Oh my God, pinch me. I can’t believe this is actually going to happen. In my heart of hearts I’m probably hoping he has some level of success, but as someone who thinks that the Duke Blue Devils are…well, the Devil, this is about at schadenfreude-tastic as it gets. Enjoy 50 sacks, 20 INTs and a 2-10 season, Greg.
VT blog Gobbler Country and Furrier4Heisman held a preseason conference poll among ACC bloggers and was kind enough to invite my opinion, despite my recent sporadic-ness-ness-ness. (I will save the explanation for another time, but for now I’ll say life got in the way.) Anyway, here were may predictions:
Atlantic Division
1. Florida State
2. NC State
3. Clemson
4. Wake Forest
5. Maryland
6. Boston College
Florida State has the talent, eventually they have to pull it together, right? State is a team on the rise despite the (temporary?) loss of Nate Irving. I sincerely hope he comes back to haunt running backs’ dreams again…just not our backs. Clemson is still talented, but we don’t know how consistent they are. Wake Forest will take a step back on defense, the key to their success the last three years. Boston College is squarely in rebuilding mode after all they’ve lost.
Coastal Division
1. Virginia Tech
2. Georgia Tech
3. North Carolina
4. Miami
5. Virginia
6. Duke
Last year was the time to pounce on the Coastal Division and step up in Virginia Tech’s rebuilding year. That window is now closed, and now anyone who wants to win this division must go through the Hokies. Georgia Tech’s Success will depend on whether their triple option stand the test of a team getting a second look. I actually predicted that North Carolina can finish as well as 10-2, but they have to beat one or both of the Techs on the road in order to win the division; honestly, I don;t think this team is ready. Miami still needs to show consistency to be placed higher than fourth. Virginia lose too many important players from 2008 and Duke is, well, Duke.
Offensive Player of the Year: Darren Evans, Virginia Tech
Partly because he’s very good and partly to be contrarian. How Gobbler Country let me get away with calling him “Darrell Evans” in the email I sent him, I’ll never know.
Defensive Player of the Year: QUANTAVIUS THE MAGNIFICENT, UNC.
I have never been more confident of a prediction in my entire life. Ever.
Rookie of the Year: Josh Adams, UNC.
Not knowing much (read: anything about other rookies in the ACC, I decided to stick to what I know. Judging by the pairty in voting in this category, everyone else voted the same way. I think Jamal Womble will have a bigger impact, but I have a hunch Adams will have better stats.
Thanks again to Gobbler Country for holding this poll.
And yesterday we get our first gem of the year, courtesy of opponent Georgia Southern.
I’m distinctly in the mindset of ITS STILL FOOTBALL SEASON WHAT BASKETBALL I CANT HEAR YOU LALALALALALALA, but this was too good not to post here.
…where UNC and Duke have the ACC’s two best offensive attacks?
Heading into October, this is a distinct possibility. In a conference which is, to put it kindly, offensively challenged, the Tar Heels and Blue Devils currently sit at 2nd and 3rd in ACC in points per game (31.0 and 30.8 ppg, respectively). Sure, Florida State is ahead of them, but they collected 115 of their 157 points against FCS opponents with a combined 5 wins in 2007. Let us simply revel in this oddity, though, and not get too far into semantics.
Both team shave their fair share of weapons. Duke’s Thad Lewis to Eron Riley might be the most underrated quarterback/receiver combination in the country. For UNC, Hakeem Nicks, Brandon Tate, and Brooks Foster have made things a bot easier for whomever has lined up under center.
What makes the stat so peculiar, however, is the lack of a running game from either team. The Blue Devils have score a combined 72 points against Navy and Virginia (!!!) despite amassing a grand total of 162 yards rushing (78 and 84). Carolina defeated Miami on the road despite 35 yards on the ground, although a closer look at the stats show a solid 3 yard/carry performance by the tailbacks.
So what has been the secret? Forcing turnovers. In each team’s two respective victories against FBS opponents, UNC and Duke have a turnover margin of +6, a combined 14 takeaways and only two giveaways.
So, are you truly, zombies-are-attacking-ohmygod-run ready for prolific ACC offenses from Chapel Hill and Durham in the coming years? Because the future may be sooner than you think.
