Day 2 of the ACC Baseball Tournament kicked off with defending champion Georgia Tech looking to send the three seed Virginia to 0-2. Instead, it was the Cavaliers evening up their record at 1-1 with an 8-2 victory. The Yellow Jackets dropped to 1-1 with one game of pool play left.

GT got on the board in the first inning after Kyle Wren led off the bottom of the inning with a triple and scored on a Brandon Thomas single (but he was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double). UVA tied it up in the third on a Mike Papi RBI grounder that was misplayed by the shortstop. They took the 2-1 lead later in that inning on Joe McCarthy‘s sac fly.

Nick Howard and Kenny Towns hit back-to-back homeruns in the top of the 4th inning to give the Cavaliers a 4-1 lead. Brandon Downes hit another solo shot, his team-leading ninth, leading off the sixth to give UVA the 5-2 lead (they would score two more runs in that inning).

Scott Silverstein earned the win, as he allowed two runs on ten hits and two walks over 8.2 innings. A two out double by Mott Hyde ended his day.

UVA will enjoy Friday off before getting back on the field Saturday to start the day at 11am versus Florida State. GT finishes their pool play on Friday at 3pm versus Virginia Tech. If the Yellow Jackets beat VT tomorrow, they head to the ACC Championship on Sunday if FSU beat UVA on Saturday.

Top seed North Carolina took no mercy in their first game, as they run-ruled eight seed Miami, 10-0 in eight innings. The Tarheels pounded out 18 hits.

They got the game started as four of the first five hitters singled before Brian Holberton drove in two runs with a single.

UNC starter Kent Emanuel struggled with his command to start, as he walked the first two batters he faced. However his defense bailed him out. First baseman Cody Stubbs turned a rare 3-6-1 double play. Emanuel then cruised to a complete game victory. He allowed four hits and just those two walks.

Stubbs also used his bat, as he collected four hits and drove in three runs with two doubles. Five other Tarheels had multi-hit games.

Miami is back in action bright and early on Friday at 11am against NC State. The Tarheels play Friday night at 7pm against Clemson.

» Continue reading “ACC Baseball Tournament Day 2 Recap”

There was some movement in the ACC baseball standings after this past weekend’s games. North Carolina is still Baseball America’s top ranked team. Virginia moved up to number five (up from seventh), with NC State making the biggest jump to number six (up from 15). Florida State dropped to tenth (from number six) and Georgia Tech made the biggest drop to number 20 (down from 14). Clemson stayed ranked at number 25 (down from 20).

NC State’s Tarran Senay was named the ACC Player of the Week after driving in a career-high six RBIs in their first game at GT. He hit .411 for the week with three runs scored and nine RBIs.

Miami’s Andrew Suarez was named the ACC Pitcher of the Week after throwing a complete game shutout in Sunday’s win over Clemson. He allowed six hits and struck out five (while not walking a batter).

There was some shuffling at the top of the Atlantic Division.

NC State moved into first place at 14-7 (32-10 overall) by sweeping GT for the first time since 1992 and the first time ever in Atlanta. The Wolfpack host Davidson tonight before hosting number one UNC this weekend.

Florida State was swept at UVA and fell to 13-8 (31-9 overall), which is good for a second place tie. The Seminoles scored a total of four runs in the three weekend games. They travel to Jacksonville tonight before hosting Wake Forest over the weekend.

Clemson lost two of three at Miami and are tied with FSU for second place in the Atlantic Division (27-13 overall). They only scored two runs in the entire three game series. The Tigers host Western Carolina on Wednesday before hosting GT over the weekend.

Wake Forest swept winless Boston College (at least in the conference), with Sunday’s game going 11 innings. They are 7-14 and 23-20 overall. The Demon Deacons travel to Winthrop tonight before traveling to FSU for a weekend series.

Maryland lost two of three at home to Virginia Tech to drop to 6-15 and 21-20 overall. The Terps host Liberty and travel to Towson in the midweek before traveling to Duke over the weekend.

Boston College was swept on the road at Wake Forest to drop to 0-20 in the ACC (6-33 overall). The Eagles will try to win their first conference game when they host Miami over the weekend.

» Continue reading “ACC Baseball Weekly Update”

It was a good start for the ACC in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.

