As Day 3 of the ACC Tournament in Brooklyn treks on, here are some court-side observations in our Thursday evening notebook.
- Florida State played 11 different guys over the first 11 minutes of action.
- The Seminoles have found something in Virginia Tech’s pick-and-roll coverage; multiple lobs thrown to Michael Ojo and Chris Koumadje in the first 12 minutes of action.
- Jonathan Isaac is amazing, but has a tendency to go invisible for stretches of time: six points in the first half; his first make was a put-back, too.
- At the 3:12 mark, though, Xavier Rathan-Mayes did find a cutting Isaac (his specialty) for a slam.
- FSU spent a fair amount of new in the first half zoning Tech, but when the Seminoles ran man-to-man, Isaac spent time guarding Seth Allen.
- Dwayne Bacon was feeling good at the start of the second half, and let Zach LeDay know about it; I am sure they were just discussing dinner plans for after the game. You know, there are a lot of great restaurants in New York City.
- A positive takeaway for the Hokies: Despite the loss, Tech has almost locked up its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2007 under Seth Greenberg.
- Two pick-and-pops for Bonzie Colson; two baskets. Salt will struggle with him in space.
- Seated behind my baseline credential for the Notre Dame-Virginia game: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie
Chris Christie in the wild! #ACCTourney pic.twitter.com/K7P4IxAsq7
— Tom Kludt (@TomKludt) March 10, 2017
- The Fighting Irish did not hit its three-point allotment; Notre Dame went just 5-of-17 from distance, but the team’s whirring motion offense created a ton of good looks from beyond the arc.
- This game, according to Sports-Reference, featured just 60 possessions, which is plodding, but should not come as much surprise. Per KenPom, both teams rank outside the top 200 in terms of adjusted pace. Virginia, of course, ranks dead last nationally, No. 351.
- I will be very excited to see how Colson functions against the size of FSU; he went just 3-of-8 on two-pointers in Notre Dame’s loss at Tallahassee in January.