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ACC Roundup - UNC Falls Hard, Again

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North Carolina v Wake Forest
WINSTON-SALEM, NC - JANUARY 11: James Johnson #23 of the Wake Forest demon Deacons drives to the basket between Danny Green #14 and Deon Thompson #21 of the North Carolina Tar Heels at the LJVM Coliseum on January 11, 2009 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The Demon Deacons defeated the Tar Heels 92-89. | Photo by Brian A. Westerholt/Getty Images

And the fans are getting restless

In Saturday’s ACC Action, Virginia Tech fell to Boston College 68-63, Notre Dame took down Louisville 82-70, NC State handled Virginia 77-63, Clemson crushed Pitt 75-48 and Wake Forest...

...Well, Wake Forest did two things Saturday night. First, they made it more clear that they were on the rise. And second? They made it clear that UNC is in real trouble.

Wake went on a 20-5 in the first half and UNC was never a factor again. The Deacs were up 10 at the half and outscored UNC by 12 in the second. Jake LaRavia had 31 for Wake Forest. Alondes Williams had 23 while Davien Williamson finished with 19.

UNC shot just 33.3 percent, which of course made for lots of potential offensive boards (they grabbed 23 to Wake’s four).

But it didn’t matter. Wake’s three stars combined to hit 25-37.

Eventually it works out to one of about three things: 1) the players aren’t buying in. 2) The coaches aren’t getting through or 3) some combination of the two.

To judge by Twitter, fans seem to mostly blame coach Hubert Davis and predictably some are calling for his replacement.

What a terrible idea.

If he's having problems with his guys then, well, he can turn the whole roster over after the season if he wants.

Getting on the one-year coach train is a good way to guarantee instability.

Wes Miller aside, if UNC ends up not keeping Davis for long, what then? Do they stay in the family? If so, who? But if they don’t...who wouldn’t be interested?

Interesting dilemma.

We have a pretty good idea of what Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski would do: he’d tell them he’s going to play whoever is willing to play hard and do what they're supposed to do and the rest of them can sit for the rest of the year if they’re not buying in.

UNC has now lost to Purdue by nine, Tennessee by 17, Kentucky by 29, Miami by 28 and Wake Forest by 22.

Like Wake Forest, Florida State built a huge lead on Miami, but Miami, unlike UNC, didn't accept it.

Florida State was up 45-19 at the half. Miami showed immense fight to get back into the game and you could feel the comeback energy surging. Miami ripped off an 8-0 run in the last 2:20 and had a chance to win on the last shot but Isaiah Wong missed with :02 left. It was a great ACC game.

So Virginia is having a crappy season. Just 11-7 Friday and with a recent dominance of NC State under Tony Bennett, they must have had some optimism.

Didn’t matter.

Virginia could not stop NC State. The Pack shot 60 percent and nearly that much on threes (54.5 percent/12-22).

Virginia has clearly struggled offensively but the key to Bennett’s program has always been defense. It’s astonishing that NC State essentially abused Virginia to that extent.

Louisville retired Russ Smith’s jersey Saturday and then went out and lost to Notre Dame.

With the loss to the Irish, Louisville is now 1-4 in its last five games and fans booed the Cardinals Saturday.

After the game, Malik Williams declined to answer when a reporter asked if Chris Mack had lost his team, saying “I don’t have a comment for that.” Of course that is a comment. He also said this: “I don’t think they did anything special. Nothing that we didn’t really cover, know or understand. It was just miscommunication, lack of communication, lack of effort.”

This column takes it further. Chris Mack may be in real trouble.

Virginia Tech is another team that’s currently a disappointment and Saturday was more of the same for the Hokies, losing at BC. The Hokies were right there near the end but Nahiem Alleyne, who is having a very rough junior season, missed a three (this after five straight turnovers last time out) and Keve Alume missed his own and that was pretty much that.

And while we’re impressed with the job that rookie coach Earl Grant is doing, it’s not like BC is great or heavily talented. When they win, they're winning on character, which a lot of ACC teams don’t really have this year. Certainly the Hokies have a great deal more.

We didn’t think Pitt could win at Clemson but we din’t expect it to be this bad: the Tigers lost by wait, reverse that - the Panthers lost by 27. They had nearly that many turnovers with 20. Clemson also held Pitt to 33.3 percent. You can turn the ball over if you hit enough shots to compensate but you can’t do both and hope to win. It was just an ugly night for Pitt.

So the conference race has taken form. The best teams clearly are Duke, Miami, Florida State, Wake Forest and Notre Dame. The seriously disappointing teams are UNC, Louisville, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Syracuse. NC State is struggling but largely because of injuries and inexperience.

And Georgia Tech is in the cellar.

The Yellow Jackets, currently 7-10, should move to 8-10 Sunday when they entertain D-II Clayton State. Needless to say, a loss would be very, very bad.

Sunday’s ACC Action

Clayton State @ Georgia Tech || 5:00 || ACCNX

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