Month: March 2023

Tomorrow will turn the Elite Eight into the Final Four as the State Quarterfinals take place

Carroll County will be one of four Region Champions hosting a game at a neighboring Gym to their Campus tomorrow night. Lakeland gets underway at 6pm and one hour later the three remaining tilts will get underway.

The tricky part about these contests is the assumption that the “Host” team should win the contest but there’s very little crossover competition during the regular season between the various Regions.

The Spotswood – Carroll County match up is the rare case of a regular season rematch. The Trailblazers and the Cavaliers got together a few weeks ago at a neutral site as part of the Rock the Ribbon event in Lexington. CCHS won the contest in a decisive fashion 67-34 back on January 28th.

The two teams have combined to win 3 out of the past 4 State Titles in Class 3 and this will be the third straight season that one of the teams has ended the post season run of the other team.

While Carroll County and Spotswood have a first hand knowledge of each other the contest between Lord Botetourt and Liberty Christian Academy will have sent the Coaching staffs in search of scouting reports. The two teams have a common opponent in the Cavaliers. LCHS fell to Carroll County by 30 on February 25th in the Regional final while LCA dropped a 34 point decision to the Cavs back on February 4th in Salem.

Liberty Christian Academy (20-5) has won six straight since the loss to Carroll County and Lord Botetourt (19-8) will be playing its first game since the Region defeat.

Another common opponent for the two teams is Franklin County. LBHS took two out of three from Franklin County while LCA won its only game versus Franklin County 42-35 back on January 3rd.

One more thing that gives hope to the fans of the Bot Cavaliers is the minimal Bus trip that will be required to head over to the University of Lynchburg.

Momentum is on the side of the Bulldogs as they are coming off an impressive victory over Spotswood on Saturday evening, 56-39. The victory was fueled in large part by an 18-0 closeout by LCA after falling behind 39-38 early in the final period.

Carroll County and Liberty Christian Academy are coming in as Region Champions but to move on to face one another they will need to fend off a quality opponent tomorrow night 🌙.

Absolute shocker opens Day 2 in Greensboro !

#12 Wake Forrest scored 2 points in the second quarter this morning against #5 Florida State. Not 2 more than FSU, 2 total points and trailed the Seminole by 18 points at the half. No problem for Wake as the Deacs went on a 26-0 run in the third quarter to advance 65-54.

The second largest (18) margin overcome at the half in the ACC Tournament History, trailing a Duke-UVA tilt from 1995. Wake matched that 20 point deficit early in the third quarter before going on their amazing run 🏃‍♂️ of 26 straight.

Next up for Wake is a game with #4 Louisville on Friday.

Game one on Day 2 is now complete but there’s still three more today!

49-20 in the second half.

DAY 2 – GAME 2

As the #8 – #9 contest should be, its back and fourth between NC State and Syracuse. Wolfpack led 17-12 after one and took the second frame 15-14 to carry a 32-26 lead into the break. Pack by 6 as the Cuse try to push a ticket 🎟 into the Big Dance.

NCSU continues to run every time they have a chance and the Pack lead is now reached double figures at 55-44. Ten minutes remain….

NCSU 64-46 after a 9-2 run to start the final quarter.

🐺🦊🐺🦊🐺Pack keep the dream of a Four Peat alive with some room to spear. Event is on break until 6pm.

UNC sets up another Tar Heels – Blue Devils 😈 showdown tomorrow.

Day 2 is now in the books with 3 games going by seeding and one historic comeback by Wake Forrest. 7 Games played and 6 went as expected.

The Top Four teams make their initial appearance tomorrow with the action getting underway at 11am with Wake Forrest – Louisville (#12 vs #4).

While we await Friday night for our Cavaliers : Hoos in the Coliseum (Live Blog – Day 1 at the ACC Women’s Basketball 🏀)

Greetings from the Opening Day of the 2022-2023 Women’s ACC Basketball 🏀 Tournament! In just a few minutes the Cavaliers of Virginia will face off with Wake Forrest. 1pm Tip for Game 1 of 14 over the next five days.

#12 – Wake Forrest vs #13 UVA

Kudos to the folks in charge 👏 for creating a solid atmosphere here in the building. The upper deck has the dark curtains covering the empty seats. This does two things, in that it makes the building look smaller plus it creates a crisper sound because the material holds in the sound as well.

A pre-game Moment of Silence was held to Honor Mr. Terry Holland of Cavaliers and Davidson fame.

The upper areas of the lower level have been covered as well to present a bright look to what would have been open seating.

Virginia scored the games first four points but Wake answered with 10 straight and we are in a UVA TO at 6:01 (10-4)

Tickets 🎟 were being sold in Books for $99.00 (14 games) or individually per session with prices for Day 1 being $10.00 for the two game afternnon session and $10.00 for the one evening contest. Prices increase as the week moves on with $25.00 getting you into the Saturday semifinals.

Parking at the Coliseum is $7.00 per or $35 gets you a pass for the week.

UVA stops the run at 16-0 with a basket but trail 19-6 nearing the end of the first quarter.

Wake 19-8 after 1st.

The emcee is full of energy and the DJ is playing music 🎶 that is energetic without being overbearing. A number of people will be paying a little more attention to the atmosphere this week with Ally having its name on the event for the first time and while its only the first half of the first game I would say things are off to a great start.

The Fan Fest portion of the week gets underway tomorrow afternoon. Virginia has closed the gap to just 19-12.

Cavaliers continue to claw back into the contest, now trailing just 28-23 in the closing minute of the first half.

Wake by 3 at the break after a strong UVA closeout of the quarter.

The 3rd quarter belonged to the Deacs and now the lead sits at 56-41. The Cavaliers once again tried to close the gap but this time Wake pushed the lead out to 15.

My history with this event goes back to the days when the City of Greensboro would bus 🚌 the Elementary students in on opening day to create noise for the contests. Now this game was Wake Forrest and UVA, two schools close enough for their fans to enjoy the action. Game 2 will be Clemson and Pitt so that will be a solid test as to whether the atmosphere will hold up.

Once again the Cavs have cut the lead down to single digits at 61-62 with 5:21 remaining. Enough time for the Hoos to make another run ? I believe so!

TO Wake (4:32) – Hoos only down six, 61-55

Camyrn Taylor has 19 for UVA to lead the way.

Down five at 62-57 the Cavaliers had four good looks at making it a one possession game but came up empty.

Wake Forrest holds on for the 68-57 victory in the first of 14 games. Both teams now sit at 15-15 on the season.

##10 Clemson vs #15 Pitt tip at 3:30pm

Third quarter just too much to overcome.

Pitt 16, Clemson 14 After 1st

Clemson up 33-20 after taking the 2nd quarter by a dominant score of 19-4. The #10 team is having its way with the #15 seed.

The Man with the microphone 🎤 entertaining the crowd is absolutely Top Shelf, full of energy !!

3rd quarter is in the books 📚!

CLEMSON 50, PITT 36

Clemson’s Bigs are Big and Pitt can’t slow them down.

520pm – Clemson closes out Pitt !

Time to empty out the building and get ready for Session #2 which will have the final game of Opening Day….. Boston College vs Georgia Tech

Boston College is looking to make it a clean sweep for the favorite teams on the day. BC 27 -18 at the end of the first half.

Boston College 16, Georgia Tech 12 in the 3rd

Now with 10:00 left, its BC 43-30

GT making a late run 🏃‍♂️, lead down to six.

#10, #11 & #12 All take care of Business so we are still chalk after Day 1….