ACC 2024-25 Season

[Rooster C.]

So the beginning of the SEC/ACC challenge was certainly entertaining. The ACC goes 3 - 5 to start the week and 2 - 4 in the first day of the challenge. Not great.

I did not see the game but it looks like Louisville let one get away. They are a young team so that will happen for now. I also noted Cochran fouled out(again) and that couldn't have helped. And Verhulst is a very good player and maybe there was a little something personal about this game for her. I did predict Oklahoma.

FSU lost a close one at Tennessee as former Miami player helped close the door on them down the stretch. I predicted FSU takes a really big lead and then loses. In fact it was Tennessee who took a 18 point halftime lead and then nearly lost lol. Although I was right about the winner as the coach of FSU how do you NOT put the ball in the hands of Latson at the end of that game?!!!! Unforgivable. I said earlier and I repeat it here - FSU needs to win now as in this year.

I predicted GT would win a close one over Mississippi State and that's exactly how it played out. One of only two winners for the ACC tonight.

Vandy at Miami. I had Miami winning a close game at home. Well, it was and it wasn't close. Vandy established a 14 point lead in the first half and Miami could never get closer than 10 after that. The duo of Pierre and Blakes is deadly. Ralph seeing benefits of good recruiting.

Although I predicted VT would win it was only because Georgia is that terrible. They still had to work at it though. Hopefully with a couple of top 100 recruits coming in next year things will start to get better for Georgia.

I questioned whether Syracuse could win at a mediocre Texas A&M and they couldn't. Syracuse is going to be worse than I thought.

WF and Pitt. Sheesh! WF surprised me by winning after trailing by 10 at the half. They either played tough defense against Campbell in the second half or the camels just couldn't make a bucket. As for Pitt I called their game a tossup. Pitt disappoints losing to Duquesne by 4 at home.

Okay ACC you're only at a 37.5% win percentage to start the week. Do better tomorrow.

 

[Rooster C.]

Vandy looked better than I thought they'd be (and I did have them beating Miami). Great athleticism, intense defensively, good coaching, and terrific young scorers. Miami yikes--has issues. They do not look like an NCAA Tournament team at this point. I do think that Cameron Williams has improved, so that's a good thing. But man, that was BAD. I expected them to lose, but to get smoked on their home court by an unranked team (that maybe should be ranked)--not what I was expecting.

Here's how equal these teams were today:

Vandy FG: 50% Miami FG: 52.8%
Vandy 3-pt: 37.5% Miami 3-pt: 35.3%
Vandy FT: 73.3% Miami FT: 72.7%
Vandy fouls: 16 Miami fouls: 16
Vandy assists: 20 Miami assists: 14
Vandy steals: 7 Miami steals: 8
Vandy turnovers: 15 Miami turnovers: 21*
Vandy rebounds: 36 Miami rebounds: 24
Defensive reb: 19 Defensive reb: 18
Offensive reb: 17* Offensive reb: 6

In the 2nd quarter Vandy outscored Miami by 5
In the 3rd quarter Miami outscored Vandy by 1
In the 4th quarter Vandy outscored Miami by 4

The teams were very even and it SHOULD have been about a 5 to 10 point game. 5 if Miami wins and 10 if Vandy wins as Vandy's top 2 players are better than anyone Miami has. The duo of Pierre/Blakes accounted for 54 of their total points with another adding 13. Far too reliant on just 2 players to win most games against ranked competition. Their only loss came because Blakes got in to foul trouble early and had to sit for too many minutes.

Miami turned the ball over too much and many of those were completely unforced. They have to fix that. The 17 Vandy offensive rebounds(Pierre accounted for 8!) and the Miami turnovers resulted in 16 2nd chance points for Vandy. That should never happen. It's called boxing out.
There was a +17 point difference in points off turnovers for Vandy and a +14 point difference for Vandy in 2nd chance points. That's called effort.

