SAME FEDORA-NEW CROWN?

[PointGuard]

Janeka Aura

Following a long battle with cancer, my mother passed away today. I’m extremely sad to lose her and my father is devastated. It’s tremendously hard for all of us, but Mom led a great life and was at peace with her inevitable death due to her cancer’s spread.

[PointGuard]

ACC Conference Tournament

Day 2

#5 seed Clemson—62, #13 seed Wake Forest—55

#6 seed North Carolina—58, #11 seed Virginia Tech—53

#10 seed Florida State—62, #7 seed Georgia Tech—56

#9 seed Virginia—80, #8 seed Norther Carolina State—65

Day 3 (Quarterfinals)

#1 seed Boston College—48, #9 seed Virginia—46 (Virginia beat BC by 8 points earlier this season. After a couple early lead changes, BC went ahead 13-6 with 15-1/2 minutes to go in the half. The Cavaliers scored the next 6 points, but then the Eagles scored 9 unanswered points to go up by 10. While their defense was good, BC’s shooting went cold after that. By the end of the half the Eagles’ lead had been reduced to 29-25. The defensive battle continued in the 2nd half. BC held onto a very small lead throughout the half. But with 41 seconds remaining and the score 48-46 in favor of the Eagles, the Cavaliers got control of the ball and called a time out. Schau blocked a shot but Virginia got the ball back. The Pratt blocked a shot and the Eagles brought the ball into the forecourt only to get a pass picked off with 12 seconds remaining. Virginia called another timeout. The Cavaliers worked the ball into the key and this time Toliver blocked their shot at the buzzer to preserve the narrow escape by the Eagles. Virginia hit 28% of their FG’s and 18% of their 3’s. Boston College knocked down just 25% of their FG’s and 5% of their 3’s. But the Eagles held a 49-37 advantage on the boards. The only BC player to score in double figures was C Ben Schau who had 10 points and 13 rebounds.

#10 seed Florida State—63, #2 seed Notre Dame—60

#3 seed Pittsburgh—68, #6 seed North Carolina—58

#5 seed Clemson—72, #4 seed Duke--64

[PointGuard]

Fred Aura

The morning after our victory over Virginia, I got a call from Shane Vorstadt. He had learned that the police had named me as a person of interest and that the media was likely to find out about it very soon. Although he had prepped me for that possibility, it still hit me like a ton of bricks. I told him that I just didn’t understand why this was happening to me. He said it was somewhat inevitable due to my items that were found in her house plus my alibi that couldn’t be verified. He said to remain resolute and avoid saying anything about the case to the press.

ACC Conference Tournament

Day 4 (Semifinals)

#5 seed Clemson—81, #1 seed Boston College--69 (These teams split their 2 games this season. A combination of poor shooting (39%) and poor defense by Boston College allowed Clemson to begin pulling away midway through the first half and build as much as a 12 point lead. The half ended with the Eagles on the short end of a 45-35 score. Things didn’t improve in the 2nd half and BC fell behind by 22 with 10 minutes to go. The Eagles made a spirited effort late in the game to come back but never got closer than 9 points. PF Danny Toliver (19 points, 8 rebounds) was the only member of the Eagles who had a really good game. PG Bobby Grannum scored 15.)

#3 seed Pittsburgh—75, #10 seed Florida State—67

[PointGuard]

Fred Aura

Everyone is disappointed with our loss in the ACC tournament. And I lay it all on myself. My personal distractions kept me from handling the game the way I needed to for us to have a chance against a tough Clemson team. I wasn’t able to solve the Tigers 1-2-2 defense for our team. And I didn’t devise a game plan for our tournament opening game against Virginia that was strong enough to barely get us past Virginia. Some way I have to put aside the legal issues for the sake of the team when we play in the NCAA Tournament.

ACC Conference Tournament

Day 5 (Championship)

#3 seed Pittsburgh—69, #5 seed Clemson--62

[PointGuard]

Shane Vorstadt

“Hey, Fred. Just calling to let you know that I found out that the police have run an analysis of the voice mail you received and compared it to a few recordings they were able to scrounge of Renee’s voice. And there’s significant doubt that the one you received was truly Renee. They believe it may have been another woman who was disguising her voice to sound like Renee. I’m not sure where that takes us or what the police will do with that information, but at the least it does create some new complications for their investigation.”

[PointGuard]

JJ Conroy, BeanTownSports Blog

Welcome Eagles fans to yet another chapter in the Fred Aura post-season coaching failure. Yes, he again was unable to get BC by lesser opponents in the ACC tourney. And that portends yet again another dismal outlook for how Boston College will fare in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. Sure they’ll get a plum seeding, but Aura will again find a way to lose to a lower seed. So don’t buy tickets for the championship game if you were only going to see BC play. Folks…I hate to be the bearer of bad news…but it ain’t happenin’. In fact, the Boston College Eagles under the leadership of Fred Aura won’t even get within sniffin’ distance of that game.

