ACC

  The ACC is one of the toughest conferences in the country.  I think the two powerhouse teams in the ACC are Duke and Miami.  Most people are raving about Ryan Kelly's performance last night against the hurricanes, by dumping 36 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, and 1 block after missing almost 2 months with an injury.  However, I want to see more performances by Kelly like this for him to be a candidate for the ACC Player of the Year.  In my opinion, the ACC Player of the Year Award should go to there people; Shane Larkin, Kenny Kadji, and Mason Plumlee.  Shane Larkin puts up a significant amount of points every game and gets his team energized.  For example, when Miami upset Duke in January, Larkin slapped the floor in excitement and the rest of the team started to do so too.  Last night he scored 25 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists.  Kenny Kadji is a player who can do everything.  He can pass, shoot, and dribble.  i think the fact that shocks people the most is the fact that he is 6 feet 11 inches and can still bury deep threes.  He also runs the floor and dunks the ball, which also gets the team pumped up.  This May he is going to turn 25.  I think one of the reasons the hurricanes are doing so good is that they are a very experienced team, with 6 seniors and 3 juniors on their roster.  Mason Plumlee is a very good player, with only one downside.  He is only a 67% free-throw shooter.  Many spectators have pointed out that he gets the ball about 16 feet from the basket, then plows his way through to the basket to score.  He only has to take one dribble.  Also, the fact that he is more on the humble side proves that he won't make many mistakes while celebrating.  The only mistake mason Plumlee made yesterday was when he out-threw Seth Curry with :50 seconds left, turning it over.  Other than that, i think he is an amazing player.  All of these players are capable of scoring in big ways, and to lead their teams to victories when needed.  I am disappointed because I am not hearing much about C.J. Leslie from NC State.  Last year he was scarring the opposing team, just by being there.  Now, everyone is talking about Shane Larkin.  Leslie needs to step it up so he can be the player he used to be.

By Ameen I.

Duke Goes Down

Yesterday number 1 Duke went to play NC State.  Richard Howell had 16 points, 18 rebounds, and 2 steals.  Star player C.J. Leslie had 25 points.  With those numbers, the outcome is pretty obvious, NC State won.  Duke did hang in there though.  NC State went into the half with a 41-39 lead.  This shows that other teams aren't bad, it's just that the other teams are better.  Early in the season, Syracuse lost to unranked Temple, and it was just like this at the half.  Seth Curry had 22 points, but injured his ankle with two minutes to go.  In the second half NC State outscored Duke 43-37.  Since Seth Curry was out of the game, Duke couldn't come back.  NC State was making most of their free-throws when Duke had to foul to stop the clock.  The final score was 84-76, NC State on top.  Now number 2 Michigan is most likely to take number 1.  Michigan next plays number 15 Ohio State.  This means the other teams in the top ten who didn't lose are going to get closer to number 1.  I think Duke will fall out of the top ten and its going to be tough to get back in this season.  I also think NC State isn't going to do well for the rest of the season because this happens a lot.  An upset occurs and the winning team gets too cocky so they don't try as hard, and end up losing more games than people projected.  By Ameen I.