In conclusion Miami is not a tournament team at this point. They lost that game in the 1st quarter when they were outscored by 10. Cavinder is usually a decent 3-pt shooter but was 0 -6 today. If she hits a couple of those the game changes to a 4 or 6 point game and everything changes. Ultimately the outcome wouldn't have changed as Vandy put in more effort than Miami and it was reflected in the final score. Miami has not played a difficult enough schedule up to this point to better prepare them for such challenges. They also haven't played enough road games. If they want to get in to the tournament I'm afraid neutral site games against Nevada and Oregon State aren't going to cut it. At best they are probably looking at a 9 - 9 season in the conference with no signature wins. That isn't good enough nor should it be. This is a mature team with 5 veteran players (4 grads and a sr) plus a grad and 2 jrs coming off the bench. There is enough experience including tournament experience on this team to turn things around. This group knows what it takes to win at the highest level. They just need to go out and do it.

 

[Rooster C.]

Today's ACC games (Thursday):

#14 Kentucky(7 - 0) at #16 NC(7 - 1) KY in a close game
Auburn(5 - 3) at Virginia(6 - 3) Auburn has played a tough schedule. Auburn is ready for this one.
#4Texas(7 - 0) at #10ND(5 - 2) Texas has experienced bigs and their two guards are one of the few teams as good as Notre Dames. Texas sends ND to their 3rd straight loss!
#18 Ole Miss(5 - 2) at NC St.(4 - 3) Interesting match up. NC St. lost to SC by about the same amount Ole Miss lost to UConn. NC ST. lost to TCU by about the same amount Ole Miss lost to USC. The difference is in NC ST. losing to LSU by double digits as well. They seem evenly matched. Good guard play on both and good defense by both teams. NC ST. is at home so there's that. Ole Miss does have a big with some experience but not a starter. This one is too close to call.
BC(6 - 3) at Arkansas(4 - 5) A toss up. Something is rotten in Arkansas.
Fla.(4 - 4) at Clemson(5 - 2) Fla. should win but they're losing games they shouldn't. Florida wins. Barely.
#8 Duke(8 - 1) at #3 SC(7 - 1) SC wins this
Stanford(7 - 1) at #5 LSU( 9 - 0) LSU remains undefeated
#19 ALA.(9 - 0) at Cal(7 - 1) Cal with the upset!
SMU(5 - 3) at MO.(7 - 3) These are two terrible teams. I'm giving the slight edge to Missouri because they're home.

 

[FanInNC]

Hoping for a 7-1 day with UNC being the casualty.

Brutal brutal couple of days for the conference on the men’s side. Not a ton better last night on the women’s side. Certainly doesn’t forecast for much better today but who knows?

I’ll be in Raleigh to see if the Pack can build a little positive momentum and get the season on the right track.

 

[WBBTakeover]

Hoping for a 7-1 day with UNC being the casualty.

Brutal brutal couple of days for the conference on the men’s side. Not a ton better last night on the women’s side. Certainly doesn’t forecast for much better today but who knows?

I’ll be in Raleigh to see if the Pack can build a little positive momentum and get the season on the right track.

This challenge has been a disaster for the men (Pitt got smoked by Miss St.--better not hear Jeff Capel (who I like a lot) complain about getting left out the NCAAs this year), but Duke did beat Auburn--so there's that!

This challenge will be far less disastrous for the women, but it's still not a good look.

I am predicting wins for UNC (gross), ND (Texas didn't impress against West Virginia's guard play), NC State (don't trust Coach Yo's offense on the road), Boston College (not good, but Arkansas is worse), and Clemson (they're not good--Florida is just that bad) for a respectable 5-5 (which means that the ACC still loses but doesn't get embarrassed). Would love to add Cal to that list, but Alabama is really good. UVA could win (maybe), but I believe that Johnnie Harris >>> Coach Mox and that'll make the difference.

 

[WBBTakeover]

Here's how equal these teams were today:

Vandy FG: 50% Miami FG: 52.8%
Vandy 3-pt: 37.5% Miami 3-pt: 35.3%
Vandy FT: 73.3% Miami FT: 72.7%
Vandy fouls: 16 Miami fouls: 16
Vandy assists: 20 Miami assists: 14
Vandy steals: 7 Miami steals: 8
Vandy turnovers: 15 Miami turnovers: 21*
Vandy rebounds: 36 Miami rebounds: 24
Defensive reb: 19 Defensive reb: 18
Offensive reb: 17* Offensive reb: 6

In the 2nd quarter Vandy outscored Miami by 5
In the 3rd quarter Miami outscored Vandy by 1
In the 4th quarter Vandy outscored Miami by 4

The teams were very even and it SHOULD have been about a 5 to 10 point game. 5 if Miami wins and 10 if Vandy wins as Vandy's top 2 players are better than anyone Miami has. The duo of Pierre/Blakes accounted for 54 of their total points with another adding 13. Far too reliant on just 2 players to win most games against ranked competition. Their only loss came because Blakes got in to foul trouble early and had to sit for too many minutes.

