Monday, December 13, 2010

Boston College A Contender For 2nd In ACC?

Boston College 79, Maryland 75
I was one of the first people on the Boston College bandwagon this season and have been thoroughly impressed with the job Steve Donahue has done drastically improving the basketball fundamentals of his players, but even I'm pretty shocked by this result. For a while on Sunday evening the top two teams in the ACC standings were Virginia and Boston College - the two teams picked by many to finish 11th and 12th in the ACC. But that said, to answer the question in the title of this post: No, I don't see Boston College finishing any higher than fourth or fifth, even in a weakened ACC. The fact is that they've been a bit fortunate. In this game they were white hot from threes, and used those shots to come back every time Maryland appeared to be pulling ahead. Maryland had five fewer turnovers and two more offensive rebounds, and also had more assists, steals and blocks. They also shot better on two-pointers because of their strong passing and superior interior play. But no matter how well you play it's tough to win when you are outscored by 30 points on treys. But despite the loss, and despite my position on the Boston College bandwagon, I came out of watching this game feeling like Maryland is the better team of the two. They will have better days, and Boston College is going to struggle to beat the top half of the ACC when their outside shots aren't falling. Boston College moves to 8-2 with a slew of good wins (Texas A&M, Maryland, Cal), and only that one bad loss to Yale. The Selection Committee has shown repeatedly that they will overlook one bad loss if a team has a bunch of big wins, so Boston College fans don't have to worry too much about that one loss. Still, BC likely has to go 9-7 or better in ACC play to make the Tournament, unless they have a strong ACC tournament. So they've got a long way to go before their fans can start buying Tournament tickets. They next have a few tough out-of-conference games (at Rhode Island, at South Carolina, vs Harvard) before returning to ACC play against Georgia Tech on January 8th. Maryland falls to 7-4 with no bad losses but no good wins either. They have three cupcakes coming up before heading to Duke on January 9th.

Florida State 75, Clemson 69
As I said, for a while on Sunday evening the top of the ACC was made up of Virginia and Boston College. Florida State brought a little bit of normalcy back late on Sunday night by taking care of business against Clemson and joining the tie at 1-0. Florida State got a starring performance in this one from Deividas Dulkys, who led all Seminoles players with 17 points, including three key made shots from behind the arc in the second half. Chris Singleton was the only other Florida State player to finish in double digits. FSU will have to hope to see this again, because they have not gotten any consistent offense from anybody other than Singleton. And it's only that offense that is holding them back, because once again the Seminoles are a tremendous defensive team. They're rated #1 in the nation in Pomeroy adjusted defensive efficiency, which is nothing new from them (they finished #1 in the nation last season as well). Offense has been the problem in Tallahassee for a while. As for Clemson, it wasn't long ago that they owned the paint against most ACC foes with players like Trevor Booker and James Mays. But right now they've got nothing going on in there, and they were dominated inside here by FSU. They fall now to 5-4 with their best win coming against Seton Hall, along with a loss to Michigan that might end up being an RPI 100+ loss. They have to beware a December 22nd road game at College of Charleston, but other than that have only cupcakes before returning to ACC play on January 8th with a home game against Miami, followed by a home game against Georgia Tech. There won't be many two game stretches easier than that in ACC play this year, so Clemson absolutely has to take advantage if they're going to get back onto the bubble.

Virginia Tech 79, Penn State 69
Staying in the ACC for one more game, this was actually a worrying win for Virginia Tech. The fact is that Penn State is one of the two worst teams in the Big Ten and the Hokies were playing them at home and then proceeded to hit 47% of their threes and 58% of their twos... and they still only won by ten points. A Tournament team shooting that well should blow away a team like Penn State on their home court. Malcolm Delaney played well (18 points on 6-for-9 shooting, along with 8 assists), as did Terrell Bell and Jeff Allen inside (double-doubles for both of them). They are now back to 5-4 with this win along with a win against Oklahoma State, and a loss to Virginia that may end up being an RPI 100+ loss. Next they will take on a reeling Mississippi State squad. As for Penn State, they once again got a superstar performance from Talor Battle (26 points, 5 rebounds, 0 turnovers) and they still stunk. It makes you wonder where this team will be next year when he finally leaves. With Indiana, Iowa and Michigan all improving programs, Penn State is going to be near the basement of the Big Ten for a while. They are 7-3 without any really bad losses, but their best win (by far) was against Duquesne. They open Big Ten play on December 27th at Indiana, and then head to Michigan on January 2nd.

No comments: