ACC Roundup – Stanford, Cal Both Get Big Wins

Sometimes being wrong isn’t the worst thing in the world. Take Louisville at Stanford. While we have a healthy respect for Kyle Smith though. He’s clearly a very sharp guy and he’s likely to get as much as possible out of his analytics approach. Still, we didn’t think Stanford had much of a chance here. Well, that was wrong.

Louisville was in trouble the entire game. Stanford built a decent first-half lead before the Cards came back, only to see Stanford pull out ahead again in the second. The Cardinal never fully shook the Cardinals, but Louisville never quite caught up. At the very end, Ryan Agarwal missed a shot with a four point lead then Isaac McKneely hit one to cut the lead to 76-74 with :09 to play. Benny Gealer hit a pair of free throws to put the lead back to 76-74, then Sanada Fru got a tip-in with less than :01 to play. McKneely fouled Jeremy Dent-Smith, who hit both with 0:00 on the clock to make it 80-76 for Stanford’s most impressive ACC win since joining the conference.

After scoring just 7 against Notre Dame, super freshman Ebuka Okorie lit up Louisville for 28. In three of his last four games, he’s scored 30, 32 and 28. Wow.

It must be noted that Louisville did not get Mikel Brown back and his backup, Kobe Rogers, only played 13 minutes. Not having healthy point guards is a huge problem and it made life tougher for Louisville, but don’t take anything from Stanford. They earned this one.

In the nightcap on the other side of the Bay, well….wow.

Notre Dame went up 71-68 on a pair of Braeden Shewsberry free throws with :09 left to play and then Logan Imes, starting for the injured Markus Burton, allegedly fouled Dai Dai Ames on a three point attempt with :05 left to play.

At first, the ref said it was good, then he said it wasn’t, then he reversed the reversal and put the kid on the line.

Ames then hit the free throw to give Cal a remarkable turn of events and a 72-71 win.

After all this was over, Notre Dame coach Micah Shrewsberry, who has shown a volcanic temper at times, charged at one of the refs and had to be held back by his staff and players. Wild stuff. He might get suspended for this lack of self-control.

When you watch the play, it’s hard to see how they called this a shooting foul: when Ames was gathering himself to shoot, Imes was behind Ames with his hands up and appears to not be touching Ames (Ames vs. Imes? What are the odds?). They’re the pros and they went back and forth before the final decision, so what can you say? From the cheap seats though, it sure looked like if there was a foul, it was well before the shot.

It’s a really tough loss for Notre Dame, but the Irish are still 10-5. Not where they want to be, but not as bad as last year either.

Jalan Haralson continues to play well: the freshman had 17 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists. Braeden Shrewsberry had 21 to pace the Irish. Imes had no points but he did have 8 rebounds and 6 assists.

Ames is going to have trouble sleeping for a couple of nights. You really hope his teammates have his back.

In Saturday’s ACC Action, Virginia plays at NC State, Virginia Tech challenges Wake Forest, Clemson visits Pitt, BC jets down to Georgia Tech and UNC checks in at SMU.

It’s potentially a great day.

Virginia should be irritated after blowing it at Blacksburg earlier in the week and the Cavs have a nice size advantage over the Wuffies too. Like Virginia, Virginia Tech has to get over tired legs after the triple OT win over the Cavs. Plus, frankly, they got a bit cocky in the aftermath. All told, that could make life difficult in Winston-Salem.

We like Clemson over Pitt. Clemson is just below the top-line ACC schools, just about every year, and is always dangerous. The Tigers deserve a lot of respect.

We like GT over BC and see some potential danger for the Heels in Dallas. SMU is a talented and well-coached team with enough size to challenge UNC. That one could be really, really fun.

Saturday’s ACC Action

• Virginia at NC State || 11:00 AM || ESPN2
• Virginia Tech at Wake Forest || 12:00 || ACCN
• Clemson at Pitt || 12:00 || CW
• Boston College at Georgia Tech || 2:00 || ACCN
• UNC at SMU || 2:15 || CW
• Duke at Florida State || 3:45 || CBS

• UofL basketball writer Brooks Holton on Cards’ 80-76 loss to Stanford
• Louisville drops one on the road at Stanford
• Louisville basketball loses to Stanford, splits California road trip
• What Louisville HC Pat Kelsey Said After 80-76 Loss vs. Stanford
• Stanford shuts down Cards’ offense as freshman Okorie leads 80-76 upset
• With late call reversal, Cal edges Notre Dame on four-point play
• Micah Shrewsberry confronts ref after Notre Dame basketball loss to Cal
• How did Notre Dame basketball wrap its California trip to open ACC play?
• Cal Wins on Dai Dai Ames’ Four-Point Play