Earlier, in Part I, we took a look at the top six seeds as the league and 4,000 fans descend on Greensboro for the ACC Tournament. In Part II, we analyze the disappointing, the bottom-dwelling, the up-and-coming and the middle of the pack: the bottom six seeds of the conference tourney.
Giddyup.
#7 Maryland (18-13, 7-9)
One gets the impression that Gary Williams would have liked to have centered (pun intended) his club around sophomore big man Jordan Williams, then relied on his experienced veterans (seniors Adrian Bowie, Cliff Tucker and Dino Gregory, plus junior Sean Mosley) to balance out the attack. Fortunately, rookie guard Terrell Stoglin also proved to be a dynamite newcomer; unfortunately for the Terps, those upperclassmen never gave consistent-enough contributions, allowing teams to double-down on Williams inside. The result was an up-and-down compaign in College Park, though there is hope for the future with Stoglin leading a promising group of four freshmen. Williams is a strong tourney coach, but the Terrapins are too inconsistent to make any kind of sustained run in Greensboro ... leaving Gary more time to eat buffalo wings as a spectator this year.
#8 Virginia (16-14, 7-9)
On the strength of winning four of their last five games to conclude the regular season, the Wahoos are a potentially dangerous matchup at the ACC Tournament. Virginia usually relies on a four-guard lineup around seven-footer Assane Sene, making the Cavaliers vulnerable to frontcourt-focused clubs, but when they’re knocking down treys, UVa can be very tough. Guards Mustapha Farrakhan, Sammy Zyglinski and Joe Harris are flighty on offense, but fit nicely in the Cavs’ defense-oriented approach. Former walk-on Will Sherrill gave Virginia a late-season lift as well. The ‘Hoos are a nice story, but are likely to run out of gas in Greensboro no matter how often coach Tony Bennett sings “I Wanna Be Around” …
#9 Miami (18-13, 6-10)
Folks have been waiting on coach Frank Haith’s breakthrough season in Coral Gables for quite a while now, and most expected a better campaign this year. Big man Reggie Johnson has improved by leaps and bounds, and there are intriguing pieces in Adrian Thomas, Malcolm Grant, DeQuan Jones and Durand Scott, but the ‘Canes always seem to be a playmaker away. Miami never seemed to recover from an early stretch of four straight losses by four points or less, and Haith has had trouble imprinting an identity on his Hurricanes squads. Haith would appear to be on safe ground for at least another year, but his ‘Canes team has shown nothing to indicate they’ll be a factor in Greensboro.
#10 NC State (15-15, 5-11)
There is no argument that can be made against the fact that State is the most disappointing team in the ACC. From lackluster defense to mind-numbing shot selection to late-game disappearing acts, the Pack has proven only that they are capable of 10 good minutes of play per game. There would appear to be a huge disconnect between coach Sidney Lowe’s staff and the players, and that would appear to be an issue that is resolved with an imminent coaching change. The most frustrating part for Wolfpack followers is that there are a lot of disparate talent that just don’t jibe well, from Tracy Smith to Lorenzo Brown to C.J. Leslie to Scott Wood. Mix in a lack of leadership from the roster and the staff and there is simply no reason to suggest that the Pack will make one of their patented ACC Tournament “mini-runs” this year.
#11 Georgia Tech (13-17, 5-11)
Iman Shumpert is perhaps the league’s most underrated player and Glen Rice Jr. can score in bunches, but outside of those two, the Yellow Jackets have fallen on difficult times in the final days of coach Paul Hewitt’s tenure in Atlanta. The blowout win over UNC feels like a million years ago, which coincidentally is about how long it seems like Hewitt has been on the hot seat. Can he muster up enough motivation for one more run in the conference tourney? Shumpert can do a lot on his own, but he just doesn’t have enough help to make GT anything more than a one-and-out team this year.
#12 Wake Forest (8-23, 1-15)
I don’t know whether there is a huge culture clash between Air Force import Jeff Bzdelik and his coaching staff and the players he inherited. I don’t know whether years of no-defense, shoot-it-quick approaches in Winston-Salem have caught up to the talent base. I don’t know all the variables that had to converge to drop the bottom completely out of the Demon Deacons program. All I know is that this is the worst team I’ve seen in the ACC. Ever. And that’s about the nicest I can manage in this space, so I’ll just leave it there.
Stick around for the tourney predictions tomorrow. Until then, cherish this time, in case the NFL really does enter a lockout.
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