Inaugural ACC Roundtable: State of Our Basketball Programs

Who have been some of the key players on your team so far this season?

STG: Clifford and Anderson have been the best we’ve had lately, but the Eagles have also gotten contributions from Heckmann, Humphrey, Lonnie Jackson, and Jordan Daniels, amongst others. The jury is still out on how good the freshmen will end up being but so far, I would say that we’ve seen glimpses of it.

I’m not entirely sure BC has a “leader” at the moment, but there are several guys who have stepped up here and there.

UNC: UNC has a ton of what I would call key players. The team rotates eight players on its normal rotation and has another three or four that could step in if needed. Kendall Marshall is the engine that runs North Carolina. On pace to become the teams all time leader in assists, UNC relies on him to initiate the break, the lifeblood of our offense. Harrison Barnes, John Henson and Marshall are all finalists for the Wooden Award. The bigger issue for Carolina is who will lead out of this bunch.

Maryland: It really starts and ends with Terrell Stoglin. The sophomore southpaw is averaging 21.2 points per game and is shooting 41.3% from behind the line. He’s come up with big shot after big shot this year, and as Stoglin has went, Maryland has gone with him. It’s really impossible to imagine the Terps having any sort of success without him this year, and he’s got to be one of the frontrunners for conference player of the year.

Beyond him, there’s Mosley, who is averaging 10.6 points and 5.0 rebounds per game, along with excellent defense. Alex Len has had an awful last three games, but the 7’1″ Ukrainian still boasts averages of 8.9 point, 6.9 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game. And finally, there’s the mystery of James Padgett.

Padgett has solid numbers, at 9.3 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. He’s been an incredible offensive rebounder, at 4.2 per game, but much of that comes from his 48.6% rate at field goals, mostly from directly next to the basket. He’s missed a lot of easy shots, got them back, and sometimes even put them back in. He puts in tireless effort on both ends of the court, and it shows, but he’s got to get better at making those easy shots.

Duke: There are quite a bit of guys who are key for Duke. Let’s start with the Plumlee brothers. Both Mason and Miles have looked spectacular under the basket, and they seem to get more playing time than they did last year, in my opinion, especially Miles. They’re snagging rebounds, burying buckets in the paint, averaging a blocked shot a game, and scoring more points than they did last year. Too bad Mason and Miles haven’t improved their free throw shooting much.

Just kidding. I’m not that concerned about their FT shooting.

Seth Curry has also been a pretty key player. He looks great out on the court – burying threes and having a spectacular shooting percentage. Curry has a shooting percentage of 45.3% and a three-point shooting percentage of 40.5%. Incredible? It’s nothing short of it! Curry also averages the second most points on the team with 12.5 per game – only behind Austin Rivers’ 13.8 points per game Yes, even though Rivers has been in somewhat of a funk, he still averages the most points on the team.

Ryan Kelly is another one as well. He is playing smarter basketball than last year, and that has earned him a starting spot on the Blue Devils’ roster this year. Kelly used to be a back-and-forth player… one night, he’d light the floor up with about 17 or 18 points and quite a few rebounds and assists. The next night, he’d be a disappointment. But for the most part, I haven’t seen much of that from Kelly this year, which is nothing but a great thing.