Miami turned the ball over too much and many of those were completely unforced. They have to fix that. The 17 Vandy offensive rebounds(Pierre accounted for 8!) and the Miami turnovers resulted in 16 2nd chance points for Vandy. That should never happen. It's called boxing out.
There was a +17 point difference in points off turnovers for Vandy and a +14 point difference for Vandy in 2nd chance points. That's called effort.

In conclusion Miami is not a tournament team at this point. They lost that game in the 1st quarter when they were outscored by 10. Cavinder is usually a decent 3-pt shooter but was 0 -6 today. If she hits a couple of those the game changes to a 4 or 6 point game and everything changes. Ultimately the outcome wouldn't have changed as Vandy put in more effort than Miami and it was reflected in the final score. Miami has not played a difficult enough schedule up to this point to better prepare them for such challenges. They also haven't played enough road games. If they want to get in to the tournament I'm afraid neutral site games against Nevada and Oregon State aren't going to cut it. At best they are probably looking at a 9 - 9 season in the conference with no signature wins. That isn't good enough nor should it be. This is a mature team with 5 veteran players (4 grads and a sr) plus a grad and 2 jrs coming off the bench. There is enough experience including tournament experience on this team to turn things around. This group knows what it takes to win at the highest level. They just need to go out and do it.

An ACC run is looking like Miami's only path back to the NCAAs. It's not impossible, but how likely is it? We'll see.

 

[WBBTakeover]

Georgia Tech is 8-0 and very likely to be 10-0 when they open ACC play against UNC. Yellow Jackets have three quality wins now (Oregon, SDSU, MSST) and are in position to return to the NCAA tournament if they can finish in the top half of the ACC.

They look good. I underestimated them (shouldn't have--they have one NELL of a coach). I can see them as an NCAA Tourney team this year.

 

[WBBTakeover]

Stanford...

 

[WBBTakeover]

Props to Cal!

 

[Rooster C.]

Well the ACC went 4 -6 in tonight's SEC/ACC battle but they did go 4 - 2 in the games that really mattered. Overall the SEC won the challenge 10 - 6 as the ACC's unranked teams failed to beat their unranked SEC counterparts mostly.

I was very wrong about KY over NC and mildly wrong about TX over ND. Aside from the 21 turnovers by TX the injury to their starting big was a mitigating factor. Oldacre is a good sub coming in off the bench but lacks playing experience. Better than Koval at this point but not as good as Jones. Booker and Harmon both under performed with Booker shooting 33% and Harmon worse than that. By contrast Miles and Hidalgo both shot over 50%. And Texas STILL had a chance to win that game. That says something about both teams.
It looked like I was wrong about NC ST. and Ole Miss being too close too call - for three quarters. Then the game ended up being very,very close. You just can't spot a good team such a big lead and expect to come all the way back to win. Although I knew Duke would lose they did the exact same thing. They made a game of it in the fourth quarter but couldn't climb that hill.

I was right about BC at Ark. being a toss up as well. It was back and forth until late when Higginbottom put the game away. 38 points. She's a special player wasted on a lousy team. I was right about Auburn defeating Virginia on the road. Auburn will probably end up as tournament team.I was also right about Florida barely beating Clemson and Missouri winning over SMU.

Finally, I also called Cal's upset over Alabama.

NC State will play #18 Ole Miss and Cal will play #19 Alabama so they will have a chance to potentially replace them in the rankings. Also FSU plays at UR Tennessee so a win there would also help their chances going forward. Stanford with a victory at #5 LSU will guarantee them the next spot available should anyone drop out.

The above was what I had to say back on Monday. Aside from NC State and Cal potentially replacing Ole Miss and Alabama in the rankings those two games were very close and could have gone the other way. Also the ACC had home court in both wins. GT's win over Miss.St. and Vandy's win over Miami might get both teams in or near the rankings as well. Only Vandy won on the road and was not close.

A few final thoughts:
Of the Top-25 teams the ones with the worst Power Rankings are Iowa State at #59,Louisville at #39, Illinois at #36, and Nebraska at #34.
NC State is #31, Cal is #24, GT is #25, and Vandy is #7! (Miami not looking as bad now lol).
Stanford is #35 but that is still better than all but Nebraska.

FYI: Arizona lost at home to Grand Canyon and Oregon State lost in OT to Pacific. Things have changed.

 

[Rooster C.]

ACC overall is 7 -11 this week, a 38.9 win percentage but better than where they were at. No games on Friday but there a couple coming up on Saturday as well as the beginning of early conference games in the Big Ten.

As of today there are a total of 15 Division 1 teams left in the undefeated column.
8 in the Top 25: UCLA, UCONN, LSU, MD, TCU, OHIO ST., IOWA, and MICH. ST.
3 Not yet ranked: GT, TN, and MN.
4 Others: UAlbany(who beat Syracuse on the road), W.KY,
Buffalo(ironically Syracuse hc previous hc position), and Portland.

 

[FanInNC]

A much needed W for the Pack last night. Ole Miss doesn't have the size to exploit State's biggest weakness and State actually got a tad bit of production at the 5 with Mallory Collier grabbing 9 rebounds and Awou having 5 points and 4 boards in 12 minutes.

Zam Jones was 4-4 from 3 (all in the 1st half, maybe even all in the 2nd quarter?), 14 points in 16 minutes. Zoe Brooks scored 19 on 8-13 shooting, she's really having a nice sophomore season so far. Saniya was a spark early on and for the 2nd straight game made 2 three pointers but had a couple of ugly turnovers. James did not have it going on for the majority of the game but came through in the clutch when State desperately needed points.

The Pack stormed out to a 19-4 lead, led by as many as 22 and then late 3rd and through the 4th Ole Miss gave State fits with the press. To have as good of guard play as State has they sure struggled with the pressure. 22 Turnovers on the game, not all press related, heck Mallory Collier led the team with 6 turnovers herself and I don't think any of those were from pressure. Was a very physical game. Intense from both teams. A questionable technical was called at one point in the 4th. A lot of passion and grit from both teams I thought.

State struggled from the foul line going 10-20! Could have iced the game much earlier had they knocked down free throws!

Still, a much needed W against a solid opponent for the Pack. One thing I'll be watching going forward are the rotations. Wes notoriously likes to shorten that bench and with only 3 more non conference games remaining, I'm expecting to see the real rotation round into form. Last night Tilda Trygger did not play, so perhaps her and Williamson have been knocked out of the rotation at the 5 spot and now it's just Collier and Awou - we shall see. Laci Steele also didn't play, her minutes have been few and far between already, she looks like she's been passed by Freshman Devyn Quigley for back up duty at guard.

 

[Rooster C.]

Today only has two games involving ACC teams:

Cal(8 - 1) at Pacific(5 - 4) Cal wins
#22 Louisville(5 - 3) at #2 UConn(7 - 0) Although I think UConn is over rated they remain undefeated for now.

 

[Rooster C.]

The ACC is 8 - 12 this week heading in to today's games. Today begins the start of early conference games.

#10 ND(6 - 2) at Syracuse(4 -5)
Saint Peters(1 - 6) at Pitt(5 - 5)
Coppin State(6 - 4) at #16 NC(8 - 1)
BC(6 - 4) at Virginia(6 - 4) I have no idea
SMU(5 - 4) at FSU(8 - 2)
Radford(1 - 7) at Clemson(5 - 3)
WF(6 - 3) at St.John's(7 - 1) WF loses
Bethune-Cookman(2 -5) at Miami(7 - 1)
GT(8 - 0) at Mercer(4 - 6)
ODU(6 - 2) at NC St.(5 - 3)
VT(7 - 2) at Duke(8 - 2)

Not many challenges for the ACC today and all the favorites win the conference games.

 

[Stagnant]

Shaky first half from Notre Dame against a bad Syracuse team. I think Koval is a pretty big weakness for Notre Dame right now. And the teams that are equipped to punish Notre dame for this weakness… will do it.

Surprised they beat Texas. But on a neutral floor or in Austin; would the result have been the same?

I would give Duke the edge if Westbeld and Karlen aren’t available.

