Cliff Tucker Creates a Memory That Last a Lifetime

February 23rd, 2010 by chrisbixler

Obviously, sports are not everything in life.  Wait a minute, I am talking to a bunch of people who write about their favorite teams, FOR FREE.  Of course spots are pretty important to people like us.  So, if you are only a mild sports fan, don’t take this the wrong way, but certain moments in sports stick in your mind much like more important events in our lives.  I remember sitting in Elementary School watching the Space Shuttle Explode.  I remember watching the OJ chase with a friend in my parents basement.  I also remember sitting in Denton Hall at Maryland listening to the Verdict.   I remember my boss calling me down to the security office at Camden Yards to watch the 9/11 events unfold.  Those are all pretty big moments that have happened in my life time.  Some far more important than others.

Now, on to the sports side, and more importantly trying to figure out where this Cliff Tucker Dagger fits into some of My Maryland Moments.  Joe Smith’s tip in for 40 points and the win at the buzzer in Duke.  Denton Hall, listening on the radio!  Can you imagine that, no cable in the dorms, and as a freshman sans ID, there was no chance I was getting into one of College Parks fine establishments that night.  As we listened to the call we went nuts jumping up and down.

You can add Steve Blake’s three pointer against UConn that sealed the deal for a return trip to the Final Four to the list.  I was actually sitting by myself watching that in my Girlfriends apartment while she was in Medical School in Hershey, PA.  When he hit that shot, I let myself  believe that was a done deal. Blake will actually get two moments.  The famous “Oh he steal” play at the end of the half as Blake stripped Jason Williams of Duke right before the half.  Is there really a better play than that?  I would have killed to have been in Cole for that one.  Instead, a living room in Annapolis with a bunch of friends will have to do.

Juan Dixon gets a nod for his scoring after Indiana had taken the lead in the Championship game.  His three pointer, and baseline fade away will forever stick in my mind as I sat what seemed to be about 500 feet above him in the Georgia Dome.

You can even throw Duane Simpkins layup against Georgetown in the mix.  That game was actually the night before my college visit with my parents to College Park.  The next day the campus just seemed to have some extra life to me.  Of course what did I know, that was only the second time I was ever on campus, but it seemed like there was excitement.  Walking through Stamp Student Union you could overhear people talking about it and it was covered quite extensively in the Diamondback.

Drew Nicholas, how could we forget about him?  All he did was bail the defending national champions out of a sure first round defeat against UNC-Wilmington with his length of the floor dribble and falling away three pointer at the buzzer.  I was at my parents with a group of former college roommates watching that one on about three tv’s.  We erupted, I think it nearly brought my mother to tears watching us get so excited.  I do have one problem with that shot though, at it is with CBS.  When they show great tournament moments, that is often left off the list.  Of course if the rolls where reversed and it was UNC-W hitting that shot, it would be jammed down our throats year after year.  Thank you Drew!

There are plenty more moments that stand out, but those are individual shots, most of them buzzer beaters that are just permanently ingrained in my mind.  Now thanks to Cliff Tucker, I have yet another one.  Seriously, how many of you thought there was any chance they were going to win that game after Favors put back?  Ok, now that Greivis hit the half court shot, AFTER the time out call, how many of you thought they were going to win?  Yeah, me either.  Cliff Tucker stuck it to the hearts of Georgia Tech that Saturday afternoon.  I think I have seen those two shots 50 times by now.  The shot being incredible and all, I think I enjoyed the celebration more.  Seeing Tucker take off, and the entire team trying to mob him is great.  There is nothing cooler than seeing that pure joy and excitement after things looked so dire.  The fans were just going bonkers jumping up and down.  It was just one of those cool sports moments, and for once, it was My Terps, that got all the press for the right reason all weekend long!

I am not going to go through the list of heart breaks we Terp fans have felt.  Back in 1996 we lost two games at the buzzer in Cole to Carolina and Duke.  Ugh.  There are plenty more, and we need not list them all out here.  This post was to thank the likes of Steve Blake, Juan Dixon, Joe Smith, Duane Simpkins, Drew Nicholas.  Cliff Tucker you have now joined the elite company of athletes, and single moments, I will cherish until I die!  Here’s to hoping this season has some more,  Go Terps!

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Will the freshmen continue to dominate on the court?

February 21st, 2010 by dtucker

Hidden behind Greivis’ dominant 26 point performance against NC State on Wednesday was the career game by freshman center Jordan Williams, scoring 19 points and grabbing 11 boards.

Last April, I had the opportunity to go see Jordan Williams and James Padgett play in the Charm City Challenge up at Towson University. Although I was really impressed with the offensive production that Padgett put up, I was equally impressed with Jordan Williams who was able to grab rebounds, score (even though the offensive scoring that team U.S. ran didn’t really feature going inside to Williams very often), and also shut down Oklahoma commit Andrew Fitzgerald.

I was one of the people who thought Jordan would step into the starting role right away. And although Jordan did start initially, I think had Dino Gregory not been suspended at the start of the season, Jordan would have been coming off the bench. Looking back now, Dino’s suspension, which forced Jordan Williams into a starting role from the get-go might have been a blessing in disguise.

Jordan’s presence and performance on this team has exceed everyone’s expectations. I thought Jordan would average about 6 points and 3.5 boards a game this season. In reality, he’s averaged almost 9 points and over 8 boards a game. And he’s been getting better as the season has progressed. For a freshman, you often worry that they’ll begin to slow down or hit a wall towards the latter half of the season. That doesn’t appear to be the case for Jordan. Following their win against UVA on Monday night, I had the opportunity to ask Jordan about playing in the grueling ACC schedule and how he’s adjusted to it so far this season.

“I’m used to it now. I’ve been playing for a while, over 20 games into the season, so I think I’ve been getting used to it, so it’s not as much of a change as it was in the beginning. In the beginning, it was very difficult for me to adjust. I think I’ve adjusted now, now it’s just a matter of going out and performing.”

Going out and performing he is. He’s averaging over 11 points per game to go along with 9 boards in his last 6 games. A freshman center averaging almost a double-double in the middle of ACC play. The numbers are, in a word, amazing. Furthermore, not only is Jordan scoring and grabbing boards and doing so with great hands and a soft touch, he’s also opening things up for his teammates: setting screens, clearing out space in the lane for the guards to drive, catching the ball in the low post to draw a double team and then dishing it back out to an open teammate on the outside, and performing extremely well defensively, shutting down some of the best centers in the conference and in the country. All of these things are the result of Jordan’s presence inside. This is the first time we’ve had an inside presence like this since the days of Baxter and Jordan is light years ahead of where Baxter was his freshman year. By the time Jordan is a junior or senior, he very well might be vying for ACC player of the year honors.

Jordan has also turned into the number two scoring option on this team. When he gets the ball in the low post, he’s looking for for his shot and often times making it.

With Jordan playing this well, on a defensive oriented team with two senior guards, another very reliable and productive senior forward, and great production off the bench, the Terps are starting to become a scary team to face late in the season. How they play against Georgia Tech on Saturday and more importantly against Virginia Tech on the road next week will again be indicators as to whether we can raise our expectations for this team come March. I personally will be disappointed by anything less than the sweet 16. And I’m now starting to believe more and more that could become a reality.

I can’t wait to see how Jordan matches up with fellow ACC freshman Derrick Favors on Saturday, the other great ACC center and person Jordan is beginning to challenge for ACC Rookie of the Year.

Lets hope we see another dominant performance from the freshmen.

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ACC Basketball Power Poll – Week 14 (Feb 15th)

February 21st, 2010 by dtucker

Who is the class of the ACC this year? Well, it appears Duke is starting to take hold of that position, but after Duke, who are the next three-best teams in the conference? Is it Maryland? Or Virginia Tech? Or Wake?
Despite their loss to Duke last Saturday, Maryland continues to hold down the #2 spot, although they slipped a little from the previous poll. Wake is getting more love, and even received 1 first place vote this week and they come in at #3 in this week’s poll. Virginia Tech, at #4, is getting more love, but some still think their weak strength of schedule prevents the Hokies from being worthy of being in the top of the conference. Just a few points separated Clemson (#5), Georgia Tech (#6), and Florida State (#7) in this week’s poll. Virginia (#8) is starting to slip back towards the bottom portion of the conference after climbing out of the basement earlier this season. North Carolina, once of #1 status, has fallen all the way down to #9. Miami finishes at #10 and NC State and Boston College are tied for #11, as our pollsters couldn’t seem to decide which team was worse than the other.

Here is where our Raycom bloggers think each team ranks, as of Monday, February 15th:
1. Duke – 1.11
2. Maryland – 2.77
3. Wake – 3.00
4. Virginia Tech – 4.00
5. Clemson – 5.66
6. Georgia Tech – 5.77
7. Florida State – 6.00
8. Virginia – 7.88
9. North Carolina – 9.33
10. Miami – 10.44
11. North Carolina State & Boston College (tie) – 11

What do you think? Is Virginia Tech ranked too low? Is North Carolina still ranked too high? We welcome your comments and feed back! Enjoy the games this week!

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A Best Selling Finish?

February 21st, 2010 by bobwevodau

I’ve never written a mystery novel, and I’m pretty sure at this stage of my life, I never will.  I don’t have those street smarts that every main character on every crime show displays (speaking of which, about 10 years ago I predicted that TV would consist entirely of Crime and Reality TV Shows, do I get to put that prediction in my win column yet?).  And I don’t have that patience to develop a story and see it through to the end.  This blog is about all I can handle.  However, if I were to write a mystery novel, I’m told the easiest way to do it, is start with the ending and work backwards.  That’s what I want to do with the Terps today.

I have to admit, when I look at our remaining schedule I do that little  move where I push myself up using the arms of my chair and reposition my butt.  I don’t know what that move is called, but if you were a body language expert, you could probably conclude that I was under anxiety or stress.  Maybe I’ll dub it the reverse Greivis Shimmy since my mood seems to be at the opposite end of the emotions scale as compared to when he has just drained a 3 and looking to have a little fun.  Today we have Georgia Tech in Comcast, I’m not going to say this is a must win because I think the bar has been set at an ACC Championship and when it’s that high, there isn’t much room for error.  But of the games we have left, if you play the game “You have to bet your life on one of these remaining match up’s” I think I would seriously consider today’s.  Luckily for me that game is hypothetical.  If some of Greivis’s shot selections and errant passes drive you mad now, imagine what it must be like to watch him with your life hanging in the balance!

After today though, things get tough.  Clemson will be coming to town, and I don’t need to remind anyone of what happened the last time we met.  Then we hit the road against a surprising Virginia Tech squad, but as Raycom Blogger Matt writes Here don’t believe the Hookie hype as they have benefited from one of the easiest schedules in the Conference (You know, back when there was only 9 of us in the ACC, we didn’t have this problem…just saying).  But still, they are 8-3 and we are playing them on the road.  After our trip to Blacksburg we face probably the biggest game of the year, against Duke.  I don’t think I need to elaborate on that one.  Then we close out the year at the John Paul Jones Arena against a who knows UVA squad.  I do have to give UVA credit, of all the states that make up the ACC, we were all Colonies that fought the British (except Florida), shouldn’t there be more arena’s named after US Patriots?  Then again, our greatest Revolutionary War Figure in Maryland was named General Smallwood, so maybe it’s better this way.

So reviewing those last 5 games, we have an unknown in Georgia Tech (unknown in that we have yet to face them), an unknown in VT (see GT parenthesis), two teams who beat us rather decisively (you can debate how decisive the Clemson win over us was, but to me it felt decisive), then UVA.  This is a scary stretch, but also an intriguing one.  If we want the Conference Crown we HAVE to beat Duke at home, there is no question about that, but with help we can lose perhaps 1 of these 5 (as long as it isn’t Duke).  That of course would assume someone else could knock off Duke once, maybe twice in that span.  So the more you think about it, the more likely it is that we’d be required to run the table.

But if we were able to run this mine field and make it out unscathed, what a story it would be.   We would avenge 2 of our 3 losses, we would have one of our biggest road wins of the year in Blacksburg, and a season ending victory on the home court of our natural rival (Tangier Island should be ours, give it back!!).  I don’t know how the season is going to end, and the picture I painted is possible, but more realistically a long shot.  But if it could happen could you imagine a better way for the Terps and the Seniors to wrap up the season?  I’m not a novelist, nor am I a literary critic, but if that story were to unfold, and be captured on pages, that would be one book I’d certainly buy.

