ACC Nation

Column by Will Ojanen
will@accnation.com

Here we are with one last trio of teams to recap. All three had pretty solid season, and went to the big dance. Unfortunately, none of the three won it all, but one did get close, until they failed to show up in their last game.

Clemson Tigers

One thing stood out from the Tigers season. There was no second half collapse. The Tigers started off the season at 10-0, including a pair of wins against some NCAA Tournament teams in Mississippi State and Purdue, and started off conference play by nearly beating then top ranked North Carolina, losing by two. As said before, this would usually be the time the Tigers would begin their descent into mediocrity, but not this year.

Coach Oliver Purnell kept the team on the upbeat path, and the team responded with a very solid 10-6 conference record, and kept the momentum going into the ACC Tournament, where they obliterated Boston College and upset Duke in the conference semifinals. They fell in the championship game to North Carolina in a very good game.

For their efforts, Clemson was seeded fifth in the NCAA Tournament. Unfortunately, games aren’t won on paper. Clemson proved in the first half of their first round game against Villanova that they were going to be a tough beat. There was one problem. The game is two halves, and they failed to show up in the second half, and lost by six, ending the season at 24-10.

The Tigers lose two of their top players from this season, as Cliff Hammonds and James Mays graduate. But KC Rivers, tempted by the lure of the NBA, resisted that temptation and decided to return for his senior season. Also coming back for their sophomore seasons are Demontez Stitt and Terrence Oglesby, who had very solid freshmen campaigns.

Despite the losses, I feel Clemson is still going to be in the run for a NCAA Tournament bid. They have good guard play, and if they can get some good low post play, they should be in the run for an ACC title.

Miami Hurricanes

Here’s one of those teams that were supposed to finish at the bottom of the ACC this season. It might be safe to say Miami made the ACC media look stupid after the season the Hurricanes had. The Canes started 12-0 and, just like Clemson, beat Mississippi State early on.

Other than that, Miami didn’t beat anyone the casual fan has heard of, with the exception of VCU and Providence. And once conference play rolled around, Miami got off to a slow 2-6 start, and that led many to believe that they were a fluke.

As Lee Corso would say, “Not so fast my friend.” Miami won four in a row to get back to .500, and beat Duke in that stretch for the first time since long before I was born. After splitting the final four games, Miami finished 8-8 in the conference, and were seeded fifth in the ACC tournament, where they defeated NC State before falling to Virginia Tech in the conference quarterfinals.

But the season didn’t end there. Miami was seeded seventh in the NCAA Tournament, and to many, weren’t expected to win their first round game against St. Mary’s. But that only fueled Miami more, and they went on to beat the Gaels by 14 before losing to Texas in the second round by three, after coming back from a big deficit, and nearly hitting a shot to force overtime. The Canes finished the season with an overall record of 23-11, far better than most expectations.

Miami only loses one player who saw significant minutes, leading rebounder Anthony King. Returning for Miami next season is leading scorer Jack McClinton, who decided to stay in school for his senior season and lead Miami. This could be a very good team next year, better than you would expect. And you’ll find out why next week (don’t you like teasers?).

North Carolina Tar Heels

This was expected to be a very good team this season. And they didn’t disappoint. The Heels won their first 18 games, and beat some big name teams such as Kentucky and Ohio State in a time where they played five consecutive games on the road. You can also look at their schedule and say that they were undefeated in the 2007 portion of their schedule. Their first loss came at home to Maryland in mid-January by only two points. The Heels had only one more blemish on their schedule during the regular season, an 11-point loss at home to Duke when Ty Lawson was out with an injury.

But the Heels rallied and won their final eight regular season games, including a rematch with Duke to close out the regular season and finish 14-2 in the ACC. In the tournament, UNC breezed through Florida State, and struggled with Virginia Tech and Clemson, but still went on to win the ACC tournament, and earn the top overall seed in the NCAA tournament.

Early on, the Heels breezed through their opponents, beating Mount St. Mary’s by 39 in the first round, and destroying Arkansas by 31 while scoring 221 points in those games. In their Sweet Sixteen match up with Washington State, the Heels didn’t come close to the century mark, only scoring 68 points, but still cruised to a 21 point victory. Louisville proved to be a tougher foe in the next round, but UNC proved to be the better team, and won by 10 and advanced to the Final Four, where Roy Williams faced his former team. Unfortunately, UNC didn’t show up much, and Kansas throttled them on their way to the national championship.

This is proving to be an interesting off season for UNC. Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington, and Danny Green have all declared for the NBA draft, but have yet to hire agents. Personally, I don’t think any of them are ready for the pros, and should return along with Wooden Award winner Tyler Hansbrough for another season, and would be among the teams to beat in college basketball next season.

Gone from the team will be Quentin Thomas, who filled in admirably while Ty Lawson was gone with his injury. If the aforementioned players return, there is no doubt that UNC will be in the top three come next season. If not, they will still be one of the teams to beat in the ACC.