Player of the Week
Justin Champagnie, SG/SF, Pittsburgh Panthers
After a stunning loss to St. Francis (PA), the Pitt Panthers looked like they were in for another disappointing season under former Duke assistant Jeff Capel. But the Panthers have runoff three wins in a row including an impressive come from behind victory against the Northwestern Wildcats. This comeback can be attributed to the efforts of Champagnie down the stretch. He scored the final four points of the game in the final 16 seconds with Pittsburgh trailing by three, and also got credit for the block on Northwestern’s buzzer-beater attempt.
Champagnie finished with 20 points and 20 rebounds in all 40 minutes of the contest. He struggled from three-point range but a 4-6 showing from beyond the arc earlier in the week against Northern Illinois showed that he improved his shot in the offseason. After shooting only 26% from three-point range a season ago, he is already up to 33% on more attempts per game. He is also shooting 56% from the field on over 10 attempts per game. The Panthers have a three-headed monster leading the way with Champagnie, Xavier Johnson and Au’Diese Toney who are all averaging 18 points per game this season. It is still early, but it looks like Champagnie could become the star of this group and the star of a Pitt team looking to escape from the bottom feeders of the ACC.
Who’s Hot
Clemson Tigers
After a Sweet 16 appearance and near upset against Kansas in 2018, it looked as though Clemson’s basketball program had peaked. While this may be true, Brad Brownell has his team playing great basketball without the stars of that 2018 team. It starts on the defensive end where the Tigers are ranked fourth in the nation with only 50.2 points against per game in their four contests. Three of these games came against decent Power Five opponents in Maryland, Purdue and Mississippi State.
The Tigers are led offensively by Aamir Simms who is averaging 13 points per game, but it is clear the identity of this team is defense. They are forcing over 18 turnovers per game and they are led by Sophomore Nick Honor who is averaging over two steals per game. This opportunistic defensive group will cause problems for some of the elite ACC programs and could easily sneak into the NCAA Tournament and win a few games purely based on defense.
Moses Wright, PF, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
The Yellow Jackets had one of the worst weeks in all of college basketball to start the season with two losses in three days to Georgia State and Mercer. They regrouped for nine days and proceeded by knocking off Kentucky and Nebraska by double-digits. They have a trio of talented guards in Michael Devoe, Jose Alvarado and Bubba Parham, but the leading scorer and heartbeat of the team is Moses Wright. Wright is a 6’9, athletic, senior big man averaging over 21 points per game. He scored 13 points in the win over Nebraska on Wednesday and led the Yellow Jackets with 21 points, eight rebounds, three assists, three blocks, and two steals against the Wildcats on Sunday. He simply does it all on both ends of the floor and is becoming a nightmare for opposing forwards in his final season for a surging Yellow Jacket squad.
Who’s Not
Caleb Love, PG, #16 North Carolina Tar Heels
Marcus Paige. Joel Berry. Coby White. Cole Anthony. These are some of the big-name UNC point guards who have followed each other since 2012. Every one of them dominated for the Tar Heels, but is this streak of backcourt stars going to come to an end? Caleb Love is supposed to be the next in line, but he is struggling to fill the rather large shoes left by the stars before him. RJ Davis is better statistically, so far, despite coming in 25 spots lower than Love in ESPN’s Top 100.
Love is only averaging 11 points per game, but more importantly, he is shooting 28% from the field including 17% from distance. Additionally, he is averaging more turnovers than assists. The Tar Heels are having a lot of problems after facing first-half deficits against their first three opponents and failing to overcome deficits against #13 Texas and #3 Iowa. It all starts with the play of the point guard and Caleb Love is not doing enough to help his team win at the moment.
Blue Bloods
Continuing on the trend of UNC’s struggles, another blue blood in the ACC is also struggling to find their way. Coach K had not lost a home non-conference game since 2000 until Stephen F. Austin pulled off one of the biggest upsets in college basketball history last season. Two more losses in that category this season have Duke sitting at 2-2 in the early season. Perennial powerhouses North Carolina and Duke will find themselves both out of the top 10 entering conference play for the first time since 1996! After a year of unprecedented struggles for the Tar Heels, maybe a new era of college basketball is dawning right in front of our eyes.
Top Five ACC Standings Predictions
5. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
I am going to jump on the Georgia Tech bandwagon before everyone else in the country does. Yes, they started the season with two horrible losses. And yes, this year’s Kentucky team is a little underwhelming. But the Yellow Jackets return five contributors from a year ago who round out the entire starting lineup. They inserted Parham into the starting lineup after two losses and won both of their games with a four-guard lineup. This is a fast, scrappy team that can shoot at will and a couple of bad losses will force them to play their hardest every game with no more room to slip up.
4. #18 Virginia Cavaliers
With the way Virginia plays, it is tough to take them out of the top five of the conference. They will suffocate opposing offenses and win at least ten conference games due to their defense. My problem with the Cavaliers is who will take the big shots when they need them most against the top teams in the conference. The last two years have been the first two since they emerged into the national spotlight where they have not had a superstar to take over when they need offense. Until they find that guy on this team, I cannot see them competing for a national title or even a conference title.
3. #10 Duke Blue Devils
This is one of my least favorite Duke teams in the past decade. The identity of this team used to be three-point shooting and only three-point shooting. There were times where every player who entered the game could shoot, but now there are questions if any of the guys who enter the game can shoot. Matthew Hurt is more of an interior finisher or mid-range shooter. Jalen Johnson is best around the rim. Jeremy Roach and Jordan Goldwire are defensive pests. Wendell Moore and Joey Baker have struggled since they arrived in Durham. All that is left is two true freshman DJ Steward and Jaemyn Brakefield who has been the best shooter by far. If Duke has to rely on these two freshmen to do all of the shooting, it is hard to see them coming away with the coveted ACC Championship.
2. #20 Florida State Seminoles
The Seminoles are the reigning ACC champions and they could very easily repeat this feat. They lost a lot of talent from last year in Trent Forrest, Patrick Williams, and Devin Vassell, but this team is built on depth and defensive ferocity. This will not go away because of the loss of three players. They still have at least eight guys who can rotate and provide valuable minutes, led by senior MJ Walker and star freshman Scottie Barnes who hit the game-winning shot in OT against Indiana on Wednesday. Leonard Hamilton will get all of his guys to buy in and will have them competing for the ACC title once again.
1. #16 North Carolina Tar Heels
This might come as a shock given the early struggles for the Tar Heels and a horrendous season a year ago, but this team has it all. There are four legitimate starting big men if Day’Ron Sharpe and Walker Kessler live up to the recruiting hype, along with Preseason ACC Player of the Year Garrison Brooks and sophomore Armando Bacot. Caleb Love and RJ Davis will eventually figure it out and run the backcourt. Leaky Black and Andrew Platek are valuable veterans and leaders. Puff Johnson and Anthony Harris, if he returns from injury, could provide sparks off the bench. And the Tar Heels have one of the best coaches of all time who seemed to figure something out at halftime against Iowa. If the Hawkeyes starters had not made 55% of their threes Tuesday night, the Tar Heels very easily could have walked away victorious. This team is talented, and they will make a run for a multitude of titles in this hectic 2020 season. Just wait….