With Duke’s home loss to Syracuse, and with the status of Blue Devils’ point guard Tre Jones uncertain following a shoulder injury, Michigan climbs the final rung on the latest Seed List ladder.
The Wolverines hold the No. 1 overall position in today’s bracket, followed closely by Virginia and Tennessee.
The real debate involved the fourth No. 1 seed position.
One could make a compelling case for Duke, Kansas, or Michigan State.
The Blue Devils were without two of their primary players for much of the loss to Syracuse.
In the end, however, the Jayhawks’ eight Group 1 wins, plus victories over both Tennessee and Michigan State, proved to be the difference.
UPDATED: January 17, 2019
FIRST FOUR – DAYTON
EAST REGION
VCU vs. Pittsburgh
WEST REGION
Texas vs. Arizona State
SOUTH REGION
Norfolk State vs. Prairie View
EAST REGION
Sam Houston vs. UMKC
SOUTH – Louisville
EAST – Washington, DC
Columbus
Columbia
1) MICHIGAN
1) VIRGINIA
16) PR VIEW / NORFOLK ST
16) SAM HOUSTON / UMKC
8)NC State
8) Kansas State
9) Mississippi State
9) Minnesota
Salt Lake City
Des Moines
5) Florida State
5) VILLANOVA
12) LIPSCOMB
12) VCU / Pittsburgh
4) Marquette
4) Maryland
13) GEORGIA STATE
13) YALE
Des Moines
Jacksonville
6) Nebraska
6) Indiana
11) SAINT LOUIS
11) Arizona
3) HOUSTON
3) Kentucky
14)LOYOLA-CHICAGO
14) VERMONT
Jacksonville
Tulsa
7) LSU
7) Auburn
10) TCU
10) Syracuse
2) Duke
2) Texas Tech
15) RIDER
15) UTSA
WEST – Anaheim
MIDWEST – Kansas City
Tulsa
Columbia
1) KANSAS
1) TENNESSEE
16) WEBER STATE
16) WAGNER
8) Purdue
8) Ohio State
9) St. John’s
9) Seton Hall
Hartford
San Jose
5) Iowa
5) Louisville
12) Texas / Arizona State
12) MURRAY STATE
4) North Carolina
4) Oklahoma
13) HOFSTRA
13) UC-IRVINE
San Jose
Hartford
6) Iowa State
6) BUFFALO
11) WOFFORD
11) Temple
3) NEVADA
3) Virginia Tech
14) NORTHERN KENTUCKY
14) SOUTH DAKOTA ST
Salt Lake City
Columbus
7) Wisconsin
7) Ole Miss
10) Cincinnati
10) WASHINGTON
2) GONZAGA
2) Michigan State
15) RIDER
15) LEHIGH
BUBBLE NOTES
Last 4 Byes
Last 4 IN
First 4 OUT
Next 4 OUT
TCU
Texas
Butler
Clemson
Cincinnati
Arizona State
UCF
San Francisco
Temple
VCU
Florida
Fresno State
Arizona
Pittsburgh
Alabama
Dayton
TOP SEED LINE: Michigan is the No. 1 overall seed, followed by Virginia, Tennessee, and Kansas
PITTSBURGH — Jeff Capel noticed the fearlessness in Trey McGowens, Xavier Johnson and Au’Diese Toney right away. The way they played, it was almost impossible to miss. Capel leaned on that inherent daring when he made his recruiting pitch to them last spring just days after taking over the rebuilding project at Pittsburgh.
Join me, Capel said. Let’s bring the swagger back together.
Less than nine months later, what Capel cautioned would be a lengthy process appears to be well ahead of schedule behind his three precocious freshmen, who have shrugged off the program’s regrettable recent past with a competitive fire that points to a promising future.
McGowens poured in 30 points, Johnson added 16 — including consecutive buckets in the final four minutes after Florida State cut Pitt’s lead to five — and the Panthers pulled away from the 11th-ranked Seminoles for a 75-62 victory on Monday night.
“All three of them are naturally competitive,” Capel said after Pitt’s first win over a ranked team in nearly two years. “They have a toughness about them and they aren’t afraid. We’re trying to develop that, trying to make that the culture. Toughness, togetherness. Today was a big step.”
McGowens led the way. Less than a week after setting a school record for a freshman by scoring 33 points against Louisville, the 6-foot-3, 185-pound McGowens threatened that mark by attacking the bigger, deeper Seminoles repeatedly, often resulting in an acrobatic layup or a foul or — occasionally — both. McGowens made 18 of 19 free throws for the Panthers (12-5, 2-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), who outscored the Seminoles 38-20 at the line.
