A Big Week of Big East vs. ACC

Good early season matchups in college basketball are as rare as zone defenses in Bloomington, Ind.

Great early season matchups come along about as often as that 6-foot-8 point guard with a catchy nickname.

The inaugural ACC-Big East Challenge brought about what was it was supposed to -- games before Christmas that fans couldn’t wait to see and coaches couldn’t wait to complain about.

The eight-game series was played this week over four days in three cities and it brought a spring feeling in the winter. It may not have been March Madness but it was December Delirium for the two conferences, their fans and a national television audience.

Monday, Dec. 4

The Hartford Civic Center was afforded the honor of starting the hoopfest and the first matchup was a dandy between Georgia Tech and Pittsburgh.

Georgia Tech coach Bobby Cremins had Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner Gene Corrigan talk to his team before the game.

“He told the team how lucky it was to be the one to start the series for the conference,” Cremins said. “He didn’t put any pressure on the team, in fact, he told them not to worry because we were going against Monday Night Football.”

Anyone who watched the Bills-Seahawks instead of the Yellow Jackets and Panthers missed the outstanding individual performance of the challenge.

Georgia Tech’s Dennis Scott had 42 points and hit the game-winning shot with one second left in the 93-92 victory.

“It was just another game for me, this was for the fans,” said Scott, who lost about 30 pounds from last season and he showed it didn’t affect his shooting touch. “This was the type of team you meet in the NCAA and it was fun because I had never played against a Big East team before.

“There’s definitely a difference in style. They’re more physical.”

It was also the television debut of Georgia Tech freshman guard Kenny Anderson who didn’t disappoint his friends and family who traveled from New York, scoring 20 points and handing out five assists while directing the Yellow Jackets offense.

The crowd of 10,174 at the Hartford Civic Center was like one at an NCAA tournament game, just sitting back and observing two good teams without wild partisan cheering.

Most of those in the arena were waiting for their Connecticut Huskies to play Maryland in the second game.

They didn’t go home disappointed as the Huskies prevailed 85-67 in the only blowout of the series.

“This is a great thing because the players want it and that’s the most important thing,” Terrapins coach Gary Williams said adding with a smile, “It sure was great playing on a neutral court.”

Just up the road in New England, Boston College, the nine-member Big East’s odd team out, lost to Fordham 81-68 giving the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference a sweep of the one-game MAAC-Big East Challenge.

Tuesday, Dec. 5

The scene shifted south to Greensboro, N.C., and one college basketball’s most famous arenas -- the Greensboro Coliseum.

The crowd of 6,785 was disappointing considering Wake Forest, which lost to Seton Hall 76-74 in overtime in the first game, is just 30 minutes away and North Carolina State, which beat St. John’s 67-58 in the nightcap, is about an hour’s drive.

Conference spirit was apparent for the first time as the bands from the two ACC schools joined forces and began chanting the league’s initials when Wake Forest’s Chris King scored on a thunderous dunk early in the game.

The extra five minutes of play made the first game the night’s exciting one.

“I like the challenge idea a lot better now than I did five minutes before the game,” said Seton Hall P.J. Carlesimo, who showed up with his beard intact. Word had spread that the coach of last year’s NCAA runner-ups was shaving before the game but he said that was misunderstanding of a joke with the media.

The games were played under regular NCAA rules so the Big East’s experimental six-foul rule wasn’t used, we think.

With 2:43 to play in regulation, Wake Forest point guard Derrick McQueen was charged with a foul and everyone on press row, the stat crew and McQueen thought that was No. 5. However, the official scorer said it was just four and McQueen remained in the game the rest of the way.

The N.C. State-St. John’s game brought about an officiating controversy when the wrong player was sent to the free throw line for the Wolfpack after a technical foul had been charged to St. John’s guard Boo Harvey.

When order was restored, North Carolina State had tied the score with a six-point play and went on to the victory.

The Wolfpack’s backcourt of Rodney Monroe and Chris Corchiani lived up to its billing as one of the best in the nation.

Corchiani played the entire 40 minutes and Coach Jim Valvano was asked if that might take its toll on the point guard.

“I told him as long as I have to be on the sidelines, you have to be on the court,” Valvano said. “It’s like when I had Sidney (Lowe, the point guard on the 1983 national championship team). We were playing West Virginia at the Meadowlands and he came over and said ‘Coach, I need a blow.’ I told him, ‘The next time you come out of the game is when your eligibility is up.”’

Wake Forest’s Anthony Tucker was the only player in the challenge with experience on both sides. The forward transferred from Georgetown two seasons ago and this is his first year with the Demon Deacons.

“Every game has special meaning,” said Tucker, who had 24 points and nine rebounds in renewing some old on-court rivalries. “I think it’s a great series for the players and the fans but I don’t think it tells who’s the better league.”

