See You In Tampa (And Final All-ACC Stuff)

Posted: March 6, 2007
Updated: March 8, 2007

For the second consecutive year, we will provide "unique" on-site coverage from the ACC Tournament on this blog and (more extensively) at ACCSports.com. WRAL.com readers can contact me directly on press row at the St. Pete Times Forum, with questions, comments or suggestions, by e-mailing me at daveglenn2@nc.rr.com.

The 2006 notes from Greensboro, updated repeatedly throughout the four-day event, joined our coverage of various ACC coaching searches as our most popular posts of the past two years. We hope you enjoy the (sometimes off-beat) information we pass along from Tampa this time.

I also wanted to share my final ballot, as a member of the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association, for various ACC honors and awards. There seemed to be more close calls than usual this year, which always generates some interesting debate. If you post in our "Comments" section below, I will be happy to supplement the list below with more detail on what factors went into my selections.

All-ACC First Team

Jared Dudley, Sr., Boston College*
Tyler Hansbrough, So., North Carolina*
Al Thornton, Sr., Florida State*
Sean Singletary, Jr., Virginia*
Zabian Dowdell, Sr., Virginia Tech*

All-ACC Second Team

J.R. Reynolds, Sr., Virginia*
D.J. Strawberry, Sr., Maryland*
Tyrese Rice, So., Boston College*
Josh McRoberts, So., Duke*
Ben McCauley, So., N.C. State (made honorable mention)

All-ACC Third Team

Javaris Crittenton, Fr., Georgia Tech*
Brandan Wright, Fr., North Carolina (made second team)
Kyle Visser, Sr., Wake Forest*
Brandon Costner, Fr., N.C. State*
Jamon Gordon, Sr., Virginia Tech*

All-Defensive Team

Jamon Gordon, Sr., Virginia Tech*
D.J. Strawberry, Sr., Maryland*
James Mays, Jr., Clemson (made honorable mention)
Mario West, Sr., Georgia Tech (made honorable mention)
Zabian Dowdell, Sr., Virginia Tech*

All-Freshman Team

Javaris Crittenton, Georgia Tech*
Brandan Wright, North Carolina*
Brandon Costner, N.C. State*
Ty Lawson, North Carolina*
Thaddeus Young, Georgia Tech (made honorable mention)

Coach Of The Year

Gary Williams, Maryland (finished second to Virginia's Dave Leitao)

Player Of The Year

Jared Dudley, Sr., Boston College*

Rookie Of The Year

Javaris Crittenton, Georgia Tech (finished second to UNC's Brandan Wright)

* — my vote matched the actual ACSMA results

15 Comments

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Dave - Thanks for the additional comments.

I actually agree with putting McCauley up there, but I'm an NC State guy and so more familiar with his play than other candidates.

Seeing the relative strength of NC State's talent against the top half of the ACC just made me crave an untainted opinion about what the offsetting weaknesses were that caused the Pack to struggle. I appreciate your insight.

I think the thin bench not only made games a workout, but caused the team to wear down over the course of the season and contributed to some of the second half struggles.

Without actually checking stats, I also have the sense that there was sometimes an either/or thing with Brandon and Ben, meaning both had good seasons, but they didn't always both show up in the same game. Costner seemed to elevate at the end of the season while McCauley took a step back, in part because defenses keyed on McCauley.

Thanks again!

Newt
March 7, 2007 10:32 a.m.

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If Atsur had been healthy all season he would have merited serious second or third team consideration. NC State had no bench and folded late in several games they could have won with one or two more experienced players to spell the starters. Several teams (surprisingly not UNC in their first encounter) figured out that if you press hard in the second half State just could not keep up the pace.

RPM
March 7, 2007 9:15 a.m.

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That's a fair question. I think N.C. State was the most top-heavy team in the ACC. Whereas most of these other players had at least some help from their teammates, the Wolfpack had by far the worst bench in the conference. The Pack also played half the season without its senior point guard, Engin Atsur, which also helps to explain the ugly record.

Serious question: Whom would you have put on the third team that I didn't have in my top 15?

daveglenn2
March 6, 2007 5:04 p.m.

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Dave - If you view NC State as having two All-ACC players, what do you make of their 10th-place finish? They seem to stick out a little bit on your list.

Newt
March 6, 2007 4:24 p.m.

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Scheyer was in my top eight for the all-freshman team. He had a good year. But I didn't have a hard time picking Young at all. The only guy I felt bad about leaving off was Greivis Vasquez of Maryland. I felt like I had six guys for five spots. Vasquez was instrumental in the Terps' stretch run and, really, hugely important to the way they turned their season around. I just couldn't knock off any of the five guys I did pick.

daveglenn2
March 6, 2007 3:26 p.m.

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Thaddeus Young vs Jon Scheyer---- Who would you rather have? There's no contest offensively, defensively or rebounding Young is the better player hands down!

MR EVANS
March 6, 2007 3:19 p.m.

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I think McCauley is one of the great examples of those who are penalized unfairly by voters who look only at the main categories -- points, rebounds, etc. NCSU's Brandon Costner got a lot more All-ACC support than his own teammate (McCauley), but I don't think you'll find a coach in the world who will tell you that Costner was the more productive/valuable player this season for the Wolfpack, despite his slightly better scoring/rebounding numbers.

McCauley rarely wasted possessions with bad shots or reckless turnovers. Costner often did. McCauley was an above-average defender. Costner was, to be nice, below-average. McCauley was one of the hardest-working players in the ACC. Costner took possessions off regularly.

In this case and others, the stats didn't even come close to telling the whole story.

daveglenn2
March 6, 2007 2:58 p.m.

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Thanks for moving MacCauley up from your 'provisional' ballot yesterday. He easily deserved to be considered on par with McRoberts.

RPM
March 6, 2007 2:10 p.m.

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Leitao had a very good year, but so did Williams.

One of the biggest signs of a great coaching job is how much better a team got during the course of the season. What did they learn, and then execute? Williams took this year's Maryland team from the brink of the abyss, taught it well in practice, inspired it to play unselfishly, then put together one of the most impressive stretch runs in the nation. And he did it without the benefit of two of the top six players in the ACC, which Leitao clearly had.

Again, both coaches had very good seasons. You wouldn't have been crazy to vote for Leitao, but you absolutely can make just as good of a case (I'd obviously say better) for Williams.

daveglenn2
March 6, 2007 1:58 p.m.

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Packing up now to head to Tampa. 15th year in a row without a ticket in hand. I threw together a couple of posts at ACC Fan Blog for anyone thinking about going. Good info:

ACC Tournament Prep Kit http://www.accfanblog.com/2007/03/acc-tournament-prep-kit.html

Getting Tickets for the ACC Tournament http://www.accfanblog.com/2007/03/getting-tickets-for-acc-tournament.html

Ken

accfanblog.com
March 6, 2007 12:51 p.m.

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