College Hoops Takes Center Stage
By Jim Feist
With the Super Bowl in the rear view mirror, the next big event on the sports stage is college basketball's season-ending tournaments. Since 1997, college basketball's national champion has come from several different conferences: the Pac 10 (Arizona), SEC (Kentucky and Florida), Big 10 (Michigan State), the ACC (Duke, Maryland, North Carolina), Nig 12 (Kansas) and the Big East (UConn, Syracuse). Over the next few weeks, let's examine some of the top hoop teams in each conference, starting this week with the ACC.
Duke: Coach Mike Krzyzewski has another talented team trying to defend its national title, one that is flexing its ACC muscles again. This is an athletic team behind the backcourt of senior guard Nolan Smith (20 ppg) and a big frontcourt of 6-8 senior Kyle Singler (18 ppg, 6.3 rpg) and 6-10 Mason Plumlee (6.6 ppg, 8.6 rpg). They like the uptempo game averaging 85 ppg. "The big guys, Ryan Kelly had a really good week, and I think Mason continues to rebound well, and Miles Plumlee gave us energy," Krzyzewski said.While everyone thinks of Duke as a run-and-gun, three-point team, note that the defense has been outstanding, allowing 63.7 ppg. Duke is tops in the ACC in points, field goals (48%), three point shooting (39.9%) and free throws (75.8%), sound fundamentally all around. They have a big showdown this week with rival North Carolina and a rematch in four weeks.
Maryland: The Terrapins have excellent experience, height and balance for Coach Gary Williams. The big frontcourt sports 6-10 sophomore Jordan Williams (17 ppg, 12 rpg) and 6-7 senior Dino Gregory and 6-6 senior Cliff Tucker (11 ppg). Maryland is third in the ACC in scoring and tops in assists. They are also outstanding defensively, fourth in the ACC in points allowed, which explains a recent 6-1 run under the total. "We're not a team that can depend on style points to win games," said Williams. "Our pressure defense helps us. Every team has to play a certain way each year, and that has to be us this year. We have to play with a lot of intensity."
Virginia Tech: The Hokies started 4-4, but ripped off a 10-2 SU, 6-3 ATS run, including a 74-57 win at Maryland as a +5 dog. They are doing it with defense, in the Top 4 in the ACC in points allowed and shooting defense, led by 6-7 senior Jeff Allen (12.5 ppg, 9.5 rpg) and senior G Malcom Delaney (18 ppg). After a 6-0 start under the total oddsmakers have caught up. Coach Seth Greenberg prefers man-to-man defense, but he has gone zone against taller teams. V-Tech has a rematch with Maryland this weekend and a big date with Duke in two weeks.
North Carolina: The Tar Heels are a great rebounding team, No. 2 in the country, with a power frontcourt of 6-10 sophomore Josh Henson (10 ppg, 8.5 rpg), 7-foot, 250-lb Tyler Zeller (13.8 ppg, 7 rpg) and 6-8 freshman Harrison Barnes (12.5 ppg, 5 rpg) up front. They have been on an 8-1 SU, 5-3 ATS run, but flopped in the only game as a dog in a 79-67 loss to Illinois. They can win ugly, if needed: Trailing by as many as 11 points in the second half, after going roughly nine minutes without a field goal, UNC nonetheless topped Virginia 62-56 in an ugly ACC opener. Both teams shot worse than 27 percent in the second half, but the Tar Heels made 14 of their last 16 free throws to survive. "I feel like I've been inside the cookie jar in the cookie store and stole every cookie out of the jar and every cookie out of the store," said Roy Williams. "And I want to get out of town as fast as I can. It was one of the ugliest W's I've ever been involved with."
Florida State: The Seminoles have been getting it done with defense, allowing 60.5 ppg, second in the ACC, behind senior guard Derwin Kitchen (10 ppg, 6 rpg) and 6-9 junior Chris Singleton (14 ppg, 7.4 rpg). That defense explains an 8-4 run under the total. The Seminoles play four of six games starting this week on the road, including trips to North Carolina, Wake and Maryland. That could be a make or break test.