Posted Aug 27th 2008 1:01AM by Sportz Assassin (author feed)
Filed under: Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Georgia Tech, Maryland, NC State, UNC Basketball, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, ACC, NCAA Basketball Fans
The ACC has released the
2008-2009 college basketball schedule. Now we can start getting our markers out and circling some dates.
Here is the first dates for marking: UNC at Duke on February 11th ... Duke at UNC on March 8th.
North Carolina: UNC has a tough schedule ... with Kentucky as their second game of the season, the loaded Maui Invitational ... and a game against Michigan State at Ford Field. Penn, Oral Roberts, Rutgers and Nevada aren't pushovers. There is also a rematch against UNC-Asheville, also known as the "game Tyler Hansbrough dunked on a 7'7 guy"
Duke: Coach K won't have Kobe, LeBron or D-Wade ... but he won't be seeing Spain or Argentina, either. They will play Xavier in East Rutherford right before Christmas and host Georgetown in the middle of January. Duke will also play a true road game (that isn't in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge) when they take on Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Miami: The Canes will play in the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands. They will get Ohio State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge ... which looks like a great football contest a few years ago. Miami will also visit Kentucky and St. John's.
Posted Aug 6th 2008 10:17PM by Sportz Assassin (author feed)
Filed under: Clemson, Duke, Maryland, NC State, UNC Basketball, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, ACC, NCAA Basketball Fans, NCAA Basketball Media Watch
Raycom Sports posted their ACC men's basketball TV schedule on their website even though the ACC itself hadn't released any part of the schedule.
Needless to say, they took it down.
The damage has been done, as ACC Now still has all that info that was originally up.
The biggest game of the season ... North Carolina at Duke ... will take place on February 11th at 9:00pm. Most of the country sees this game on ESPN, but ACC country sees the game on their local Raycom affiliate. Other big games:
-Wake Forest at Boston College (1/14)
-Maryland at Miami (1/15)
-Virginia Tech at Virginia (1/18)
-Maryland at North Carolina (2/3)
-Florida State at Wake Forest (2/14)
-NC State at North Carolina (2/18)
-Florida State at Duke (3/3)
Posted Jul 27th 2008 12:00AM by Sportz Assassin (author feed)
Filed under: Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Georgia Tech, Maryland, NC State, UNC Basketball, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, ACC, NCAA Basketball Media Watch
ESPN.com has played out its
top programs since the 1984-1985 season (when the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams).
As expected,
Duke placed in the top spot. No one has won more NCAA Championships, Final Fours, Sweet 16s, NCAA Tournament wins, first team All Americans, 30-win seasons, #1 seeds or top-ten NBA picks in the time frame.
North Carolina placed #2 on Friday ... but due to a research error was dropped
behind Kansas to #3 on Saturday. Apparently they screwed up how many conference titles Kansas won and All Americans North Carolina had.
After that, there is a huge gap until the next ACC school: #28 Maryland. The Terps (ahead of Purdue; behind Ohio State) are the only ACC school besides Duke and North Carolina to win an NCAA Tournament during the time frame. What knocked them down was the fact that they have just one ACC title since 1985.
Georgia Tech ranks fourth from the ACC at #33 overall. Tech (ahead of Penn; behind Oklahoma State) can roll out some great names but haven't had the elite success to match.
Posted Jul 3rd 2008 4:05PM by Sportz Assassin (author feed)
Filed under: UNC Basketball, NC State, ACC, NCAA Basketball Coaches
One of the funny stories coming out of the
retirement of former NC State basketball coach and A.D. Les Robinson is the fact that he tried to bring then-Kansas coach and former/future Tar Heel
Roy Williams to Raleigh.
Ol' Roy
tells this tale during Robinson's retirement press conference:
"When I was coaching at Kansas, Les was the athletic director at N.C. State. He called me one day about being the new basketball coach of the Wolfpack. I told him he had to be crazy, that the N.C. State people would run him out of town for bringing a UNC guy in to coach the Wolfpack. He just grinned and said, not as long as you win, big fella, not as long as you win."