“I just feel like that’s how we like to play,” McGowens said. “We’ve got some competitors. That’s just what we like to do.”
Trent Forrest scored 19 points for the Seminoles (13-4, 1-3), who lost for the third time in four games. And unlike their setback against No. 1 Duke last Saturday — when the Blue Devils won it at the buzzer — this was no last-second stunner. Pitt never trailed over the final 11 minutes, though Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton downplayed the idea his team was flat after the near-miss against the Blue Devils.
“You don’t ever want to accept that,” Hamilton said. “It was an emotional loss for us, but that’s part of what you have to prepare for in the ACC. Pitt lost Saturday too. They bounced back and we didn’t.”
The Panthers gave away size at nearly every position. Yet rather than try to shoot over the Seminoles, Pitt decided to try and run through them.
The Panthers drove to the basket all night, particularly McGowens. He missed a breakaway dunk early on but tried to go right back to the rack by attempting to rise over 6-foot-10, 250-pound Mfiondu Kabengele. That dunk missed as well, but McGowens drew the foul and appeared to send a message that Pitt would not be intimidated.
“We feel like we are going to fight every time we play,” Capel said. “If we fight and we play with some semblance of intelligence, we’ll have a chance.”
That mindset helped the Panthers take a 36-34 halftime lead despite making just eight shots in the opening 20 minutes. While Florida State did at times dominate the lane — outscoring Pitt 30-20 in the paint and having an 18-7 advantage in second-chance points — the Panthers simply kept coming.
McGowens hit a 3-pointer to give Pitt the lead for good with 11:22 to go. Florida State fell behind by 10 but trimmed it to 60-55 after a pair of free throws by Forrest with 4:25 to go. Johnson shook off a seven-turnover night by hitting a jumper and then a driving layup to help push the advantage back to double digits.
By the end, the fans mocked Florida State by doing the school’s war chant and then followed it up by shouting “We want Duke!” The top-ranked Blue Devils visit next Tuesday in a game that no longer looks like a mismatch.
“We’ve got two (ACC wins),” said center Terrell Brown, one of the few holdovers from a club that went winless in ACC play last season under coach Kevin Stallings. “We have more to get.”
BIG PICTURE
Florida State: The Seminoles need to make more shots, particularly on the road. Florida State shot just 34 percent from the floor in a loss to Virginia last week and had similar issues against the Panthers. Florida State hit 20 of 58 field goals (35 percent), including just 2 of 22 3-pointers.
Pitt: The Panthers have regained their homecourt advantage at the Petersen Events Center. Once one of the toughest places to play in the Big East — an advantage that has eased a bit since the move to the ACC — Pitt has now won consecutive home games against teams that figure to be a factor in the conference. The Panthers might not be far from joining that conversation.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — DJ Funderburk scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half, and No. 15 North Carolina State beat Pittsburgh 86-80 on Saturday.
Devon Daniels scored 19 points, Eric Lockett added 12 of his 17 points after halftime and Torin Dorn finished with 12 for the Wolfpack (14-2, 2-1 Atlantic Coast Conference).
They bounced back from a tough loss to rival North Carolina and won their eighth in nine games despite losing two starters in the first half after big man Wyatt Walker was ejected and point guard Markell Johnson was injured.
Freshman Xavier Johnson had 20 of his season-high 25 points in the second half, Au’Diese Toney scored 17 and Terrell Brown added 10 for the Panthers (11-5, 1-2), who led by four points with less than 6½ minutes remaining but couldn’t finish off a second straight conference victory.
Lockett hit two of the four 3-pointers and scored eight points during the Wolfpack’s game-breaking 16-4 run, which C.J. Bryce capped with a jumper that made it 73-65 with just under 3 minutes left. Pitt didn’t get closer than five the rest of the way.
BIG PICTURE
Pitt: The Panthers were coming off their first ACC victory since they upset No. 17 Florida State in February 2017. They were trying for their first winning streak in league play since earlier that month. They’re clearly improved over last year’s team that went 0-18 in the ACC but wound up with their 13th straight road loss in the conference.
