ACC Roundup - Horror In Charlottesville
A baffling crime sends shock waves across college sports
There were three games scheduled Monday but in light of the shootings at Virginia, their game against Northern Iowa was canceled.
Obviously it was the right thing to do. There’s just no way a game would have been appropriate.
If you haven’t heard, and please forgive us if the details aren’t exact. Like everyone, we’re tying to figure out what happened.
As best we understand it, Christopher Darnell Jones, who played football at Virginia as a freshman but not since, boarded a bus and shot five people, killing three football players.
He then fled and was apprehended later in Henrico County.
Monday night, his father said that Jones had told him he was having issues with some people. “When we finally had a chance to talk, he said there were some people there who were giving him a hard time, but he still was upbeat, and he was positive,” Jones Sr. told the New York Post. “I don’t know what happened between then and now to cause this to happen.”
Very sadly, he refers to his own son in the past tense, though, unlike the victims, he is still alive.
When you get down to it, there are no words, only the endless wondering: how could someone do this?
The original ACC schools have a special bond. Duke and Virginia for instance can hammer each other and still find respect.
For our part, we have immense respect for Virginia, both institutionally and athletically, and our heart goes out to everyone there. We’re truly, deeply sorry that you have to endure this.
There were still two games after Virginia’s was canceled, and the first was Maine at BC, which the Eagles lost 69-64.
Maine never trailed and with about 8:44 gone in the first half, the Black Bears started to get some separation and Boston College never recovered.
On the bright side, they did get Demarr Langford back after an ankle injury, but it didn’t matter in this one. However, big man Quentin Post is still out.
The other game was Troy at Florida State and FSU’s shocking losing streak continues: the ‘Noles have now lost to Stetson, Central Florida and Troy to start the season.
In recent years, that has been unimaginable for Florida State as Leonard Hamilton has built a consistent power.
It’s hard to imagine that they are this bad. We know they’ve had some injuries and promising freshman Baba Miller is suspended for the first semester by the NCAA.
But this is still kind of crazy.
Apparently the injuries are still a problem: Hamilton, who famously subs players in and out as much as anyone, played only seven guys and one of them, freshman Tom House, got just five minutes.
Cam’ron Fletcher, who left Kentucky in search of minutes, is getting a lot: Hamilton rarely plays guys for 36 minutes but he has no choice right now. All the starters except one got at least 32 minutes. The fifth was Matthew Cleveland and he fouled out in 26 minutes.
Jalen Warley, who we thought showed a lot of potential last year, came off the bench here and had seven of Florida State’s 19 turnovers.
Darin Green Jr. finished with 24 points on 7-11 from the floor and 7-9 on threes. He also had six rebounds.
It’s an epically bad start for the ‘Noles but hope springs eternal. The path is not favorable though: Florida is up next, followed by Mercer and Siena, both competent basketball schools.
After that, it’s Purdue and UVA, a breather against USC-Upstate, at least theoretically, then St. John’s, Notre Dame and Duke.
There’s time to turn things around, but just three games in and already every game now is critical.
Who saw this coming?
Big day Tuesday as SC-Upstate visits Clemson, Louisville hosts App State - and you know the Mountaineers think they can pull that off, Utah Valley takes on Wake Forest, Colgate makes the traditional trip to Syracuse, Florida A&M goes down to Miami, Gardner-Webb visits Chapel Hill, Florida International stops by NC State and Duke wraps things up with Kansas in the Champions Classic.
Tuesday’s ACC Action
- SC- Upstate @ Clemson || 7:00 pm || ESPN+/ACCNX
- Appalachian State @ Louisville || 6:00 pm || ACCN
- Utah Valley @ Wake Forest || 7:00 pm || ESPN+ACCNX
- Colgate @ Syracuse || 7:00 pm || ACCNX
- Florida A&M @ Miami || 7:00 || ACCNX
- Gardner-Webb @ UNC || 8:00 || ACCN
- FIU @ NC State || 9:00 || ACCNX
- Duke @ Kansas || 9:30 || ESPN
- Florida State men’s basketball falls to Troy, starts 0-3 for first time under Leonard Hamilton
- FSU basketball falls to 0-3 in turnover-filled loss to Troy
- Muhammad, Eugene help Troy stun Florida State 79-72
- Troy basketball knocks off Florida State 79-72 in Tallahassee
- What’s led to the worst FSU basketball start to a season in 20-plus years?
- Boston College Falls 69-64 to Maine
- Tynes has 17 points, 10 rebounds and Maine upsets BC 69-64
- Boston College Falls to Maine 69-64
- Teel: Words secondary, fellowship essential as UVa mourns fallen football players
- PHOTOS: Vigil at UVa in response to the shooting