Two weeks in a row for Deng
Luol Deng earned his second consecutive ACC Rookie of the Week honor. He matched his career-high 22 points set last week at Georiga Tech Sunday night in the Blue Devil's 81-55 victory over Clemson. The London, England native was instrumental in Duke's overtime triumph over North Carolina, scoring 17 points and grabbing a career-high 12 rebounds.
Playing for the No. 1 team in the nation, Deng is among the leading candidates for the ACC Freshman of the Year along with Wake Forest's Chris Paul. --JMP & JSC
Can the ACC get seven?
As the ACC starts the second half of its regular season and the NCAA tournament picture comes into focus, people are starting to ask if the ACC can get seven of its nine schools into the field of 65.
Conventional wisdom says no. The league has never gotten more than six members in to the big dance, but almost from the outset of this season, the ACC has been recognized as the nation's strongest league and has the top conference RPI.
Teams below .500 in the ACC, North Carolina and Maryland, have knocked off the No. 1 team in the nation on two occasions. The Blue Devils have held the top spot for four consecutive weeks, more than any other team. Prior to the start of conference play four teams, Duke, Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Wake Forest were each ranked in the top 10 in the Associated Press poll. Yet, the league is just 3-6 against the SEC, which holds the nation's second-best RPI.
Clemson and Virginia will likely have to win the ACC Tournament to earn an NCAA birth, and at 9-0 in the league and ranked No. 1, the Blue Devils are a lock, barring disaster. N.C. State has a firm hold on the No. 2 spot in the conference, but remains unranked and still has to face all of the league's powers--a fall from grace is a possibility. The Yellow Jackets are 4-4 followed by a quartet of at 4-5 in league play, but two of those teams, North Carolina and Wake Forest remain in the top 25. Consequently, Maryland and Florida State look like the weakest links if the bracket can't hold seven, but the picture remains fuzzy at best. --JMP & JSC
Big East lawsuit against ACC dismissed
For the second time in four months, a state judge removed the Atlantic Coast Conference as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by four Big East football schools over the departure of Miami and Boston College for the ACC.
Superior Court Judge Samuel Sferrazza ruled Monday that the ACC did not have sufficient ties to Connecticut to be sued here.
Attorneys for Boston College and members of the ACC's governing body asked that the cases against them also be dismissed. --Matt Apuzzo, The Associated Press
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