With some intriguing games are on the docket
In Saturday’s ACC Action, SMU visits Boston College, Syracuse plays Maryland in the Nutrafol Gotham Classic in Brooklyn, Virginia Tech takes on St. Joseph’s in the Holiday Hoopfest in the Palestra, Pitt takes on Sam Houston, Wake Forest heads down to Clemson, Louisville visits Florida State, Miami welcomes Mount St. Mary’s, UNC and UCLA try to wake up some ghosts in the CBS Sports Classic in the Garden, Stanford plays Oregon in the San Jose Tip-Off and Cal plays there also, taking on San Diego State.
We’d have to go with SMU over Boston College. BC has a lot to prove still and SMU seems to be a competent team at the least. We like what Earl Grant is trying to do, but he needs some more players.
We can’t see Syracuse winning without JJ Starling and they’ll have a tough time with outstanding freshman Derik Queen. Eddy Landreth may not be up to the job.
Virginia Tech would be lucky to beat Saint Joseph’s in the Palestra. Mike Young is a good coach but like Earl Grant, you have to have talent to succeed. The Hokies have lost to fairly average teams - Penn State, Jacksonville, South Carolina and Vanderbilt among them - and while Young may know what the Palestra means, most of his players won’t.
Sam Houston is at Pitt and we just can’t imagine the Panthers losing that one. Stranger things have happened, but they almost certainly have better talent.
Clemson is likely to be irritated after losing to rival South Carolina, which makes it a bad time for Wake Forest to visit. They lost to the Gamecocks and to Memphis in overtime.
The Deacons have been inconsistent and Clemson is the second best team in the conference right now, behind only Duke. Brad Brownell’s rugged defense makes everyone miserable and his offense is not bad either. So we’ll take Clemson.
Remember when Louisville and Florida State were both just awful during the Kenny Payne era? That looks to be over.
The Fighting Hammys are 9-3 and Pat Kelsey has brought a massive jolt of energy to the Cardinals. If he weren’t fighting so many injuries, we’d bet (not really) on Louisville. Right now we’d call it a toss-up though.
Miami is dreadful so far but they should be able to take Mount St. Mary’s at home.
Right?
The ‘Canes have really struggled but did win last time against Presbyterian. If they win Saturday, Miami might be able to build a modest winning streak - BC, Virginia Tech and Florida St are the next three opponents, followed by Wake Forest. With a little luck, Miami could get back to .500 soon.
When Lew Alcindor, aka Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, was in college, there were two constants in the Final Four: UCLA and Dean Smith’s UNC Tar Heels.
But that ended 55 years ago and Smith retired 27 years ago. Ol’ Roy Williams had a great run at UNC too but he retired in 2021.
Hubert Davis has been...well, up and down. Look, he’s immensely likable. People hated Dean Smith. A lot of people disliked Williams. No one really hates Hubert.
Well, maybe Caleb Love, but otherwise?
Not really.
UNC is just 6-5 and is lacking in the front court. UCLA is ably coached by Mick Cronin. Last year was tough, but the Bruins are 10-1 right now with wins over Washington, Oregon and Arizona.
UNC is prone to slow starts and is overly reliant on their backcourt. We’ll take UCLA here, though with some reservations.
Such as?
Well, RJ Davis is playing at home for one and so is Ian Jackson. That could be important. And at some point, you’d think the Heels would get sick of starting slow and instead explode out of the gate.
Still, right now it looks like UCLA should win.
Finally, we’d be very surprised if either Stanford or Cal won. Stanford is better and has legit pieces in Maxime Raynaud and former Blue Devil Jaylen Blakes, but Oregon is really good. And we frankly don’t think that Cal has a chance against San Diego State.
Saturday’s ACC Action
