ATLANTA – The quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament are in the books. The afternoon games were a pair of dandies, and the last game of the day certainly fits that category as well. Here are a few notes from the day.
- It’s hard to assess Virginia Tech’s chances at an NCAA Tournament bid. A win Friday might well have put them in despite a 7-9 ACC mark, but now it’s a tough case to make. The Hokies have wins at Wake Forest and Clemson, knocked off Boston College at home and beat fellow bubble team Miami. The only thing resembling a bad loss is their loss at Georgia by one in December. The Hokies were right there in a lot of games this year, including Saturday; if you were to decide based on how they played against North Carolina, you would figure them to be in.
- Asked to assess his team’s chances, Virginia Tech head coach Seth Greenberg had the line of the day: “You guys can have some other village idiot give you a good story.” It’s an understandable response; Greenberg would naturally campaign for his team given the chance, but he can’t really answer that question. It’s one that really has an obvious answer.
- Greenberg’s opening comment after the game touched on how symbolic Friday’s game was of their season. “Our theme for the last 24 hours has been ‘same story, different ending.’ Unfortunately, we got the same story and the same ending,” said Greenberg. He was referring, of course, to the Hokies’ numerous tough losses this season as they struggled to finish games.
- Wake Forest has, as tends to happen with a team that’s still relatively young, gone through a few different stretches this season. At one point in January, they looked like the best team in the country. Before long they looked very human, then one couldn’t figure which Wake Forest team would show up. But by the end of the regular season, they appeared to have found themselves, ending the regular season with four straight wins to snag the No. 2 seed. The loss to Maryland, in which they struggled mightily on offense, might make one wonder if they’re back to being a team where one doesn’t know who will show up on a given night.
- Duke was carried by Kyle Singler, Jon Scheyer and Gerald Henderson in the second half, as they combined for 39 of the Blue Devils’ 44 points. That came after Singler was the only one of the three who did much in the first half, when he scored 11 of his game-high 26 points.
“In the second half, we just flowed so much better offensively with (Gerald), John and Kyle playing so well,” said Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski.
- Boston College head coach Al Skinner isn’t concerned about the injuries suffered by Reggie Jackson (elbow) and Josh Southern, who played just nine minutes in the second half. Both are minor injuries, and he said he thinks Jackson may have just hit the funny bone and might have been able to continue if they really needed him.
- In an odd twist, Boston College had the edge in points off turnovers against Duke. Both teams committed 12 turnovers, but the Eagles turned Duke’s 12 into 20 points while the Blue Devils cashed the Eagles’ miscues in for just 11.
