ACC Basketball Weekly Review

Scores

Monday, December 19

Duke 90, UNC Greensboro 63

North Carolina 99, Nicholls State 49

Georgia Tech 65, Alabama A&M 54

Clemson 70, Alabama State 45

Virginia Tech 84, North Florida 55

Tuesday, December 20

North Carolina State 67, Saint Bonaventure 65

Wednesday, December 21

Wake Forest 87, North Carolina Wilmington 78

North Carolina 82, Texas 63

Virginia 83, Seattle 77

Boston College 83, Sacred Heart 73

Thursday, December 22

Florida 82, Florida State 64

UTEP 61, Clemson 48

Virginia Tech 71, Eastern Michigan 50

Mercer 65, Georgia Tech 59

North Carolina State 88, Northeastern 59

Miami 76, Charlotte 61

Friday, December 23

Maryland 65, Radford 60

Clemson 83, Southern Illinois 75 (OT)

Sunday, December 25

Hawaii 75, Clemson 68

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If the Atlantic Coast Conference wanted to get more than just four teams to the NCAA Tournament after last season's relatively meager haul, the league - in its last season before welcoming Pittsburgh and Syracuse to the family - isn't faring very well. After Duke and North Carolina, the pickings are once again fairly slim on the Atlantic Seaboard.

Duke is meeting little resistance as it goes about its business under coach Mike Krzyzewski. North Carolina hit a rough patch in late November but has straightened itself out since then. A solid, 19-point win over Texas should allay any fears of a steady downward trend in Chapel Hill. After those two teams, however, the ACC is not rising to meet the moment... not to this point in the season, at any rate.

Florida State was the third team in the league to get to the NCAAs last season. Coach Leonard Hamilton's club ordinarily defends at a high level, but the Seminoles were shredded this past week by in-state rival Florida. Florida State will have to be a strong third in the ACC and snag a high-level win (over Duke or UNC) if it wants to feel reasonably comfortable about being selected for March Madness. FSU gave away a couple of bad losses earlier this season, so the Seminoles have a lot of work to do in the coming months.

Clemson is the fourth member of the ACC's NCAA Tournament club from last season. The Tigers, under coach Brad Brownell, lost two of three games at the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii. Clemson fell to UTEP, beat lowly Southern Illinois, and then lost to Hawaii. That performance has "NIT" written all over it.

The rest of the ACC is just dragging through the motions. Maryland is barely beating lower-tier teams such as Radford. Boston College is doing the same against the likes of Sacred Heart. Georgia Tech got picked off by Mercer from the Atlantic Sun Conference. There just isn't a high-value win to point to, although Virginia - in good position to make the Big Dance - survived Seattle University's upset bid by six points.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Staff Writer