News & Observer | newsobserver.com | Foul Shots

Published: Mar 08, 2008 12:30 AM
Modified: Mar 08, 2008 05:41 AM

Foul Shots

Nothing about this ACC season is sacred for staff writer J.P. Giglio.

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WISCONSIN

The Badgers look more like a bad pickup team at the local YMCA with three Kris Lang clones, a 6-foot combo guard and a guy in sport goggles than the Big Ten regular-season champs.

Either the Big Ten is really bad, which is possible, or Bo Ryan has coached his "Soulja Boy" loving britches off.

CORNELL

The Ivy League has a lock on smart people but not creativity among school nicknames. There's the Harvard Crimson, Dartmouth Big Green and Cornell Big Red, yet Brown -- the one school actually named after a color -- ended up as the Bears. Come on, Brown, Big Brown would have been all kinds of awesome. Anyway, back to the regularly scheduled point. Congrats to El Rojo Grande (it just sounds cooler in Spanish) for winning its first conference title in 20 years.

WAKE FOREST

The young Deacs have lost four straight since popping Duke on Feb. 17. Even an expected easy victory over

N.C. State today won't change their NIT fate.

ARIZONA

The RPI says the Wildcats, who are ranked No. 23, will make their 24th straight NCAA Tournament, but at some point you can't just play good teams, you have to beat them. And 'Zona, the eight Northwestern fans are saying "told you so" about Kevin O'Neill.

SEASON-ENDING ACC AWARDS

FIRST TEAM

Tyler Hansbrough (North Carolina): The ACC media association manufactured Psycho T's unanimous status in 2007 -- Patrick Stevens of The Washington Times put him on the second team. They won't have to this time. And, duh, Psycho T's the player of the year.

DeMarcus Nelson (Duke): Stats don't measure Nelson's true value, but it's impressive that in ACC play, the senior wing leads the conference in field goal percentage (.533).

Greivis Vasquez (Maryland): If fantasy basketball was as popular as its NFL counterpart, Vasquez would be the LaDainian Tomlinson of the ACC.

Tyrese Rice (Boston College): The 34-point half against UNC answered any questions about his spot on the first team and raised a few about the Heels' perimeter defense.

Sean Singletary (Virginia): Another big producer from a lousy team, but it's an All-ACC team, not an All-How-Many-Games-Did-My-Team-Win team.

SECOND TEAM

Jack McClinton, Miami; A.D. Vassallo, Virginia Tech; Toney Douglas, Florida State; James Gist, Maryland; Greg Paulus, Duke.

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR

At worst, Duke will finish 13-3. The Blue Devils went 8-8 last season. Kyle Singler wasn't on last season's team. As Mike Krzyzewski put it: "I think he's had as good a freshman year as any freshman I've coached."

COACH OF THE YEAR

Coach K's not going to win this award, but he should. Virginia Tech's Seth Greenberg and Miami's Frank Haith have gone beyond the call of duty, but they're being graded on a curve because neither team was expected to be anything more than mediocre. Voting should be done based on results, not expectations. Who has had better results than K?

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