Coming out of the tunnel in the second half…
Mike Paulus: Yeah, I am sooo pumped for this game, even though I’m probably not going to see a snap. But hey, if I’m in the game, it;s because you’ve slammed the door shut, T.J. Now let’s kick some! Let’s go, T.J.! Let’s go, Quan! Let’s go, Greg! WHOOOOOOOO!!!
(Mike Paulus has just patted the back of each player just mentioned, unwittingly giving them an radio chip in the process.)
Third Quarter. UNC is up 10-3 against Virginia Tech.
This game ain’t looking half-bad. Defense is dominating, we’re in field goal range, and T.J. is looking pretty sharp.
T.J. Yates: HUT HUT!
Radio: Beep beepbeedeedeep beedeedeep beedeedeepeep beedeedeepeep beeeeeeeeeeeeep
T.J. Yates:
Must…sprint…backwards…into…defensive…player…
(Yates is sacked for a loss of 20 yards, and hurts his left foot in the process)
Oh, no! T.J. can’t be hurt!
Butch: Get him out of there!
Yates: I’m…fine…coach…I’ll…stay…here…
(Yates performs 7 step drop on bad foot, is sacked)
Butch: WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!
Yates: I don’t know what came over me OW OW OW OW
Alright Mike, get yourself together. This game is on your shoulders now. Hopefully we can get the running game going. Keep the pressure off, you know. You can do this, Mike, This is what you came here for.
Next possession…
Alright, Well start with a run up the middle. Can’t be that bad. HUT HUT! (hands of to Greg Little) GO! GO GO GO GO GO! YEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHH!!! WAY TO GO GREG! WAY TO GO! Whoo, okay. 17-3. Defense is playing well. Pressure’s off.
VT possession. 3rd and 5. Tyrod Taylor has just been stopped for no gain.
Way to go defense! Way to go!
Unnamed Hokie Player:
Ron Cherry: After the play was over, personal foul, on the…
Radio: BEEEEP BEEDEEDEEP BEEPDEEDEEDEEPBEEEP BEEEEEEEEP
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Cherry:
…on the defense. 15 yards from the dead ball spot, first down.
WHAT! He had Quan by the mask! How is that not on Tech, Ron? Oh, well, we can still force a field goal kick.
Virginia Tech scores after another, er, “odd” call, and the score is 17-10.
Okay, so they’ve cut the lead to seven. But come on, that was a fluke. We can still be in control of this game.
So, we’ll just do this like last time. handoff to Greg up the middle and see what happens. HUT HUT!
Radio: BEEEPBEDEDEEEPBEEEP BEDEDEEPBEEP BEEEEEEEEP
Greg Little:
Must…let…go…of…ball…at…inopportune…moment…
Okay, we’re in the red zone, getting into crunch time. We’ve made it this far, I think we can finish this drive get the momentum back, and walk away with victory. Alright, keep it cool.
HUT HUT!
Let’s see to the right here. Hey look! Foster’s open in the flat…
Radio: BEEPBEDEEPBEBEDEEEEEPPBEPBEDEEEP BEEEEP
Must…throw…deep…ball…into…coverage…hope…Hakeem…gets…lucky…
Macho Harris: Mmm yummy delicious interception
Crowd: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Wha…what just happened? Oh come on! What made me throw that to Nicks? How could i be so stupid!
Hokies win the game, 20-17.
Okay, something’s up. way too many weird things have been going on. How could this have happened? HOW!
Meanwhile, not far away…
(phone rings)
(phone rings)
(ph-)
Anonymous voice from Durham #1:
Cut here.
Ananymous voice from Durham #2:
Hey, it’s Greg. Just wanted to let you know that the plan worked. Phase one of Operation Sabotage is complete.
Anonymous voice from Durham #1: Excellent. But I still can’t believe you got your brother to become part of the plan.
Anonymous voice from Durham #2: I know! That dude is so gullible when he’s around me.
Anonymous voice from Durham #1: Muahahahaha….
Anonymous voice from Durham #1: BWAHH-HAHAHAHAAAAAAA…
TO BE CONTINUED…
While it’s unfortunate that we won’t be able to wipe the floor with Duke the way the Women’s team did Sunday night, the tides have begun to turn since these two teams last faced.
On February sixth, Blue Devils came to the Dean Dome at their peak against the inconsistent and suddenly shorthanded Tar Heels. In the four weeks since Duke has been reeling, with road losses to Wake Forest and Miami and escaping an upset at the hands of NC State by the skin of their teeth (and arguably a bad foul call, which allowed Demarcus Nelson to hits the game-winning free throws; but that is another topic altogether). Now Saturday’s game carries, in all likelihood, the outright ACC regular season championship and the inside track to the #1 seed in the East Bracket. To put it simply, Jon Scheyer picked the wrong month to quit sniffing glue.