Maryland won their first game on Saturday afternoon and will now take on Michigan State tonight at the Comcast Center in College Park, MD.

Duke pulled away late in the second half to beat upset-minded Hampton to kick off Sunday’s action. I was most disappointed in the amount of Hampton fans at Cameron Indoor Stadium (they took over the entire Cameron Crazies section). The Blue Devils move on to play seven seed Oklahoma State on Tuesday night in Cameron. Maybe the guys can give them some luck?

North Carolina held off 14 seed Albany, 59-54 to advance to play six seed Delaware on Tuesday night on the Blue Hens home court. This may be the most intriguing matchup of the tourney, with one of the best players in the game, Delaware’s Elena Delle Donne, going up against a wild UNC team.

Albany led 28-23 at the half, as UNC was in foul trouble with two starters with three fouls. It was also a sloppy first half, as the two teams combined for 27 turnovers.

In the second half, Tierra Ruffin-Pratt, who was one of the two starters with three fouls, took over. She scored 19 of her 30 points in the second half. Waltiea Rolle scored ten of her 14 points in the second half with nine rebounds (she had 14 total). Rolle, named to the ACC’s All-Defensive Team, could guard the 6’5 Delle Donne on Tuesday night.

FSU’s Leonor Rodriguez during shoot around at Maryland on January 6, 2013.

Despite foul trouble to key players, Florida State beat nine seed Princeton, 60-44. The Seminoles led 31-19 at the half. FSU moves on to face the overall number one seed in Waco, Texas, Baylor and Brittany Griner.

With the foul issues in the first half, FSU was led by their supporting cast. Yashira Delgado scored seven of her 11 points in the first half. Chastity Clayton, the ACC’s 6th Player of the Year, scored all six of her points in the first half.

Leonor Rodriguez, the Seminoles leading scorer, had just four points and three fouls at the half. She turned it up in the second half and scored eight more points without picking up another foul. Morgan Toles also chipped in 12 points.

No Princeton players scored in double figures.

Eight seed Miami was the lone ACC team to lose, as they lost to nine seed Iowa, 69-53 in Iowa City. The Hurricanes led by one at the half, but were out-scored in the second half, 42-25.

Neither team shot the ball well, but Miami shot poorly from the free throw line (just 14-of-26). They also only made three 3-pointers. All that poor shooting and turnovers (24) negated their huge rebounding edge (49-34 and 21-12 on the offensive glass).

Morgan Stroman scored 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting but committed five turnovers. Shawnice “Pepper” Wilson scored 15 points and hauled in 18 rebounds. She only made 4-of-10 shots and committed seven turnovers.

For the Hawkeyes, Samantha Logic scored 23 points and hauled in 14 rebounds. Next up for Iowa, they will face one seed Notre Dame. Can they pull the upset on their home court?

Miami won their first ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament title on Sunday, as they beat North Carolina, 87-77. It was a back-and-forth affair with big shot after big shot from both teams. As you can tell by the score, there wasn’t a ton of great defense played.

With his Hall of Fame dad in attendance, Miami guard Shane Larkin led the way. He scored a career-high 28 points, while also hauling in five rebounds and dishing out seven assists. Eight of those points came in the final 2:30 when the Hurricanes pulled away (including 6-for-6 from the free throw line). Those numbers earned Larkin the MVP award for the tourney.

Trey McKinney-Jones also came up big for the Hurricanes. He made six shots from beyond the arc for a career-high 20 points. His three pointer with 6:27 to go gave the Hurricanes the lead they never relinquished.

The Tarheels took a 58-56 lead with 12:07 to go in the second half and led until McKinney-Jones‘ three with 6:27 to go.

PJ Hairston scored 28 points and made six 3-pointers, but Miami shut him down when they made their comeback.

UNC head coach Roy Williams was vying for his 700th career victory, but lost to Miami for the third time this season.

With the win, Miami earns the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. UNC must wait until tonight when the teams are announced via the Selection Show. The Tarheels are considered a lock, but what seed will they receive and who will be their first opponent?

Top seed Miami is headed to their first ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament finals. They held on to beat NC State on Saturday afternoon, 81-71. The Hurricanes led 41-29 at the half, in a game in which they never trailed.