St. John’s coach Lou Carnesecca paid the Greensboro Coliseum and his team compliments after the game, although one was backhanded.

When asked if it was tough to play North Carolina State at an arena so close to its campus, Carnesecca replied: “Hey, I’ve come here with good teams and never won in Greensboro.”

Wednesday, Dec. 6

This became the night to remember in the first challenge.

Clemson beat Providence 72-71 and Syracuse downed Duke 78-76 in two games which were played under conditions usually found when the snow has disappeared.

The Coliseum seemed more like its old self with 11,643 there, most wearing the blue of Duke.

Providence did a nice touch for the Big East fans as it rented the North Carolina A&T; band for the night.

The Aggies had contacted all eight schools that were scheduled for Greensboro, their home city, and asked if anyone would need a band.

“We made a donation to their band fund and suppiled them with Providence T-shirts and they seemed thrilled to get in to see the games,” Providence sports information Greg Burke said. “They were great kids and made it fun for our fans that came down here.”

Again, the ACC schools banded together and it provided a sight you won’t see during the season -- the Clemson Tiger marching around with the Duke Blue Devil’s trident leading the wild Duke fans in some of their famous cheers.

The games were both decided at the free throw line, a place where neither winning team had ever had much success.

Duke-Syracuse was the matchup of the No. 2 seeds but it would be the No. 1 game of the series.

Two excellent teams -- Syracuse was No. 1, Duke sixth -- playing a game whose tape was a keeper.

Neither team led by more than three points over the final 17:43 and there were 12 ties and 10 lead changes. Each possession became one to be dissected after the game.

“That was, without a doubt, the greatest college basketball game ever played in the month of December,” said Howard Garfinkel, who publishes a high school scouting service, runs the Five-Star basketball camp and is prone to superlatives.

He really wasn’t far off, though.

“That was very intense,” said Syracuse’s Billy Owens who finished with 18 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. “This was the hyped-up Big East-ACC. I’ll be rooting for Georgetown tomorrow, the last time I ever root for Georgetown.”

Derrick Coleman of the Orangemen, who had 16 points, 19 rebounds and seven assists, said he hadn’t missed any of the previous games and he, too, would be pulling for his school’s fiercest rival in the series finale.

“I always root for the Big East against other teams,” he said. “A win like this shows a lot of pride in our conference. That’s the way it’s been since the challenge started.”

Even in losing, Duke impressed many with their tough defense and the way the freshmen guards fit in to the system and handled the more athletic Orangemen.

“This helped both teams,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “I was impressed with what both teams did.

Thursday, Dec. 7

The final night ended like the other three with a split in the games for a 4-4 overall tie but this was special in its own way as well.

The Byrne Meadowlands Arena was nearly full with 18,641 and the second game was the reason, Georgetown and North Carolina were getting together.

Virginia, which brought along a four-man band -- a trombone and three trumpets -- beat Villanova 73-65 to put the pressure on Georgetown to bring the Big East even.

It was only the third time Georgetown’s John Thompson and Dean Smith of the Tar Heels, two very close friends, ever went against each other and Smith led 2-0. Their last meeting was the 1982 NCAA championship game when then-freshman Michael Jordan hit the jumper with 17 seconds to play for the 63-62 victory.

Thompson had been adamant in his oppostion to the series. Even after his team looked impressive in beating the Tar Heels 93-81 he remained against it.

“My mind hasn’t changed one bit,” he said. “I didn’t base what I said on the competitive aspect. I didn’t like the idea for my team and my program. That’s not the way I like to get them ready.”

The Hoyas blocked 15 shots -- 10 by Dikembe Mutombo -- and shot well from the outside -- Mark Tillmon was 11-for-17 -- and displayed yet another weapon, freshman point guard David Edwards.

He finished with 12 points -- eight in the final 6:22 -- and seven assists but it was his flashy style and Curly Neal-like dribbling exhibition in the final 30 seconds which raised eyebrows of the anti-Georgetown crowd and the voices of those rooting for the Hoyas.

“Little Edwards -- either he’s going to kill me or I’m going to kill him,” Thompson said. “We have a mutual understanding and a bet on who will do it first. He’s a little different for a Georgetown player.

“David has added a lot of fun in my life and I love him but if you saw our practices you would think his first name is Goddamn David.”

As Thompson panned the challenge, Smith said he was in favor of it for one reason.

“The players like it that’s why I like it,” he said. “I felt we overscheduled already and we didn’t need to add another game.”

The contract for the challenge has three more years on it and when the inaugural series was over, even the less than capacity crowds couldn’t take an edge off it. The end result was what was hoped for -- great college basketball early in the season between two of the nation’s top conferences.