N.C. State: The dominating issue for the Wolfpack was how they struggled at both ends without Walker, who was tossed 2 minutes in for grabbing the foot of Pitt’s Johnson to bring him down. They also were missing Markell Johnson, who took a hard fall while trying to block a shot. N.C. State missed 13 consecutive shots in the second half before Funderburk and Lockett carried the team down the stretch.
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PITTSBURGH — Cam Johnson scored 15 points in his homecoming and No. 15 North Carolina made quick work of Pittsburgh in an 85-60 victory on Saturday.
Johnson, a graduate transfer from the Pittsburgh suburbs who left the Panthers in the spring of 2017, shook off the boos and hit his first three shots as the Tar Heels (11-3, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) opened league play by providing the rebuilding Panthers a reminder of how far they still have to go under first-year head coach Jeff Capel.
Johnson grabbed a season-high nine rebounds for North Carolina. Coby White led the Tar Heels with 22 points, Luke Maye added 17 points and 11 rebounds and North Carolina used a 16-0 run in the first half to subdue the first sellout crowd at the Petersen Events Center in nearly two years.
Trey McGowens scored 17 points for the Panthers (10-4, 0-1) and fellow freshman Xavier Johnson chipped in 14, but Pitt lost its 23rd straight regular-season ACC game. The Panthers shot just 31 percent (19 of 62) from the field and struggled to get into any kind of rhythm. Pitt turned it over 15 times, made only 2 of 19 3-pointers and couldn’t keep up once the adrenaline wore off.
Cam Johnson played parts of three seasons for Pitt but left after graduating in 2017. The school granted his release so he could transfer to North Carolina only after Johnson went public with the request . He has evolved into an effective starter for the Tar Heels, where he has become more than just a 6-foot-8 spot-up shooter.
Johnson knocked down a pair of 3-pointers early but Pittsburgh — attempting to reassert itself under Capel following Kevin Stallings’ nightmarish two-year tenure — briefly stayed in it. Freshman Au’Diese Toney’s tip-in brought the Panthers to within 15-14 with 11:58 to go in the first half before reality set in.
Pitt missed its next 11 shots while the Tar Heels did whatever they wanted at the other end. By the time McGowens ended the Panthers’ dry spell with a 3-pointer, North Carolina led by 21. The gulf between the two programs came into stark contrast in the final seconds of the half.
North Carolina’s Leaky Black chased down a Pitt miss, fed Cameron Johnson, who dribbled to halfcourt, then hit a streaking White for a layup at the buzzer to put the Tar Heels up 45-23 at the break.
BIG PICTURE
North Carolina: The Tar Heels can be hit or miss with their defensive intensity but overwhelmed the Panthers over the final 10 minutes of the first half to take control. The Tar Heels will need to muster it more often against better opponents.
Pitt: Even with large swaths of light blue in the arena, that the Panthers were able to fill The Pete offers tangible proof of the optimism Capel has brought to the table in his first few months on the job. Turning that optimism into ACC wins, however, is another matter. The Panthers played hard but their offensive weaknesses and lack of size were exploited at will by the bigger, deeper and more talented Tar Heels.
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ACC Reset: Does ACC title run through Durham or Charlottesville?
College basketball’s non-conference season is finally coming to a close.
To help you shake off post-holiday haze and the hangover of losing in your fantasy football playoffs, we’ll be providing you with some midseason recaps to get you caught up on all the nation’s most important conferences.
Who has been the best player in the biggest leagues?
Who is on track to get an NCAA tournament bid?
What have we learned about the conference hierarchy?
What is still left for us to figure out?
We break it all down here.
Today, we’ll be taking a look at the ACC.
MIDSEASON ACC PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Zion Williamson, Duke
This decision really is not all that difficult. As of today, Zion Williamson is likely the favorite to win National Player of the Year; he’s been atop the NBC Sports Player of the Year Power Rankings for more than a month. The numbers he is putting up for the No. 1 team in the country more than speak for themselves — 19.8 points, 9.4 boards, 2.3 assists, 2.1 steals, 1.9 blocks — but it is more than that. He’s the most unstoppable force in college hoops. He is the piece that allows Duke to play the way they want to play this season. His versatility defensively is a major reason the Blue Devils are one of the top three teams in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency metric while his ability to grab-and-go in transition and make plays using his out-of-this-world physical gifts is why the Blue Devils are an impossible matchup.
Williamson is a special, special talent. By the end of the year, even the world’s biggest Duke haters will be forced to agree.