That probably would be true, but I could never imagine any Wolfpack fan ever opening their arms to a Tar Heel alum. After all, the words
"go to hell, Carolina" appears in their fight song.
Posted Jul 3rd 2008 12:41AM by Sportz Assassin (author feed)
Filed under: NC State, ACC
Les Robinson retired from the A.D. post at The Citadel this week. Normally, this wouldn't be exciting news. However, Robinson used to be the head basketball coach, then A.D., at NC State during the controversial 1990s.
What Robinson did at NC State was quite noble ... and difficult. He took over for
Jim Valvano's scandal ravaged program in 1990. Valvano ... a wildly popular coach who won the 1983 National Championship ... was forced out after players were caught selling shoes and game tickets and had some academic issues. Robinson stepped in and took over a team that had scholarships taken away and seeing emerging Duke and Wake Forest programs nearby.
Despite winning 20 games in his first year, Les' teams became also-rans in the ACC for much of his head coaching career and never again finishing with a winning record. Les accepted the athletic director position (one that Valvano also once held) and stepped down as basketball coach. He would hire Herb Sendek as his replacement.
He left Raleigh and took the A.D. job at the Citadel in 2000.
Posted Jun 27th 2008 10:49AM by Sportz Assassin (author feed)
Filed under: UNC Basketball, NBA Prospects, Duke, NC State, Wake Forest, ACC
Congratulations to NC State's
J.J. Hickson, who was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the 19th overall draft pick in last night's NBA Draft. Hickson was the lone wolf of sorts -- the only ACC player to be drafted in the first round.
As
I said a couple weeks ago, the league is in a bit of a crisis mode about why they've been in a down period and creating only one first rounder was a sign of that. However,
ACC Now points out this is the third time this decade that only one ACC player was taken in the first round ... and it may be a great sign.
For the third time this decade, the ACC had only one player taken in the first round. It also happened in 2000 (Georgia Tech's Jason Collier) and 2004 (Duke's Luol Deng).
Those seasons were also the smallest overall draft classes for the ACC. Only two players were drafted in 2000 (Duke's Chris Carrawell was the other) and four total in 2004.
This 2008 draft also was small, overall (UVa's
Sean Singletary, Maryland's
James Gist and Va Tech's
Deron Washington also were drafted last night). Now, what happened in the college basketball seasons after the 2000 and 2004 drafts? Oh yeah. An ACC team went on to win the National Championship.
Posted Jun 20th 2008 2:38AM by Sportz Assassin (author feed)
Filed under: NC State Basketball, ACC Basketball, NCAA Basketball Coaches, Carolina
This is how screwed up the ACC has been:
only one underclassman entered the 2009 NBA Draft and he played for the league's last place team.
That would be NC State's
J.J. Hickson, who some feel brought down the program last year. Oh, he was a heck of a player ... but the team's chemistry (which was so high at the end of 2006-2007) was just missing.
So NCSU's head coach,
Sidney Lowe, picks now to
lay down the law:
"It's going to be my way and that's it," Lowe said. "It's real simple. They're the players and I'm the coach and they're going to do it my way. And if they don't. They're not going to want to be here."
"In my dictionary, chemistry only means one thing and I'm going to stay away from that," Lowe said, then later offered his definition. "It's just players not accepting and players being selfish."
There were some cryptic signs that Lowe doesn't mind Hickson leaving ... though he tried to duck answering any direct questions. But he did find time to blame media attention, parents, girlfriends and AAU guys as clutter around the players' psyches.
I like Sidney Lowe and I think he's a good coach. But Raleigh is a very fickle place when it comes to their coaches and Lowe just struck out with his first NBA-talented player and his ability to incorporate him into his team. His upcoming season will see a lot of juniors and seniors in his rotation ... and hopefully he can recapture the magic of February/March 2007.
Posted Jun 17th 2008 12:55PM by Sportz Assassin (author feed)
Filed under: UNC Basketball, Georgia Tech Basketball, Duke Basketball, Boston College Basketball, Maryland Basketball, NC State Basketball, ACC Basketball, Clemson Basketball, Virginia Tech Basketball, Virginia Basktball
You want another sign showing the decline of ACC basketball over the past few years? How about that the ACC had just one underclassman declare (and keep his name in) for the NBA Draft this season.
That guy is J.J. Hickson, and there is even a line of reasoning that NC State may be better without him.
There really were just a few really outstanding seniors leaving (Duke lost DeMarcus Nelson; Virginia lost Sean Singletary). There is a chance where the ACC will have no players taken in the first round of the draft (Hickson is the lone hopeful).
Typically, the ACC fills the draft up with all kinds of talent.
- Last year, three ACC players were lottery picks ... part of six total that were taken in the first round.
- Three players went in the first round in 2006.
- In 2005, seven players went in the first round. (five went in the lottery; three went in the top five).
- In 2004, only Duke's Luol Deng was taken in the first round.
Remember, that was mostly when high school players also were in the draft, meaning less spots for colliegate players. So, what could the upcoming ACC season look like?
If you read articles all over the internets, you would assume that North Carolina will crush everyone on their way to a National Championship. That could happen, but that really is selling the ACC short. There are some really good teams who have high expectations as well.
Posted Jun 16th 2008 11:25AM by Charles Rich (author feed)
Filed under: Kansas Basketball, West Virginia Basketball, NC State Basketball, ACC Basketball, Big 12 Basketball, Big East Basketball, NBA Prospects
Today's the day. No more maintaining eligibility and torturing angst-ridden college basketball fans. Today's the drop dead date for either pulling out of the NBA Draft or staying and committing.
So, since last night three more names have unsurprisingly decided to stay in the NBA Draft.
West Virginia's Joe
Alexander finally made it official. This was no shock, as Alexander's draft stock soared to the point where the junior is expected to go anywhere from 8th to 13th in the draft. It's unlikely he would move that much further up the draft board if he stayed for his final season. He's only the second Mountaineer player to declare early for the draft. The
unforgettable Gordon Malone was the first.
J.J.
Hickson from NC State is staying in the draft. He gets to add his name to the list of one-and-dones. Not a surprise, but a bit of a comedown for Hickson. He came to the Wolfpack expecting to win and then go in the first round. He didn't win at NC State and is a likely pick in the second round (end of the first, at best).
Mario
Chalmers becomes the 3d Jayhawk to stay in the NBA Draft. There is a chance that all 3 players could go in the first round. The only mystery surrounding whether Chalmers would stay was because his father is Director of Basketball Operations at Kansas.
Posted May 27th 2008 1:25PM by Sportz Assassin (author feed)
Filed under: NC State Basketball, ACC Basketball, NBA Prospects, Carolina
This is why the "test the waters" process is mishandled. NC State forward J.J. Hickson declined an invitation to the NBA's pre-draft camp.
Coach Sidney Lowe said last week that Hickson would attend the camp, but would only get a physical. However, his name is not found under "Camp Players" or the separate list of "Skills, Strength & Agility, and Medical Testing." The latter is usually reserved for players who are considered guaranteed first-round picks.
Normally, players who feel they are assured of being a first round pick (basically the top 15-20 players) skip the camp and just have the physical. That means Hickson feels he's guaranteed to be a first rounder. He's basically the only one.
DraftExpress has him as the first pick in the 2nd round. NBADraft.net has him as the final pick of the first round. ESPN has him going 28th.
Fifteen players made the "physical only" list ... which include the likes of O.J. Mayo, Derrick Rose, Michael Beasley and Kevin Love. Yeah, Hickson may be in that same recruiting class, but he isn't in that class of talent right now.
Hickson has yet to sign with an agent, so there is the possibility of him returning to the Wolfpack.
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