What has been a tumultuous college basketball regular season is over. On Tuesday night in Greensboro, a new chapter of it will begin for the teams in the ACC.
The tournament kicks off with two games on Tuesday, for seeds 11-14. On Wednesday, the rest of the teams seeded 5 and lower will enter the fray.
Despite the top teams not having to step foot on the court until Thursday, there’s plenty to be entertained with. So here’s your guide to Tuesday in Greensboro.
Game 1: #12 Wake Forest vs #13 Pittsburgh – 4:30 PM
Both of these programs are used to playing Tuesday’s in the ACC Tournament. For a while, it looked like Pitt was going to avoid the dreaded first round this year.
The Panthers were nearly at the .500 mark in conference play more than once. They managed to knock off Florida State on the first day of the season. A couple of months later, they were one horrible over-the-back call away from a win over Louisville.
But all that was for naught, and now they’re 6-14 in conference play and in the familiar Tuesday game.
Wake, on the other hand, was never seen as a team that could do any damage in conference play. They plodded through most of conference play, before coming alive for a brief couple of games.
There was that improbable double-overtime victory over Duke, where they came back from a 12-point deficit. Then there was an 11-point win over Notre Dame.
But the Deacs came crashing back to earth when they lost by 10 on the road to Carolina in their next game. It wasn’t a terrible season by recent standards, but it still wasn’t enough to get them out of the depths of Tuesday.
Their game against the Panthers will feature two of the most underrated point guards in the conference: Trey McGowens and Brandon Childress.
McGowens’ stats don’t really indicate his skill. He scores 11.4 points per game, 3.3 boards, and 3.6 assists. For context, Kihei Clark only averages 10.8 points, albeit in a much slower offense. Like Clark, McGowens is only a Sophomore. Also like Clark, he’s very quick and nifty around the basket, though without Kihei’s natural feel for the game. He’s a handful for any defense.
As is Brandon Childress. The Senior is a true all-around player who has grown so much since his Freshman year. He scores 15.5 points per game, dishes out 4.6 assists, and pulls down 3 boards. Childress shoots the ball well and is a very smart player. He’s only 6 feet tall, and not the quickest, but he finds his way to the rim anyway. His matchup against McGowens will highlight this game.
And the game should be a pretty good one, despite the low seeds of these two teams. While Pitt looked like they were going to be a good team for a while, they have long since proved that theory wrong. Meanwhile, Wake has been peaking at the right time, although they dropped their last couple of games. In this case, trust the experienced point guard and the team that had been looking good for a while.
The Pick: Wake 61-57
Game 2: #11 Virginia Tech vs #14 North Carolina – 7:00 PM
So, Carolina playing on Tuesday. Hahahahaha. Sorry, had to do that. This matchup being played in the first round can only be described as hilarious for Virginia fans. Their mortal enemy taking the court against Carolina, of all teams, in the first round causes feelings of glee for Wahoo fans.
But this season has been anything but gleeful for wearers of the Carolina blue. They didn’t look good early on, and the first sign was the blowout loss in the Bahamas to Michigan. They followed that up with 47 points in Charlottesville.
And then Cole Anthony got injured. It went from bad, to worse, to nightmarish. The low point of the season was probably Roy Williams’ declaration that this was “the least talented team he has ever coached.”
And then when it’s talent finally returned, in Anthony, the Heels lost their next six. So it’s safe to say it wasn’t the season anybody was expecting with this team.
Virginia Tech looked to be headed in the opposite direction. Expected to suck in a rebuilding year, they got a big win over Michigan State in Maui. Then they started winning ACC games and were on the right side of the bubble for a while.
But when they fell, they fell hard. The Hokies had losing streaks of four and five, and went from 5-4 in the ACC to 7-13. In the end, it was the season that everybody was expecting.
They have a chance to at least earn some redemption with a win over Carolina. For that to happen, Landers Nolley II—the one bright spot for the Hokies—has to be better than Garrison Brooks.
Nolley averages 15.6 points and 5.9 rebounds on the season. He’ll be up against Brooks, who has similarly shined on a bad team. He scores 16.6 points and 8.8 rebounds. Brooks, as the more experienced, better player, will likely win that battle.
And this game is going to come down to who is more desperate. The Hokies were always expected to be bad. So really, there’s not much disappointment for them. But Carolina desperately needs something to validate their season. This game is going to come down to who needs it more. Carolina will prevail as they futilely try and save themselves from total embarrassment.
The Pick: Carolina 79-62