Sunday, March 14, 2004

Well what did we learn

An interesting weekend in college hoops. Definitely taught us some things:

1. Bad things do come to an end (finally)
Dook finally loses in the ACC tourney. Someone finally steps up and puts them into their place. I said it would happen - although it looked shaky. But I have to give MAJOR props to MD. They were in the SAME exact spot against Dook (down by 12 with time running out). MD did the exact opposite of GT and took it to Dook to get the W. Consider that they are the youngest team in the ACC and just won the ACC tourney. Not only that they beat the #1, #2 and #3 teams to get there. Wow. This team is going to be scary good. Now, did they deserve a #4 seed in the dance? If you base it on "body of work" - no. If you base it on late season play - yes.

2. Say what you want about Chris Duhon, he is a player
Duhon hit some big shots at the end of that MD game. Even though he couldn't bring it home, he didn't throw up the misses by Redick and Ewing. He made HIS shot to tie it. ACC fans may think the kid is overrated, but he is a big-game player and showed it. I'm just glad we don't have to face him any longer.

3. J.Gilcrest needs to be added to the top ACC PG's.
That guy flat out played - a baller supreme in the tourney. While Felton, Paul and Jack get all the PR, this sophomore will make plenty of noise in the next 2 years.

4. ACC Point Guards are great - and young
Look at the top mentioned kids - Jack, Felton and Gilcrest will be juniors and Paul will be a sophomore. FSU has two outstanding ones coming in next year - GT adds Fredrick, Dook adds S.Livingston, although he will probably take his game to the NBA before he ever puts on the Dork blue. UNC adds a great scoring guard. If this is a game dominated by PG play, then the ACC will be scary good for years to come. The only real question - how long will all these kids stay?

6. The future of the entire ACC is even more scary (for other conferences)
Dook is Dook, like it or not. They have some top recruits coming in again (unless S.Livingston goes pro). WF has an incredible PG - the only question is how long he will stay. NCST has the skinny kid coming back again. We know what kind of recruiting class GT has and UNC's could be even better. Roy will have them playing at a higher level - no doubt. Already mentioned MD - Leonard Hamilton continues to bring in some of the top recruiting classes in the nation. He has two outstanding PG talents coming in next season. UVA may not have done enough to save P.Gillen's job, but they will be better again. Heck, even Oliver Purnell has brought in more top 100 players to Clemson than they have had in the last 3 years combined. They will continue to get better. And lucky for them they will have Miami and VaTech to beat up on. Give them time.

7. Now that the brackets are out, GT has an outstanding chance of making some noise. It's great to be back again!!!! Should we advance to the elite 8 there is a possible match-up with KY. What do you say - whoever wins gets Morris!! Let's get it on!............ Of course that is quite pre-mature.