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ACC Roundup - Three Bad Losses

CHARLESTON, SC - NOVEMBER 22: Jalen Blackmon #5 of the Miami (Fl) Hurricanes takes a foul shot in the second half during the Shriners Children’s Charleston Classic college basketball game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys at TD Arena on November 22, 2024 in Charleston, South Carolina. | Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images

St. John’s, Miami and Notre Dame had rough outings Friday

In Friday’s ACC Action, Virginia fell to St. John’s, 80-55, Miami lost to Oklahoma State 80-74, Pitt beat LSU 74-63, Syracuse fell to Texas Tech 79-74, NC State smoked William & Mary 81-64, Louisville whipped Winthrop 76-61, Elon surprised Notre Dame in South Bend 84-77, Mississippi State took out SMU 84-79, and in the late game UNC topped Hawaii 87-69.

First of all, if it wasn’t clear before it is now: the Tony Bennett era is over and done with. No way a Bennett team gives up 80 points, least of all to Pitino. Virginia owned Pitino when he was at Louisville. You’ve never seen a more glum, disappointed coach in your life than Pitino when the score was like 39-33 late in the second half.

Ron Sanchez is on a make-good deal right now and it’s not looking great. You know who else is probably feeling not great?

TJ Power.

He’s gone from not playing on a very good team to playing not well on a pretty mediocre team. He had just three points here.

We were pretty surprised that Elon played so well at UNC, but it looks like the Phoenix is pretty good. Notre Dame is coming, we’re completely sure of it, but losing a buy game is not good. But it’s a setback, not a (Kenny) Payne in the tuchus.

Miami dropped game #2 in the Charleston Classic. The ‘Canes opened up shooting 1-8 and just never recovered.

Our question: what’s up with Jalil Bethea? He was an elite recruit, possibly the biggest recruit at Miami since Rick Barry.

He got six minutes and the only thing in the boxscore is a single turnover.

Pitt played well against LSU, but check this out: two starters got 40 minutes, one played 36 and the other 32. That’s not ideal. Jaland Lowe and Ishmael Leggett combined for 43 points.

Don’t look now, but the Panthers are 6-0.

Florida State is 5-1 which must be nice after a couple of years in the wilderness. Beating Temple isn’t that big a deal anymore, but still, 5-1 is better than they’ve seen lately. By the way, Hysier Miller, who was going to transfer from Temple to Virginia Tech, is being investigated for point shaving.

It’s too early to give up on Adrian Autrey and recruiting has been better, so we would definitely counsel patience for Syracuse fans. In the last two games, Syracuse pushed Texas and now Texas Tech. JJ Starling had a big night with 27 points. And look who popped up as a Red Raider: one Federiko Federiko, who was a Pitt Panther until this year.

Those are credible losses and Syracuse was certainly competitive.

NC State vs. William & Mary...who cares, really? The biggest surprise here is that W&M is still called The Tribe.

Louisville beat Pat Kelsey’s old school Winthrop which is far more interesting because, let’s face it, there’s no guarantee that would have happened the two previous seasons. Kelsey is building something solid. It’ll have ups and downs for a bit, but like Notre Dame, things are heading in a good direction.

SMU lost to Mississippi State and its somewhat reprobate coach Chris Jans, who looks like a refugee from a Dodge City bar, circa 1882. We don’t know much about SMU yet outside of former Demon Deacon Boopie Miller, who had 12, and two-time ACC refugee Matt Cross, who finished with 12 also.

Finally, UNC had the late game and since that’s in Hawaii, it really did end late. The Tar Heels won, 87-69. As you might expect, most of the scoring came from the backcourt: Elliott Cadeau finished with 17, Seth Trimble had 13 and RJ Davis 18. However, Davis shot 6-14 while Cadeau hit 7-8.

Saturday’s ACC Action