Atlantic Coast Conference
ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament: Day 3 Diary
Game VIII: Notre Dame vs Louisville, 11:00am
The Oak Hill Elementary Choir, consisting of just seven singers, gets the ball rolling with a superb rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. Seriously, they knock it out of the park.
Gamesmanship from the get-go: during player introductions, Louisville’s players stay seated, huddled around Jeff Walz. I’m not sure that anyone cares if the players are getting just that one second more of instruction, but it is an intriguing start to the day.
I like Notre Dame’s players introductions. They are simple and without the stupid chicken-dance at the end of the line that seems so prevalent these days. The problem is that the highlight vid features action of Olivia Miles. You know, who has not played all year. I love Miles, but the game today is this year, not last year. Advantage Louisville.
1st Quarter
9:23 Both PGs get into the lane where they are fouled. Both make their free throws. Tied up at 2 – 2.
7:53 That didn’t take too long, even by Jeff Walz standards. Just two minutes before he started complaining about the refs and clowning himself on the sidelines. (This is going to be a recurring theme.)
7:06 Three minutes before someone made a basket. Notre Dame’s Sonia Citron for 3.
5:58 Citron for another 3. Notre Dame up 10 – 2.
3:15 Sydney Taylor’s 3 finally gives Louisville their first made shot. Notre Dame up 13 – 6.
2:48 Louisville also subs their players with rolled up towels. I fail to see the point.
2nd Quarter
8:40 Buckets are hard to come by. Louisville was 3/13 while Notre Dame was 6/17 in the first quarter. So of course Jeff Walz thinks it is the referee’s faults. Even for him, his complaining is excessive.
6:34
4:27 Ever wonder why some commercial breaks, otherwise known as media timeouts, take longer than others? In this case, the kids competing in the in-break entertainment take too long.
2:59 The atmosphere is still electric in the Coliseum. Schoolkids again supply the energy. There are more kids in attendance than yesterday, but Notre Dame and Louisville are two of the stronger traveling fan bases, and they have been particularly vocal. Louisville still can’t buy a bucket, just 5/25 on the day.
1:10 A game of H.O.R.S.E. from the foul line between Hannah Hidalgo and Sonia Citron would be pretty boring. Hidalgo is 80% from the line while Citron is 90%. They just don’t miss. Notre Dame will be up 34 – 17 at the half.
The halftime entertainment is Steve Max, Simon Says impresario. He’s a regular fixture at the tournament. He’s fabulous and worth staying in your seat for. Professional tip: if you are ever involved in a serious game of Simon Says, just close your eyes. A good caller is going to create a disharmony between what he calls and what he’s doing.
3rd Quarter
9:55 Sydney Taylor is in a hurry with a great drive to the rim almost before Notre Dame is ready. She misses. It’s been that kind of game for Louisville.
9:15 Citron and Hidalgo each with baskets. It’s 38 – 17 and it seems the biggest competition of the day is which of the two is going to get the most points. Each has 12.
7:11 Louisville erupts for a flurry of three buckets in less than a minute. Signs of life. Unfortunately, the Cards are still down 43 – 23.
3:40 The Hidalgo to Citron connection is sputtering. Twice this quarter Citron has gotten well behind the Louisville defense on the break and Hidalgo has just led her too far. It’s 45 – 31 and Louisville still can’t buy a bucket. So far they are shooting at a 27% clip (12/44/)
1:14 Walz is T’d up. Finally. Fortunately for him, Citron only cans one free throw.
4th Quarter
8:19 Jayda Curry with the And-1. Louisville down 55 – 44. Curry has now scored four times, all three-point plays. She had a pair of threes and two of the And-1 variety.
7:48 Citron at the line for an And-1. She misses but a Louisville lane violation gives her another chance. Bad move to just give away points like that.
7:23 Curry with another three. 58 – 47.
6:47 58 – 49 Two-point bucket for Curry.
5:59 Curry again. She’s up to 21, a season high. Curry has put this team on her back and we’ve got a game. 58 – 51.
4:18 It’s the Jayda Curry show. She baits Hidalgo into a double-dribble and then feeds this assist to Merissah Russell. 61 – 55. Louisville is +8 since Walz got his tech. Maybe there’s something to the notion that coaches getting technicals can stoke their players.
