By Sonny Jones
There’s always excitement for opening night and Monday’s college basketball openers were no different. However, with ACC teams playing opponents they were almost guaranteed to beat, it was difficult to get too fired up.
Unless, of course, you’re Florida State, which lost to Stetson 83-74. Otherwise, ACC teams were 12-0 on opening night, although none of the games were against a Power 5 conference team nor were any on the road.
• UNC 69, UNC WILMINGTON 56: A nice win in a so-so performance for the Tar Heels against a Seahawks team that should do much better than their predicted fifth place finish in the Colonial Athletic Association. The Tar Heels were outrebounded 37-32, including 16-7 on the offensive boards, and had only four assists, but did limit UNCW to 29% shooting.
Best part about the Tar Heels is that Armando Bacot, Leaky Black, R.J. Davis and Caleb Love returned to the team in an attempt to win a national championship. In an age where players leave for the pros as soon as possible, it’s nice to see a core group stick around.
The Tar Heels have their sights set on Houston. Monday’s opener doesn’t take away from that goal. Pete Nance will be a solid addition and Dontrez Styles and Fayetteville’s D’Marco Dunn will contribute more this season. UNC will be just fine.
• DUKE 71, JACKSONVILLE 44: How odd not to see Mike Krzyzewski on the Blue Devils bench. It’s the Jon Scheyer era now and he has a load of young talent. Duke, as expected, won easily without its two top-rated freshmen, Dereck Lively and Dariq Whitehead.
While freshmen Mark Mitchell, who scored a game-high 18 against the Dolphins, and Kyle Filipowski, who had a game-high 12 rebounds, looked good, the key for the Blue Devils will be the play of returning guard Jeremy Roach and a solid contribution from transfer Ryan Young. It’s a super talented young group that will benefit from their leadership.
Duke has another warmup game against S.C. State before playing the likes of Kansas, Oregon State and Ohio State later this month.
For us old folks, every time I see Jacksonville I think of Artis Gilmore and Pembrook Burrows. You young folks can look it up.
• N.C. STATE 99, AUSTIN PEAY 50: Terquavion Smith scored 26 and showed he will be one of the most exciting players to watch. The key for N.C. State will be the performance of its transfer players.
Can you really take away much from beating an outmanned opponent by 49? This is an important season for Kevin Keatts and the Wolfpack. It got off to a nice start and, combined with a weak non-conference schedule outside of playing Kansas later this month and Vanderbilt in mid-December, it should allow N.C. State to have a good record when ACC play gets in full swing. What happens in ACC play?
My son, who lives in Raleigh, was inside PNC Arena for the game. I encouraged him as folks were heading up to the concourse to … uh … take a break at halftime to stand up and chant “Let’s Go Peay! Let’s Go Peay!” He’s not the type to do that which makes a father proud.
TODAY IN SPORTS HISTORY
• 2017 — Brazilian surfer Rodrigo Koxa breaks the world record for surfing the biggest-ever wave at 24.4m (80 feet) at Nazara, Portugal.
TUESDAY’S PICK TO CLICK
Connor McDavid has a goal and an assist to help Edmonton beat Tampa Bay and snap a three-game losing streak.
SUNDAY’S PICK: After last week’s “wall ride” to get into the title race, Ross Chastain will win the NASCAR Cup championship at Phoenix Raceway. He’s not the favorite, but after the video game move at Martinsville he’s the choice. RESULTS: Chastain finished third in the race and second to Cup champion Joey Logano. He had the faster car in the closing laps, but needed another “wall ride” to catch Logano.
POTATO PICKS TO WATCH TODAY
• BASKETBALL: N.C. Central at Virginia, 7 p.m., BALLY SOUTH
• NHL: Edmonton at Tampa Bay, 7:30 p.m., TNT
• FOOTBALL: Ball State at Toledo, 8 p.m., ESPN
Sonny Jones can be reached at wibbyj@gmail.com.
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