THE ALL-ACC FIRST TEAM
ZION WILLIAMSON, Duke
R.J. BARRETT, Duke: There are 353 teams in college basketball, and Barrett is ninth nationally in scoring and putting up those numbers while playing on the No. 1 team in the country. Let’s not overthink this.
DE’ANDRE HUNTER, Virginia: Kyle Guy is Virginia’s leading scorer and Ty Jerome is arguably their best player, but for my money Hunter is the guy that needs to be recognized on this list. He’s the most talented player on the roster and is the guy that allows the Wahoos to be matchup proof.
NICKEIL ALEXANDER-WALKER, Virginia Tech: Not only is Alexander-Walker one of the best players in the conference — he’s averaging 18.5 points, 4.3 boards, 3.8 assists and 2.5 steals while shooting 46.8 percent from three — he’s probably the most improved as well. He’s turned into a knockdown jumpshooter than is a playmaker defensively and thrives initiating offense and running pick-and-rolls. He’s become a lottery pick.
CAMERON JOHNSON, North Carolina: North Carolina’s best player to date this season, which is odd considering Luke Maye was their preseason all-american, Nassir Little is the future top five pick that can’t seem to crack the starting lineup and Coby White is the freshman getting all the hype.
POSTSEASON PREDICTIONS
NCAA: Duke, Virginia, North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Florida State, N.C. State, Louisville, Syracuse, Clemson
NIT: Miami, Boston College, Notre Dame, Pitt
OTHER/NO POSTSEASON: Wake Forest, Georgia Tech
(Darryl Oumi/Getty Images)
THREE THINGS WE’VE LEARNED
1. DUKE’S FRESHMEN ARE WORTH THE HYPE
This is hardly breaking news.
Zion Williamson has been absolutely sensational. R.J. Barrett is a guy that has his flaws as a basketball player, but those flaws will not be all that visible when he’s playing against college athletes. Cam Reddish is struggling to find his role on this Duke team and has still managed to put up 13.5 points in just 23.8 minutes while shooting 35.6 percent from; if only all freshmen could struggle like that.
And then there is Tre Jones, the unsung hero on this Duke roster. He is a game-changing defensive presence, precisely the kind of point guard that Duke has been looking for since … well, since Tyus Jones. The Blue Devils are the favorite to win the national title this season because of those four players.
So yes.
Duke’s freshmen are worth the hype.
2. VIRGINIA MIGHT BE BETTER THAN THEY WERE A YEAR AGO
This is my favorite storyline of the season to date. Coming off of the most embarrassing loss in the history of college basketball, the Wahoos entered this season carrying the burden of being the only No. 1 seed to have ever lost to a No. 16 seed, and they’re doing so while already being saddled with the reputation of being a choke artist.
Let’s call it like it is: In the last five NCAA tournaments, Virginia has either blown a lead they shouldn’t have blown or lost earlier in the tournament than they should have based on their seed. People remember things like that, since that is the time when the most people are paying attention to college basketball.
(Eric Espada/Getty Images)
Now stop me if you’ve heard this before, but this might actually be the best Virginia team that we have seen in the Tony Bennett era. They’re as good defensively as we have become accustomed to this program being, but this team is better offensively than a typical Virginia team. Kyle Guy has been very good once again this season. Ty Jerome continues to play like a future pro. Freshman Kihei Clark has given them the lineup versatility that we knew they were lacking. Most importantly, De’Andre Hunter has given Virginia a dynamic combo-forward than can defend up and has NBA ability on the perimeter.
This is a dangerous basketball team.
3. “THE REST” IS LOADED THIS YEAR
Before the season started, one of the questions that we had about the ACC what who would be the team that would be the best of the rest; who would win the race for fourth in a league that is going to be dominated by Duke, Virginia and North Carolina.
As it turns out, there is more than one team vying for the title of “best of the rest”, and there is legitimate reason to wonder whether or not each of those teams can crack the top three in the league.
Let’s start with Virginia Tech, who has emerged as the best team that Buzz Williams has produced in Blacksburg. We knew, coming into the season, just how good Justin Robinson was, but with the emergence of Nickeil Alexander-Walker as a legitimate star in the league, the Hokies all of a sudden look like they have the best backcourt in the ACC. They start four seniors, they are betting quality minutes off their bench and we still haven’t seen Landers Nolley or Chris Clarke. This team is for real.
I think the same can be said for Florida State. While M.J. Walker has not quite taken the step forward I think everyone expected him to take, Mfiondu Kabengele has developed into one of the most productive players in the ACC. Trent Forrest has embraced the point guard role while Terance Mann is playing the best basketball of his life. If Phil Cofer can get back to where he was last season, the Seminoles are a very real threat to get back to the Elite Eight.
I also believe that N.C. State belongs in this conversation as well. I have so much respect for what Kevin Keatts is able to do when running a program, and it only took him one year to get the Wolfpack to be what he wants a basketball team to be: They’re loaded with guards, they love to press, they have a number of guys that can really shoot the rock and their bigs are good enough to get the job done. They’re probably third-best of this group, but that still leaves them as something close to a top 15 team this season.
(Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
THREE STORYLINES TO FOLLOW
1. CAN A GROUP OF FRESHMEN WIN A NATIONAL TITLE?
Only twice in the one-and-done era has a team that was built around freshmen won the national title. Kentucky did in in 2012 with Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist running the show. Duke did it in 2015, as Jahlil Okafor, Tyus Jones and Justise Winslow carried them to a title. This Duke team, however, is different in the sense that their four-best players are all freshmen. Neither the 2012 Kentucky team nor the 2015 Duke team had this little upper-class influence on their roster.
That said, I think the reason that there is a very real shot Duke can get this done is the presence of a couple of key veterans pieces. Javin DeLaurier and Marques Bolden don’t play all that much, but the options that they provide Duke — Bolden with his size and rim protection, DeLaurier with his versatility and shot-blocking — let Mike Krzyzewski change looks based on opponent.
But the two biggest reasons why I think Duke can avoid the fate of other freshman-led teams — besides, you know, the fact that their Big Three is awesome — is the presence of Jack White and Tre Jones. Those two are elite level glue guys that make a major difference in the way Duke can play. We took a deep dive into their impact on the program last month.
2. WILL SYRACUSE TURN THIS THING BACK AROUND?
The Orange are the team in the ACC that has been the toughest to figure out early on this season. On the one hand, this is a team that wasn’t all that good last season that managed to gather quite a bit of preseason hype due to the fact that they won three NCAA tournament games and returned everyone of note from last year’s team.
So I get it.
But it’s also worth noting that this is a team that was elite defensively last season and not only added a couple of talented offensive weapons, they brought back Oshae Brissett and Tyus Battle, the former a sophomore expected to make the leap and the latter and all-american and NBA draft hopeful. I know that they have lost to some teams they should not have lost to, but I think the ceiling is still there.
That said, it seems like the best place for Syracuse to be heading into the NCAA tournament is as a No. 10 or No. 11 seed. So maybe the Orange are right where they want to be.
3. WHAT HAPPENS WITH NASSIR LITTLE VS. ROY WILLIAMS?
The most annoying topic of discussion this season has been the debate over whether or not Nassir Little deserves more playing time for North Carolina. The truth is this: Little plays a position where North Carolina has depth to spare. We know Roy Williams wants to play with two big men. We also know that he already has Luke Maye and Cameron Johnson on the roster. If Little wants to get minutes, he is either going to have to outplay one of those guys — one of whom was an all-american last season and the other who has been playing at an all-american level this season — or be good enough to convince Williams to play small.
And while Little has been effective this season, he hasn’t done either of those things. It might happen as he continues to get acclimated to the college level and figures out what Williams wants from him, but it hasn’t happened yet.
The reason Little isn’t playing more isn’t a conspiracy. He just has a lot in front of him to beat out.
(Sam Wasson/Getty Images)
THREE PREDICTIONS
1. VIRGINIA WINS THE ACC TITLE AGAIN
The Cavaliers are legit this season. I’m on board with the idea that this is Tony Bennett’s best team in Charlottesville, and I think they prove that with their fourth ACC regular season title in the last six seasons.
2. DUKE JOINS VIRGINIA IN THE FINAL FOUR
I also think this is the year that Virginia breaks through and makes it to the Final Four. The narrative will always be “you can’t win the big one” until you win the big one. Ask Jay Wright. Or Bill Self. Or Mark Few. Or Jim Calhoun. Tony Bennett is the next on that list.
Duke will join them there as well, but that shouldn’t be much of a surprise. The Blue Devils are my pick to win the title.
3. THE ACC GETS AT LEAST THREE TEAMS INTO THE ELITE EIGHT
I really believe in the depth of this league, and I already told you I think that they are going to get two teams into the Final Four. This means that one of the other four top 15 teams find a way to win three games in March. That’s very doable.
