College basketball is back, ladies and gentlemen! That means it is time for the first ACC Power Poll of the season. Most of this is based on projections, theories and guess-work.
There is always one team that surprises us each year (Miami was that team last year) and one that disappoints us (NC State). Let's begin!
1-North Carolina: There hasn't been a favorite this heavy in a long, long time.
2-Duke: Remember that the Blue Devils were a game from winning the ACC last year. Gerald Henderson is my darkhorse for ACC Player of the Year.
3-Miami-FL: The Canes have a great shot at the ACC Championship and a deep run in the NCAAs.
With the fall beginning and college basketball just around the corner, it's time to look back at what our favorite teams did during their summer vacations. Some did some good things; some had a bad time. So let's look back at who did what in our How I Spent My Summer Vacation series.
Today's look is the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Roy Williams Hits Jackpot When All His Guys Return
The Tar Heels were at quite the crossroads. After a great season ended with a disappointing loss to Kansas, Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green all decided to take a look at the NBA Draft. Hansbrough decided to come back, but the other three entered the draft with the opportunity to come back to school if they didn't like their draft status.
If any or all left, the Heels were facing some uncertainty heading into the season. Yes, they'd still be a good team but they'd have a few holes.
In a somewhat surprising move, all three Heels decided to come back for one last hurrah. That means Ol' Roy gets everyone back from that Final Four team (sans a transferred Alex Stepheson and a graduating Quentin Thomas -- both role players). They also bring in three McDonald's All Americans.
Robert "Tractor" Traylor hasn't appeared in the NBA since 2005, but after several stops in Spain, Puerto Rico, and, well, the courthouse, he's hoping to return to the Big Show by earning a roster spot in Summer League. I caught up with Tractor after the Cavs' game yesterday and talked about where he's been and what his future might hold.
Matt Watson: Your career has taken a little bit of a detour. Do you feel like you're on the right path again?
Robert Traylor: Yeah, I think so. I think with this point in time, this opportunity to come out and play in the summer league has given me a great opportunity to get myself back to where I want to be and hopefully be in the NBA when the season starts.
MW: Playing in Spain and Puerto Rico, how does that compare to the competition you face out here?
RT: It's a lot different, but I think in Puerto Rico the competition is actually great. You've got a lot of great players over there. We played a lot of games, like 32 games in 61 days.
Congratulations to NC State's J.J. Hickson, who was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the 19th overall draft pick in last night's NBA Draft. Hickson was the lone wolf of sorts -- the only ACC player to be drafted in the first round.
As I said a couple weeks ago, the league is in a bit of a crisis mode about why they've been in a down period and creating only one first rounder was a sign of that. However, ACC Now points out this is the third time this decade that only one ACC player was taken in the first round ... and it may be a great sign.
For the third time this decade, the ACC had only one player taken in the first round. It also happened in 2000 (Georgia Tech's Jason Collier) and 2004 (Duke's Luol Deng).
Those seasons were also the smallest overall draft classes for the ACC. Only two players were drafted in 2000 (Duke's Chris Carrawell was the other) and four total in 2004.
This 2008 draft also was small, overall (UVa's Sean Singletary, Maryland's James Gist and Va Tech's Deron Washington also were drafted last night). Now, what happened in the college basketball seasons after the 2000 and 2004 drafts? Oh yeah. An ACC team went on to win the National Championship.
That would be NC State's J.J. Hickson, who some feel brought down the program last year. Oh, he was a heck of a player ... but the team's chemistry (which was so high at the end of 2006-2007) was just missing.
"It's going to be my way and that's it," Lowe said. "It's real simple. They're the players and I'm the coach and they're going to do it my way. And if they don't. They're not going to want to be here."
"In my dictionary, chemistry only means one thing and I'm going to stay away from that," Lowe said, then later offered his definition. "It's just players not accepting and players being selfish."
There were some cryptic signs that Lowe doesn't mind Hickson leaving ... though he tried to duck answering any direct questions. But he did find time to blame media attention, parents, girlfriends and AAU guys as clutter around the players' psyches.
I like Sidney Lowe and I think he's a good coach. But Raleigh is a very fickle place when it comes to their coaches and Lowe just struck out with his first NBA-talented player and his ability to incorporate him into his team. His upcoming season will see a lot of juniors and seniors in his rotation ... and hopefully he can recapture the magic of February/March 2007.
You want another sign showing the decline of ACC basketball over the past few years? How about that the ACC had just one underclassman declare (and keep his name in) for the NBA Draft this season.
That guy is J.J. Hickson, and there is even a line of reasoning that NC State may be better without him.
There really were just a few really outstanding seniors leaving (Duke lost DeMarcus Nelson; Virginia lost Sean Singletary). There is a chance where the ACC will have no players taken in the first round of the draft (Hickson is the lone hopeful).
Typically, the ACC fills the draft up with all kinds of talent.
Last year, three ACC players were lottery picks ... part of six total that were taken in the first round.
Three players went in the first round in 2006.
In 2005, seven players went in the first round. (five went in the lottery; three went in the top five).
In 2004, only Duke's Luol Deng was taken in the first round.
Remember, that was mostly when high school players also were in the draft, meaning less spots for colliegate players. So, what could the upcoming ACC season look like?
