What a crazy day, huh? Four games, four wins by the lower seeds. I bet that’s never happened in the ACC Tournament before. Of course, that’s a pretty easy bet since until a couple of years ago, the only days with four games were Fridays and four upsets would have to include an 8 or 9 beating a 1. Still, I know I’m not the only one surprised how the games turned out. The only one I picked correctly was NC State beating Duke.
My other randomly ordered thoughts:

• I think I’m ready to hop off of the Clemson bandwagon. I still think there’s a decent chance that they’ll get in and be the school all the “experts” complain about, but I’m not as optimistic as I was yesterday. As someone pointed out to me the other day, they really don’t have enough good wins. Still, they do have 21 wins and an RPI of 45. Not spectacular, but that’s good enough to get in. But they won’t.
• OK, what about FSU? They now have 20 wins, and RPI of 38, a star player and another player returned from injury. Can they get the bid that the Tigers fumbled? A win over Carolina would make them a sure thing. A loss? I don’t know. My hunch is that they’d miss out.
• I owe Frank Haith an apology. I’ve been dogging his coaching ability for a couple of years now, but I’ve been really impressed with the Hurricanes’ play over the past couple of weeks. They’ve had serious injury problems, they booted their most talented player (point guard Denis Clemente), their season was pretty much over, and yet they’ve rallied. They beat UVA, they took a desperate Clemson to OT, they took a desperate FSU to OT and then they upset Maryland, the hottest team in the league. You have to chalk that up to some good coaching. Maybe Haith will work out afterall.
• A special Thank You to Maryland and Duke for making me look like an idiot. I touted both as potential Final Four ACC teams on the radio on Wednesday. Thanks a lot.
• Like Miami, Wake Forest has impressed me of late. Their defense is light years ahead of where it was even a month ago. They are pressuring the ball and wings all over the court. It’s they finally realized that they are young, deep and athletic – use it for something! One top of that, Ishmael Smith has really stepped up his game and is playing some of the best point work in the league. Like a lot of freshmen, he started the year strong and then lost his way in conference play, probably taken back a bit by the level of competition. He has regained his confidence though and is really using his quickness as a weapon. 15 assists last night!
• Am I the only one who watches NC State when they play like last night and wonders why this team is just a shade over .500? The easy answer is that Atsur missed a bunch of games, but still the rest of those guys can play as well. When they have things rolling, they might just be the most aesthetically pleasing team in the league. I’m fairly sure those words were never written about a Herb Sendek team.
• Hey Maryland, one more thing. Box out. Seriously.
• Harvey Hale scored 21 points in overtime? Holy cow! He had 1 point in the first 40 minutes and 21 in the extra 10? I wish I could have stayed up to see that! Sadly, my sofa is too comfy.
• Georgia Tech might have put themselves in a tough spot for the NCAAs as well. Folks seem to be assuming they’re in, but I’m not sure why. Like FSU, they have 20 wins, but their RPI is 50! Why GTU and not FSU?