neither team was Duke or Carolina?  I was going to have my research team look that up this morning but he was on a play date.
• Duke just defeated Georgetown in Cameron.  I wasn't rooting for Duke but was glad to see them defeat the Hoyas, and for an ACC win over the overrated Big East. The Big East has good teams, but their strength is more quantity than quality; it's two conferences fused into one.  I also think the Big East benefits from it geographic overlap with New York and Bristol, the two poles of sports of journalism.   And outside of the Huskies, teams from that conference have under achieved in the NCAA tournament of late.
• FSU won two games this week, including on the road at NCSU on Tuesday.  That may say more about how bad State is than how good the Seminoles are, but if FSU finished with 8 wins in the ACC their non-conference schedule may allow them to sneak into the NCAA tournament.
• Maryland went 0-2 on their Florida road trip and may end up challenging Virginia and Georgia Tech for the worst team in the ACC.

Hate Blogging After A Loss

Two days after Carolina lost on the road to Wake Forest and I have to drag myself to this blog (but hey, my eight readers have been hounding me . . . well, at least seven of them have).

The game is old news by now.  The silver lining is that Carolina played terrible, on the road, against a top 5 team, and yet only lost by 3 points.  And, when the season began, if there was a game that Carolina was likely to lose, it was this one.  

Still, watching Carolina play badly is disturbing.   But not so much for the loss.  Carolina basketball means something, and one of those things is you don't take what the defense gives you.  Rather, you do what YOU want to do.  That sentiment was coined and put into practice by Dean.   Another Dean-ism is the best shot is the shortest shot.  The three-pointer is important, but it is NOT Carolina basketball.  

Against Wake, Carolina and especially Lawson and Ellington, took what Wake gave the Heels.  Instead of pounding the ball inside to Hansbrough et. al. Lawson kept the ball on the perimeter too much, and late the entire team - even Hansbrough! - got way too three happy.  Carolina was way too passive and let Wake do what Wake wanted to do.

The only Tar Heel who played like a Tar Heel was Danny Green.  On offense he took threes when it was a good shot, but also penetrated, played the passing lanes and was great on defense.  He played and thought and reacted like a Tar Heel. No one else did.

Will Graves and Larry Drew had good stretches.  Graves' three point play gave Carolina a 57-54 lead, a play I expected to spark a typical game-clinching run that is a Tar Heel trademark.   Drew flashed some offense but was especially strong on defense.  

Finally, besides the straying from Dean-inspired Tar Heel ball, the other disturbing thing about the loss - and I mean earth-shaking, cold-sweat disturbing - was watching our two best players - Hansbrough and Lawson - look bad and discombobulated for 40 minutes.   

Hopefully it's a one game thing; Hansbrough will bounce back.  But I'm close to pushing - well, actually not that close - the panic button on Lawson. He's been completely dominated in both losses, on the defensive and offensive ends.  Against Wake, foul trouble - on two terrible calls - hurt his play on D.  But he needs to pick it up.  He was the best Heel early in the season when he was incredibly focused - on both winning a championship and playing for an NBA contract.   But that play disappeared against Tyrese Rice and Ed Teague.  Here's hoping Ty gets his mojo back on Thursday in Charlottesville.

Other Hoops Notes

• The referees were terrible in that game.  Way too many fouls and no flow to the game, a college game that did not go into overtime yet took 2 and half hours to play.  I don't think the officiating hurt Carolina.  It was simply a poorly officiated college basketball game.
• I assume folks caught one of the most shocking basketball scores since last year, when Maryland lost to American at home, when the Terps lost at HOME to Morgan State, a marginal team from the MEAC (Coppin State they ain't).  It's going to be hard for Gary Williams to keep his job if they miss the NCAA tournament this year. 
• One last Terp note.   The Morgan State game was the fourth Maryland game I've watched this year, so I feel confident in stating that Greveis Vasquez is the dumbest player in the ACC.  The Post had a article on Vasquez that highlighted how much he dislikes the Maryland fans in College Park, and how often he curses at the student section.  I may be going out a limb here, but I don't think Dean (or any other ACC coach in the league today) would condone that kind of behavior.
• The Morgan State game was on the same night that BC lost at HOME to Tommy Amaker's Harvard team.  An embarrassing night for the ACC.  Not only are those two schools hoops nobodies but they are coached by failures like Amaker and Morgan State's Todd Bozeman, the disgraced former coach at Cal.
• As bad as Carolina played on Sunday, our hometown Wizards looked much worse the night before in losing to Raymond Felton and Larry Brown and the Charlotte Bobcats.  I went to that game with Evan and my man Ed "Go Huskies" Mierzwinski.  The Wizards looked good for most of the game, especially young guns JaVale McGee and Nick Young, but also Javartis Crittendon.  The Wizards had great looks down the stretch, and in the last two minutes every player on the floor - Jamison, Butler, Blatche, James and Young - each missed open and good shots.
  
