ACC Hoops Roundup (2/18/25)

Naithan George, fresh off his 4th consecutive 20-point game, celebrates the OT win over Cal last Saturday. Photo Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

The Hottest Team in the ACC is… Georgia Tech?

This story won’t get any publicity nationally because the Yellow Jackets are 13-13 and not a candidate for an at-large bid, but what Damon Stoudamire has gotten out of this group recently is remarkable. They’ve been without Kowacie Reeves (9.3 ppg) and Luke O’Brien (6.4 ppg) for 2+ months and are currently down a total of FIVE guys who started at least 6 games this season. Entering February banged up at 9-12 (3-7) the Jackets had every reason to mail it in, but instead they’ve rattled off 4 out of 5 while only playing with 6-7 scholarship players.

It hasn’t been just feasting on the soft portion of the schedule either. No, two of the wins came against two of the only tourney locks from the conference, Louisville and Clemson. Down 11 at the half to the red-hot Cards, GT scored 50 second half points to hand them what is still their only loss since mid-December. Then they went on the road and, essentially playing 6 guys, went 3 overtimes with Clemson before pulling out a gutty win. That is also still Clemson’s only loss since the first week of January. This past week they popped Stanford’s bubble and got another OT win, this time against pesky Cal.

Georgia Tech isn’t going to make the tournament this year, but they’re laying the foundation for what could be a big jump in Stoudamire’s 3rd season. Highlighted as this week’s ACC Country Ballers of the Week, sophomores Nait George and Baye Ndongo are becoming one of the best inside-out tandems in league. Freshmen Jaeden Mustaf and Ibrahim Souare have really flashed at times and Sac St transfer Duncan Powell has all of a sudden become one of the more reliable stretch 4s around.

With 3 out of 5 remaining against the bottom of the conference, there’s a real chance for them to finish above .500, which would be a huge feat considering all the injuries. And if they can get back any combination of Reeves, O’Brien and Javian McCollum? This is not a team you want to see in Charlotte next month (I’m looking at you Wake and SMU).

Clemson is Better Than They Were A Year Ago

And that team went to the Elite Eight. The Tigers are slightly better in both Adjusted Off and Def efficiency per KenPom, with the simplest explanations being they’re shooting it much better from 3 (119th up to 14th) and actually turning teams over (340th up to 53rd). The key personnel losses from last year’s team (PJ Hall, Joe Girard and Jack Clark) have been replaced with net positives in my opinion. Viktor Lahkin has been a really nice compliment to Ian Schieffelin in the post. Chauncey Wiggins has stepped into a bigger role with the oft-injured Clark moving on and is an upgrade. And while Girard is a well known bucket, Jaeden Zackery has brought a tough as nails defensive prowess as well as opening up more shots for the much more efficient Chase Hunter.

Speaking of Hunter, he’s having a career year in his 6th season averaging 17.0 ppg on what is by far a career-best shooting split of 48.1/42.4/88.3. He kind of sums up what Clemson is as a whole this year: boringly consistent. They show up night in and night out simply taking care of business, and the last 10 days epitomizes that. After a stunning 3OT home loss to GT, they responded with the biggest win of any ACC team this season (outside of Duke) with a win OVER said Duke team. With the biggest win of the season came the biggest opportunity for a letdown, but instead they spanked UNC and FSU by a combined 46 points.

This Clemson team is rolling, and I believe they have a better, more complete team this year to potentially make another deep run.

Wake Forest Avoids Disaster (Sort Of)

Heading into last week the Demon Deacons were firmly in the tournament for the first time all year. They led at home against a struggling Florida State team by 16 points with under 9 minutes to go. And then they had an epic collapse. The offense got stagnant and the defense couldn’t get stops, allowing the Noles to shoot 10-13 (76.9%) in the final 8 minutes of play. They were even gifted potential game-tying free throws with a second left but couldn’t capitalize. It was a gut punch loss, one that they’ve seemingly taken late in the year often under Steve Forbes.

After getting down 10 early at SMU Saturday, things looked bleak as they were well on their way to being right back outside the bracket. But they weathered the storm, kept it close at half and then exploded after the break, outscoring a potent Mustangs offense 45-32 to close out a HUGE response on the road. Oh yeah, and this was done in spite of a rough shooting night from Hunter Sallis and without Cam Hildreth, both of whom had been playing at an All-ACC level the past few weeks. Instead, the Deacs got a combined 18 points and 19 rebounds from their two bigs and Parker Friedrichsen can shoot again! The sharpshooter has struggled mightily this year, so hopefully a 5-7 night from deep can catapult him late.

Against basically all odds, they responded to disaster and Wake fans can breathe a small sigh of relief as the Q1 road win keeps them on the right side of the bubble for now. There are land mines galore to finish the season, but if they can avoid those and finish 4-1 with the one loss being to Duke, the Deacs will be dancing for the first time under Forbes.

Other Nuggets:

·         This the first year that the bottom 3 teams in the conferences won’t get to participate in the ACC tournament, and there’s a clear bottom 3: NC State, Miami and Boston College. Can ANY of them catch the next group that’s at 5 wins? The Wolfpack definitely have the best shot at 3-11 after a dominant wire to wire win over BC this past Saturday. They have the easiest remaining schedule (based on average KP rank) but the problem is their most winnable games (teams outside the top 100) are all on the road. Might need to steal one at home against Wake or Pitt. Winning at Syracuse is almost a must-win with that being one of the teams they’re

chasing. Would be a real bad look for Kevin Keatts to go from Final Four to completely missing the ACC tournament altogether…

·         With Stanford losing at Georgia Tech and SMU losing at home to Wake, the ACC is looking like a maximum 4-bid league. Duke very well could go on to win the national championship while Clemson and Louisville, with a good draw, are both capable of deep runs. But this would be rock bottom for a once proud basketball conference. The middle to bottom of the conference just isn’t good. Some teams are already looking for new coaches. There could be 1 or 2 that join them. But the talent level just isn’t where it needs to be on a lot of these rosters which will require a few overhauls. Should be an interesting offseason to say the least.