0.47 Notre Dame’s Maddy Westbeld goes 1/2 from the line. Walz is losing it on the sideline. I hate his antics, but I think I agree with hime.
0.43 Olivia Cochran, a day after struggling down the stretch at the line, cans both free throws. It’s a two-possession game and Louisville has the hot hand in Curry who is 3/6 from deep. 70 – 66.
0.18 Walz gets his second technical and is tossed from the game. It is simply inexcusable to gift free points, because of course Citron is going to make both free throws, this late. I wonder how hard Walz would have chewed out one of his players should she have shown the same lack of maturity as he did. Notre Dame closes out Louisville 77 – 68. Citron and Hidalgo combine to go 21/25 from the charity stripe.
Game IX: Virginia Tech vs Miami
Virginia Tech coach Kenny Brooks has announced earlier this morning that Liz Kitley will be sitting out the ACC Tournament. Tech is on the short list of teams that can win the NCAA tournament, but only if she’s healthy.
The Miami intro vid is one of the best. There are no game highlights but many of the player shots have the Miami skyline in the background. I like intro videos that place the school within their larger geographic setting. Miami is the school doing that this go-round.
The Virginia Tech video massively disappoints. It’s a highlight vid of last year’s accomplishments. Yeah, yeah, Tech won the ACC tourney and went to the Final Four. It would have been a great video for Media Day way back in November, but you know, we’ve played 30 games this season.
1st Quarter
5:01 The big question is who is going to step up in Kitley’s absence. Carleigh Wenzel is certainly trying. She has a nice baseline drive. Virginia Tech 9, Miami 8.
2nd Quarter
10:00 16 – 12 Tech. Georgia Amoore doesn’t have a bucket, just a pair of free throws. Kenny Brooks has made the decision to take the ball out of Amoore’s hands to let her play off-ball. It’s not working.
5:15 The ACC Women’s Tournament has now drawn 1.5 million fans, the first conference in the NCAA to reach this attendance milestone.
5:05 We’ve now seen three airballed threes in the last three minutes. Amoore is charged with her second foul of the half and she sits. Miami’s guards aren’t up to the task of taking advantage of her absence.
3:29 Clara Strack has picked up the slack for Kitley. She’s 4/4 with two rebounds (though it feels like more) and she’s playing the Kitley role perfectly. She’s canning the same mid-range jumpers from the same spot Kitley would. Tech up 22 – 18.
3:12 Second 30-second violation for Miami.
2:14 Not to be out-done, Virginia Tech completes a rare double: a shot clock violation and an airball.
Halftime
As the players leave the court, so do the photographers, as well as the cheerleaders. The photographers leave $1000s worth of cameras along the sidelines. The male cheerleaders leave their megaphone on the sidelines. The cheerleaders, however, take their pom poms with them. What? Someone is actually going to steal a pom pom? Bizarre.
3rd Quarter
4:49 27 – 24 Tech. The teams are shooting abysmally from deep with Tech 3/19 and Miami 0/9.
3:10 Another air-balled three. Tech grabs the offensive board and converts, in what might as well constitute a highlight in this game. Game tied at 29 – 29.
2:40 Tech’s Cayla King finally hits a three. Tech up 32 – 29 and for the first time, the Virginia Tech fans have awakened.
Georgia Amoore has two chances to bring the house down and maybe end this game, but she goes 0/2 on two straight possessions. And it’s tied up at 33.
0.00 Amoore redeems herself at the buzzer with a three. Hokies head into the fourth quarter up 36 – 33.
4th Quarter
8:51 Amoore is starting to cook with another three and it’s Virginia Tech up 39 – 35.
2:20 It took a while, but Miami is done. Amoore hits these back-to-back and it’s 45 – 37.
In two consecutive games now, Amoore has had 20+ point second halves.
0.49 Miami hasn’t given up, despite what I just wrote. Miami is down 47 – 40 and yes, it would take a bit of a miracle, but we’ve seen just miracles happen. Miami coach Katie Meiers gets called for a technical. Just as Jeff Walz gifted Notre Dame two free points down the stretch, so does Meiers. Just like Citron, Amoore is not going to miss these freebies. Amoore is now the tournament’s high scorer with 27 points. Final score 55 – 47.
