ACC Basketball & NFL Playoffs Begin! Saturday open entry

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The first full Saturday of Atlantic Coast Conference Basketball begins today!

The first Saturday of a full slate of conference games used to be one of my favorite days of the year…but I don’t have the same excitement I once felt – probably due to equal parts of (a) growing older, (b) dealing with 20 years of basketball irrelevance, and (c) the ACC’s dearth of quality depth. Of course I am confident that Mark Gottfried is in the process of re-energizing all of us for more excitement in the future.

As we highlighted in this fantastic entry yesterday – the conference is off to a slow start this year (link to N&O article)

The ACC has gotten off to such a slow start that even one of its biggest advocates, ESPN announcer Dick Vitale, is down on the league.

“What has happened to the once PROUD ACC?” Vitale wrote on his Twitter account on Thursday. “UNC and Duke NEED HELP from their partners.”

Despite Vitale’s pessimism and the gloomy forecast, there will still be an ACC season.

For those of you that those that share my perspective and vantage point of Atlantic Coast Conference Basketball, you will enjoy the following.

Please use this entry as an open thread to discuss all of Saturday’s sports happenings. For more targeted conversations we highly encourage you to check out or robust message forums (linked here) where we manage to have some great conversations without a lot of the immaturity that usually plague internet message boards.

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50 Responses to ACC Basketball & NFL Playoffs Begin! Saturday open entry

  1. burnbarn 01/07/2012 at 12:56 PM #

    maybe if Vital and his ilk would stop making the battle of the blues the only thing they promote it might help increase the comp. The amount of talent those two schools have as compared to others is ridiculous. I bet there are fewer than 3 games between those two school’s schedules that are NOT televised. How many other schools get that treatment? It is a tremendous advantage.
    Of course everyone will say that is what people want to watch but really it is what they have promoted over the last 15 or so years. Back in the 90s, I don’t recall that everyone HAD to see the battle of the blues.

  2. 61Packer 01/07/2012 at 1:25 PM #

    The Pilot Life ads that ran during the ACC’s glory years were a good reflection of that league back then- sturdy from its mast to its keel. The ACC boat remains intact, but the crew (coaches) are vastly different from the one that ran things in the days of the Pilot.

    Duke and UNC stayed have stayed at the top due to Dean/Roy and Bubbas/K. Conversely State and Wake haven’t, going from Case, Sloan and Valvano to Robinson, Sendek and Lowe at State, and from McKinney, Tacy and Odom at Wake to the ongoing disaster they have now. Wake isn’t even competitive at the SOCON level this season, and until a coaching change is made there, they’ll remain an embarrassment to Tobacco Road.

    I think the ACC’s coaches overall are greatly improved over what they’ve had for the past decade. With Gott, Turgeon and Bennett at State, Maryland and UVA, the league’s image should be improved. These three have a decent shot at the NCAAT due primarily to their coaches. VT and FSU are next, but their coaches aren’t good enough in my opinion to get them over the hump that many football schools deal with in basketball. Miami has a decent and proven coach but he’s in a no-win situation in Coral Gables, where basketball ranks as high as wrestling does here. Another football school, Clemson, has a promising young coach but I have my doubts the Tigers will rise above the Barnes ceiling. GT appears lost so far. BC IS lost.

    I wouldn’t write the league off just yet.

  3. Wufpacker 01/07/2012 at 1:33 PM #

    Interesting. VT in a dogfight in Winston. ACC road games, et al.

  4. MP 01/07/2012 at 2:21 PM #

    Wake Forest looks slow and poor ball handling. They have to be in the must win column. VT is pretty tough, bad on them if they lose this one.

    Ga Tech showing something!

  5. mikeD 01/07/2012 at 2:24 PM #

    Just looking at scores, not the games, but GT is only down 4 with 4:09 left! Didn’t see that coming!

  6. MP 01/07/2012 at 2:38 PM #

    They are wilting, specifically at the free throw line. But they are not a bad looking team. They have some talent and play with confidence. Brian Gregory may be the deal at GT.

    VT may have played their way out of the NCAAT just based on today. And if State loses to Wake I will say the same thing about them. NO tourney team should lose to WF.

  7. 61Packer 01/07/2012 at 3:02 PM #

    Virginia Tech and Duke doin’ their things today: Virginia Tech losing another close game to a BAD team, Duke winning ugly on the road.

  8. StateFans 01/07/2012 at 3:20 PM #

    ^ Great point. Today’s is the type of game that comes back and haunts VPI in March.

    To Wake’s credit, they have really turned it around since the first couple of weeks of the season.

  9. BJD95 01/07/2012 at 3:22 PM #

    It’s one thing to talk about how bad the league is, from tracking boxscores and watching a handful of OOC games.

    Tis quite another to watch it in living color. That VT/Wake game…words can’t adequately describe how awful it was. No talent, no execution, no discernible battle plan, and certainly no flow.

    The microcosm of the game, and perhaps the whole league, was the last ten or so seconds of the half. VPI tossed up a three that hit the side of the backboard. Wake ran out, missed a driving lay-up, which was followed up by a wide open dunk…that bricked badly.