Because Aura continually wears fedoras, his players call him Coach Fed-Aura. Because Aura stinks in the post-season, I call him Coach Malod-Aura-us..

[PointGuard]

RyReys Blog, Ryan Reynolds

Selection Show Highlights

In the Media and the Coaches polls, the top 4 are exactly the same: Kentucky, Memphis, Gonzaga, and Oregon. 5th and 6th place are exchanged between Maryland and Illinois in the 2 polls. 7th, 8th, and 9th place are the same in both polls: Creighton, Boston College, and Missouri. Tennessee is 10th in the Media poll and Kansas is 10th in the Coaches poll.

So now let’s see which teams got #1 seeds and also which ACC teams will be in the Big Dance:

#1’s: Illinois, Boston College, Memphis, Maryland

ACC teams:

North Carolina has a play-in game against Loyola (Illinois) for the 12th seed in the Midwest Region.
Pittsburgh 8th seed in East Region and plays #2 seed Dayton
Boston College was a totally surprising #1 seed in the Midwest Region and will play #16 seed West Virginia
Duke is the 5th seed in the Midwest Region and plays the #12 seed which will be the winner of the Dayton/North Carolina game
Clemson is the 6th see in the Midwest Region and plays #11 seed Bellarmine
North Carolina State is the 8th seed in the Midwest Region and plays the #9 seed Coppin State
Virginia is the #9 seed in the South Region and plays the #8 seed UCONN
Notre Dame is the #5 seed in the West Region and plays #12 seed Southern

ACC teams in other post-season tourneys:

NIT: Georgia Tech is the 4th seed in the East Region

CBI: Florida State is the #1 seed in the East Region

CIT: No ACC team

Immediately after the NCAA Selection Show concluded the HOWLS began. Why is BC a #1 seed? Why are Maryland and Illinois #1 seeds? These wailings were particularly loud from the fans of Gonzaga and Oregon but also from the entire West Coast since the 3rd and 4th place teams in both polls were from the West Coast and were slighted by the Selection Committee. Kentucky fans were of course silent since their team remains on probation due to recruiting infractions. Gonzaga’s claim to a #1 seed most likely was nullified by their only having the 21st best NET Ranking. But Oregon not only was higher in the polls than Maryland and Illinois but their NET Ranking was better than those 2 teams. The Ducks NET Ranking was slightly lower than that of Boston College.

ACC fans are smarting due to the fact that 5 of the 8 teams the ACC has in the NCAA tourney are lumped together in one region (the Midwest). And should one of those 5 teams (North Carolina) win their play-in game, they will play Duke in the first round. And 4 of the 5 ACC teams in the Midwest are on the same side of that bracket.

[Wayne23]

Yes, there's a LONG way to go before NCAA tournament seeds are accurate, although in real life the committee screws it up pretty regularly.

Curious as to BC's NET. I have found that the tourney selections are more closely related to NET than Poll rankings, which actually makes some sense.

[PointGuard]

Yeah, you're right...BC's NET Ranking way up there due to playing in ACC and also because of very strong pre-conf schedule.

[PointGuard]

Boston Herald

Tournament Results for ACC Teams Not in NCAA Tourney

CBI

Round 1

Florida State—67, Northwestern State—37 (Demons could only hit 25% of their FGA’s against Seminoles’ defense and Florida State’s PG Julius Ware had 20 pts, 6 reb, 6 ast)

Round 2

Florida State—56, Hofstra—51 (Hofstra held a lead throughout most of the game and was ahead by 10 with 6 minutes remaining. The Seminoles then quickly began closing the gap and held the Pride scoreless for the final 3 minutes of the game. SG Evan Martin scored 13 points.)

Round 3 (Semifinals)

Florida State—65, Marquette—61 (The 1st half was a defensive struggle the was close until the final few minutes when Marquette hit some quick baskets to take a 28-20 halftime lead. The Golden Eagles held onto a solid lead until midway through the 2nd half when the Seminoles caught fire and overtook Marquette. The last 10 minutes were a back and forth affair. Florida State got a small lead in the final 2 minutes and held onto to move on to the championship game. SG Evan Martin again topped the Seminoles’ scoring with 14 points.)

Round 4 (Championship)

Florida State—74, Coastal Carolina—65 (The Seminoles had a strong start and held a sizeable lead through the first half until Coastal Carolina made a rapid comeback late in the half. Florida State held a slim 40-38 advantage at the break. Defense improved by both teams in the 2nd half, but the Seminoles again gained a solid lead. The Chanticleers narrowed the gap somewhat late in the half, but Florida State was never seriously challenged. SG Evan Martin was hot throughout the game and finished with 24 points and was named the tournament MVP.)

NIT

Round 1

Georgia Tech—76, Oklahoma State—71 (5 Yellow Jackets players scored in double figures)

Round 2

Oklahoma—62, Georgia Tech—55 (20 turnovers did in the Yellow Jackets)