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Snowflakes: ACC Hoops

* Miami seems to have played themselves back in to the NCAA Tournament picture. Just two weeks ago, the Hurricanes were 2-6 in ACC play and seemed to be drifting off to another subpar season. However, Frank Haith’s club has righted the ship by winning four in a row including a monster upset over Duke. Miami has done it by playing well at home and with balanced scoring. In fact, when they beat Maryland on Saturday, it was the seventh time this year that 5 Hurricanes have scored in double figures in a game. Miami’s team concept should have them targeted for the Big Dance for the first time since 2001-02.

* One team going the opposite direction from Miami is Georgia Tech. As expected, the Yellow Jackets have struggled this season after both Thaddeus Young and Javaris Crittenton were “one and done” first round picks to the NBA. Things got even worse last Saturday when the Virginia game was rained out at Alexander Memorial Coliseum. With the stands only half full of fans anyway, Tech supporters already seem to be looking towards next season. Coach Paul Hewitt has virtually no scoring coming back to a losing team. If Tech doesn’t start getting more of the top players in the fertile Atlanta recruiting area, the Jackets will continue to slip down the pecking order in the loaded ACC.

* After losing to Duke on February 6th, North Carolina has reeled off 5 straight wins even though they are still missing star point guard Ty Lawson. Roy Williams’ bunch has been very impressive in keeping themselves in line for the ACC title and a possible #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Tyler Hansbrough scored 32 and 29 last week in victories over in-state rivals N.C. State and Wake Forest. For those efforts, he won a record tying 7th ACC Player of the week (tied with former ‘Heel Antawn Jamison in ’98), and the 6’9” junior should be on his way to a unanimous ACC Player of the Year award.

- Patrick Snow

                                                                          

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