ACC Roundup - Blowout Wednesday
Not a close game in sight
ACC Basketball is usually pretty competitive but not Wednesday as all three games (including Duke and Miami which we cover separately) were total blowouts.
Duke won by 29, Notre Dame whipped Louisville by 22 and Clemson paid Georgia Tech back for an earlier upset, winning by 24.
That’s an average win margin of 25 points.
As we’ve seen before, Braeden Shrewsberry can really shoot and he went off here, hitting 7-11 from three point range. Kenny Payne would be pulling his hair out if he had any, since this comes the game after Pitt’s Blake Hinson torched the Cards for 41.
It was a freshman record at Notre Dame too, so congrats to young Shrewsberry.
It was a tight game until Notre Dame went on a 16-2 run that started with two Shrewsberry threes.
This was Notre Dame’s third straight win which no one really thought was possible this year. We’d have to say that Micah Shrewsberry has to be a candidate for ACC Coach of the Year. It’s not that he’s going to get a ton of wins - the Irish are just 10-16 - but the vast improvement is pretty amazing. This team lost to the Citadel, remember. No offense to the Citadel but ACC teams are not supposed to lose to the Citadel.
You know who’s not going to be a candidate for Coach of the Year?
Kenny Payne.
We thought he was going to do well but Louisville is 8-19 and unlike Notre Dame, the Cardinals have not shown much improvement. In fact, they may have regressed. And it’s not like they just have no talent. They’re not great, but there is some talent. Mike James can play. Skyy Clark was highly sought after. Brandon Huntley-Hatfield may not be great but he could find a role on most college teams.
There are other guys who could do okay or maybe should do okay. And in the end, the blame will come down on Payne. He was a popular choice when he was hired but it’s hard to make an argument for him today. We’re not big fans of firing coaches after a couple of disappointing years but that’s exactly what Louisville is likely to do.
A couple of years ago, Clemson was ready to let go of Brad Brownell. They were going to make Will Wade a strong-ass offer. Didn’t work out fortunately, because, as we’ve said before, we think Brownell is the best coach Clemson has ever had. He’s the best combination of a tactician and talent developer that that program has ever seen.
Clemson had a big payback game at Georgia Tech Wednesday night, blowing the Yellow Jackets out at home.
Clemson started out red hot, shooting 88 percent at one point and hitting five of their first six treys.
The Tigers ended up hitting 14-29 from deep for 48.3 percent and 31-58 overall. Georgia Tech by contrast shot 28.6 percent from behind the line and 30.2 percent overall.
Ian Schieffelin wasn’t his normal force on the boards but he shot 8-12 including 3-4 three pointers for 19 points. Chase Hunter racked up 18 and Joe Girard had 14.
Here’s a sentence you never expected to see: Schieffelin was vastly better from behind the line than Joe Girard was.
It’s interesting to compare how Notre Dame’s Shrewsberry, Georgia Tech’s Damon Stoudamire and Louisville’s Payne compare. In his second season, there’s a sense that his team hasn’t improved and may be regressing. By contrast, fans at Notre Dame and Georgia Tech should be excited. Neither team is killing it but both have shown tantalizing potential.
It’s a bit too early to get into coaching candidates but we’d just like to put this one out there for Louisville: Amir Abdur-Rahim from South Florida.
You’ll recall him from Kennesaw State, where he finished with a 26-9 record. He moved to South Florida this year and at 19-5 is working on a solid season there too. We thought he could have gone for a bigger job last year. Whatever happens, it won’t be long before someone seeks him out.
No games until Saturday.
- Noie: Braeden Shrewsberry shoots into Notre Dame men’s basketball history
- Notre Dame men’s basketball runs ACC win streak to three with easy effort
- Notre Dame MBB shows killer instinct in blowout win at Louisville
- Louisville basketball: Kenny Payne discusses Notre Dame loss
- Louisville MBB: Kenny Payne’s team destined to lose at least 20 games
- BOZICH | In season of bad losses, Louisville’s 72-50 loss to Notre Dame the worst
- Clemson exacts revenge with ACC road win at Georgia Tech
- Georgia Tech routed at home by Clemson
- Clemson gets season-high 14 3-pointers to drop Georgia Tech, 81-57
- Clemson impressive in 81-57 road win over Georgia Tech
- Clemson makes a season-high 14 3-pointers in beating Georgia Tech 81-57