 

[maple]

Still a minute and change left in the game but ND is going to win this one. I was not overly impressed by their play (however just watch them decide to show up in full force for UConn, sigh).

I did not care for HH’s body language on the floor. At one point she overthrew a pass, which lead to a TO and she was pouting instead of running back with the rest of her team. I was right by the side of the court where she was and it gave a really bad impression.

Syracuse still cannot make layups and jump shots. Time and time again they miss very easy shots, sometimes with zero pressure on them. Honestly it’s exhausting to watch.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Didn't see it, just looking at the box score--ND had 3 guards w/ double figure rebounding. That just doesn't happen. Granted Syracuse missed a lot of shots, but that seems like a very noteworthy accomplishment. All 3 also scored 20 or more.

 

[DallasDomer]

Shaky first half from Notre Dame against a bad Syracuse team. I think Koval is a pretty big weakness for Notre Dame right now. And the teams that are equipped to punish Notre dame for this weakness… will do it.

Surprised they beat Texas. But on a neutral floor or in Austin; would the result have been the same?

I would give Duke the edge if Westbeld and Karlen aren’t available.

"
Surprised they beat Texas. But on a neutral floor or in Austin; would the result have been the same?"

No, on a floor with decent refs the game would have ended in regulation with ND up by 2 and that non foul on King wouldn't have been called.

"I would give Duke the edge if Westbeld and Karlen aren’t available." Game isn't until 2/17 so they should be back, but the team that beat USC and Texas should take @ home.

 

[DallasDomer]

Didn't see it, just looking at the box score--ND had 3 guards w/ double figure rebounding. That just doesn't happen. Granted Syracuse missed a lot of shots, but that seems like a very noteworthy accomplishment. All 3 also scored 20 or more.

Citron was shooting much better today and didn't get worn out on defense. I think she'll shoot with even more confidence in the future.

 

[DallasDomer]

Still a minute and change left in the game but ND is going to win this one. I was not overly impressed by their play (however just watch them decide to show up in full force for UConn, sigh).

I did not care for HH’s body language on the floor. At one point she overthrew a pass, which lead to a TO and she was pouting instead of running back with the rest of her team. I was right by the side of the court where she was and it gave a really bad impression.

Syracuse still cannot make layups and jump shots. Time and time again they miss very easy shots, sometimes with zero pressure on them. Honestly it’s exhausting to watch.

First half wasn't great but ND still won by 31.

Hidalgo is very demonstrative her team loves her, opponents don't but I don't see her changing.

 

[Dillon77]

Didn't see it, just looking at the box score--ND had 3 guards w/ double figure rebounding. That just doesn't happen. Granted Syracuse missed a lot of shots, but that seems like a very noteworthy accomplishment. All 3 also scored 20 or more.

Dang, I've got to remember we've got this ACC Thread when I post "elevator" summaries of the ND games I just watched. This is what I posted on the ND thread immediately after the game and it went to what you were noting:

• Sonia Citron 25 points, 11 rebounds (10-15 shooting, 4-6 from three)
• Hannah Hidalgo: 24 points, 10 rebounds
• Olivia Miles: 20 points, 10 rebounds (also 8 assists)

@DallasDomer

Incidentally, ND shot 50% from the field and 37% from three.

 

[jdote33]

Fournier was great today. I'm kinda bothered her last bucket wasn't counted as a three. Isn't it a clear 3. Anyways she either looks like a phenom or really raw. Weird comparison but she kinda reminds me of Angel Reese. Just in that I'm not sure what she's doing sometimes but she's crazy effective.

 

[Stagnant]

Angel Reese is a good comparison. Fournier’s strength is her motor.

 

[cancontent]

Fournier was great today. I'm kinda bothered her last bucket wasn't counted as a three. Isn't it a clear 3. Anyways she either looks like a phenom or really raw. Weird comparison but she kinda reminds me of Angel Reese. Just in that I'm not sure what she's doing sometimes but she's crazy effective.

Fair comparison and she's in the early phases of getting used to D1 play. She needed a big bounce back game after the last few games where she struggled to score.

 

[DallasDomer]

Angel Reese is a good comparison. Fournier’s strength is her motor.

She's a bit shorter than Reese at 6'2" and doesn't have the strength Reese has. If she starts rebounding a lot more maybe. Needs to get stronger imo.

How did Okananwa get 12 rebounds at 5'10"?