Good article on Scout.com

Just saw a good article on www.scout.com's front page about the upcoming ACC football season. It gives five thoughts on the ACC this upcoming year. The ACC should be competitive this year with many good teams, but probably not a national title contender this year.

http://cfn.scout.com/2/879556.html

ACC Football Preview

Starting on Monday, I will do an ACC football preview for each team heading into the 2009-2010 football year. It is hard to believe, and exciting, that football season is less than two months away. This should be a very competitive year in the ACC as many teams appear to be moving in the right direction.

Coach K to Coach USA Basketball through 2012

It was announced yesterday that Mike Krzyzewski, head coach at Duke, has decided to stay on with Team USA and USA basketball through the 2012 Olympics in London. This is great news for the national team as it means great cohesion throughout this stretch as the U.S. continues to try and re-assert its world dominance in basketball. The question is, is this a good thing for Duke basketball?

Anyone can notice that Duke, currently, is not the program that they were ten years ago. Duke has not been to a final four since 2004. They have not been past the sweet sixteen since that time either. They have won three ACC championships but really have not done anything on the national scene (2005 and 2006 were good years that saw Duke ranked in the top 2 and often number one at many times). The real "decline" has been the past three years, coincidentally (or not) with Coach K's first commitment to USA basketball. In 2007, Duke had its worst season since the mid 1990's, going 22-11 and losing in the first round of the NCAA tournament to VCU. In 2008, Duke had a better year, gaining a number 2 seed in the NCAA tournament but lost in the second round to West Virginia after beating Belmont by one point on a last second lay-up by Gerald Henderson (now a Charlotte Bobcat). Duke improved again in 2009, winning the ACC tournament and getting another #2 seed in the NCAA tourney. However, Duke still was not the Duke of old. They got beat by 100 at Clemson earlier in the year and lost to Villanova in the sweet 16 by 23.

Did Coach K's commitment to USA basketball hurt the Duke basketball program? By simply looking at the numbers it would be hard to argue anything other than it obviously did. Duke, from 1986 to 2004, could guarantee every recruit that came to Duke they would probably get to go to a final four during their four years at Duke, and most likely multiple final fours. Not anymore. They have won just won ACC tournament the last three years (which is definitely not bad) but not near the pace they were on before K's commitment to team USA.

Taking numbers as the only basis for comparison would not be doing the situation justice. What Krzyzewski says himself has to count for something. He has sworn since day one that this has not hurt Duke in any way but rather it has helped Duke because it has made him a much better coach. He states he has learned a great deal from the assistant coaches he has been working with, the elite players he had the opportunity to coach, and the international game. He also has sworn it has not hurt Duke's recruiting.

I agree with him on all points minus one. I believe it has hurt Duke's recruiting. There is a reason Duke's program is not currently an ELITE national program. They don't have the players they used to have. Coach K is a hall of famer and has done some incredible coaching jobs during his great career at Duke, but he can only do so much when the players on the other team are that much better than his. Just go back and watch the Villanova game. Duke was severely out classed at every position minus two (Henderson and Singler). Duke simply does not currently have elite level talent. When Duke would usually be out heavily recruiting during the summer, except for the dead periods, they are not. K took his whole staff with him on the team USA ride. They learned a great deal as coaches, but could not form the relationships with high school juniors and seniors that were necessary to get the elite level high school talent to sign.

If you look at Duke's recruiting in 2010, they look to be loading up again. They already have commitments from three players, two of which are considered immediate impact guys in Andre Dawkins and Josh Hairston. Most feel they are in good spots with Harrison Barnes (the #1 player in 2010), Kyrie Irving (5 * PG), and Ray McCallum (5 * PG). They also have offered Roscoe Smith (4 * SF) who appears to now be very interested. K has stated that 2010 needs to be a monster class and it is shaping up to be one. Duke, if this class pans out, will be back in the final four before you know it.

Will this new commitment hurt Duke's recruiting in 2011 and 2012? Most feel that Duke has made great strides with guys in 2011 they are targeting. These also will probably be smaller classes if the 2010 class is what they are hoping. Many think Coach K will now also have a much better idea of his schedule. Will it hurt Duke's recruiting in the next few years? I don't know. If Coach K thinks it won't then you have to think he knows something. Either way it is great news for USA basketball and in the long run I think at least decent news for Duke basketball.

