ACC Roundup – Miami is still struggling and UNC’s frontcourt is a problem

In Wednesday’s ACC action, Miami fell at Boston College, 78-68, Pitt edged Cal 86-74, Clemson downed Stanford 85-71 and Louisville topped UNC 83-70.

We’ve said multiple times that we have faith in Pat Kelsey’s ability to get Louisville back on track, and this actually looks like a very different Louisville team than the one Duke saw recently.

By and large, Louisville won on clay. It certainly wasn’t three point shooting – the Cards hit just 6-26 – or the free throw line (25-39).

But Louisville ran well, took care of the ball and punished UNC defensively.

The Tar Heel problems are well known: the frontcourt is inadequate and Seth Trimble is still out.

Jalen Washington had seven points and six rebounds. Ven-Allen Lubin had five points and nine boards and Jae’Lyn Withers had two points and five boards.

Imagine for a moment if Khaman Maluach was a Tar Heel. His offense would still be a work in progress, but the defense would instantly improve.

There is no quick fix for UNC’s frontcourt. We know what Rick Pitino would do: he’d just embrace Small Ball, have his players fanatically conditioned, and push everyone, everywhere, all the time.

Hubert Davis won’t go Pitino, UNC will just have to muddle through.

On the bright side, Ian Jackson is turning it up: He has had 24, 26 and 23 points in his last three games. UNC has four outstanding guards when Trimble is back and five if you count Drake Powell, at least as a perimeter player. It could be a rough season, but when these guys get hot, UNC becomes dangerous.

Imagine for a moment that Mike Krzyzewski had this list. Just as a mental exercise, what if he started Jackson, Powell, RJ Davis, Elliot Cadeu and persuaded Jae’Lyn Withers to just focus on defense? What if he made that group just attack, attack, attack?

UNC will get better, but they need to find a solution to their frontcourt issues.

Look at what’s happened to Florida State basketball: Todd Golden is in a bizarre situation with the Gators. Leonard Hamilton is being sued by his own (former) players. Jim Larranaga just threw in the towel on his career a few days ago. Dusty May has left FAU. Central Florida’s Johnny Dawkins may be the last man standing.

In the first half, it looked like Miami might ride an emotional wave after Larranaga’s abrupt retirement and race out to a 19-point first-half lead. The ‘Canes had 17 rebounds, six blocks, three steals and dictated the tempo of the game.

But they only did it for 20 minutes.

Didn’t last.

Boston College was far better in the second half and Miami shot poorly, finishing 5-23 (21.7 percent) on threes and a paltry 39.7 percent overall. Donald Hand was a little off his recent standard, but that didn’t matter. Josh Beadle stuck the knife in with two late threes.

It was a tough debut for interim coach Bill Courtney, but what can you do? He’s inherited an opportunity, but it’s not a great situation.

Remember the great recruit Jalil Bethea?

Eight points and three minutes.

Miami has now won just once since November 17th.

We honestly thought both Stanford and Cal could be seriously outsmarted, and while neither won, they both did well, especially in the first half.

Former Blue Devil Jaylen Blakes returned to the ACC (the first game was against Cal and doesn’t really count in this sense) and had 13 points, five assists….and seven turnovers.

Practice

Maxime Raynaud, who has had some big games against weaker teams, finished with 14 points (7-17/0-6) and 13 rebounds.

Clemson forced 17 turnovers and nearly doubled the Cardinals at the foul line 21-11.

Whether it was Stanford or just a bad outing, Ian Schieffelin shot just 1-6 and finished with four points and just four rebounds. It is far below his normal contribution.

Former Blue Devil Christian Reeves got four minutes in his reunion game with Blakes and grabbed a rebound.

Pitt lost Ish Leggett to a leg injury, opening up freshman Brandin Cummings, who followed in big brother Nelly’s footsteps to play for former Duke star Jeff Capel.

He helped Pitt survive a solid first half by Cal, which saw the Bears up 42-38 at halftime.

However, the Panthers owned the second half, 48-32. Jaland Lowe had 27 points. Cam Corhen finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds and one call (just kidding. He’s not one of the players suing Leonard Hamilton, at least not yet).

Cumming thrown in 15.

Cal’s impressive freshman Jeremiah Wilkinson came off the bench to knock in 24.

The Bears finished with just six turnovers, which is better than we expected, honestly.

After Wednesday, Duke, Clemson, Pitt and SMU are the only ACC teams remaining undefeated in conference play.

There are no games on Friday, but Saturday is a full house with nine games. Interestingly, Cal and Stanford have maintained a frugal and practical PAC-12 tradition of flying out on long road trips and then switching opponents. PAC-12 used to do this by sending e.g. Arizona and Arizona State to Oregon to play Oregon and Oregon State. Now we get to see Stanford play Pitt and Cal advance to Clemson.

The most interesting game, however, is likely Duke’s first trip to SMU’s Moody Coliseum.

ACC position