The scoreboards at the St. Pete Times Forum, originally designed as a hockey arena and called The Ice Palace, display a few odd gaps when it comes to basketball. For one thing, both the mezzanine façade and overhead scoreboards seemingly are incapable of showing triple-digit results. Thus, when Wake Forest topped Georgia Tech in the first round, 114-112, that was more than the equipment could accommodate. The score was rendered 14-12.
Then there was the strange blank spot where the jersey numeral for Miami’s Jimmy Graham was supposed to appear.
Graham had 12 points and four rebounds for the Hurricanes before fouling out in a 74-71 overtime loss to Boston College. But where his “00” numeral should have been shown on the scoreboard above the court, there was only a blank spot. This would have worked well for the invisible man, but was a bit confusing when referring to the 6-8 sophomore from Goldsboro.
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Miami, last in home attendance in the ACC, seemingly had no more fans on hand here in Tampa than did Boston College. Frank Haith’s Hurricanes acquitted themselves well in two games as the 12th seed, but need a marketing boost and perhaps a charismatic player to make a real impact with the Florida public. Then again, Florida State had Al Thornton, an extraordinary talent, and has not exactly caught the public’s imagination in this football state.
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Sorry, it was not a salute to ACC Tournament tradition. Still, it was odd to see a player named Roche starting for Boston College against Miami. Freshman Tyler Roche is apparently no relation to John Roche, the South Carolina great who was ACC player of the year in 1969 and 1970 and tied for the Everett Case Award as the ACC Tournament’s most valuable player in 1971.
BC’s Roche, from New Hampshire, has now started the last three games for the Eagles after coming off the bench the rest of the season. He started in a win against Clemson and in a defeat at Georgia Tech, scoring a combined one point in 39 minutes. Against Miami, Roche scored five points, all in the second half as BC rallied to victory.
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