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The N.C. State Comeback/NCAA Hopes:That’s What I’M Talking About

February 18th, 2010 by bijanbayne

Three ACC basketball games in five days would be challenging for the best of teams, and the Maryland men, for all the survival skills they have displayed since Snowmaggedon, are not Kansas, Dorothy. We aren’t Kentucky either. That said, the guys overcame lethargic first half offense, porous interior defense (not on Wolfpack scoring leader Tracy Smith, but Dennis Horner, whom they made look like the next Kevin Love, if not Kevin Garnett), and sloppy passing, to defeat N.C. State 67-58. We’ll take an ugly victory within the overall cosmetics a 20-21 win campaign would present as an NCAA selection resume. And it got all kinds of ugly. Players who shouldn’t be shooting three pointers in practice were heaving ‘em from the locker room. The bigs failed miserably at boxing out opposing rebounders. No one had a clue as to how to contain Horner, who totaled 19 points and 10 boards. State was up 37-27 at the break, and prospects looked dim for Gary’s charges. Sidney Lowe’s ‘pack still led 51-45 with 9:53 showing on the game clock. More importantly, the Raleigh home team had scored on successive breakaways by Scott Wood that fired up the student body. Then Maryland’s defense improved,  and ‘pack shooters went cold, resulting in a six minute scoreless drought. While this was occurring, Adrian Bowie stepped into Maryland’s x factor, “who-will-support-Greivis Vasquez-as-a-second- scorer-tonight?” void by nailing timely jumpers from distance. That’s the mark of an upperclassmen. It is this very role, and its lack of a consistent actor, that could limit the Terrapins to an one-and-out NCAA appearance. Last night, it was Eric Hayes who was too quiet for too long. Young Jordan Williams is to be commended for his 19 points and 11 rebounds, though he was part of the clique that had no defensive answer for Horner for 30 minutes. We got outrebounded 41-39.

As the momentum was shifting, Vazquez lifted his mates on his shoulders. He had 17 after intermission. Big time players meet crunch moments.

See, at this point in the season, the more the Terps pad their W-L mark, the higher seed they’ll draw if chosen to participate in the Madness that is March. More importantly, in this grueling stretch of schedule, AKA “Climate Change Hits College Park”, triumph over obstacles builds character. Dunno if Coach Williams can endure much more of this, but the bottom line is all that counts. It took some time outs to dig out from the trouble, but hey, the Metro area has yet to dig itself out from back-to-back blizzards either.

Georgia Tech comes to Comcast on Saturday, the final game of the turbulent trifecta.

18-7 overall, 8-3 in the conference. Limiting Tracy Smith to eight shots. A tired team playing a game in which the last 10 minutes displayed their mettle and patience. A go-to guard who can lead under duress. As scary as it was to watch, Terp fans enjoy stories with happy endings.

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All records are not equal

February 17th, 2010 by Matt

Too many basketball pundits and fans take as self evident that all league records are equal. In the post expansion era of ACC basketball nothing could be further from the truth and to evaluate a team you have to look at who they played and where they played them.  Here is a breakdown of the opponent’s conference records as they stand right now for ACC teams:

ACC games only Record Opponent’s W-L record Opponent’s Win. %
Duke 9-2 82-94 0.466
Virginia Tech 8-3 74-101 0.422
Maryland 7-3 87-89 0.494
Wake Forest 8-4 77-98 0.440
Clemson 6-5 91-85 0.517
FSU 6-5 85-91 0.482
Georgia Tech 6-6 92-84 0.522
Virginia 5-5 89-88 0.502
Miami 3-8 93-83 0.528
UNC 3-8 96-82 0.539
Boston College 3-8 95-81 0.539
N.C. State 2-9 95-80 0.542

