I am tired. Work for four hours Friday, then I turned around and drove to W-S for the ORU game, went to the football game, drove to Chapel Hill on Sunday for the UNC-Valpo game and turned right around again to drive back to Cle-town so that I could work after three hours of sleep. The things I do for the ACC. But it is always worth it, and now I'm officially in college basketball mode.
A lot of random links today, so excuse me for the scatteredness. Today might be a bit slow, so again, I'll apologize in advance. Merci.
Orlando Sentinel - Bianchi: UCF's Brett Hodges is Stud of the Week, braggart FSU fan is Dud by
My early favorite for Stud of the Week is Brett Hodges and the UCF Knights, who defeated No. 13 Houston for the first victory over a ranked team in school history. Who would have ever thought that high-flying, Heisman-contending Houston QB Case Keenum would be outduelled by the low-key, unflappable Hodges?
Deacons win big
"We've got to be thankful and blessed for the way we did play, but we've still got to continue to work and push to get to the elite level," Smith said. "As well as we played, we've still got a long ways to go defensively. We didn't shoot free throws well or shoot the ball well.... We still can clean all that up, and we will. We've just got to keep working."
ACC Week in Review: Wake Forest starts strong behind Aminu | BaselineStats.com: College Basketball Stats and Analysis
Team of the week: Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons had a pair of impressive wins this weekend, starting Friday night with a 76-56 victory over Oral Roberts, a traditional power in the Summit League, and the coaches’ pick to finish second this year. On Sunday, Wake throttled East Carolina on the road, 89-58. Al-Farouq Aminu has emerged with the departures of James Johnson and Jeff Teague. After scoring 25 points and grabbing 13 boards against ORU, he had 23 points and nine boards against ECU.
FayObserver.com - 5 things to watch from college basketball referees
Still, many players are worried. Wake Forest's Ish Smith, for example, fears the energy and momentum generated from big plays may now be quickly negated by overly strict referees too eager to penalize unsportsmanlike behavior with technical fouls. Smith pointed specifically to a monster dunk Jeff Teague had over Maryland's Dave Neal last season during a game-changing Demon Deacons' run. "Jeff did what he's supposed to do: he pounded his chest and yelled to the crowd," Smith said. "He never disrespected Dave. He just let loose with his emotion. That got the rest of the team fired up, the crowd fired up. If the refs get too crazy with this new rule, it's going to be hard for guys everywhere to hold back that emotion."
MSNsportsNET.Com -- West Virginia University Mountaineers
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Three first half goals from 14th-ranked Wake Forest was all the Demon Deacons needed to finish off West Virginia, 3-0, Sunday afternoon in NCAA second-round action at W. Dennie Spry Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C. "My hat goes off to Wake Forest," said WVU coach Nikki Izzo-Brown, whose team played its eighth-straight contest away from Morgantown – a program record. "They were clearly the better team today and found a way to put three goals in the back of the net." Wake Forest improves to 15-5-2 to advance to the NCAA Sweet 16 to face South Carolina, the No. 2 seed in the North Carolina region.
FIFTH QUARTER: One division down, one to go – ACC Insider - Wilmington Star News - Wilmington, NC - Archive
4. Senior Day disappointment: Wake Forest quarterback Riley Skinner broke down and cried in the interview room after his two interceptions led to a lop-sided loss to Florida State that didn’t just ruin his Senior Day celebration, but eliminated the slumping Deacons from bowl consideration.
Tar Heels beat Deacons
Wake Forest had a 13-8 advantage in shots and a 7-3 advantage in penalty corners, but No. 3 UNC won yesterday's NCAA quarterfinal game 4-1 at sun-drenched Kentner Stadium. "I thought my kids played a brilliant game plan. We had a game plan and they stuck to it from the first minute. I thought we executed it to a T," Coach Jennifer Averill of Wake Forest said. "If you look at the statistics it's frustrating, it's disappointing walking away outplaying, outshooting them."
Colts' Dwight Freeney could've been a two-sided hit -- latimes.com
Back when he was a college coach, Caldwell recruited Freeney to Wake Forest, floating the offer he could play both on the defensive line and in the offensive backfield. "That was the only way I could entice him, but obviously he didn't bite," said Caldwell, who wound up losing Freeney to Syracuse. "I don't think you could envision the great career that he's had to this point. But you knew he was special, there's no doubt about that. "He could run and catch, and he's powerful. We could put him to work back in those days. I made the promise to him, and if he had showed up we certainly would have done it, due to the fact that he's a little unusual in terms of his speed. . . . I don't know why that pitch didn't work. "But usually once a year he's in a conversation with one of his teammates, and he'll bring me over and say, 'Hey, Caldwell, tell 'em: Didn't you try to recruit me to play running back?' It always happens at least once a year."
ACC bowl predictions: Week 11 - College Football Nation Blog - ESPN
With each of their respective losses this past weekend, Wake Forest, NC State, Maryland and Virginia all lost their chances at a possible bowl bid. Florida State kept its hopes alive with a win over Wake Forest, and the Seminoles only need to beat Maryland at home this weekend to reach the postseason. Despite Duke’s loss to Georgia Tech, the Blue Devils could still reach bowl eligibility with a win at Miami on Saturday and at home during the regular season finale against Wake Forest.