Fundamental Basketball Wins Tournament Games
It’s something that is very simple and was proved to be right, especially in the first game of the day between Virginia Tech and Florida State. The Hokies probably should have won the game with ease but didn’t play a clean game and it cost them in the end. Countless turnovers and poor shooting held VT back. Head Coach Mike Young said it pretty simpally after the game, “See the number? These don’t lie. These are right at you, black and white, football, rushing yards, sacks, turnovers. In basketball — you look at it, I did tell you that we had to take care of the ball. 13 is too many.”
The little things win tight tournament games. Florida State almost blew it in the end as well with a couple of turnovers and mistakes when Virginia Tech started to press full court but luckily for FSU, it was able to hold on.
This trend continued into the second game where Notre Dame shot extremely inefficently and missed a number of layups. Wake struggled from the line in the second half and almost allowed the Irish back into the game.
Capital One Arena is an Awesome Venue
For a Wednesday afternoon, the crowd was extremely impressive for both games. The lower bowl was about 70-80% full and even some seats in the upper deck were filled. Capital One Arena is an awesome, modern-looking venue and the conference did a great job organizing the event. While it may be against tradition, the nation’s capital is right in the middle of the ACC and has a huge alumni base for most ACC teams. It would be nice for the conference to make DC a more common host.
Stars Need to Show Up
The difference in the first game was that Jamir Watkins, FSU’s star showed up and dominated. The redshirt junior, who scored 27 against Syracuse earlier this year, surpassed that season high with a whopping 34 points. The VCU transfer went 14-17 from the free throw line. When he does that, and a teams star does that, then that squad puts itself in a good spot to win big time games.
ACC Mascots Are The Best
With Otto not even in the conversation for the opening session, we saw three of the best mascots in the country without a doubt. First off, the Virginia Tech Hokie is a hilarious looking turkey that just waltzes around looking like it has no clue where it is. The Florida State mascot is a random horse so it’s out of the picture but then we get to the second game. The Leprechaun (is he still a mascot if he’s human) is top tier and watching it run around is a blast. Then, the Wake Forest Demon Deacon is one of the most terrifying things you will ever see. If theres one thing the ACC accels at, it has to be mascots.