Duke suffers in this analysis because they don’t have the opportunity to play themselves and it makes their schedule appear less impressive. In a similar manner it would make sense that some teams at the bottom have their numbers inflated because they don’t have the chance to play themselves and drag their schedule down. It is obvious that Wake Forest and particularly Virginia Tech have the records they do because they play the easiest schedules in the league by a wide margin. The Hokies sitting at 8-3 are probably the best example of the unbalanced schedule helping a team to a record that probably doesn’t reflect their true quality. Virginia Tech doesn’t play a home-and-home with a single team in the top six of the conference standings an unbelievable stroke of luck for a team that had a weak non-conference slate and didn’t have a single noteworthy win coming into conference play. Furthermore the Hokies get home games for the only meeting of the season against three of the top four opponents in the current standings. It isn’t much mystery that the Hokies are 8-3 after playing six home games. They have failed to prove themselves capable of winning on the road with their best win coming in overtime against a slumping Virginia squad. They have already lost on the road to UNC and Miami who are a combined 6-16 in league play yet the record of the road opponents in league play is a horrendous 37-51. They have two legitimate road test left on their schedule at Duke and Georgia Tech so it will be worth watching how Virginia Tech performs in those venues. Wake Forest also has reason to be grateful to the schedule maker as their record is only slightly easier than the Hokies. The Deacons only face Duke, Maryland, Virginia Tech, Clemson and Florida State once but do have a tougher road schedule than Virginia Tech. There isn’t much the league can do about the scheduling since expansion had nothing to do with what was best for basketball. The ACC should change the tie breaking procedure for the ACC tournament seeding. A team should not win the tiebreaker for beating their opponent only once on their home floor. Instead the higher seed should be given to the team with the better record against opponents who finished higher in the league standings. If two teams were tied and one beat the other on the road in the only meeting of the season then I could see giving the team that won a tiebreaker on that basis.

It has become clear since expansion that ACC basketball has not been the same as when every team had an equal schedule. Their are still great teams and great programs but a winning league record used to be proof a team had a good season in the ACC, not so any longer. It probably makes the ACC tournament even more significant than in past years. At least there all the teams are on a level playing field, though I’m sure Gary Williams would disagree with that assessment in Greensboro.

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Terps Recoup By Swamping Cavs

February 16th, 2010 by bijanbayne

As previously stated here, one of the keys to the Maryland men obtaining an NCAA Tournament bid is to consistently defeat the schools they are “supposed” to beat. Last night, the team rebounded from a humbling loss to Duke by trouncing Virginia 85-66. Per usual, Greivis Vasquez took charge of things, netting 25 points before intermission. Why is this trend so important? Numbers. Despite factors such as strength of schedule and RPI Rating, tourney selectors will also take into account overall record and strength of conference. If a slew of ACC teams get in by association, the Terps need only amass about 20-21 victories to make a strong, if not inarguable case for themselves come Selection Sunday. They’re already 17-7. To relieve the pressure even moreso, they could pick up a couple wins in ACC Tourney play (in other words, win a couple of three more regular season contests, then survive a round or two on Tobacco Road to reach a magic 21 victories).

That’s doable. This is not to suggest Gary, Greivis & Co. tank the biggies vs. the Duke’s and Clemson’s (they face the former on March 3 at home, the latter on Feb. 24, also at Comcast). The better they fare against top comp, the better their chances with the selection committee. Their 7-3 conference mark could stand some fattening. A sweep of their next two contests vs. N.C. State (in Raleigh) and tough Georgia Tech (here) would go a long way towards a jubilant Selection Show. Lotta high fives, hugs all around, ‘nother tourney for Gary. Nice going away party (NBA audition?) for Greivis. More valuable experience for the underclassmen.

You get the picture.

Trouble is, those games all take place between now and Saturday, and the guys just ran last night! Killer schedule. But as we approach the Madness that is March, it’s not about excuses, it’s about creds. If the Terps buck up and get her done, there’ll be a lot of happy faces around College Park in a month. Any subpar performances against the teams from the middle or bottom of the pack could shorten the season.

High points from last night? Maryland shot 70% the first 20 minutes (Vazquez was 10-13 at the break). The ‘hoos were only allowing 61 ppg., stingiest in the ACC, and the Terps had 52 at halftime. Jordan Williams snared 11 boards. And it was their sixth straight home win, a confidence booster, and deterrent to future visitors. This could get interesting, and mentally, the team appears to have put the Duke debacle behind them.

Short memories are good memories.

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Time to Move On

February 15th, 2010 by bobwevodau

I get a little tired of how caught up we all get with beating Duke.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not pointing fingers, because I myself at times can be as guilty as anyone else.  But we have to start treating Duke just like any other game.  I knew it was a bad sign when we were playing UNC and the fans started chanting “We want Duke”.  That in itself drives me nuts, but when you consider that we still had a huge game against UVA prior to playing Duke, it’s enough to make me yell at the TV.  Does the Duke game count more in the win column than a win over UVA?  Of course not.  Does it look better on our resume?  We’ll sure, but so does finishing in the top three in the ACC.  This is a year where we just have to handle our business and we’ll be fine come selection time, not a year where we need that one “Hey look what we were able to do one night when we finally got our @$#@ together!” win and hope that’s enough to get us in.  But I’m not here to dwell on over optimistic chants or what happened in Durham because truth be told, there is no time to dwell.  We need to move on or pack it up.