Game X: Duke vs NC State, 5:00pm
Duke has managed to put out the most boring video of the tournament. Zero game highlights, just lots of footage of the Duke logo. Like we don’t know who is playing.
NC State’s video is pretty boring. It features a lot of the players dancing, if that is your thing, but it’s a step down from last year’s vid, which was the best overall.
The lower bowl is packed. The entire tournament is a home contest for the four North Carolina schools, but it is NC State that actually turns out. There’s even some NC State students.
1st Quarter
9:30 Sign of the defensive battle to come? Duke commits a shot-clock violation on the very first play.
7:40 We all know that Duke runs the best fast break in the ACC, but when you’ve got 6’ 5” River Baldwin out in front of the break…
4:52 To wit: just look at this spacing
4:02 It’s Mascot Night.
Worst Mascot: The Syracuse Orange. Of course, it’s a challenge to have a decent mascot when your nickname is an adjective.
Best Mascot (in the 2-for-1 category): NC State’s Mrs Wuf (because there is a Mr Wuf.)
0.55 More misadventures end of quarter. It appears no one really knows how to play the 2-for-1 advantage in the late stages. NC State has closed on an 11 – 0 run to open up a 21 – 16 lead.
2nd Quarter
The NC State cheerleaders also take their pom poms with then when they leave the court floor. It’s like these pom poms are their familiars.
I’m sitting two rows behind a very heteroflexible fan. She’s wearing a UNC t-shirt and an NC State hoodie. She must really hate Duke…
8:04 River Baldwin stuffs Duke’s Kennedy Brown. I would not want to meet Baldwin in a dark alley. I’m told she’s the friendliest player on the team, but her on-court demeanor is frightening.
0.55 (Note that time.) Duke has closed on an 8 – 0 run of their own. It’s NC State’s turn to blow the 2-for-1 opportunity. It’s a forgotten art. I resolve not to think about it any more.
3rd Quarter
4:44 For the second time tonight, Duke has fouled on a three-point shot. Both times the shot wasn’t good and both times the foul was rather careless. Mimi Collins hits 2/3. Duke is down 34 – 33. In a one-point game you cannot afford to give away free points.
4:02 The mascots come out for the t-shirt toss. Best arms belong to the Demon Deacon and the Miami Ibex. The worst? Notre Dame and that Syracuse Orange.
3:14 NC State up 38 – 35. On their last two possessions, the Wolfpack has scored on Eurostep drives. I wish that had been a thing back when I played. I was a born Eurostepper.
4th Quarter
It’s 43 – 42 NC State as both teams scored on their last possessions of the third quarter. My friend Lora, bless her heart, is a Duke fan. (I know, I know, I’ve tried…) She observes that Duke hasn’t made a three yet. “They’re due.”
8:12 Sure enough, Reigan Richardson cans the three and we’re all tied up at 45 all.
5:33 If there is a coach as whiney as Jeff Walz in the ACC it surely is NC State’s Wes Moore. They helm the most successful programs of the past half decade, maybe they feel the most entitled. In any event, Moore is actually working the room as it were and he’s got this Wolfpack-filled house in full voice. NC State up 52 – 49.
3:55 Two straight trips down the court and it’s two relatively quick shots from the elbow from Duke’s Kennedy Brown. They are both misses. In a game this close, I think I would work it a little longer. Brown isn’t the one you want taking these shots. Secondly, Duke is taking an ungodly number of long twos. It is the least efficient shot in the book. There may be a reason why Duke is the lowest scoring team still playing.
1:10 It’ still 52 – 49.
0.57 Zoe Brooks breaks the tie with the shot of the game. NC State wins 54 – 51.
Game XI: Florida State vs Syracuse, 7:30pm
It’s been a long day. A lot of bad shooting. In the first three games, teams have combined to go 20/92 from deep. That’s 22% It took nine minutes before FSU or Syracuse converted a three. I’m getting punchy. I head home. FSU is going to win this going away, 78 – 65. The only drama was FSU’s Ta’Niya Latson picking up two quick fouls in the second quarter. Brooke Wyckoff kept her in… and she picked up her third. There’s a reason Coach Mox yanks her players in similar situations. But this game was never in doubt.
The stage is now set for Championship Weekend.
Notre Dame vs Virginia Tech
NC State vs Florida State