The ACC tournament is back in Greensboro this year, and it really should always be in the middle of North Carolina. I know there's other schools in other states, but fuck it man, that's where it was historically, that's a centrally geographic location, and just straight up fuck it. It's how it should be. Here are the best 14 returning players to this year's tournament if you rank them according to how many points they've previously scored in ACC tournaments...
#1: Jon Scheyer (Duke guard; 110 previous points in the ACC tournament) - It is really hard not to completely hate Jon Scheyer, who was tournament MVP last year after leading Duke to another tournament championship. For fun, you should google "Scheyer face". Trust me.
#2: Greivis Vasquez (Maryland guard; 73 previous points in the ACC tournament) - I used to not care for the Venezuelan heart throb, mostly because dude pops his jersey far too often. Yet, being Maryland and Duke are the only great teams in the ACC this year, and Greivis has personally punked Duke out, in swaggerrific fashion to boot, I have come to love him. Plus reading the Washington Post daily, which covers Maryland, there was a story sent in by some dudes who were near the basketball arena like three hours after Maryland beat Duke that last time, and a car came by honking its horn and the dude inside was yelling like "WOOHOOO!" As the car went past, it was Greivis Vasquez, which meant like three hours after hitting the winning shot on a huge game in his last home appearance as a Senior, he was riding around the arena all adrenalized the fuck up. That rules.
#3: Trevor Booker (Clemson forward; 71 previous points in the ACC tournament) - First team All-ACC player who is really good, and shooting left-handedly can confuse normal defensive styles. Still though, there's not a lot surrounding him, and Clemson plays as the 6-seed against N.C. State in the opening day night cap, with the underwhelming Florida State Seminoles awaiting. So I guess if Booker gets ramped up, they could sneak into semifinal Saturday still, and assure themselves of being more than an NCAA bubble team.
#4: Malcolm Delaney (Virginia Tech guard; 64 previous points in the ACC tournament) - Delaney is a fucking presence on the floor, and if Tech had a better basketball history, he might've gotten a sniff at player of the year with Scheyer and Vasquez. He became the first ever unanimous first team All-ACC player Tech has ever had, and still is only a junior. Honestly, I hope there's no room in the NBA draft for him, even though he's showed how great he can be this year, because I'd like to see what he and Jeff Allen could do coming back for a senior season run together.
#5: Eric Hayes (Maryland guard; 63 previous points in the ACC tournament) - Hayes is the whiteboy who moves around on the edges, waiting for half the other team to encircle Greivis Vasquez, and then Hayes gets a pass and shoots a three. That's his thing.
#6: Kyle Singler (Duke forward; 61 previous points in the ACC tournament) - When your two top players are, and have consistently been, white dudes, I can only assume that you are a racist asshole head coach. More like Coach KKK, am I right?
#7: Rakim Sanders (Boston College guard/forward; 54 previous points in the ACC tournament) - Rakim Sanders has made this list with only two previous tournaments under his belt, and that's a sign of the high expectations he had on his shoulders coming into this year as a junior. But he missed a month with a foot injury and has not really been the same Rakim Sanders since coming back. Still, with a solid but young roster, Boston College could make a strong enough stand in the ACC tournament, cruise past Virginia in the opener, maybe give Duke a game, and give themselves something to hulk up about psychologically for next season.
#8: Marcus Ginyard (North Carolina guard/forward; 46 previous points in the ACC tournament) - A fifth-year Senior who was redshirted last year due to injury, so technically he wasn't on the national championship team, even though he was. It is very surprising how shitty the Tarheels have done this season, even to be in a down year. But Ginyard hasn't been healthy this year either, and the Tarheels have been fucked by injuries. Still, it is shocking to see them playing on the first day of the tournament (early night game against Georgia Tech), and even more shocking to think they might not be there on Friday. I know people are all like, "They could make a run and win this thing!" but come on; they're not gonna make a run and win this thing. Have you watched them play this year?
#9: Gani Lawal (Georgia Tech forward; 41 previous points in the ACC tournament) - Lawal has been one of the better inside players in the ACC this year, but he's been splitting those inside presence power point duties with newcomer Derrick Favors. Georgia Tech has been remarkably underwhelming this year, considering all the NBA prospects they allegedly have, but I guess when UNC is on a downward spiral, nobody notices how shitty Georgia Tech has been. Haha, still second fiddle, even at sucking.
#10: Deon Thompson (North Carolina forward; 40 previous points in the ACC tournament) - Thompson has been fighting back problems this year, but you have to consider him a disappointment overall. Two types of guys come through UNC - the blue-chippers who will probably go pro early, and then the just below blue-chippers who will probably play all four years but are expected to be the top level of junior and senior in the country when they hit the second half of their collegiate career. Deon Thompson has not fulfilled that role very well, and that's part of the problem with this 2010 UNC team.
#11: Jeff Allen (Virginia Tech forward; 37 previous points in the ACC tournament) - Fellow junior to Malcolm Delaney, and they are one of the more impressive one-two punches the ACC has to offer. They play the winner of Wake Forest/Miami on tomorrow afternoon, and very well could have a semifinal showdown with Duke on Saturday's early game. I would like to see the Hokies go through Duke on Saturday and Maryland on Sunday, or at least make the championship game. As a proud Virginian, that's about all I've got to root for this year.
#12: Zach Peacock (Georgia Tech forward; 37 previous points in the ACC tournament) - When Peacock came to Tech four years ago, he was supposed to set the league on fire. It hasn't exactly gone down that way. He's good, but inconsistent, and you would think with three solid sizeable forwards, the Yellowjackets would be fucking people up with some new era Phi Slamma Jamma bullshit. But they ain't.
#13: Ishmael Smith (Wake Forest guard; 36 previous points in the ACC tournament) - Piedmont Carolina kid going to Wake Forest and starring (although Al-Farouq Aminu is the true star of the team)... it's a dream coming true. He probably sat around like I did watching the tourney every spring. Wake has bottom feeder Miami in the opening round, with a game against Virginia Tech awaiting. A Tech/Wake game would be a lot of fun to watch as they are evenly matched and have some good one-on-one battles in their line-ups. This would be good because it would cause me to drink more beer on Friday afternoon.
#14: Josh Southern (Boston College center; 36 previous points in the ACC tournament) - Testament to Boston College's recent ACC tourney successes, because rarely would someone consider Josh Southern to be an offensive leader. He is a big, brutal, barbarian in the paint who beats people up and gets a few putbacks on the stat sheet at most.
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