Fueled from within
Jim Sumner, ACC Columnist
The Miami Hurricanes have played their way into the ACC picture with a four-game winning streak, that leaves them 5-3 in the conference, 14-7 overall.
Miami certainly deserves bonus points for perseverance. Their last two wins were 90-86 over Maryland in double-overtime and Sunday's stunning 78-74 overtime win at Duke, Miami's first ever win there.
Veteran guards Durand Scott and Malcolm Grant are playing well but Miami's inside game has fueled their run. Reggie Johnson is recovered from knee surgery and was a dominant force against Duke, muscling for a career-high 27 points, while adding a dozen rebounds. Mike Krzyzewski called Johnson's performance "spectacular."
Perhaps more importantly, Johnson-who has battled weight and conditioning issues--played 35 minutes against Duke.
Then there's Kenny Kadji, a 6-11, 250-pounder. A native of Cameroon, Kadji played sparingly at Florida before transferring to the other end of the state. Kadji can do the dirty work inside--he's had five double-figure rebounding games this season. But he also nailed 4-of-5 3-pointers against Duke and is 17-35 on the season from beyond the arc.
And let’s add freshman, Shane Larkin, son of baseball great Barry. The 5-11 point played 41 minutes against Maryland, 38 against Duke. His emergence enables both Grant and Scott to play off the ball, where both are more comfortable.
Miami hasn't been to the NCAAs since 2008. With two games against Florida State and one against North Carolina left on their schedule, Jim Larranaga's squad has more chances to impress the computers and the committee.
Required Reading
More on the ACC's new scheduling format.
The state of Virginia Tech basketball.
Florida State holds off Virginia.
What I Knew
Boston College would struggle this season. Matt Humphrey leads the 7-16 Eagles in scoring with 10.1 points per game. Three other players average more than nine, while the team is on the wrong side of 60 ppg. But Steve Donahue's kids are competing, learning and growing. There will be better times.
What I Should Have Known
Duke's Cameron Crazies have been over-praised. Now that Duke is struggling at home, they've being over-criticized. If college basketball players can't get up for a nationally televised basketball game that's on them.
Stat of the Week
4-0, 2-2. The former is Duke's ACC road record. The latter is Duke's ACC home record. Duke seems to be taking home wins for granted and it's become a dangerous assumption.
Sumner's final take
Rivalry? What rivalry? Sometime in the next few weeks or next few years, Pittsburgh and Syracuse will join the ACC, making it a 14-team circuit. The ACC has had two divisions in football since 2005.
But the league resists going to divisions in basketball, creating some scheduling problems. The league will go to 18 conference games next season, regardless of whether Pitt or Syracuse is on board. Playing a double round-robin would mean 26 conference games, so that's not happening.
So, what to do? The league announced last week that each
team will have one permanent partner, with whom they will play two
games every season. Everybody else is on a three-year cycle,
meaning that once every three years Team A will have a
home-and-home with Team B. Which means that the other two
years, we're looking at one game per opponent.
The partners are Boston College/Syracuse, Pitt/Maryland, Virginia/Virginia Tech, Duke/North Carolina, NC State/Wake Forest, Clemson/Georgia Tech, and Miami/Florida State.
There are some conspicuous omissions, including Duke and Maryland. But the most glaring is North Carolina and North Carolina State. We're talking two in-state, public-school universities, located all of 25 miles apart, with a rivalry that started in 1913 and encompasses 220 games.
Now, they are considered to be rivals in the same way that Clemson and Boston College are rivals.
Eventually the ACC will expand to 16 teams. Assuming the two new teams are north of North Carolina, the ACC can divide into two geographically coherent divisions, one in which the four North Carolina schools, the two Florida schools, Clemson and Georgia Tech comprise the Southern Division, the other eight the Northern Division.
Then, we can start this whole thing all over again.
But for now, one of the ACC's great rivalries has been downgraded.
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Leslie photo courtesy
of Mark McIntyre
