After Thursday’s disastrous outings by Clemson and Louisville, the ACC’s reputation is again in the hands of the traditional duopoly, Duke and UNC. Yes, the same UNC that was controversially included. Things will change, but we’re depending on them to salvage something of our reputation this year.
For NC State, it means a slight delay (at least) to install their new coach. And from their point of view, Clemson losing to McNeese was unfortunate.
Clemson lost to the Cowboys 69-67 but only because the Tigers showed some heart late. Otherwise, McNeese grilled them like summer sausages.
How bad was it?
Clemson hit just 1-15 of their threes in the first half, had 10 turnovers and was down 31-13 at the half.
It was an embarrassing loss not least of all since the new deal between Brownell and Clemson was only just announced.
Louisville wasn’t much better.
The Cards got blown out by Creighton 89-75 and it was over early.
We really thought both teams were better than that but apparently not. The ACC is in the midst of a reset and we hope it happens fast(er).
Along those lines, Ryan Odom is reportedly the leading candidate at Virginia and his VCU Rams were thrashed by BYU, 80-71. If it is going to be Odom, then Virginia AD Carla Williams will meet her goal of hiring Tony Bennett’s replacement by the end of the Spring Transfer Portal, which runs from March 24th to April 22nd.
As we’ve said for quite some time now, anyone who is looking to hire a new coach would be nuts not to talk to Ben McCollum. Drake advanced in his first year in D-I competition, beating former Blue Devil Mark Mitchell and Missouri, 67-57. Mitchell had eight points and eight rebounds.
Meanwhile, BBD (brief Blue Devil) Henry Coleman and Texas A&M beat Yale, 80-71. Coleman had two points and three rebounds in 14 minutes.
Finally, Brian Barone, son of former Duke guard Tony Barone, saw his SIUE team fall to Houston, 78-40. He spoke after the game of how much he’s going to miss coaching his guys, which was really sweet. Okay, bittersweet.
UNC-W gave Texas Tech a heck of a game before losing 82-72. No surprise that Auburn toyed with Alabama State, 83-63 and Tennessee put Wofford away, 77-62. Omaha gave St. John’s tons of trouble in the first half before the Johnnies asserted themselves, winning 83-53.
Wisconsin dispatched Montana 85-66, Michigan survived UC San Diego 68-65 and High Point lost respectably to Purdue 75-63. John Calipari and Arkansas took out Bill Self’s Kansas 79-72.
UCLA dominated Utah State 72-47 and Gonzaga smoked Georgia 89-68.
On Saturday, we’ll see the following:
- #1 Auburn vs. #9 Creighton
- #5 Michigan vs. #4 Texas A&M
- #11 Drake vs. #3 Texas Tech
- #10 Arkansas vs. #2 St. John’s
- #6 BYU vs. #3 Wisconsin
- #1 Houston vs. #8 Gonzaga
- #12 McNeese vs. #4 Purue
- #7 UCLA vs. #2 Tennessee
On Friday, the other half gets it going. Jeremy Roach and #9 Baylor get #8 Mississippi State, #15 Robert Morris sees #2 ‘Bama, #14 Lipscomb squares off with #3 Iowa State and #12 Colorado State plays #5 Memphis, where former Blue Devil Nolan Smith assists Penny Hardaway. Rumor patrol! CSU coach Niko Medved may be off to Minnesota to coach the Gophers.
#1 Duke and #16 Mt. St. Mary’s play at 2:50, while surprising #10 Vandy will see #7 St. Mary’s.
#11 UNC, after a smashing win over San Diego State in the First Four, will play #6 Ole Miss.
#16 Norfolk State plays #1 Florida, #14 Troy takes on #3 Kentucky before Pitino the Younger leads #10 New Mexico against Shaka Smart and #7 Marquette.
#4 Arizona takes on the #13 Akron Zips at 7:35 and then a fascinating game will see #9 Oklahoma taking on two-time defending champs #8 UConn.
#11 Xavier, so impressive against Texas in the First Four, takes on #6 Illinois. #15 Bryant most likely gets a cup of NCAA coffee against #2 Michigan State and shares the late spot with #12 Liberty and #5 Oregon.
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