Now I don’t doubt that this team can do just that.  After all we have a lot of experience in some key positions and these guys should know how to shake off bad losses, but this week is going to go far in determining just how we are going to finish up in the ACC.  If you stretch the week back to Saturday, we have Duke, UVA, @ NC State, and then Georgia Tech.  That is a lot of games back to back.  To hit some sort of skid at this point would be disastrous because when you think about it, we are going to play 1/4 of the ACC schedule over this week.

As I mention the good news is that we have experience, and we also have the remaining two of those three at Comcast, with the one road game against a very pedestrian NC State team.  But starting tonight against UVA we are going to see how this team responds. They come out strong and play well, then all order is restored, and the Duke debacle becomes just another game (like the Clemson loss).  We will still have a shot at winning the Conference and with Duke having to travel through Comcast one more time, there is nothing to panic over.  But if we lose tonight against UVA then the Duke loss becomes a turning point.

Now the bad news is, I think both Clemson and Duke have shown how you go about beating Maryland.  You don’t slack off, you stay in their faces on defense and you force the turnovers.  I mean it wasn’t hard to see the similarities in the Clemson and Duke losses, so that is something we are going to have to address, but when we’ll have time to address it is beyond me.  The other bad news is that if the game in Durham did trigger a sort of shame spiral, well it couldn’t have come at a worse time.  Like I said above, we are playing a quarter of the season in this one week alone so getting into a funk now can quickly wash away whatever we have accomplished to this point.

Personally I think we bounce back and continue to make a run at the Conference Title.  After all, UVA is facing the same schedule we are, so it isn’t like they are going to be rested up while we play tired.  We also have the leadership in place to move on, and I’m sure Gary will have them ready as well, but what probably helps the most is that we are in Comcast tonight.  We need a rowdy crowd who cares as much about beating UVA as they do Duke.  And if we can play a solid game, then we will be fine and the team will have showed that they have a short memory, and having a short memory is always good when you play in the ACC, especially when you have 4 games in 8 days.

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ACC Mid-Season Awards

February 14th, 2010 by dtucker

As we pass the mid-way point of the ACC season, Charlie Sallwasser, who writes on the UVA blog, polled all of the Raycom ACC bloggers and came up with some mid-season awards for the ACC. Here are the results, which I’ll provide some comments on.

All-ACC:
(two points for a first team vote, one point for a second team vote)
G Greivis Vasquez (Maryland) (15 points, 5 first team votes, named on 10/11 ballots) – Was a 1st team ACC player for me.
G Jon Scheyer (Duke) (22 points, 11 first team votes, named on 11/11) – Also a first team All-ACC for me
G Malcolm Delaney (Virginia Tech) (16 points, 7 first team votes, named on 9/11) – I went back and forth on him. I ended up putting him on the 2nd team because I thought we were limited to 2 guards on the first team, but he’s definitely one of the top 3 guards in the league.
F Trevor Booker (Clemson) (20 points, 9 first team votes, named on 11/11) – Booker has had another solid year. He was also on my first team all-ACC ballot.
F Al-Farouq Aminu (Wake Forest) (20 points, 9 first team votes, named on 11/11) – Al-Farouq was also on my first team ballot.

Second Team:
G Sylven Landesberg (Virginia) (13 points, 4 first team votes, named on 9/11) – He was on my second team ballot.
G Nolan Smith (Duke) (9 points, named on 9/11) – Nolan is good, but he didn’t make either my first or second team. I think he’s received a lot of love because he’s on Duke, but I think there are better guards in the league than Nolan.
F Kyle Singler (Duke) (11 points, 3 first team votes, 8/11) – Singler can do a lot, and he made my 2nd team ballot.
F Gani Lawal (Georgia Tech) (11 points, 1 first team vote, 10/11) – Also made my second team ballot
F Tracy Smith (NC State) (13 points, 5 first team votes, 8/11 ballots) – Since NC State has been struggling a little this year, I don’t think Smith is getting the attention he deserves. I actually had him on my first team ballot.

