ACC Basketball News & Notes: Round ball is Back

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The long wait is over. College basketball is back in full swing. The ACC is off and running with non-conference play. Twelve of the eighteen teams are unbeaten heading into this week. Yes, it’s very early in the season, but the early signs are good. Let’s see how the young season is going for the league.

The ACC has a terrific win-loss record heading into the week and the combined 42-6 record includes wins by an average of 19.7 points. Seven of those wins have been by 30+ points. This week, nine teams had Power-4 conference programs on their schedule. Four of them were road games, three were home games. The Duke Blue Devils were chosen as the preseason pick to win the league. They were followed by North Carolina, Wake Forest, Clemson, and Virginia.

Only two programs are ranked teams this week. The Blue Devils are at #6 in both the Associated Press Poll and the USA Today poll. North Carolina is at #10 in the AP Poll, and #11 in the USA Today Poll. Three other schools received votes in either poll. UNC’s RJ Davis was the preseason Player of the Year, while Duke’s Cooper Flagg was the Preseason Rookie of the Year.

There are four new head coaches in the league. Pat Kelsey at Louisville, Andy Enfield at SMU, Kyle Smith at Stanford, and Ron Sanchez at Virginia on an interim basis. The second annual ACC/SEC Challenge is set for December 3-4 with 16 games overall with each conference hosting eight games. For the sixth straight season, the league will play a 20-game regular season in league play. It begins on December 7.

The first week saw Co-Players of the Week. Miami’s graduate guard Nijel Pack was one of them. He averaged 19 points, 5.5 assists, and 2.5 rebounds in the opening week of the year. He has been named Player of the Week four times in his career. Twice in the ACC and twice in the Big 12. Senior Jamir Watkins of Florida State was also named. The ACC Rookie was Kon Knueppef of Duke.

In Georgia Tech’s first three games, the team has scored 80+ points. The last time they did this was back in the 2007-08 season. All three games were league contests. 80 vs Clemson, 86 vs Boston College, 94 vs Virginia. In a win over Buffalo, Notre Dame sophomore guard Markus Burton came close to the program’s second-ever triple-double. He had 19 points, a career-high nine rebounds, and eight assists.

Stanford Big man Maxime Raynaud has opened the season with three straight double-doubles. His last one came on Wednesday vs Northern Arizona when he went for 22 points and 11 rebounds. Tuesday night, the Syracuse Orange was in a battle with Colgate. The Orange got a big night from graduate center Eddie Lampkin Jr. who had his first double-double with the Orange. He had 15 points and 12 rebounds. He scored what turned out to be the game-winning basket with 46 seconds left in the game. In their win over Tarleton State on Tuesday, the Seminoles bench came through big time. They totaled 38 points which was 52.8% of the team’s total in a 72-52 win. In a losing effort to VCU, Boston College’s graduate guard Roger McFarlane recorded his 17th career double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds. It was his first in an Eagles uniform.

Pittsburgh senior guard Ishmael Leggett has scored 19 or more points in the first three games this year for the Panthers. He leads the team in scoring at 19.7 a game, rebounds with eight a game, and field goal percentage at .688. Virginia Tech’s junior Tobi Lawal has scored in double figures in each of the Hokies for three games. He is averaging 14.3 points and 8.7 boards. On Monday night vs Winthrop, he recorded his first double-double of the year.

That will give you some idea of what has been happening so far in the league. Each week we will have more from the ACC.