ACC Roundup - Virginia Wins Again But Florida State Finishes In First
The tournament starts in just a few days
In Saturday’s ACC action, Florida State beat Boston College 80-62, Virginia nipped Louisville 57-54, Notre Dame topped Virginia Tech 64-56 and Miami got Syracuse in overtime.
Virginia won another tight game and guess who hit the critical shot?
That’s right, Kihei Clark struck again, hitting a three with :28 seconds left.
Classic Bennett Ball: Virginia shut Louisville out from the 5:12 mark to last second of the game.
It would be hard to say anyone in the conference is hotter than Virginia right now. The Cavs have won eight in a row and are 12-1 in their last 13 games and they have one of the premier clutch players in college basketball.
With the win, Virginia ties for second with Louisville and Duke but gets the second seed in the ACC Tournament due to tiebreakers (Louisville gets #3 and Duke #4).
First place?
Florida State.
Boston College didn’t have much of a chance of keeping FSU from their first regular season championship. BC had 19 turnovers, shot just 33.3 percent and were outrebounded 45-36.
It’s hard to win when you can’t score or get the ball or at least hold on to it when you do.
Former Blue Devil Derryck Thornton closed out his second ACC season with 13 points, three rebounds, three assists and five turnovers.
Florida State moves to 26-5 and 16-4 in the ACC.
Notre Dame beat Virginia Tech 64-56 but there was an upset too: John Mooney didn't get his normal double-double.
He got 12 boards but just seven points.
Like NC State, Notre Dame will have to make a dent in Greensboro to have a chance at a bid. It’s a long shot at best now.
TJ Gibbs led the way with 22 points for the Irish. PJ Horne had 14 for Virginia Tech and Hunter Cattor added 12.
Syracuse’s job also got more difficult as the Orange lost to Miami in overtime, 69-65 falling to 17-14 and 10-10 in the conference.
Syracuse might have done better but Elijah Hughes got popped in the head in the first half and didn’t return.
This is already the worst season Jim Boeheim has had at Syracuse at least in terms of losses.
Isaiah Wong has really come on lately for the Hurricanes and he had another good game with 18 points, nine boards, three steals and four assists.
Even more impressive: Miami won without star guard Chris Lykes. Yes he’s little but he’s tremendously athletic and he's very hard to deal with. Wong’s improvement is going to mean a lot for Miami next season.
Lykes sat out because he got an elbow in the schnoz against Virginia on Wednesday. He may miss Greensboro too.
Speaking of Greensboro, the pairings are set. No Georgia Tech since the Yellow Jackets are on probation. Here’s how everyone else gets seeded after tie breakers:
- Florida State
- Virginia
- Louisville
- Duke
- NC State
- Syracuse
- Notre Dame
- Clemson
- Miami
- Boston College
- Virginia Tech
- Wake Forest
- Pitt
- UNC
And here are the times and networks for the games.
Tuesday, March 10 First Round
- 4:30 p.m. – No. 12 Wake Forest vs. No. 13 Pitt (ACC Network)
- 7 p.m. – No. 11 Virginia Tech vs. No. 14 North Carolina (ACC Network)
Wednesday, March 11 Second Round
- Noon – No. 8 Clemson vs. No. 9 Miami (ESPN)
- 2 p.m. – No. 5 NC State vs. Wake Forest/Pitt winner (ESPN)
- 7 p.m. – No. 7 Notre Dame vs. No. 10 Boston College (ESPN2)
- 9 p.m. – No. 6 Syracuse vs. Virginia Tech/North Carolina winner (ESPN2)
Thursday, March 12Quarterfinals
- 12:30 p.m. – No. 1 Florida State vs. Clemson/Miami winner (ESPN or ESPN2)
- 2:30 p.m. – No. 4 Duke vs. Wednesday 2 p.m. winner (ESPN or ESPN2)
- 7 p.m. – No. 2 Virginia vs. Wednesday 7 p.m. winner (ESPN or ESPN2)
- 9 p.m. – No. 3 Louisville vs. Wednesday 9 p.m. winner (ESPN or ESPN2)
Friday, March 13 Semifinals
- 7 p.m. – Thursday afternoon winners (ESPN or ESPN2)
- 9 p.m. – Thursday evening winners (ESPN or ESPN2)
Saturday, March 14Championship
- 8:30 p.m. – Semifinal winners (ESPN)
Just a few observations: Duke is likely to get a rematch with NC State. Neither Wake Forest nor Pitt is likely to go too far...UNC and Virginia Tech get a second game after the Hokies won in double OT on January 22nd. The Tar Heels have pulled themselves together and have steadily improved in the stretch run...if you want a dark horse you might look at Notre Dame...the Irish beat Boston College by just one, at BC, and lost at Virginia by just one. The Irish have really come on. Of course so has Virginia...objectively speaking, we’d expect to see a Duke-FSU rematch in the semifinals...right now we don't see anything keeping Louisville out of the semifinals although UNC could make things interesting...We would expect the Heels to beat Virginia Tech and Syracuse to get a shot at Louisville....but that’s already three games in three days for a team that’s pretty thin and doesn’t always shoot well.
- ACC Tournament pairings: Florida State earns No. 1 seed
- Photos: Scenes from the UVa-Louisville hoops game
- Photos: Scenes from the Virginia Tech-Notre Dame hoops game
- Virginia Tech loses at Notre Dame and loses out on bye
- Virginia earns No. 2 seed, double bye for ACC Tournament
- No. 22 Virginia beats No. 10 Louisville, ends regular season on eight-game winning streak
- Virginia’s rise takes another step with win over Louisville on senior day
- Champions! FSU routs BC to clinch ACC Championship
- Florida State basketball’s ACC Tournament path set
- ACClaimed! FSU basketball team win conference title
- SU’s inability to make 3-point shots is officially alarming (Donna Ditota’s quick hits)
- Syracuse will face either Virginia Tech or North Carolina in ACC Tournament
- Jim Boeheim on Elijah Hughes and his injury: ‘He was a little bit dizzy’
- Noie: A fitting home finale for Notre Dame