Just rolled in from Greensboro, after a solid ten hour day inside the coliseum enduring some really crappy basketball. Five of the eight teams that played failed to score more than 62 points and only one team ( the worst team in the league,ironically) managed more than 70. The only lower seed not to advance was Carolina. I’m tired and my brain is scarred from what I witnessed today, so you are going to get some fairly terse synopses of the games though, in all honesty, a few sentences is all they deserve.
UVA 68, BC 62: Undermanned UVA gets by underwhelming BC. Sammy Zeglinski leads the Hoos past a BC squad that played like they couldn’t have cared less. BC returns all of it’s starters next year ( for better or worse) but one wonders if Al Skinner will be returning to coach them.
Miami 83, Wake 62: If Roy Williams is the crappy coach of the year and Paul Hewitt is the runner-up, I’m giving the bronze to Dino Gaudio. They have one of the 3 best point guards in the league and arguably the best center in league and were AWFUL in this game and at the end of the regular season. They didn’t shoot or defend well today and got completely run off the floor by a Miami team that had won only 3 of its last 14 and was without its best player. There’s no way this team deserves a spot in the NCAA tournament. On the Miami side, freshman bohemoth Reggie Johnson ( 6-9, 295) is a player to watch in the future. Kid moves his feet well for his size and dropped in 22 in 21 minutes.
GT 62, UNC 58 : The first half of this game was the worst half of basketball I think I have ever seen ( until the following game). I called this game on the nose, as a squeaker with GT prevailing in a battle of who could suck less. If you are a Carolina fan, this was a perfectly miserable ending to a perfectly miserable year ( barring an NIT appearance) after blowing a 10 point halftime lead to a team that will probably now undeservedly make the NCAA tournament. Both teams strove mightily to screw up and hand their opponent the game, but , in the end, the Heels just didn’t want it more than the Jackets.
NCST 59, Clemson 57: wow. just…wow. The evening finished off in fine style with the barn builder of barn builders, as Clemson needed a three point play with seconds remaining in the first half to get to 21 points and still only trailed by 4 !! There were 34 turnovers between the teams for the game and Clemson had only 49 points with 1:30 remaining. They pretty much have Trevor Booker and no one else. NC State won the game by shooting over 60% in the second half and over 50% for the game.
I, along with many others, knew that this year was more or less a down year for the ACC, but based on what I saw today it’s quite a bit worse than I thought. Here’s hoping tomorrow brings better basketball, though looking at the matchups on paper is anything but hope-inspiring.