  But the game wasn't lost in the last minute, they lost it in the fourth quarter when Raymond Felton came back in after spraining his ankle.  He dominated (4 assists, 4 points, 3 assists in the last 7 minutes or so) and set up his teammates. The inability to get our All Stars good shots is the biggest problem with the Wizards.  The 'Zards start journeyman Mike James at point, and it's not working. I'd go with Crittendon and Young, with Butler, Jamison and Blatche, in the line up and use James, McGee, etc. off the bench. The bad point guard play hurts this team offensively and defensively, and did so against the Bobcats on Sunday and in another loss to Milwaukee on Monday.  Yeesh.
  

Quick Music Note

I vote in an annual music poll organized by a fellow activist here in DC.  This year my selections for best music were all singles.  I couldn't think of a single long-playing record I really liked.   Here is my list of top singles/music for 2008, in no particular order:

Golden Age - TV on the Radio.  Rips off baselines from my favorite record of 2007 by LCD Soundsystem, but cool and accessible hooks.
100 Yard Dash - Rafael Saadiq.  Great neo-soul hook and love the back up dancers in the video; song is too short.
Vote for Hope - MC Yogi. Obama theme song.
Strange Overtones - David Byrne and Brian Eno, from my favorite album of the year.  Self described as folk gospel or something pretentious like that; great phrasing by David Byrne.
L.E.S Artistes - Santogold. Funky and quirky and hooky and syncopated and sung by a cool girl.
Untouched - The Veronicas.  Sounds like the 80s without sounding like the Killers ripping off the 80s.
That's Not My Name - The Ting Tings. Stupid by oh so hooky, great hooks, great name, stuck in my iPod all fall.
Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now - McFadden and Whitehead. Stuck on heavy rotation ever since the election, but not a new release.

Obama Music Poll

I've got an almost embarrassing Obama mix on my iPod (the iMix can be found at http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewIMix?id=296144153 ). That mix, plus the looming inauguration, inspired this week's poll. For more on the songs featured in the poll you can visit my Facebook page. I think you need to look under Boxes to find my music (assuming we are 'friends').

ACC Basketball Preview

Hope everyone has had a great holiday season. I've enjoyed the break; we had a good time playing tourists in DC as we visited the Lincoln Memorial, the new Capitol Visitor Center, and the National Zoo in the last 10 days.

But I am really looking forward to two big January happenings: inauguration day; but more urgently the start of the ACC basketball season.

ACC basketball - unlike football, which went 4-6 in bowl games - has had a decent December. So far there have been impressive wins by Carolina and Maryland over Michigan State, Duke trounced Purdue and Xavier (the Musketeers have in turn defeated Virginia Tech and Virginia), Carolina and Miami have beaten Kentucky (Miami winning in Lexington), Carolina won the Maui Invitational, Florida State took down the Gators (and NC State had a great chance to defeat Florida in Gainesville yesterday but choked in the final minute), Virginia Tech and Miami have each beaten St. John's on the road (something Notre Dame could not do) and once again the ACC won their made for TV challenge versus the Big 10.

Those are the highlights. There are some shocking low lights, such as Virginia losing at HOME to Liberty (Jerry Falwell's school). And Georgia Tech losing at home to Penn State and Illinois-Chicago . . . and Virginia, and Florida State losing to Northwestern. In general, Georgia Tech and Virginia did not help the conference at all in December (especially when you consider the Yellow Jackets' blow out loss to LSU in the Chik-Fil-A Bowl in their home town).

So after looking at the ACC schedule, here are my predictions and descriptions for the upcoming men's basketball season.

