The ACC's star power

posted by LW, Thursday, February 11, 2010

Last night's game between Clemson and Florida State was often ugly, and you had a pretty good idea going in that would be the case.

Both teams are good, but both teams are lacking the firepower to be really good. Clemson really misses Terrence Oglesby and K.C. Rivers. Florida State really misses Toney Douglas.

At some point after the game, it dawned on me that the ACC's problem is about the same as Clemson's and Florida State's: The conference certainly isn't bad, and is actually pretty good relative to most other conferences. But there's a major void of star power compared to years past, and that makes for less compelling basketball regardless of how close the games might be.

Take a look at the top 20 scoring leaders from last season, and you see a number of players who are capable of taking your breath away.

Douglas. Hansbrough. McClinton. Teague. Lawson. Rice. Henderson. Ellington. James Johnson. Rivers.

Taking a look at this year's luminaries, there are some guys I'd pay to watch.

Delaney ... Ish Smith ... Aminu ... Lawal ... and not much else.

Last night's game in Chapel Hill was probably a reflection of what I'm talking about, even though I haven't yet watched the game.

Duke was 3-of-28 inside the 3-point arc in the first half and still found itself up 28-27. The teams combined to shoot 33 percent for the game.

The teams combined for 118 points. Last year in Durham, North Carolina scored 101 points by itself.

Jon Scheyer was the best player on the floor. Like I said, star power (or lack thereof).

Here's Bart Wright's dispatch from Littlejohn, noting the lack of artistic value and the lack of butts in the seats.

The school listed the game as a sellout with 10,000 tickets sold, but that number appeared to include approximately 3,000 seats unencumbered by bodies. Somebody said fans don't like to come out when it's cold and at the start of the game, both Clemson and Florida State seemed to be playing as if they didn't want to be out on this Wednesday night, either.

Eventually, the chilly atmosphere in Littlejohn that created a 13-8 lead for Clemson with 8:30 left in the half warmed up perceptibly. The Tigers scrapped their way to a 37-24 halftime lead thanks to the shooting of senior David Potter and by the time the second half was winding down, they were shooting free throws like they were a strength.

A 10-point win over a team that shot just 38 percent from the field sounds like a struggle, but this 77-67 win was one of those that goes into the grind-it-out column as well as the must-have column.

Trevor Booker didn't look himself last night, by the way. Turns out he's been sick and needed an IV before the game, according to Oliver Purnell.

Booker played 27 minutes and had a season-low six shot attempts, and you have to think OP likes the fact that his team can gut one out with others picking up the slack.

Funny -- and telling -- anecdote from last night's press conference:

Purnell is asked about David Potter's career-high 19-point game, and to what he attributes Potter's suddenly confident stroke.

The response: "I could make something up."

Here are the game stories from The Post and Courier, Independent-Mail and Greenville News.

Also in the P&C: Travis Sawchik speaks with Dabo Swinney, who says Florida's interest in Charlie Harbison is "pretty serious."


Looks like Duke could be missing Lance Thomas for an extended period.

It was a bittersweet win for the Blue Devils because of the right knee injury to senior forward Lance Thomas that helped lead to the decisive lineup change. Krzyzewski said Thomas doesn't have a torn anterior cruciate ligament, but said the injury is serious and expects to know more about its severity today.

"It's not a minor injury," Krzyzewski said solemnly.

Caulton Tudor says the Dean Dome was more like the Doom Dome for the Tar Heels.

Ed Hardin of the Greensboro News and Record wonder if Coach K's new offense will produce new results in the NCAA Tournament.

Duke's recent haul of big men has allowed Krzyzewski to tinker, and he decided their best talent right now is to set screens. In particular, back screens that allow Singler to pop out of the lane for 3-pointers. The new offense still is based on the jumper.

That leads to nightmarish results sometimes, many of them in recent NCAA tournaments going back to the days of Shelden Williams and J.J. Redick. And it led to a nightmare Wednesday night. Duke shot under 32 percent and won anyway. Earlier this season, the Devils shot 28 percent and beat Connecticut.

"I think we're a very good basketball team," Krzyzewski said. "I don't think we're a great team. I know we're not a great team. But we do have pretty good heart."

Heart wins games in February and it wins games in April. It's the games in between that he has to figure out how to win.

"During February, one you have to qualify for the NCAAs," Krzyzewski said. "Now we're qualified. We have eight conference wins. How do we get better? How do we use this time to become a better basketball team? I'm trying to coach this team like I did with my teams in the '80s. Not the early '80s. Like I did in the mid- to like late-'80s. That's really the kind of team we have."

Here's the view of last night's game from Florida State's side.

"We just didn't come ready to play," sophomore guard Luke Loucks said. "We had plenty of opportunities to get back in it, but we just let it get out of control."

Miami will enter Saturday's game in Littlejohn feeling good about itself after last night's win over Georgia Tech.

The Yellow Jackets are 5-5 in the ACC. That borders on criminal.

But not nearly as criminal as this gem from Roy Williams:

"Our massage therapist told me, 'You know, coach, what happened in Haiti is a catastrophe. What you're having is a disappointment,' " said Williams. "I told her that depends on what chair you're sitting in. It does feel like a catastrophe to me, because it is my life."


LW

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