Also Receiving Votes: Ish Smith (WFU) (3 points, 3/11), Solomon Alabi (FSU) (2 points, 2/11), Landon Milbourne (MD) (2 points, 2/11) – I put Landon on my 2nd team ballot, Larry Drew II (UNC) (2 points, 1 first team, 1/11), Ed Davis (UNC) (2 points, 2/11), Chris Singleton (FSU) (2 points, 2/11), Jeff Trapani (BC) (1 point, 1/11), Derrick Favors (GT) (1 point, 1/11).

Player of the Year:
Greivis Vasquez and Jon Scheyer (3) – Take a guess as to who I voted for? My vote went to Vasquez, but if the Terps drop a 2nd game to Duke, Scheyer will probably pull out the win. But I really don’t think he’s better than Vasquez.

Also Receiving Votes: Al-Farouq Aminu (2), Sylven Landesberg

All Freshman Team
G CJ Harris (WF) (8) – He was on my ballot. He’s done a great job for Wake this year.
G Durand Scott (Miami) (5) – Miami has to be happy to have him on their team. Watch out for him in a year or two. He was also on my ballot
F Derrick Favors (GT) (10) – Not sure how someone could not put Favors on their ballot. I know I did.
F Jordan Williams (MD) (9) – Another shoe in I think for the all-freshman team. Jordan is behind only favors in scoring and rebounding for the Terps.
F Scott Wood (NCSU) (8) – Scott Wood also made my ballot. State has something to look forward to with this kid.

Also Receiving Votes: Mfon Udofia (GT) (3), Michael Snaer (FSU) Brian Oliver (GT), Mason Plumlee (Duke), Miles Plumlee (Duke), Travis Wear (UNC), Reggie Johnson (Miami), Jontel Evans (UVA)

Freshman of the Year
Derrick Favors (GT) (10) – He was my FOY. Not sure how you could vote for anyone else.

All Defensive Team
G Ish Smith (WF) (7) – He wasn’t on my ballot, but I don’t have a problem with him being here.
G Andre Young (Clemson) (4) – Young also wasn’t on my ballot.
F Chris Singleton (FSU) (8) – I think Singleton was a pretty obvious choice
F Solomon Alabi (FSU) (6) – He was on my ballot. FSU is a great defensive team.
F Al-Farouq Aminu (WFU)/Ed Davis (UNC) (4) – Wasn’t on my ballot.

Also Receiving Votes: Derrick Favors (GT) (3) – made my ballot, Jeff Allen (VT)(2) – made my ballot, Trevor Booker (Clemson) (2), Greivis Vasquez (UMD), Gani Lawal (GT), Sean Mosley (UMD), LD Williams (WFU), Jontel Evans (UVA)

Defensive POY (out of 8 submitted)
Chris Singleton (FSU) (5 votes)
Also Receving Votes: Ed Davis (UNC) (2), Solomon Alabi (FSU) – I voted for Ed Davis, personally.

Coach of the Year: (out of 9 submitted)
Tony Bennett (UVA) (8) – He was my vote
Also Receiving Votes: Seth Greenberg (VT)

So what do you all think? Are their any glaring mistakes? Was anyone left out? What are your thoughts?

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Week 13 Power Poll

February 14th, 2010 by dtucker

We’re moving ahead into the second half of the ACC schedule and things are starting to take shape in the ACC. It appears (well, it did before Saturday), that Duke and Maryland are going to be Duking it out (pun intended) for 1st place in the conference. Beyond that, there is a big bottle-neck as to who else is an elite team in the ACC this year. Here are the power poll results for week 13, as voted on by myself and my fellow Raycom ACC bloggers.

1. Duke 1.77
2. Maryland 2.00
3. Wake 3.33
4. Ga.Tech 4.88
5. FSU 5.66
6. VT 5.88
7. UVA 6
8. Clemson 6.88
9. UNC 9.77
10. BC 10
11. NC State 10.33
12. Miami 11.44

1. Duke 1.77
2. Maryland 2
3. Wake 3.33
4. Ga. Tech 4.88
5. FSU 5.66
6. VT (tie) 5.88
7. UVA 6
8. Clemson 6.88
9. UNC 9.77
10. BC 10
11. NC State 10.33
12. Miami 11.44

As always, we welcome your comments and thoughts about what you think about this week’s poll.

Enjoy the games this week!

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