01/31/06 Virginia Tech 63, Georgia Tech 62 – Blacksburg, Va.
A good win for the Hokies in that they needed another conference win, but honestly, it’s hard to see it being that significant for either team in the long run. Georgia Tech is already too deep in the hole to realistically consider any postseason tournament and Virginia Tech is in nearly as much trouble. The best news for the Hokies is that it was their second consecutive ACC win. The bad part is that they don’t get to see Wake Forest or Georgia Tech again.
01/31/06 Miami 78, Wake Forest 69 – Coral Gables, FL
It’s telling that this result is not surprising at all at this point. It would have been almost a shock if Wake Forest had gone down to Miami and won. Miami has quietly established themselves as a top-half ACC team. A little too quietly, apparently. Only 4124 fans deemed the game worth the effort to attend. Is that an indictment of Miami’s program or Wake Forest’s?


02/01/06 NC State 66, Virginia 64 – Raleigh, N.C.
NC State looked to me to be the better team all night, but they couldn’t shake the tenacious Cavaliers. Virginia is like an ugly mutt that just keeps hanging on to a chew toy no matter how much you shake it. While they aren’t quite pretty enough to love, you have to admire their effort.
Virginia actually could make an argument that they should have won this game. They built a late lead after trailing all game, but the Wolfpack woke up just in time and made just enough plays to seal the win. A Sean Singletary 30-footer that would have won the game clanged off the rim at the buzzer. Pack fans can take solace in the fact that they used to lose games like this.
02/01/06 Florida State 69, Clemson 59 – Tallahassee, FL
Like Miami, Florida State is quietly having a good year. One thing good teams do is take care of business against lesser teams at home. FSU has already dropped two home games, so getting this one was important for them. The win put them at 4-4 at the midway part of the conference schedule. Clemson dropped to 3-5.
02/01/06 Duke 83, Boston College 81 – Chestnut Hill, Mass.
This was the marquee matchup of the week and it certainly lived up to its billing. BC packed the house and even sprinkled in some celebrities who wanted to see the traveling Duke show. They probably didn’t like what they saw. Duke built a big lead and then inexplicably got tentative. The Eagles are not a terribly pretty team, but they are tenacious and Duke’s relaxed attitude really gave them life. Jared Dudley in particular is an emotional player and he damn near rode a wave of energy to a huge comeback win.
After the game, most of the attention was focused on a bad missed call in the final seconds. Shelden Williams pretty clearly fouled Tyrese Rice with just about 8 seconds left but no foul was called. It’s important to note though that even if Rice had gotten the call and hit both free throws, BC would still have been down one and would have been forced to foul. The game was far from won yet.
The missed call and the free throw disparity – Duke attempted 37 while BC shot just 13 – led to a frenzy of “Duke Gets All The Calls” missives and just stoked the fire for Duke’s second game of the week. Read on for more on that one.
02/02/06 North Carolina 77, Maryland 62 – College Park, Md.
I’m not sure if this win meant more for UNC than it hurt Maryland. It was certainly important for both. Carolina’s had a nice season, but they hadn’t yet proven whether they were a good story or a good team. Road wins in College Park, especially 15-point wins, are signs of a good team.
For Maryland, this game sort of exemplified their whole post-Blake/Dixon/Baxter existence – a whole lot of running around and shouting, but not a lot of good basketball. It’s really interesting to look at the three non-Duke-or-UNC ACC programs who recently stepped up into national prominence. Maryland won a national title in 2002. Last year, they missed the NCAA tourney and it looks likely that they’ll miss it again this year. Georgia Tech played in the national title game in 2004. They will finish with a losing record this year. Wake Forest hit #1 in the country early last season. They have completely fallen apart this year and may well finish with a losing record.
You see, it’s hard to stay on top. Many teams reach the pinnacle, or near it. In fact, a few teams do every year. But very, very few programs can sustain that excellence. It’s very hard to to. Think about that and appreciate what Duke and UNC have done for decades now.
02/04/06 Duke 97, Florida State 96 (OT) – Durham, N.C.
This was a great, exciting game. Florida State came into Cameron and played with no fear and came about as close as you can (well OK, Virginia Tech came closer) to winning. If only Leonard Hamilton could bottle the intensity that his teams bring when they play Duke. The Noles seem to upset Duke every other season or so, but still manage to muddle around the lower reaches of the league. Why can’t they bring their A game against everyone?
For Duke, two big issues came out of this game, issues that I don’t have room to address here. I’ll try to get to them later. The first is the one I alluded to above – Duke getting the calls. The Blue Devils attempted 43 free throws in this game while Florida State attempted just 11. At the same time, Duke attempted 22 three-pointer while FSU tried just 10. Those numbers, plus a few very questionable calls (including one the ACC suspended the refs for) have really ignited the Duke haters out there into an inferno of conspiracy theories. Since I could write a lot of words on this issue, I’ll wait until I can give it the space it deserves. For now, just read this excellent Al Featherston piece that addresses most of the key points.
The other key issue this game illuminated to me was Duke’s stubborn use of man-to-man defense. Again though, I don’t have the time or space to address it here. Look for an article on this soon.
02/04/06 Virginia 75, Wake Forest 73 – Charlottesville, VA
Another solid win by the Cavaliers and another feeble effort from Wake Forest. While sharing the court with all-conference players Justin Gray and Eric Williams, Sean Singletary further cemented my opinion that he is a first-team caliber player. Singletary completely dominated the run of play at times – scoring, passing and even rebounding. The numbers may not fully justify it, but Singletary should be on the first team All-ACC squad (at this point).
02/04/06 Miami 70, Georgia Tech 53 – Atlanta, Ga.
Make it three straight ACC wins for Miami, including two on the road. I think they are still an NCAA bubble team, but they are putting themselves on the high side of that bubble.
02/04/06 North Carolina 76, Clemson 61 – Chapel Hill, NC
Taxes and death and all that.
BTW, I didn’t realize that Reyshawn Terry was such a talented impressionist. The last couple of games, he’s done an outstanding impression of a good player!
02/04/06 Boston College 74, Virginia Tech 73 – Blacksburg, Va.
Heartbreak #342 for the Hokies. Despite my words above, a win here might have sparked a late run for the Turkeys. Not only would it have been an upset over a ranked team, but it would have been their third straight conference win. Alas, ”twas not to be.
For BC, I’m starting to think that I need to swap Craig Smith and Jared Dudley. Dudley is playing fantastic basketball and he’s the heart of this team. Craig Smith seems a bit disinterested at times.
02/05/06 NC State 62, Maryland 58 – Raleigh, N.C.
Just enough to win – that’s NC State’s modus operandi of late. This game was pretty damn ugly, but the Pack got the result that they needed. They don’t include style points in the standings.
The Terps have now lost three straight. They beat Georgia Tech just after losing Chris McCray, but they are o-fer since. It’s looking bleak for this team right now. They have a good collection of players, but they just seem lost. They don’t fit together or something. It just goes to show the value of a good, authentic point guard. DJ Strawberry is a nice player, but he’s not a point guard.


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