ACC Roundup - A Big Saturday Awaits
This ought to be a fun day!
Saturday is a really big day around the ACC with some potentially great games lined up. Let’s take a look!
Memphis is visiting Clemson, Georgetown is at Syracuse, Cal hosts Northwestern State, NC State is at Kansas, LSU plays SMU, LaSalle treks down to Chapel Hill to take on the Tar Heels, Tulane is at FSU, and Louisville is at Kentucky.
We don’t know this for sure, but it might be the first time in at least a long time that both schools play each other with new coaches. Kentucky would be favored under any circumstances but with the injuries Louisville has, winning here would be hugely impressive.
Sub-theme! Louisville has two of Mark Pope’s BYU players, Noah Waterman and Aly Khalifa, and they’ll know what’s coming.
Clemson gets another chance at an impressive win following the ACC/SEC Challenge win over UK with Memphis in the house. Again, people don't realize how much of a pit Littlejohn can be, so we’ll take the Tigers here.
The glory days of Georgetown and Syracuse are over but it’s still a rivalry game and you never know. Georgetown is off to a 7-2 start but the only half-decent teams that they’ve played are Notre Dame and West Virginia. Tough call here but we’ll go with the home team.
Cal should beat Northwestern State but it’s not really an ACC team yet, so don’t bet the rent money on that.
We wouldn't have given State much of a chance at Kansas earlier but now? It’s possible. They’ll need to deal with Hunter Dickinson and Dajuan Harris. Winning in Lawrence won’t be easy but possible? Yeah. But if we were betting we’d bet on Kansas.
It’s hard to take SMU over LSU. They're not atrocious, but LSU is pretty good. However, they’re getting used to playing without Jalen Reed who was lost for the season against FSU.
There was a time we’d see LaSalle on the schedule and just assume it was an easy win for UNC. Can you say that now? With confidence?
This team is still uneven and has a weak front court so far. The backcourt should carry them again, but we could see LaSalle getting all scrappy and pushing the Heels - probably not to the wire, but giving them some trouble anyway.
Can’t see Florida State losing to Tulane. Well, at least they shouldn’t. We have seen some ugly losses by ACC teams this year.
Like a lot of people, we were amazed and appalled by how bad Virginia was against Bethune-Cookman. How bad was it?
This kind of sums it up: play-by-play man Anish Shroff said it was so bad that “[s]o far this game has the feel of a third grader playing the recorder for the first time.”
That’s pretty bad.
Saturday’s ACC Action
- Memphis at Clemson || 11:00 || ESPN2
- Georgetown at Syracuse || 2:30 || ACCN
- Northwestern State @ Cal || ESPN+/ACC Extra
- NC State @ Kansas || 3:15 || ESPN
- LSU vs. SMU || 4:00 || ESPNU
- LaSalle at UNC || 4:00 || CW
- Tulane vs. FSU || 4:30 || ACCN
- Louisville at Kentucky || 5:15 || ESPN
- Preview: Louisville Cardinals vs. Kentucky Wildcats
- Louisville vs. Kentucky preview
- Kentucky basketball vs Louisville preview: Mark Pope and the Wildcats NEED this win
- Five reasons why Kentucky will beat Louisville (again)
- Mark Pope credits two current Louisville Cardinals for helping him earn Kentucky job
- New coaches enter rivalry between No. 5 Kentucky, Louisville
- UNC-La Salle Preview: Tar Heels Back from Exam Break
- North Carolina returns from break to face La Salle
- UNC basketball continues non-conference play with matchup against La Salle
- North Carolina Men’s Basketball vs La Salle
- SMU preaches defense, matches up with LSU next
- SMU Mustangs and the LSU Tigers meet in Frisco, Texas
- “He’s a once in a generation athlete,” Matt McMahon on Forward Daimion Collins
- LSU Basketball: 3 keys to Tigers beating SMU in non-conference battle
- In Orange Bowl Classic, Tulane out to keep Florida State down
- What to know as FSU plays Tulane, UCF plays Tulsa in OB Classic doubleheader Saturday
- Pregame Notes: After finals week break, FSU men’s basketball returns to the court against Tulane in Sunrise
- ACC basketball power rankings: How low is Syracuse after 4-4 start to season?
- Syracuse Basketball: 3 keys to victory against the Georgetown Hoyas
- ACC Basketball News & Notes: Clemson is at the Top