Durand Scott scored a career-high 32 points while Shane Larkin scored 23 points. Scott went 12-for-18 from the field, including 5-of-8 from three point land.  He scored 19 points in the first half that gave Miami the big lead.

The Wolfpack came back and cut the deficit to single digits in the final two minutes, but Larkin made four straight free throws. That came as they did not score over the game’s first 5:30.

Miami moves on to face North Carolina, who won the second game on Saturday in the ACC Tourney. The Tarheels held off Maryland, 79-76. The Terps had their shot at the win, but took an off-balance shot to early and UNC came up with the rebound.

PJ Hairston, who many were not sure would play after ripping open his hand in Friday night’s game, scored 13 points. But his missed free throw in the closing seconds left the door open for Maryland. The Tarheels had four players score in double figures,

Miami beat UNC twice this season, with their last win being of the blow out variety back on February 9th. The ACC Championship can be seen on ESPN at 1pm ET from Greensboro.

The Duke men’s basketball team played very little defense on Friday night and lost to Maryland, 83-74, in the ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament quarterfinals. The Blue Devils never led in the game and now must await Selection Sunday to see if they still garner a number one seed.

It started from the very beginning when Ryan Kelly tried to guard Maryland’s Dez Wells. That didn’t go so well. Wells ended up scoring a game-high 30 points on 9-of-13 shooting. After Kelly failed, Tyler Thornton tried and also failed.

The Terps shot 51 % from the field and out-rebounded the Blue Devils 36-26.

It must have been the haircuts, as all three Duke seniors cut their locks and had subpar games. Kelly only scored eight points on 3-of-11 shooting. He only had three rebounds. Seth Curry scored 15 points, but only made 4-of-10 shots. Mason Plumlee led the Blue Devils with 19 points, but committed four turnovers and once again struggled against Maryland’s Alex Len.

The bright spot for Duke is that Rasheed Sulaimon looks like he has regained his confidence. In the first half, he single-handedly kept the Blue Devils in the game. He finished with 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting.

In other ACC Tournament action…

» Continue reading “No Defense Leads to Duke Loss in ACC Quarterfinals”

The Duke baseball team took two of three games this past weekend over ranked Miami. The series win was their first over the Hurricanes since 1966. So it has been a long time.

The series started on Friday with a 4-2 win, as Trent Swart picked up his second win of the season. He allowed two runs on seven hits over six innings. Swart struck out six and threw 75 of his 116 pitches for strikes. Robert Huber followed with two perfect innings of relief while striking out five. Andrew Istler picked up his third save of the season with a perfect ninth.

On offense, freshman Kenny Koplove went 3-for-5 with a run scored. Mike Rosenfeld and Chris Marconcini each collected two hits. Rosenfeld scored two runs and drove in one.

In Saturday’s 9-2 win, Drew Van Orden picked up his first win of the season. He allowed just three hits over six scoreless innings. Nick Hendrix followed and allowed just one hit over the next two innings before Miami got two runs in the ninth.

The Blue Devils picked up five doubles in the win. Andy Perez went 2-for-4 and scored three runs. Matt Berezo went 2-for-5 with two RBIs. Jordan Betts went 3-for-5 with an RBI. Koplove walked twice and scored two runs.

On Sunday, the Hurricanes finally got a win. They won 5-3 with three RBIs from Chantz Mack. Andrew Suarez allowed two runs (one earned) over seven innings.

Huber started but walked three and allowed two runs (though they both scored after he had left the game) in two innings. The top three hitters for Duke went a combined 6-for-12 with two RBIs. Jeff Kremer hit a home run.

Next up for the Blue Devils, a midweek game at UNC Central on Tuesday.

The ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament got off to a crazy start in Greensboro with fifth seed Miami playing 12 seed Virginia Tech. The Hokies scored just eight first half points. EIGHT! However, they only lost 45-39, as they out-scored the Hurricanes 31-24 in the second half.

Neither team shot the ball well, as VT shot just 26.9% from the field and Miami shot a little better at 28.6%.

Shawnice “Pepper” Wilson led all scorers with 17 points for Miami. Morgan Stroman finished with eight points and 13 rebounds.

Miami will play four seed Florida State on Friday at 11am ET to open the quarterfinals.

In the second game, the eight seed NC State was down to the nine seed Clemson at the half, but came back to blow the Tigers away 30-16 in the second half to win 56-45.

