Choosing top players is a major headache
Getting an accurate read on whether there are ACC teams deserving of NCAA tournament inclusion beyond Florida State, Virginia, Clemson, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech is a tall order, but there’s perhaps an even more confounding conference-related task on the horizon.
Ballots for the various All-ACC teams — full media and Associated Press — need to be finished by Sunday afternoon. Somebody who should be on the first team is going to get left out, and choosing players most worthy of first-team distinction is going to result in more hair pulling and stressedout contemplation than any other ACC all-conference ruminations in recent memory.
By this AP voter’s count, firstteam arguments can be made for no fewer than nine players — Virginia Tech’s Keve Aluma, Georgia Tech’s Jose Alvarado and Moses Wright, Pittsburgh’s Justin Champagnie, Virginia’s Sam Hauser and Jay Huff, Duke’s Matthew Hurt, Louisville’s Carlik Jones and Florida State’s M.J. Walker.
Oh, and good luck choosing the conference’s Player of the Year.
Do you reward consistency throughout the season, which would mean Aluma, Champagnie, Hurt and Jones all fit?
Or is steady improvement and performance during the conference slate more impressive, which may put Hauser in the conversation?
Maybe the most impactful player down the stretch when his team needed him most in its efforts to improve its NCAA tournament résumé should get the Player of the Year nod. In that case, Wright suddenly becomes a popular pick.
Want to go with the theory of the best player on the best team should get the award? That brings Walker into the discussion, though he’s statistically the most underwhelming of the candidates.
How about the guys who have made the most impact on both the defensive and offensive ends of the floor? Then, you’re probably leaning toward Alvarado and Huff.
There’s time to change ballots, but as of Thursday afternoon, one first-team ballot might look something like this: Aluma, Champagnie, Huff, Jones and Wright. By Sunday morning, the entire first team could look completely different.
Pray for me.
Deep thoughts
Book it. An ACC tournament streak that’s spanned a quarter-century will end this year.
For the first time since 1996, neither Duke nor North Carolina will be a participant in the conference tournament’s championship game. Not sure if there’s anywhere you can catch odds on such a thing, but that feels like a pretty good bet entering next week’s tournament.
No refunds offered here if this prediction somehow ends up being erroneous.
In this space last week, Virginia’s baseball program was lauded as a strong contender to get back to the College World Series.
It turns out the Cavaliers have only been the second-most impressive ACC representative from the Commonwealth thus far. Virginia Tech coach John Szefc has his program off to a scorching start.
After winning a series last weekend at then-No. 6 Miami for the first time in the program’s history, Tech (5-1, 2-1 ACC) climbed into the Baseball America rankings at No. 16 for the first time since 2013. This weekend, Tech hosts No. 25 North Carolina, winners of two out of three last weekend against U.Va. (5-3, 1-2), which slid six spots this week to No. 8.
As impressive as Tech’s men’s basketball team’s 38-point win Saturday against Wake Forest was, is there any way to know what sort of Hokies team will show up in Greensboro next week after so many of its games were scrubbed down the stretch because of coronavirus issues?
After having five of its last seven games canceled, including games at FSU, UNC and N.C. State and at home against Louisville because of issues within Tech’s program, the Hokies will play just their third game in 32 days Thursday in the ACC tournament quarterfinals.
With that in mind, does a team that’s played just twice in the previous month earning a tournament double bye feel a little odd? Of course, it’s all going down according to pre-established league guidelines (final standings based on winning percentages).
Coronavirus problems arising at the end of the regular season amount to some seriously unfortunate timing, but it’ll put a program that’ll be one of the favorites — at least according to seeding — into the ACC tournament with some significant rust to shake off.