:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tronc/NQEBZ3AO6GT5KF5IHKQ72F2UAM.jpg)
Losing starting forward Ben Vander Plas for the rest of the season to a broken hand is a big blow to No. 13 Virginia. While it might hurt the Cavaliers most on the offensive end, Clemson coach Brad Brownell is not so sure that’s the case defensively.
He said Thursday night that UVA is better defensively with forwards Francisco Caffaro and Kadin Shedrick on the floor. Caffaro started and had two rebounds and four points in 12 minutes in the second-seeded Cavaliers’ quarterfinal win over North Carolina, and Shedrick posted a season-high five blocked shots and four points in 18 minutes.
UVA and Clemson face off tonight in the tournament semifinals. It was to be their second meeting in 11 days, as the Cavaliers beat the Tigers 64-57 at John Paul Jones Arena on Feb. 28.
“They’re better defensively with the bigger guys,” Brownell said. “Now, those guys don’t shoot 3s like Vander Plas, who’s an excellent player, but they were terrific [against the Tar Heels]. They were smothering. Their guards are very good one-on-one defenders, and obviously their older guys, they play with great poise, they don’t beat themselves, they rarely turn it over. They’re a top-10, 12, 15 team in the country for a reason, and a lot of those guys have played together for a while now.”
___
Tobacco Road tourney
The ACC Tournament holds a special place in the hearts of North Carolinians. The tournament grew in stature as Tobacco Road powers UNC, Duke, N.C. State and Wake Forest all rose to prominence, and for the longest time it was held in North Carolina every year.
The first 13 ACC Tournaments were played at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, and the event alternated among venues from there, being held in Greensboro 27 times and Charlotte 13 times before this year. The venues have branched out to the Washington area, Atlanta, Brooklyn and Tampa, but the event’s roots have stayed the same.
For North Carolina natives like Virginia forwards Jayden Gardner and Shedrick, playing in the ACC Tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum is special.
“It’s special to be playing this time of year in Greensboro for the first time,” said Gardner, a Wake Forest, North Carolina, native who played his first three seasons at East Carolina. “Growing up, they rolled the TVs out in middle school and high school [to watch games], and it’s ACC country, so it’s just a special time. I’m happy I could be a part of it.”
The Cavaliers have won three ACC Tournament championships, including two under coach Tony Bennett.
“Playing here is pretty special, especially on this level where we grew up watching this in school literally all day when March came around,” said Shedrick, a Holly Springs, North Carolina, native. “It’s fun to be able to actually reverse roles and now there’s kids watching us.”
___
Clemson’s NCAA Tournament credentials
Before Friday’s semifinal matchup with Virginia, Clemson’s résumé for an at-large NCAA Tournament selection included a 23-9 overall record, 14-6 mark in ACC play with quality wins against No. 21 Duke, N.C. State (three times), Pitt and Penn State.
But the Tigers’ tournament hopes rest on those wins, as well as extremely costly losses to South Carolina, Loyola Chicago and Louisville, who have a combined record of 25-70.
When asked Thursday night if his team had done enough to get into the NCAAs, Brownell answered by saying, “Yes, yes, 100%, 100%.”
“I thought we had to win [Thursday] for sure to make sure, but to me we should be in. I guess we’ve had two or three bad days. We’ve had some injuries that impacted a couple of those days.”
Should a team with 23 total wins and a highly successful third-place finish in a traditionally strong ACC need to defend itself this much come tournament time?
Breaking News
“Winning 14 games in the league, it’s really frustrating to see our league not get the respect that we know it deserves,” Clemson forward Hunter Tyson said. “There are a lot of great teams in this league, and we did a really good job in league play. ... Overall we’ve had a great season, and we have a résumé to show for it, but we’re not done.”
___
UNC’s NCAA hopes take hit
North Carolina’s NCAA Tournament hopes took a big hit in Thursday’s quarterfinal loss to Virginia. The Tar Heels returned four starters from last year’s national championship runner-up squad and began the season as the preseason No. 1 team, but most prognosticators are saying UNC will be left out of the Big Dance on Selection Sunday.
“It’s not a great feeling,” Tar Heels senior guard R.J. Davis said. “Not the expectations that we had coming into the year. It was definitely frustrating and disappointing, but one thing I can say about this group is we fight to the end. We’re a resilient group. We may get kicked down, but we always get back up, and that’s something that has been a major theme for this whole team.”
UNC coach Hubert Davis said, “I’m so proud and honored and thankful and appreciative to be one of their coaches and to be around them every day. I’m sad and disappointed for them that we’re in this position. Just very sad for them.”
If UNC does not receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, it could be invited to compete in the NIT. Davis wasn’t ready to speculate on whether the Tar Heels would accept such an invitation following Thursday’s loss.
“I’m not thinking about that at all,” he said.