When the North Carolina Tar Heels upended Big 10 heavyweight Michigan State on Tuesday night for the third time in a year, one thing was clear to college basketball fans: The ACC is loaded.
That starts in Chapel Hill, where after a national championship in April, coach Roy Williams figures to have established a pretty sound strategy year in and year out.
This season, the Heels aren't rebuilding, they're reloading. With the loss of Ty Lawson, Danny Green, Wayne Ellington and of course Tyler Hansbrough, UNC has only three upperclassmen left on its roster. Yet the Tar Heels have still started out the season 7-1 and sit at No. 11 in the latest AP Poll, though they are sure to move up after their huge win over the Spartans this week.
Senior forward Deon Thompson is poised for a standout year after three seasons of being a role player on a team full of future pros. He is joined in the paint by sophomores Ed Davis and Tyler Zeller, the former having dropped a career-high 22 points on Tuesday.
Senior wing Marcus Ginyard is the go-to scorer in the backcourt, but sophomore guard Larry Drew II has emerged as a more-than-suitable replacement for Lawson at the point. Through eight games this year, the California native has averaged 6.6 assists per game and has kicked in nine points per contest.
But the Tar Heels aren't the only ones having a stellar start to the campaign. Down the road in Durham, the Duke Blue Devils will try to turn it around after a couple of relatively disappointing seasons. With do-it-all guard Gerald Henderson gone to the NBA and chief floor-slapper Greg Paulus off slinging passes at Syracuse, the onus is on the big three of senior Jon Scheyer and juniors Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith. The three upperclassmen have accounted for almost 60 percent of the Blue Devils' scoring so far this year.
Duke should get plenty of points from its guards and wings, but this year the Blue Devils are as thin as ever down low. With names like Shelden Williams and Carlos Boozer far-gone memories in the minds of Dukies, seniors Brian Zoubek and Lance Thomas will once again be the key frontcourt figures. They are joined this year by sophomore Miles Plumlee, who has gotten off to a good start, averaging nine points per game and eight boards.
Aside from an impressive win over Connecticut in Madison Square Garden, Duke has yet to play any upper-echelon talent. And while the ACC may be known as a guard-oriented conference, the Blue Devils will likely run into size problems during league play. Thomas is a steady player but not liable to take over any aspect of a game, while Plumlee is mostly unproven and Zoubek is slow and lacks post moves.
But when conference games kick off, expect Duke to do what it has always done best — move the ball quickly around the perimeter and use defensive lapses to either cut quickly to the basket or kick out for a three. If Duke's main weakness is size, its primary advantage will be shooting ability, as Scheyer, Singler and Smith can all take over a game from deep.
While it hasn't gotten off to a great start, one team that may end up atop the ACC along with UNC and Duke is Maryland, which has more total victories over the Tobacco Road rivals than any other team this decade. Venezuelan-born playmaker Greivis Vasquez tested the NBA draft waters but came back for his senior year and is ready to be the go-to guy for a team that was ousted by Memphis in the second round of the NCAA Tournament last year. Vasquez is getting most of his time at the shooting guard or small forward position, while steady senior Eric Hayes handles most of the point guard duties.
Coach Gary Williams addressed his squad's size needs by bringing in freshman forwards Jordan Williams and James Padgett. The two have seen plenty of minutes already this year, partly due to the suspension of junior forward Dino Gregory, who will return to action later this month. Padgett and Williams have impressed so far, and will be joined in the paint by senior Landon Milbourne, who plays more like a guard, despite his 6-foot-7 frame.
For all of the strong post players in College Park, Md., one name to watch on the Terps is Sean Mosley, a sophomore guard from Baltimore who is second behind Milbourne with 13.1 points per game. At 6-foot-4, Mosley plays multiple positions and uses his above-average strength and athleticism to get plenty of rebounds and blocks. If the freshmen big men pan out and Vasquez plays like he's capable of, the Terps should reverse their recent trend of being a bubble team in March.
As is the case almost every year, much can happen between now and the Big Dance. But if the early season contests are any indication, the ACC will be a force to be reckoned with when the brackets are ultimately decided.
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This article originally incorrectly stated that Miles Plumleewas a freshman, not a sophomore. This mistake was corrected on 1/9/2010.
