That was a heck of a game last night in Winston-Salem. It had a bit of everything. While watching Wake build up a seemingly insurmountable lead in the second half, I decided that Chris Paul is hands-down the ACC POY at this point. He was simply dominating. He ran the offense. He scored. He stole the ball (and tipped countless passes). He fouled Ewing out (and Dockery ended with four fouls). In short, he controlled the game on both ends and took over when things got close, just like he did against Carolina earlier this year.
But then something funny happened. J.J. Redick nearly stole the game single-handed, scoring 11 points in the last two minutes and had his game-tying buzzer-beater bounce off the rim. What an incredible effort. I still think I’d take Paul as the POY, but this is the first time I’ve genuinely considered Redick for it.
I did come to one clear conclusion last night though – I don’t think Wake is going to make it to the Final Four.
Duke exposed a couple of critical weaknesses. The Deacon’s defense is often unholy (or just plain holey). Justin Gray couldn’t keep me from going to the rack (little tip, Justin – Redick goes to his right 9 times out of 10). Look at what his man has done in recent games – Von Wafer of FSU had a career high in the first half, all of the Miami guards went off (can’t remember which one he had) and Redick dropped 33 on him last night
Also, Wake’s big men rarely slide over to help when the guards get beat. I think Eric Williams fouled out so much in in his first two years that he’s gun shy.
Wake’s other problem is that their halfcourt offense is average at best. When they are up 10 with 6 minutes left, they aren’t able to slow things down and still score. Basically, they just stop scoring, but their D isn’t good enough to keep the desperate opponents from scoring on them. They wake back up once it gets close again, but it could be too late by then.
To get to the Final Four, you need to be able to stop good teams from scoring and you need to be able to put away games when you have a slight lead. I’m not convinced Wake can do that three games in a row (they’ll win their first game in a blowout).
Also last night, the Hokies won in Miami. I was wrong. This team is legit. They are getting no love as a bubble team, but Virginia Tech really should be in the conversation now.
In the other conference game, Georgia Tech played juuuust well enough to win against Florida State. At home. A loss would have been crippling to the Yellow Jackets.
I actually stopped watching midway through the second half. They had come back from a halftime deficit and had built a double-digit lead and I thought the game was a done deal. Nope. The Jackets, like Wake, don’t play consistent D and also like Wake, they struggle in the halfcourt. On the flip side, the Seminoles are finally starting to play like the team they were supposed to be this year. I was impressed with Diego Romero, the guy who got so much hype last year. He’s got some moves for a big man, although he managed to grab not one rebound.
Lastly, I guess I have to mention that Virginia traveled up to Providence, Rhode Island and got whacked yet again. They lost by 19 to a team that is currently 0-7 in the Big East. In the process, they allowed Friar Donnie McGrath to hit 9-9 three pointers, tying an NCAA record. McGrath is normally a 40% shooter.
Despite Pete Gillen’s best efforts, Virginia AD Craig Littlepage showed further restraint by not firing Gillen immediately after the game. I’m thinking that for their next game, at NC State, Gillen will probably walk to center court and take a dump during a timeout and see if that does the trick. As someone cracked on the boards at thesabre.com, I hope the RBC Center scoreboard operator has made sure that the lights in the number one work for when State cracks 100.
By the way, the guys at Duke Basketball Report found a great article about former Virginia guard Majestic Mapp. You may recall that he had one year of eligibility left (although he would have had to appeal to the NCAA for it), but Gillen told him to take a hike. Virginia didn’t need him and his leadership abilities this year. Even though he had already completed his undergraduate AND masters degree at UVA, Mapp decided that he wanted to play one more year of hoops. He went to the State University of West Georgia, a Division II school and is starting there and averaging 18.2 points per game. His team is 12-1 and ranked #12 in the country. I think he made the right choice. As for Gillen, well, the results of his decision to cut Mapp loose kind of speak for themselves.
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