If you read articles all over the internets, you would assume that North Carolina will crush everyone on their way to a National Championship. That could happen, but that really is selling the ACC short. There are some really good teams who have high expectations as well.
"I would say that I'm definitely in the draft. I came out just testing the waters but since I'm hearing a lot of good things about my game I'm not going to pull my name out."
"I'm not really hearing anything, but I think I've given a bunch of good showings. I'm coming in here and I'm trying to impress the scouts and that's why I think I'm going to keep my name in. I think I'm having good showings."
Now this announcement came courtesy of the Phoenix Suns official web site after Hickson worked out for the team. Phoenix has the #15 pick in the draft and it's curious that he'd choose to make this announcement now. After all, it really wasn't any shock that he'd keep his name in the draft ... just that he chose now to make it official.
He has worked out for Sacramento (#12, #42, #43), Seattle (#4, #24, #32) and Cleveland (#19) with trips to Denver (#20) and Philadelphia (#16) coming up. NBADraft.net has him selected with the final pick in the first round (Boston) while DraftExpress has him as the first pick of the second round (Minnesota).
There will (most likely) be no coaching changes in the ACC this year. There really aren't many of those "one-and-done" guys that other conferences will see leave. So what are the major themes of the ACC's offseason?
-Olympic Games: I must admit that I was surprised that Mike Krzyzewski had his Duke team blazing out of the gate this season. I honestly felt that his Olympic responsibilities would have some sort of effect on the Blue Devils to start this season. Instead, they shot out of the gate and were the #2-ranked team as late as February.
But this July and August will see K's commitment to the Olympic squad hit the highest level. After finishing a pretty good season at Duke and looking towards bigger things in '09, he must go to Beijing and deal with a volatile and thankless job.
If Team USA comes back with the gold, everyone will just say it was because there were better players this time around and the program was more focused. If they don't win it all -- God, help them.
-UNC's Main Men: The Tar Heels were a horrible 12 minutes from getting to the National Championship game this year. If everyone comes back, they could be the favorite to bring home the title.
With the ACC regular season over and done, it's time to go back and give a few awards for the season.
Player of the Year: Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina. Only Antawn Jamison, Tim Duncan and Horace Grant have led the ACC in both scoring and rebounding in the same season over the past 25 years. All three of those guys went on to win the Player of the Year in the ACC (two won the national award).
Coach of the Year: Dino Gaudio, Wake Forest. Va Tech's Seth Greenberg or Miami's Frank Haith may win it (and they would deserve it). But Gaudio came into such a tough situation with a team that hadn't been very good lately. Sure, the magic of the win over Duke was dampered a bit with the ensuing four game losing skid, but this was a big year for
All-ACC Team: Hansbrough, Tyrese Rice (BC), DeMarcus Nelson (Duke), Sean Singletary (UVa) and Greivis Vasquez (UMd). Either this was a great year for guards or a poor year for big men. Either way, Rice and Singletary have been the lone reasons to pay attention to either of their teams. Vasquez, a sophomore, has really stepped into his leadership role at Maryland. Nelson fills the customary senior swingman spot on this team. Just like Vasquez, Nelson's leadership has meant more to Duke than his abilities ... and that is saying quite a bit!
While there is this big freshmen sensation across college basketball, there are a few big time rookies who are flying under the radar. One is J.J. Hickson of NC State.
Hickson leads the Wolfpack in scoring, leads the ACC in shooting percentage and is one of the conference's best big men. However, he thought that this Wolfpack team was ready to take a jump to the next level, which it hasn't. State is a dismal 15-12 overall and in a tie for 11th place in the conference.
"I haven't made any decisions yet," the Pack center said today. "If the opportunity is there I'm going to sit down with my parents and the coaching staff and we'll go from there. But right now I'm not worried about that. We've got games to win."
"But whether it's first or second round, I'm still going to sit down and go over it - no matter what happens," he said. "If the opporunity is not there, I can come back to school for another year or whatever."
"Being a competitor, yeah, I think I'm ready," he said. "I think I can go ahead and do a lot of things. But I think I haven't even begun to show teams what I can do because of the double teams or whatever."
His draft slot is very jumpy. Some feel he's a lottery pick while others have him in the bottom of the first round. The fact that his numbers have slipped a bit in conference play (he scored a season low seven points at Virginia last weekend) shows some that his game isn't ready for the next level.
College basketball is back, ladies and gentlemen! That means it is time for the first ACC Power Poll of the season. Most of this is based on projections, theories and guess-work. 
With the fall beginning and college basketball just around the corner, it's time to look back at what our favorite teams did during their summer vacations. Some did some good things; some had a bad time. So let's look back at who did what in our 
Notes from a trip to the 
Congratulations to NC State's 
This is how screwed up the ACC has been: 
You want another sign showing the decline of ACC basketball over the past few years? How about that the ACC had just one underclassman declare (and keep his name in) for the NBA Draft this season.
There will (most likely) be no coaching changes in the ACC this year. There really aren't many of those "one-and-done" guys that other conferences will see leave. So what are the major themes of the ACC's offseason?
With the ACC regular season over and done, it's time to go back and give a few awards for the season.