    Ladies and gemtlemen, I present the 2012 ACC basketball season.

  10. Howler 01/07/2012 at 3:25 PM #

    Yes, the league is down this year, but you gotta look at the bright side. This season is a GREAT opportunity to turn our program around. We should be favored to win a lot of games this year, and double-digit conference wins is not out of the question. So far, our team actually seems to be improving as the young season progresses, and that is much different that what we saw under Sid. Based on the press reports I have read, the Wolfpack has deservedly gained the reputation as the most balanced team in the league. We have a lot of guys who can score and a lot of guys who can rebound. Coaching will be key this year, with a big emphasis on maintaining intensity for the full 40 minutes, but I don’t think we will have the problem with extended scoring droughts that have seemed to be the hallmark of our teams for the last 20 years.

    I am confident that our team under Sid would have lost the Campbell game. A small conference team comes in shooting lights out, but we hung in there and eventually wore them down. It is a new day in Raleigh. Actually, I can’t think of a better time for the conference as a whole to be slumping. I say let us get back on top and then have our conference competition improve.

  11. Wufpacker 01/07/2012 at 3:38 PM #

    “That VT/Wake game…words can’t adequately describe how awful it was. No talent, no execution, no discernible battle plan, and certainly no flow.”

    Sounds like Herb on Herb violence. I don’t generally put much stock into the “opportunity because of weak conference” arguments. I want us to be in the mix when the conference is strong, of course. But for a change it is nice to think we have a shot in pretty much every upcoming game.

  12. StateFans 01/07/2012 at 3:50 PM #

    This is what happens when you allow the league, the referees and the media to promote only two teams and make it so that it isn’t even worth trying to compete with them. Why bother?

    After a while, the talent decides to go to leagues where they have a fair chance of winning and being treated fairly.

  13. Wufpacker 01/07/2012 at 4:06 PM #

    Anybody paying any attention to the spanking SMU is putting on Pitt? I was surprised to find that this game interested me. Pitt, as a future ACC competitor, of course. But SMU interests me as well, mostly because of what they used to be. I think it’s interesting to see them on the rise, the proverbial Phoenix.

    Too bad they decided to put their eggs in the Big East’s basket.

  14. BJD95 01/07/2012 at 4:45 PM #

    Sad that the 1-AA title game wasn’t more compelling viewing. Pitt looks God-awful. They will be right at home in the ACC.

    I am extremely geeked about Cincy and the Texans, because I truly have no idea what to expect. Andy Dalton and TJ Yates seem like really good kids, so I’m glad they get a chance to shine. Wish Super Mario wasn’t on IR, though. Manny Lawson starts (or at least plays a lot) for the striped pylons, though. Plus Tulloch and Willie play in the nightcap, pretty decent Wolfpack representation.

    I just looooovvvvve the first two weekends of the NFL playoffs. So very perfect.

  15. Wufpacker 01/07/2012 at 4:53 PM #

    ^ Conference Championship Sunday has always been my personal favorite.

  16. Wufpacker 01/07/2012 at 5:01 PM #

    More Herb on Herb violence going on in Death Valley, apparently.

  17. BJD95 01/07/2012 at 5:02 PM #

    That’s the best football action, for sure. But I have to suffer through a “basketball only” Saturday to get there. The first two weekends have been especially fun since moving the second Saturday game to prime time. Perfect for ordering pizza and perhaps cracking a beer or two.

  18. WeAreCured 01/07/2012 at 5:09 PM #

    Way to go VT… I hope they can climb their way back into the top 50 by the last game of the season, but if they can’t beat Wake on any floor, then it’s not likely. The Pack will need all the top 50 opportunities they can get, and it looks like the Holes, Puke, and probably the Cavs will be the only opportunities remaining.

  19. BJD95 01/07/2012 at 5:11 PM #

    The backup NBC announcing squad is light years better than the #1 Fox or CBS tandems. Tis a shame we won’t get anymore NBC telecasts after tonight.

  20. WeAreCured 01/07/2012 at 5:13 PM #

    I love that Manny Lawson doesn’t claim State as his alma mater in his intro, naming his high school instead…

  21. redwolf92 01/07/2012 at 5:15 PM #

    Saw the same thing, cured. A bit upsetting that Manny doesn’t claim us anymore….

  22. BJD95 01/07/2012 at 5:18 PM #

    OK, Lawson can go screw himself. Go Texans!!

  23. BJD95 01/07/2012 at 5:23 PM #

    Quite the turd being laid by FSU. Can’t wait to see them play the Hokies or the Deacs.

  24. Wufpacker 01/07/2012 at 5:26 PM #

    Dang…I look away for a few minutes and Clemson decides to show some life…now up 20. FSU having a very Herb-esque scoring drought for pretty much the whole first half.

  25. Wufpacker 01/07/2012 at 5:38 PM #

    So what’s up with Manny Lawson? Sour grapes over Amato getting the axe, maybe?

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