Carolina 15-1
Clemson 11-5
Duke 11-5
Wake Forest 9-7
Miami 9-7
Virginia Tech 8-8
Boston College 7-9
NC State 7-9
Maryland 6-10
Florida State 6-10
Virginia 4-12
Georgia Tech 3-13

A few observations:

• As you can see, I'm going on a limb and predicting that Carolina will lose a game. As Bill Guthridge once said, "basketball is not an undefeated sport." I think the Heels will take both games versus Duke, giving Hansbrough, Green and company a four-year sweep of the Devils in Cameron. I see the Heels slipping up at either Miami or maybe NC State. The Heels will NOT lose at Wake; one, they are too talented and two, though at home Wake will be coming off an 8 day layoff and will be rusty and red-meat for the Heels.
• Wake will make the NCAA tournament but are probably the most overrated team in the ACC. Unique among the upper echelon teams in the ACC, Wake does not own a win over a top 25 team though they did defeat an unranked Baylor team and just traveled to Utah to defeat Brigham Young (the university, not the person). I think Wake will hold serve at home but will have trouble on the road in the ACC. With at least 9 wins and good talent this team will reassert the Deacons' place in the top half of the ACC, and mark the complete recovery from Chris Paul's early departure and Skip Prosser's untimely death.
• I'm still not that impressed with Duke. I think this team will win it's share of games, but once again they are too dependent on the three-point shot, and once again Krzyzewski has not developed a reliable bench. By the time Duke rolls into Chapel Hill to end the season they will be spent and done, and fodder for a West Virginia or Arizona State or Wisconsin in the second or third round of the NCAA tournament.
• It's hard to call them a dark horse, but Clemson is one of the most intriguing teams in the ACC. Oliver Purnell knows what he is doing, and this squad will improve on last season's record and likely make it to the sweet 16. The Tigers destroyed Miami, in Coral Gables, in December and could easily finish with 12 or 13 wins if they win at Boston College and/or Florida State.
• Those two teams - the Eagles and Seminoles - will have NIT-worthy seasons punctuated by an inability to win on the road. They have talent, but without the adrenaline and energy of a home crowd will struggle to get to 7 wins. A bit more talent or seasoning could get these guys to 9 wins but I don't see it happening.
  
• The U should be better but unlike Clemson I don't see them picking up any big road wins. The Canes will likely win at bottom feeders like Virginia and Georgia Tech but struggle everywhere else. They will be a bubble team all season long, and have to win at either Maryland, BC or NC State to get to 9 wins. But 9 wins in the conference is no guarantee to make the NCAA tournament. Miami only has one quality non-conference win, at Kentucky. Their season may be undone by the loss at home to Ohio State in the ACC-Big 10 challenge, the game in which All-ACC player Jack McClintock was ejected after slapping at a Buckeyes player, a bone-headed move that cost a game and perhaps a season.
• Virginia Tech is another talented bubble team. They'll get to 8 and 8 but like Miami lack a defining non-conference win, and are unlike Miami will probably end up in the NIT. Unlike the Hurricanes, who may stay home due to McClintock's mistake, the Hokies may miss the NCAA tournament due to Xavier hitting a half-court prayer at the buzzer. A win at Duke tonight would help VPI get to 9 wins and give them a signature victory.
• NC State will overachieve to get to 7 wins. With J.J. Hickson gone, Costner and McCauley should rebound and return to the form of two years ago. But State is still very weak at the point and will get to 7 wins primarily due to the fact they play Georgia Tech, Virginia and Boston College 5 times.
• Finally, it will be another rough season in College Park, with lots of howling for Gary Williams' head. This team will be very shaky on the road and limp to 6 wins and the NIT. I have no idea how they defeated Michigan State. Not to jump all over Gary, but it's fascinating to look at all the local talent he has NOT recruited to Maryland. The list is a who's who of young basketball talent: Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Michael Beasley, Ty Lawson, Marcus Ginyard, and that's just off the top of my head and from the last three years! All of those guys played high school ball or grew up in the DC-metro area but never made it up to College Park.
  
• So the ACC should get 5 bids to the NCAA tournament, an underwhelming number of participants. I've blogged this before, but the ACC has yet to benefit from the football-inspired expansion. The football season produced mediocrity, as evidenced by the bowl record of the conference, and the football schools have yet to enhance the hoops side of the ledger. And the unbalanced scheduled - necessitated by a 12-team league - has weakened the value of winning 8 or 9 games in the ACC. Eight wins in conference used to be a lock when the NCAA tournament committee knew a team had played Carolina and Duke four times a season. But those days are gone.

That's how I see the season playing out. Let me know what you think, and Go Heels!