ACC Stock Watch: January 29th

The recent week has started to show us which teams are hot and which teams are looking for answers.
Stock Up

Maryland- The Terps are the hottest team in the ACC at 4-1 in conference play. They are an overtime loss at Wake Forest away from being undefeated. Gary Williams' 09-10 team's success stems from great team chemistry. Players know their roles, and the heart and soul of the team is, in my opinion, Sean Mosley. Mosley may be the toughest and smartest player in the ACC. He simply makes winning plays. A look at the Miami box score reflects this. Mosley finished with only ten points, but also seven rebounds, three assists, and three steals. Rarely do you see a guard finish with seven rebounds. The sophomore is second on the team in rebounding, averaging just under six a game, a stat amazing for a wing player. Gary knew he was getting a winner when Mosley signed with the Terrapins out of Baltimore powerhouse St. Frances Academy. The rest of his team is taking on Mosley's attitude of "whatever it takes to win." Entering conference play some experts had them as low as ninth in their ACC power rankings. Now they are on top of the ACC.

Duke- Since the loss at NC State on the 20th, Duke has handled two good teams-Clemson and Florida State. Holding the Tigers to 47 points in their own arena is simply unheard of. The win at Clemson was followed up by a home victory over Florida State, thanks to a late Blue Devil run. Duke's big three of Nolan Smith, Kyle Singer, and Jon Scheyer scored 53 of the Devils' 70 points. The next two games for the Blue Devils will not be easy, as they take a break from conference play Saturday when they pay a visit to a top 25 Georgetown team, then return home Thursday against a Georgia Tech team who beat them 25 days earlier.

Virginia Tech- The Hokies, thanks to a furious late rally, escaped last night in Charlottesville against a well-coached Virginia club. The Cavaliers dominated most of the game, but scored just five points in the final ten(ish) minutes of the game, including the overtime period. The Hokies won the game because they kept UVA stars Mike Scott and Sylven Landesberg off the score sheet for those final ten or so minutes. Virginia led by ten with 3:16 remaining in the game. The Hokies then began to get stops, and got good shots on the offensive end. Coach Seth Greenberg stepped away from his patented motion offense on muntiple possessions in favor of a flex offense designed to take advantage of the Hokies' size advantage at the guard spots. The offense is similar to the style Boston College and Maryland run. Cousins Dorenzo Hudson and J.T. Thompson stepped up for the Hokies, particularly Thompson, who was filling in for started Jeff Allen, who was ejected for a flagrant foul with 13:41 to play in the game. Thompson finished with 18 points, a season high, and hit five of six free throws, an area he had struggled in coming into Thursday night's game. Tech found out something I had known for a few weeks know-they do not need big numbers from Jeff Allen to be successful. The Hokies are used to playing without him, as he is in constant foul trouble. Allen challenges Sean Mosley for the title of best pound for pound rebounder in the ACC, so he obviously does some good things for Greenberg's club, but my point is, having Allen on the bench is not always a bad thing for Tech. Look for Thompson to get increased court time, as well as more minutes for athletic freshman Cadarian Raines, who is glowing with potential.

Stock Down

Virginia- UVA had a miserable performance at Wake Forest on Saturday, and followed it up by blowing a ten point lead with three minutes remaining at home against arch-rival Virginia Tech. Since starting 3-0 in conference and playing the role of conference surprise, the Cavs have fallen down to earth. They will still be a tough out in the future, with two All-ACC performers in Landesberg and Scott, and the development of Sammy Zeglinski at the point is promising.

NC State- All was well after the Pack's home win against Duke. Then the Wolfpack were destroyed at Maryland and then fell at home to rival North Carolina. The Pack are now 2-5 in conference play. State has had poor guard play in the UNC and Maryland losses, as opposed to great guard play against Duke. This team will only go as far as Javi Gonzalez and Farnold Degand lead them. Tracy Smith is their only real go-to man, and he is often somewhat undersized in the post. State will get an chance to recuperate Saturday against NC Central, one of the worst teams in division one, then hit the road for a tough game against Virginia. Gonzalez will need to play well against the Cavs, and Scott Wood and Dennis Horner will need to knock down a few perimeter shots each to take pressure off the interior defense against Smith.

Clemson- The Tigers have had back to back miserable performances in winnable games. They netted only 47 points at home against Duke, the lowest scoring output by a Clemson team in the Oliver Purnell era. They followed that performance up with an uninspired performance at Boston College, a game in which BC was much tougher and were more aggressive. The game reflected the importance of starting point guard Demontez Stitt, who was unable to dress because of an injury sustained in the Duke game. Stitt runs their offense and is their coach on the floor. Andre Young is one of the better bench players in the ACC, but expecting him to run the show with no backup on the road is a tough order. Expect Clemson to slowly creep back into the top of the conference, despite currently sitting in the middle of the pack with a 3-3 ACC record.