This Week in ACC Hoops

Believe it or not, we are now halfway through conference play, and predicting who will finish where in the standings of the ACC is like trying to predict how many more months it will be until Kevin Federline is really working in the fast food industry.

This Week in the ACC 2/6-2/12

Once again, a great week of hoops with lots of surprises.

Biggest win of the week: Boston College destroying Virginia Tech 80-59

To be honest, I really didn't think that BC had a chance to beat VT, because seemingly the Hokies posed many match-up problems for the Eagles. Boy was I wrong. Jared Dudley (30 points, 13 rebounds) and Tyrese Rice (20 points, 8 assists) had spectacular performances, which again, were a little surprising to me based on my high expectations of VT's defense. Hey, I'd rather whiff on predictions now, as opposed to when I'm filling out my bracket in March.

It was big for BC to beat FSU last week, because it was their first win after Sean Williams was kicked off the team, and it was against a pretty solid conference foe. VT is higher up on the food chain than the 'Noles are, so now I think the Eagles proved that they can beat a pretty legit national opponent without Williams. The next step for BC is for them to prove they are still talented enough to compete for the ACC title.

Runner Up: NC State upsets #3 North Carolina 83-79

I think at this point it's fair to wonder just much more successful NC State would've been this season if they had Engin Atsur healthy for the entire year. In his 2^nd game back from a hamstring injury, Astur has 12 points and 10 assists in the upset victory. Don't forget this victory came on the heels of the Wolpack's upset victory over VT a couple nights before in Astur's 1^st game back from injury. It's pretty clear that having Astur on the floor makes an astonishing difference for NC State. It isn't unreasonable to think that with their point guard healthy all year NC State might be a team that people had pegged for an NCAA Tournament berth. Regardless, this is not a team that you want to play in the 1^st round of the ACC Tournament.

As for the Tar Heels, I was considering them for nomination in the category of "worst loss of the week". However, how can you call it a bad loss when your opponent shoots 76% from the field in the 2^nd half? Not much you can do about that.

Worst loss of the week: Duke losing to Florida State 68-67

On paper, this looked like a good match-up for Duke. To set the scene; an opponent coming into Cameron Indoor Stadium, a place they've never won. This opponent has an offense that can put up a lot of points, but gives up just as many. An opponent that tends to go through stretches of games where they can't score because they're turning the ball over, and when they do hold onto the ball they're forcing bad shots. This seemingly would work out great for Duke, because the Blue Devils are so great at giving their opposition knockout blows when they're down. Did I mention that this opponent is 0-3 in ACC play on the road? Duke wins easy right?

It looked like an easy win for Coach K's team, as the Blue Devils went up 27-10 early on. Surprisingly, it was Duke who imploded for a long stretch as the 'Noles were able to go on a 23-8 to get themselves back in the game.

After the teams played pretty evenly down the stretch, Duke had a chance to win the game as they had the ball, trailing by 1 point with just over 7 seconds remaining. First, Greg Paulus blew an easy lay-up, only to have a mayday ensue for the rebound that resulted in a jump ball, possession Duke. Off the inbound, Josh McRoberts was inexplicably able to get his hands on the ball from about 5-feet from the hoop, only to miss an easy bunny.

This game really has to bother you if you're a Duke fan. Normally, the Blue Devils beat the type of team FSU is 99,999 out of 100,000 times. What went wrong here? Earlier in the year it was easy to blame Duke's losses on the play of Greg Paulus. After Paulus scored a career high 23 points, and committing only 2 turnovers, what's their excuse now?

Runner-up: Georgia Tech losing to Wake Forest 85-75

Stick a fork in GT. With their loss to WF you can officially eliminate the Yellow Jackets from an NCAA Tournament berth unless they make a miraculous turnaround. By the way, this was their 17^th straight road loss. It's pretty tough to be considered for the NCAA Tournament without winning a road game.

ACC Power Rankings

1. North Carolina (2/7 vs. Duke, 2/10 vs. WF

2. Virginia Tech (2/10 vs. Virginia)

3. Boston College (2/7 @ Miami, 2/11 @ FSU)

4. Virginia (2/6 @ Maryland, 2/10 @ VT)

5. Duke (2/7 @ UNC, 2/11 @ Maryland)

6. Florida State (2/7 @ Clemson, 2/11 vs. BC)

7. Clemson (2/7 vs. FSU)

8. NC State (2/6 @ GT, 2/10 @ Miami

9. Maryland (2/6 vs. Virginia, 2/11 vs. Duke)

10. Georgia Tech (2/6 vs. NC State, 2/11 vs. UConn)

11. Miami (2/7 vs. BC, 2/10 vs. NC State)

12. Wake Forest (2/6 vs. Winston-Salem State, 2/10 @ UNC)

The "Halfway through the season All-ACC 1^st Team"

G- Sean Singletary- Virginia

G- Zabian Dowdell- VT

F- Al Thornton- FSU

F- Tyler Hansbrough- UNC

F- Jared Dudley- BC

The "Halfway through the season All-ACC 2nd Team"

G- JR Reynolds- Virginia

G- Tyrese Rice- BC

F- Brandon Costner- NC State

F- Brandon Wright- UNC

F- Josh McRoberts- Duke

Game of the Week: Duke at North Carolina 2/7

There is never a bigger ACC game than Duke/UNC. It's amazing to me how often this game actually lives up to all of the hype around it. I don't look for that to happen this time around though.

UNC is just on a different level than Duke. Yes, I know Duke is desperate not to drop their 3^rd straight, and is going to come in and give UNC their all, but it's just not going to matter. UNC is also going to bring their "A" game, and in turn, Duke's not going to be able to catch the Tar Heels napping like NC State did last week. I look for UNC to continue to throw Duke into their downward spiral.

Runner-Up: Virginia at Virginia Tech 2/10

It will be exciting to see the two best guard duos in the conference collide when Virginia's Sean Singletary and JR Reynolds meet VT's Jaman Gordon and Zabian Dowdell. I have 3 of the 4 guards listed above on my All-Conference team, and if I had a "3^rd team", Gordon would be on it.

VT looked like a team to reckon with, but after losing to NC State and then getting decapitated by BC, the Hokies have looked pretty ugly lately. If a week long layoff enough to fix VT's problems?

Conversely, Virginia has been one of the hottest teams in the ACC as of late. They are getting tremendous play from their guards, but minimal results from their forwards. Virginia's frontcourt depth could be an issue against the Hokies. I'd look for VT to bounce back with a solid win.