ACC Week 3

Miami (7-0): beat Alabama State and Saint John's. The Hurricanes continued their surprising undefeated streaks by nipping Alabama State and crushing Saint John's with Jack McClinton returning to the lineup after missing two games. There are no givens, but Miami has a good chance to enter the New Year at 12-1. Talk about unexpected. McClinton is the star, but keep an eye on redshirt senior Anthony King in the frontcourt. King has been very effective on the offensive end while continuing to be a dominating rebounding presence on both ends.

Duke (8-0): beat Wisconsin and Davidson. The Dukies kept on rolling, first thrashing the Badgers at Cameron before beating the fighting Stephen Curry's by six. Duke's adjusted efficiency numbers rank in the top ten on both ends of the floor. Their four component offensive and defensive numbers all rank in the top 100 in the country. After a down year it sure looks like Duke will be back to running some good teams out of the gym this season.

North Carolina (7-0): beat Ohio State and Kentucky. Two road wins over top-tier programs in the same week is always great, even if those two programs are experiencing what might be a down year. The offense keeps humming but the loss of Branden Wright and Reyshawn Terry has put the Tar Heel defense at its worst levels of the Roy Williams Era.

Clemson (7-0): beat Purdue and South Carolina. Even without James Mays the Tigers showed they could beat some major conference opposition this week. Trevor Booker has stepped up on the inside. He currently ranks 14th in the nation in DR% and 35th in BLK%.

Virginia (6-1): beat Northwestern. Who would believe that Virginia, a team dominated by backcourt scorers, actually ranks in the top six in the country in rebounding on both ends of the floor. Of the Cavaliers five most used players, none stands taller than 6-7 so it might be too much to expect these lofty numbers to continue. Even with the great defensive rebounding the Cavs' defense is borderline horrible.

North Carolina State (4-2): lost to Michigan State. The 'Pack was blown out in the ACC-Big Ten challenge against the Spartans. JJ Hickson continued his torrid freshman season, scoring 21 points, but starters Ben McCauley and Courtney Fells failed to score in a combined 44 minutes. McCauley has been particularly bad offensively as his eFG% has fallen from 58.7 to 37.0 while seeing his involvement in the offense vanish.

Florida State (8-2): beat Minnesota, Stetson, Samford. Was Al Thornton a defensive liability? We all know how great he was on the offensive end, but Florida State's defense improved from a mediocre unit (55th) to a very strong one this season (13th) with the same unit less Thornton. Of course that's far too simplistic as Thornton racked up blocks, steals and defensive rebounds. Even on a team where the four players with the most minutes are 6-3 or shorter, Florida State has clamped down on its opponents' shooting. Watch for that in conference play.

Boston College (5-1): beat Michigan, lost to Providence. Boston College would have a nice defense if it were 1980 and three pointers didn't exist. But they do, and the Eagles have been torched from long range to the tune of 36.8% on the season including 12-23 in their first loss of the season to Providence. Boston College has some guards that can fill it, but they need more defense.

Georgia Tech (3-4): lost to Indiana and Vanderbilt. The Jackets blew a late lead on the road against Indiana before being throttled by Vandy. The defense has been atrocious, giving up 1.09 points per possession and ranking outside the top 200 in nearly every meaningful category.

Virginia Tech (3-3): beat North Carolina-Ashville, lost to Penn State. It's a growing year with four freshmen in the top six. Jeff Allen has been a force and Hank Thorns and Malcolm Delaney have both shown some signs in the backcourt. It seems to be a recurring theme, but once again, the defense is not good on this team right now. The offense is not much better for a team that never takes a trip to the line.

Wake Forest (5-1): beat Iowa, South Carolina-Upstate, lost to Charlotte. The Deacs' offense was disastrous in the win over Iowa and the loss to Charlotte, piling up just 119 points in 145 possessions over the two games. If they couldn't rebound on the offensive glass as well as they do, it would be an even longer season.