Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Toss Up: ACC Tournament Style


Brian: Jeff will be on hand to watch the Eagles beat the Terps tomorrow in the night game, so I will proceed in beating him in an ACC tournament edition of Toss up.

Toss Up - Johnny Oates against the Terps - will he make it rain again (21 points), or will we not even notice he played?

Jeff: Johnny Oates will not go for 21 but he will outshine both his average of 4.6 per game and Maryland's leading scorer Greivis Vasquez, who averages 17.5 per game, but only scored 11 and 14 in his two games against BC this season.

Brian: I expect Oates to play with heart. While I don't expect the 21 point outburst he showed in our last game against Maryland, he will have a couple buckets. But ultimately I don't think he won't be a factor in the box score.


Toss Up - ACC conference tournament bids - 4 or 5?

Brian: At this point I'm going to have to go with 4. Duke, UNC and Clemson are locks. Miami is the next best choice at 21-9, although 2 losses to FSU are curious. They will most likely have to take care of NC State though. A loss in the first round of the ACC tournament will put their at-large bid in jeopardy. VTech needs to string together a couple of wins in the ACC tournament to have any shot at the #4 ACC bid after a tough loss this past weekend to Clemson. Maryland, who I previously predicted would make the dance, is now on life-support. Look for BC to land the knock-out punch tomorrow.

Jeff: I'm going to go with 5 because the ACC already has 4 locks. Miami is #26 in the ESPN insideRPI and safe according to Joe Lunardi. Meanwhile Maryland, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest are two wins away from an at large bid each. A tall task, I know but, with Tyrese Rice, I mean BC could also make a run and steal the automatic bid. I don't know exactly how it will shake out but the ACC is ranked the #1 conference by RPI and something will happen in Charlotte that will get a 5th team in.


Toss Up - More surprising final ACC weekend meltdown - Maryland or Virginia Tech?

Jeff: Maryland was more surprising because they fell from potentially getting a 3 or 4 seed in the conference tourmanet which comes along with a coveted bye. Meanwhile, no shame in Virginia Tech losing to Clemson by 1 and they still get a bye in the conference tournament anyways.

Brian: Unfortunately, I'm going to have to agree with you, Jeff. Maryland is the bigger surprise. Not only was the Terp's loss to Virginia Saturday not even close, but losing 4 of 5 down the stretch really damaged any realistic shot Maryland had at making the tournament.


Toss Up - More likely to transfer - Spears or Roche?

Brian: The answer is Roche. Roche has seen his minutes steadily decline as the season went on, and in our last 4 games he has logged 5 minutes, including 2 DNPs. Plus with the 6'8" Vermont transfer Joe Trapani, who averaged 11.4 points and 4.4 rebounds per game for the Catamounts, there is hardly a role left for Roche.

Jeff: You answered that question correctly but the fact is neither will transfer. Spears will have a better year next year when he is healthier and has some inside help. Spears has a tough time getting going when he is being guarded by and forced to guard good centers and power forwards. Then why would Roche transfer? Stay at BC and get a good education. His future is not in basketball and he will continue to get some minutes.

No comments: