Duke Rolls Past UVA; Miami Stuns Viginia Tech

The Duke Blue Devils were favored to defeat Virginia and they did just that, 57-46. It wasn’t east for Duke early as the two teams were tied at 29 when the first half buzzer sounded. Duke outplayed Virginia in every phase of the game, including shooting, ball security, rebounding, and from the free throw line. The three-headed monster of Singler, Scheyer, and Smith had a combined 48 points and 22 rebounds. Duke wasn’t dominant, they were simply better.

Virginia’s season is likely over and Cavs fans have to be pleased with the progress made under first year coach Tony Bennet. Duke moves on to play Miami tomorrow in the semi-final round.

Speaking of Miami, the 12th-seeded Cinderella ‘Canes are the story of the ACC tournament so far, pulling two consecutive upsets, including a 70-65 victory over the 4th-seeded Virginia Tech Hokies. Miami trailed by 2 at half but stayed with its game plan, as 7 ’Canes scored more than 5 points. Durand Scott and DeQuan Jones combined for 31, and the Canes out-rebounded Tech 52-37. Perhaps most importantly, Miami suffocated Virginia Tech’s Malcolm Delaney to 7 points on 3-15 shooting.

Virginia Tech’s tourney hopes might be in jeopardy considering its weak non-conference schedule. The Hokies must now hope that other bubble teams don’t make deep runs in the various other conference tournaments.