ACC Tournament Semifinals Preview

(This article originally appeared on www.hokiehaven.com.)

It's Day 3 of the ACC Tournament in Tampa, Fla. on Saturday with just four schools remaining in the hunt for the ACC title. Unlike the first day, most of the top seeds on Friday came out strong and pulled off the victory including the Virginia Tech Hokies. Come on in to see what is in store for the games on tap in the semifinals.

March 10 - Semifinals

1:30pm - North Carolina (26-6, 11-5) vs. Boston College (20-10, 10-6 ACC)

As the Tarheels dominated Friday, Boston College mounted a second half comeback to avert disaster, and vanquish the pesky Miami Hurricanes. Tyrese Rice, who we marked in this space yesterday as the contest's key player, went off for 32 points on six threes, helping Boston College advance to the semifinals against the top seeded Heels. Rice would do well to build on his track record against Carolina; the guard scored 20 in BC's five-point loss to UNC in February. The Heels are rested and ready, coming off an easy win over FSU that saw no one log more than 29 minutes. An already deep team gets deeper with that kind of balance. UNC's calling card Friday was shot selection and defense; the two elements combined to give them a 52% - 30% field goal advantage, a whopping total that, combined with a six-rebound margin, guarantees a win.

The Heels stopped Al Thornton, and will have a similar task with Boston College's Jared Dudley, although Dudley is a bit better and a slightly harder defensive assignment. In the team's first battle, a 77-72 Carolina win, Dudley scored 22, but only snatched three boards. This would be an acceptable outcome for North Carolina tomorrow. Boston College must force turnovers. Carolina gave the ball away 19 times to Florida State in an otherwise dominant outing, and ball control is priority number one for the Eagles. Boston College will need production from more than just Dudley, and getting an aggressive outing from youngin' John Oates would be a nice start. Oates had his finest performance of the year against Miami, and with BC's front line depleted, any contribution they get from Oates is a very welcome one.

How North Carolina Can Win: Keep rotating bodies and box out Dudley.

How Boston College Can Win: Tyrese Rice better keep shooting, and John Oates needs to eat the Wheaties.

What Will Happen: Often times, you'll see a team that survives a perilously close call loosen up and shock someone the next day. I don't think this will be one of those times. Carolina looked great Friday, and Boston College looks battered. Without the bodies in the paint, the Eagles just can't rebound with the Heels. HEELS BY 10.

4:00pm - NC State (17-14, 5-11) vs. Virginia Tech (21-10, 10-6)

We nailed the NC State upset over Virginia, even listing Gavin Grant's leadership as the key to the Wolfpack's success. Grant scored nine points in the last two minutes of the game, as North Carolina State exposed Virginia as a team with a gaudy home record, but almost no chance to win a big game on the road. The three big Packers scored 54 of the team's 77 points, and after listing Costner and Grant as the Most Important Players in games one and two, why not go with Ben McCauley in the semis? The sophomore has 36 points in two wins over Virginia Tech this year, and if he performs near the level Grant and Costner are, he will win the game, period.

Despite being the higher seed, Virginia Tech may very well be the underdog today. NC State won the first two meetings by a combined 36 points, and there's no reason to think the Hokies will be any better defending NC State's massive height advantage than they were in Raleigh or at Tech. A first glance at the box score of Tech's win over Wake doesn't provide many easy answers as to how the Hokies dominated the second half. But upon closer examination, a turnover margin of 18 (Wake) to just two for Virginia Tech proves the difference. A performance like that can't be expected every game, but extra possessions will be key in a contest where the Hokies are almost certain to be out rebounded. Citing Zabian Dowdell's need to control the game and Virginia Tech's need to box out and maintain competitiveness on the glass is getting old. So let's try this one – it would be awfully nice if someone other than the usual suspects proved a scoring threat. The Hokies aren't a very deep team when the chips are down, but Markus Sailes has seen his minutes increase near the end of his career, and has responded by knocking down a couple buckets, on his way to 14 points over the last three contests. If Sailes seeing the end of his Hokie career in sight can step up and at least force the Wolfpack defense to think about guarding someone other than Dowdell, Gordon or Vasallo, it could go a long way toward stretching the North Carolina State defense and minimizing their height advantage.

How North Carolina State Can Win: Do what they did twice this year by attacking the glass, bully the Hokies inside, own the paint and playing the game through Ben McCauley.

How Virginia Tech Can Win: Find a lesser known scoring option to stretch NC State's crowded post defense. Run and hope to tire out State since they've played an extra game in the past two days. Keep the rebounding margin within 3-4. Zabian Dowdell, feel free to hit some big shots, as well.

What Will Happen: Virginia Tech has a matchup problem with State, and based on prior performance it's a reach to think Virginia Tech suddenly plays great post defense. NC STATE BY 8.