The Wolfpack won the game on the charity stripe, as they made (18) more than the Tigers took (seven). Kody Burke led all scorers with 16 points and Marissa Kastanek chipped in 14 points. Nikki Dixon was the lone Tiger in double figures with 11.

NC State moves on to face number one Duke for the second straight season on Friday afternoon. The Wolfpack upset Duke last year, as the eight seed beat the one seed for the first time ever.

Then the night got crazier.

Wake’s Lakevia Boykin on March 3, 2013 at Maryland.

The seven seed Georgia Tech looked like they were going to continue their hot streak into the quarterfinals, as they led ten seeded Wake Forest at the half, 43-36. Instead, it was the Demon Deacons who came out hot in the second half. They out-scored the Yellow Jackets, 50-24 in the second half (and shot 50% from the field) to pull off the upset by a final of 86-67. GT is still the most disappointing team in the ACC. Wake has now won at least one ACC Tourney game in each of the last five seasons.

All five starters for Wake scored in double figures, as Lakevia Boykin found her shot. She made 8-of-14 shots to score 21 points (ten in the second half). Sandra Garcia recorded a double-double: ten points and 12 rebounds. She also blocked three shots. For GT, Tyaunna Marshall scored a game-high 22 points, but needed 26 shots to get that total. She also hauled in 11 rebounds.

The Demon Deacons move on to play the two seed Maryland on Friday night. It will be a rematch of last Sunday’s game (which was a Terps blowout).

In the final game of the night, 11 seed Boston College led by ten at the half and fended off a comeback by six seeded Virginia, 66-57.

Four starters for the Eagles scored in double figures, as Kerri Shields led them with 16 points and seven rebounds. She made 4-of-8 three pointers. Kristen Doherty finished with 15 points and six rebounds. For UVA, Ataira Franklin scored 17 points, but fouled out.

BC will close out the quarterfinals on Friday night against three seeded North Carolina.

Will we see more craziness in the quarterfinals?

It was an exciting end to the ACC women’s basketball regular season, so one should expect the ACC Tournament to be just as exciting. It will be held in Greensboro, North Carolina, where a few teams have had some success (ie NC State, Georgia Tech, and Wake Forest over the last four years).

Let’s take a look at the four teams who received byes into the Friday quarterfinals:

#1 Duke. The Blue Devils lost their first and only conference game at Miami on Thursday night. Three games prior to that, they lost All-ACC guard Chelsea Gray for the season. They have not played really well over their last two games, though they overcame 29 turnovers in Sunday’s win over North Carolina.

The Blue Devils will play at 2pm ET on Friday against the winner of 8 NC State-9 Clemson. Last season, Duke was the first ever one seed to lose to an eight seed. Guess who that eight seed was? The Wolfpack. The Blue Devils beat the Wolfpack in their lone meeting this season in Raleigh (67-57). In that game, Haley Peters recorded a double-double: 18 points and 11 rebounds. For the NC State, Kody Burke and Marissa Kastanek scored in double figures by making 11-of-23 shots. Their teammates went just 7-for-33. This season, Duke beat Clemson twice, as the Tigers only averaged 45.5 points in the two losses.

Players to Watch: Elizabeth Williams, Tricia Liston, and Peters. For Duke to reach the ACC finals, they need these three to become more consistent. Williams has had trouble finishing on shots around the basket. Over her last two games, Liston has been virtually non-existent. Peters has been inconsistent all season long.

Keys to Victory: The bench. It is that simple. Duke has not received a ton of offensive production from their bench all season with Liston in the starting lineup. The bench is not that big to begin with, but they will need production from them to be victorious (especially if anyone gets into foul trouble).

#2 Maryland (14-4). They won the coin toss and will play the winner of 7Georgia Tech-10Wake Forest on Friday at 6pm ET. The Terps lost 2-of-3 to end the regular season. They won at GT this season (66-57), as three Terps recorded double-doubles: Alyssa Thomas (28 points, ten rebounds), Tianna Hawkins (16 points, 14 rebounds), and Alicia DeVaughn (11 points, 12 rebounds). Maryland did commit 24 turnovers in that game, 17 by those three. All-ACC player Tyaunna Marshall scored 18 points in the loss, as eight GT players scored. MD beat Wake twice, with the most recent coming in Sunday’s finale.