Once again, we look to the Scheyerface thread for inspiration.
Meanwhile, the Tar Heels have yet to lose since the Duke game despite injuries to Ty Lawson, Deon Thompson, Marcus Ginyard, Quentin Thomas, Tyler Hansbrough, Danny Green, Rameses, assisstant coach Steve Robinson, several members of the Amis Chapel Baptist Church concession stand, and the very kind 80-year old man in the fifth row of the Smith Center who has paid thousands of dollars in scholarships for the privilege of his seat and will shout when he feels like shouting, dammit!
Now Lawson’s back (sort of) and Q and the rest of the Heels will be far more confident in their abilities than the last time these two teams faced each other.Then again, Q’s never played more than 10 minutes in a game at Cameron Indoor Stadium, something that he will certainly have to do this Saturday.
It’s Duke-Carolina, and it’s for all the regular season marbles (barring an inexplicable loss to Virginia and/or Florida State midweek, but stranger things have happened). Should be loads of fun. Let the hate begin!
Stewart Mandel says we should have seen this coming, but you still have to make sure you’re awake before you realize that Duke has just lost two straight ACC games to the teams that finished 11th and 12 last year, respectively.
More importantly, however, it’s an excuse to post these, courtesy of one of the greatest forums in internet history:
Not taken from Duke’s loss, but still thoroughly enjoyable. See you Friday.
Perhaps I can be rational about the result of this game at some point. But not yet.
First things first, let’s get this out of the way: Quentin Thomas did not lose this game. It may have been a completely different offense without Lawson on the floor, there were several stretches in which he struggled. However, there were many other points of failure points in that game, any of which could have won the game had they been corrected.
For example: Wayne Ellington and Danny Green combined to shoot 2 for 153. The statisticians began to feel sorry for them and stopped tracking their misses, only writing down “2-24”. True story. Below, a visual representation of Wayne and Danny’s shooting nights, respectively.
It was expected that without Lawson on the floor, Carolina could not play their transition game. When forced into a halfcourt team against a halfcourt press, running effective screens becomes crucial. I did not see the Heels run effective screens against Duke, which I think led to a lot of turnovers and low-percentage shots.
Deon Thompson played like a beast for the first five minutes of the game. Then he seemed to become unfocused and devolved into the human fouling machine, fouling out after just 18 minutes. For lack of a better expression, he was the black Shavlik Randolph.
Duke is very effective in playing with the human psyche. When you see a Duke player driving he lane. a defender’s first instinct is always to help out. This plays right into their game, as this leaves plenty of Blue Devils open for threes. Coach K has been using this strategy for years, yet few teams are ever disciplined enough to override their instincts and and defend the perimeter no matter what happens inside. Carolina was no exception on Wednesday night. Credit is due to Duke for running a system so well, but Carolina needs to get better on defense.
This bears repeating: when Marcus Ginyard and Quentin Thomas account for 1/3rd of your offense, you’re in trouble.
There is absolutely no need to panic about the result of this game. Remember this: Duke played perhaps their best game all year, and Carolina obviously played a bad game, severely shorthanded at basketball most crucial position…and yet it was a two possession game after 39 minutes and 5 seconds. I don’t know what that says about Duke, but it shows that, with Lawson in the lineup, this team is still a national championship contender. Unless, of course, we lose to Clemson on Sunday. I would hate for this to be the team that ended the streak.
And finally: I don’t care what you think, this is funny.
For tonight’s Duke game, the Dean Dome should be as raucous as you will see it for quite some time. But you may see a few fans in the stands wearing neither Carolina nor Duke blue, but a strange yellow.
From what I have heard, someone thought it would be a very personal touch to the Dookies for Carolina students to wear Virginia Commonwealth shirts for tonight’s game, and it appears that a few thousand will be wearing them. Why, you ask?
Ah, yes. Duke agony: it heals the soul.
No live blog tonight, as I will have the fortune of being in attendance. I’ll provide a full report on the game tomorrow.
…Through song. It’s the kind of forbidden love about which no one wants to know…because frankly, we’re all disgusted by the thought of it.
Tar Heel Mania 