Congrats to Lucas Glover

Lucas Glover won the US Open at soggy Bethpage on Monday by two shots over a group of golfers that included Phil Mickelson, David Duval, and 3rd round leader Ricky Barnes (who blew up with a 76 on Monday).

Lucas is a product of Clemson University and currently ranked the number 71 golfer in the world. This is his second tour title and first major championship. Even though he shot a +3 73 in the final round, no one was able to make a sustained charge. Mickelson and Duval got close but would give strokes away down the stretch with bogeys.

UNC and UVA ousted - the streak continues

Both North Carolina and Virginia were knocked out of the NCAA college world series on consecutive nights. Virginia fell to Arkansas in extra innings, but this season must be looked at as a success for the Cavaliers. They won the ACC tournament, made the college world series when not that much was expected, and had a nice run in Omaha. A top six finish nationally is definitely something for them to build upon in the coming years.

North Carolina was knocked out the next night by Arizona St., who ended up beating the Heels twice to knock them out of the college world series. UNC was in control early, but then a grand slam to tie the game really took the wind out of Carolina, who fell apart down the stretch. UNC, once again, had a great year and made the college world series for the fourth straight year. However, once again, were not able to bring home a title. Carolina baseball is starting to look like the Buffalo Bills. If Mike Fox continues to bring the talent in that he has in recent years UNC will have more opportunities.

Since UNC and UVA are now out of the college world series, a remarkable statistic continues. There has not been a college world series champion from the Atlantic Coast Conference since 1955. I find that to be an unbelievable stat. Considering that the ACC is many times considered to be the best baseball conference in America and so many traditional powers (FSU, Clemson, UNC, Georgia Tech, Miami) play in this conference, it is almost unbelievable that no team since Wake Forest in 1955 has won the national championship. Maybe next year ACC.

UNC and UVA still alive at CWS; both in losers bracket

UNC and UVA both lost their openers in Omaha but both won game twos to avoid being sent home. UNC lost to Arizona St. in a great game if you like pitching battles. They were tied 1-1 after nine innings with ASU taking it in extras. Virginia lost to LSU in their opener 9-5 but rebounded to knock out Cal State Fullerton to remain alive.

Next up for UNC is Arizona St. again, this time in a loser leave town match. Arizona St. lost to Texas last night to put themselves in the losers bracket. I would predict UNC to win this re-match and move on. It is hard to beat a team as quality as UNC two times in a row and I think UNC has the edge in the pitching match-up.

Virginia plays Arkansas. Arkansas was beaten by LSU after Virginia was to find themselves in the losers bracket. UVA has made a great run this year, their best in school history, but I expect it to end here. Arkansas is the more experienced and at this stage talented ball club and I expect them to move on to get a re-match with LSU.

UNC and VIrginia advance to College World Series

North Carolina has advanced to the college world series for the fourth straight year after sweeping East Carolina in their best of three game series on Sunday. After easily winning game one, the Heels made it look routine again in winning game two 9-3. Dustin Akley hit a three run homer for the Heels in what figures to be his last year of college as he is likely a top 5 pick in the upcoming baseball draft on Tuesday.

The question for the Heels this year is can they actually close the deal and win a national championship? This is their fourth straight trip to the college world series and in two of those years they have made the championship series. They have not been able to close the deal in either of those other opportunities. This year could be their best chance as they were the preseason number one team and have been in the top 5 all year long.

Virginia was the second ACC team to qualify for the 2009 college world series, winning a tough three game series against Ole Miss on the road. This is Virginia's first trip to the college world series in school history. After dropping game one in extra innings, the Cavaliers won games two and three 4-3 and 5-1.

The question for Virginia will be how content they are to simply be in the field. This is their first trip in school history, much less for this group of players. Virginia has been one of the hotter teams in the country lately, winning the ACC tournament in a loaded field and now winning a three game super regional as the road team. Virginia could probably make a deep run as long as they play to win and are not just content with making the college world series.