Maryland’s Chloe Pavlech and Katie Rutan during warmups during the 2013 season.

Players to Watch: Everyone in the conference knows what All-ACC players Thomas and Hawkins can do. But the players to keep an eye on are guards Katie Rutan and Chloe Pavlech. Both have great outside shots, but both will need to take the pressure off the expected scorers.

Keys to Victory: The Terps need production from their bench, a bench that usually consists of two, maybe three players. That production will need to double if any of the starters get into foul trouble. For MD to be successful, they will also need to limit the turnovers and take care of the basketball.

#3 North Carolina (14-4). They lost both to Duke and the coin toss on Sunday evening. The Tarheels are an atrocious free throw shooting team, so no matter how good their defense is, free throw shooting could be the end of them. They will play the winner of 6Virginia-11Boston College on Friday night at 8pm ET. They beat UVA, 71-60 in their only meeting, as they forced 24 turnovers. The Tarheels beat BC twice, with the Golden Eagles only averaging a little more than 50 points in both losses.

Players to Watch: Tierra Ruffin-Pratt and Xylina McDaniel are the Tarheels’ All-ACC performers, but Krista Gross may be the difference maker. She has quietly put together a solid second half (four out of eight games she scored in double figures).

Keys to Victory: They need to put the ball in the basket. They have the tendency to go ice cold from the field and I already mentioned their struggles from the free throw line. They also need to stay out of foul trouble.

#4 Florida State (11-7). The Seminoles are a terrible road team (five of their seven losses), so playing away from Tallahassee could be a struggle. They also have not been playing well (lost four of their final six games). FSU plays the winner of 5Miami-12Virginia Tech on Friday at 11am ET. They beat Miami twice by wide margins in both (and shot over 50%). The Seminoles split their series against VT, as they were blown out by the Hokies just three games ago.

Players to Watch: The entire starting five. FSU doesn’t have much of a bench (getting the theme), so they rely heavily on their starters, especially Leonor Rodriguez, Alexa Deluzio, and Natasha Howard (who are All-ACC first teamers).

Keys to Victory: FSU needs to get off to a hot start. They cannot afford to come out flat because it will be a tough climb back. They also need to be consistent. Even though they have three 1st teamers, all three of them have had cold streaks.

Now to the rest of the field…

» Continue reading “ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament Preview”

In the revenge rematch on Saturday night, the Duke men’s basketball team beat visiting Miami, 79-76. The loss kept the Hurricanes from clinching the outright ACC regular season title (it would be their first ever basketball outright title). The game was a bit closer than Duke fans would have liked, due to sloppy play and missed free throws over the final minute, but a win’s a win.

It was all about Ryan Kelly tonight (and the Cameron Crazies made sure to chant his name throughout).

In his return (he last played on January 8th due to a foot injury), he was absolutely unstoppable. If you had said he would have had a career night in his return to the court, you should play the lottery more often.

Kelly scored a career-high 36 points on 10-of-14 shooting. He also hauled in seven rebounds in 32 minutes of work. Duke is still undefeated during this season with Kelly in the lineup. Check out Kelly postgame HERE.

Freshman Rasheed Sulaimon was so bad for about 37 minutes of the game and found himself on the bench for a good chunk of the second half. However, when he came back in with about 2:40 to go, he scored four points over a thirty second span to give Duke a seven point lead (which just about put the game away).

Mason Plumlee played with a lot more energy and toughness than he did in Thursday’s loss. He scored 12 points and hauled in five rebounds. Quinn Cook scored 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting. He also dished out five assists and hauled in four rebounds.

As the guys from ESPN’s College Gameday said following the game, Miami’s Reggie Johnson forgot what time the game started. He really didn’t show up (no points) and they will need him to go far in the tournaments.

The Hurricanes did receive production from their four other starters. Shane Larkin, who many believe will earn the ACC Player of the Year honors, scored 25 points, hauled in four rebounds, and dished out four assists. He scored 19 of his points in the second half. Kenny Kadji scored 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting while hauling in ten rebounds. Trey McKinney-Jones and Durand Scott each scored 12 points and hauled in five rebounds in the loss.

» Continue reading “Duke Welcomes Ryan Kelly Back with Open Arms”