Here are some other item's of interest from Pat Forde's minutes
STRETCH RUN STORYLINES
The nightly brawl that is the Atlantic Coast Conference (3). “It’s a crazy conference,” Louisville coach Rick Pitino said Sunday. “It just really is.” This looks like a possible 10-bid league, maybe even 11 when all is said and done, which would tie the NCAA tournament record. That ridiculous depth was evident Saturday, when ranked Florida State, Notre Dame and North Carolina all lost to unranked opponents – two of them badly. The pecking order could change half a dozen times between now and March 12, but this week the red-hot team is Louisville. The Cardinals won their last two games (Pittsburgh, North Carolina State) by a combined 80 points, the biggest margin in consecutive league contests for any power-six school in the nation this season.
BUBBLE TEAMS IN NEED OF A SOLID STRETCH RUN
Georgia (12). At present, there are four SEC teams in most mock brackets: Kentucky, Florida, South Carolina and Arkansas. The idea of adding a fifth seems about as smart as adding more bowl games, but the Bulldogs (13-8, 4-4) are hanging around the bubble and have some opportunities for big wins upcoming. Georgia plays Kentucky twice (first time is Tuesday in Lexington), Florida, South Carolina and Arkansas once more, plus a trip to Tennessee. Winning two or three of those would give the ‘Dogs a chance – and also enhance Mark Fox’s job security.
Clemson (13). The Tigers (12-8, 2-6) have no bad losses, but they also have a lot of them. Still, the remaining slate offers some get-well opportunities for the team that has played the toughest ACC schedule to date, according to Ken Pomeroy. Clemson has six remaining home games, all of them winnable (Georgia Tech, Syracuse, Wake Forest, Florida State, North Carolina State, Boston College). Go 6-0 in those games, swipe one on the road (perhaps at Virginia Tech on Feb. 21), and Clemson is 19-11, 9-9 heading into the ACC tourney."
NEW FACES, NEW PLACES, NICE RESULTS":
Josh Pastner (17) , Georgia Tech. The leading candidate for ACC Coach of the Year? Yeah, it’s the guy Memphis paid seven figures to go away after last season. After taking over a team that lost 76 percent of its scoring from 2015-16 and seemed destined for the league basement, Pastner has engineered upsets of North Carolina, Florida State and Notre Dame. Combine those wins with a victory at VCU, and Tech (13-8, 5-4) is starting to cobble together an NCAA tourney résumé – something the Yellow Jackets last visited in 2010. Pastner made a savvy move when he hired former Portland head coach Eric Reveno to give him an experienced sounding board, and he’s done some sharp in-game coaching by mixing up defenses. By ACC standards, the remaining schedule is not that tough – Tech could pile up more wins in the coming weeks.
NEW FACES, NEW PLACES, NOT-SO-NICE RESULTS
Kevin Stallings (21) , Pittsburgh. Bizarre hire that has played out disastrously to date. The Panthers (12-9, 1-7) are last in the ACC and riding a six-game losing streak that includes losses by 26 and 55 points at home. And here’s the really scary thing: that’s with four seniors in the starting lineup. Suffice to say, there seems to be a lack of a buy-in by the veteran holdovers, and next year could be nuclear winter. All the Pitt fans who didn’t think Jamie Dixon was good enough, how are you feeling now?
Rick Stansbury (25) , Western Kentucky. Ray Harper resigned abruptly last year for off-court reasons, giving Kentucky native Stansbury a chance to revive his career. He’s added a couple of shocking recruiting scores that could vault WKU to the top of Conference USA, but they’re not around to help this season. Even with four seniors starting, the Hilltoppers (11-11) could be headed for their worst record since 1999-2000, when they went 11-18.
KEEP YOUR FRIENDS CLOSE AND YOUR REALTOR CLOSER
Craig Neal (30) , New Mexico. Neal went 27-7 his first season with Steve Alford’s leftovers, and it’s been a muddle of mediocrity ever since. He’s 45-40 since then, 23-23 in a down Mountain West. A recent four-game winning streak was emphatically halted in a 17-point loss to Nevada.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/forde-...ollege-basketballs-stretch-run-050916502.html
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