The ACC tournament is about to kick off tomorrow afternoon, and I am amped. I seem to have gotten myself a little more into college basketball this year than previous years, probably from being injured and spending more time in couch recline mode, soaking in all the free games I could on my free TV on Saturday afternoons, not to mention whatever night games during the week the ACC package threw my way. Luckily, this year it looks like all the games except the 7 pm opening day one will be on the local ACC television deal, meaning other than the Maryland/N.C. State game, I could watch every part of it. And even more luckily, Friday is a work holiday - something called Spring Break Day, which I will not argue with in the slightest.
Back in high school, we'd skip school to meet up somewhere and drink cheap beer and watch the opening day games. Back then it was a straight eight team league (maybe nine, but I think then the opening round 8/9 game was on ESPN, thus not on at my house), so it was a simple three days single elimination run for league glory. And with the NCAA tournament so expanded, the tourney doesn't quite mean what it used to, but it's still an exciting time to see all the year's players, jumbled together in a big smorgasbord of hardwood goodness. Being I was raised in Virginia, the ACC will always be the best basketball, even when it is not, like this year. And sadly I can't really root for the best two teams - Duke and UNC - because they are both my sworn enemies. Of course, with those two being the best two, and UVA and Virginia Tech sort of irrelevant for the most part, I have softened on my stance against UNC, so that I have a horse to pull for when the inevitable Duke/UNC battle comes to a head. I couldn't do this until Roy Williams took the head coaching job, because Dean Smith is a fucking evil dick in my mind.
Nonetheless, going through the ACC tourneys of the past fives years, here is a list of the top 14 individual scorers from those 55 total games...
#1: TYLER HANSBROUGH (UNC forward, 186 total points) - Even as my stance against UNC has softened, I have never been able to get behind Tyler Hansbrough. Dude just looks too stupid and was too annoying a player to ever forgive him existing in the first place. He is playing for the Indiana Pacers now, which is a fitting place for his white ass. His little brother is an All-American dude upon the Notre Dame college team as well, meaning the Hansbroughs be running Indiana right now. Fucking Indiana... what a piece of shit state. It would be my least favorite shithole state in America if Maryland didn't exist.
#2: JON SCHEYER (Duke guard, 157 total points) - The little bitchlet who helped them win the national title last year. When Bobby Hurley played at Duke, I thought there would never be a dude I hated more. Then J.J. Redick came along. So I thought I could never hate anyone more than him. But then Jon Scheyer came along. Once out of college, it was thought he'd go play in Israel for Maccabi Tel Aviv, being he's a Jewish, so he could get an Israeli passport. That's one of the highest profile teams in Europe, kind of the Miami Heat of the Israeli League, bringing in famous players. But he chose to try to make the NBA, played on the Heat's summer league team, and took an elbow in the eye that fucked him all up, because he is a pussy. He is now in the D-League with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, and I hope we never see or hear from him again.
#3: WAYNE ELLINGTON (UNC guard, 142 total points) - Ellington was part of the last solid nucleus of UNC players that won for Roy Williams, and it's been a hodgepodge of dudes coming and going for a season or two ever since. Ellington left early for the NBA himself, after their last national title, and is a minor contributor to the Minnesota Timberwolves, who believe it or not, are in the NBA still. I know... I didn't know that either.
#4: TYRESE RICE (Boston College guard, 126 total points) - Every time I think about Tyrese Rice, it pisses me off, being I am a proud supporter of Virginia basketball, not meaning UVA but the state in general. Rice was a Richmond area kid, and the top prospect in the state coming out of high school. And somehow, rather than go to UVA or even Virginia Tech, he slipped the fuck all the way to Boston College. So many top kids in the state go out of state, and yet remain in the ACC. It's fucking pathetic. Anyways, after a great college career, Rice was overlooked by the NBA, because how many guards do they really need. He spent a year playing for Panionios in Greece, and this year is starring for the Artland Dragons Quakenbreuck, a top team in the top German league, considered one of the better professional leagues in Europe.
#5: KYLE SINGLER (Duke forward, 126 total points) - Stupid fucking Kyle Singler is still in college, so I will bitch about his stupid ass in tomorrow's list of active players who have scored the most.
#6: TONEY DOUGLAS (Florida State guard, 125 total points) - After helping people realize Florida State actually had a basketball team too, Douglas was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers, but promptly traded to the New York Knicks, where he still sits, having recently become a solid contributor while Chauncy Billups is injured. A dude from Florida State in New York City... that just seems like a recipe for inevitable felony charges.
#7: A.D. VASSALLO (Virginia Tech guard, 112 total points) - Vassallo was a proud Puerto Rican gunner for the Hokies for what seemed like forever. Dude had been part of the Puerto Rican national team in one way or another since his teen years, and after college, starred in the Puerto Rican league for a team, and continued to be a main player on their national team. This year, he landed on Lyon-Villeurbanne Basket in the French league.
#8: BRANDON COSTNER (N.C. State forward, 95 total points) - After a redshirt year, Costner helped N.C. State to a big run in the ACC tournament in Sidney Lowe's first year, being the first team to play all four days in the 12-team league, losing to UNC in the championship game. Everything after that for Costner, much like Lowe, has not been as glorious. He skipped his senior year to enter the NBA draft, but was not drafted, played in Belgium, and came back to America this year to play for the D-League Utah Flash, hoping for one of those magical NBA 10-day contracts.
#9: GREIVIS VASQUEZ (Maryland guard, 90 total points) - At first, I used to hate Greivis Vasquez much like if he were a Duke player, and also because I think Maryland is a terrible terrible place full of soulless white peoples. But his ridiculous enthusiasm and vibrant on-court personality eventually won me over, to the point that I probably rooted for Maryland more than once, just because of Vasquez. Now he is gone, and plays for the Memphis Grizzlies, so I don't care anymore, about him or Maryland.
#10: TREVOR BOOKER (Clemson forward, 88 total points) - Even though Clemson has never been off-the-charts great, Booker makes this list on the strength of actually playing a full four year career at Clemson. He was drafted last summer by the Minnesota Timberwolves, but traded to the Washington Wizards, where he still sits on the bench to this day.
#11: GREG PAULUS (Duke guard, 87 total points) - Fucking Greg Paulus is the ultimate douchebag. Played basketball at Duke forever, and then went to Syracuse to be their QB. I think now that his football eligibility is up, he's playing lacrosse at Johns Hopkins or some shit, while getting a Ph.D. in Applied Assholery.
#12: JARED DUDLEY (Boston College forward, 85 total points) - Part of a good run that Boston College had a few years back. And he was a forward who could shoot threes, which meant you knew he'd be in the NBA for a while. Big dudes that can shoot threes, and white point guards will always flourish in the NBA. Dudley was drafted by the Charlotte Bobcats, played right away, and was traded a couple years back to the Phoenix Suns, where he remains a fixture in their line-up.
#13: GAVIN GRANT (N.C. State forward, 85 total points) - Grant was part of that same N.C. State team that made the four day run in 2007. He spent a couple years on the Utah Flash in the NBA D-League, but does not appear to be playing professionally anymore. Another hoop dream dashed. I bet he has a rim shop somewhere, or runs a property management company.
#14: SEAN SINGLETARY (UVA guard, 80 total points) - Singletary is the best player that UVA has had in recent years. He could just take over a game. That being said, it's surprising how few spots there are in the NBA. He was a deep bench player, drafted by the Sacremento Kings, but shuffled/traded/passed around from them to the Houston Rockets to the Phoenix Suns to the Charlotte Bobcats and the Philadelphia 76ers. He pulled time in the D-League with the Sioux City Skyforce, and eventually after the 76ers waived him, and there were no more chairs for him to sit in once the NBA music stopped, he signed on to play in Spain, where he still be chilling.
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