ACC Morning Linkfest 11/14

Well that was an interesting night in the ACC.  On one hand, Duke showed that they can play with even the most talented of teams and can be carried by senior leadership.  On the other hand, Virginia and Miami lost to Delaware and Florida Gulf Coast, respectively. Duke 75 Kentucky 68 First, the seniors for Duke set the tone early and in critical situations as Mason Plumlee, Ryan Kelly, and Seth Curry combined for 51 of Duke's 75 points.  Each of the 3 made high pressure shots for the Blue Devils, simply doing what seniors should do.  That said, the underclassmen provided a big lift, notably Rasheed Sulaimon who didn't have the best of shooting nights finished with 10 points and led the team with 6 rebounds and 5 assists.  Josh Hairston may have had his best game as a Blue Devil, coming off the bench to score 5 points and grab 5 rebounds while Mason Plumlee sat for large portions of the game with foul trouble.  ESPN"s highlights and analysis Delaware 59 Virginia 53 Virginia dropped to 0-2 with a loss to Delaware on Tuesday night.  The offense was dreadful for the Cavaliers in the first half, scoring just 15 points while trailing by double-figures.  Virginia did manage to take the lead in the 2nd half, but Delaware managed to win it and will head to Madison Square Garden as part of the preseason NIT while UVA will stay home and play a couple consolation games. The good news for UVA is that Jontel Evans did play, although in a limited role. Here is Tony Bennett on Virginia's loss to Delaware. Florida Gulf Coast 63 Miami 51 Miami lost to Florida Gulf Coast 63-51 on Tuesday night and while the Canes are still playing without Durand Scott, Hurricanes fans are starting to get frustrated.  The season holds a lot of promise for Miami, but according to StateOfTheU.com, the Canes got outhustled... FGCU outhustled the 'Canes at both ends of the court. They demolished Miami on the break. The smaller Eagles somehow dominated the paint and reduced the 'Canes to an ice cold perimeter team. Miami had little success attacking the zone and let the Eagles dictate the pace of the game. The 'Canes committed 18 turnovers and only dished out 10 assists. Miami shot 11-21 from the FT line. Durand Scott was still suspended. In looking at the box score, the eye-sore is Miami's shooting.  The Canes shot 29% for the game, and just 27% from 2 point range.  The 2 point shooting is unacceptable when you have players like Kenny Kadji and Reggie Johnson down low.  It's a "want to" thing for those two guys.  In other words, those guys can get themselves in good scoring position if they want to.  Their performance against Florida Gulf Coast says a lot about their motivation.  We all know what we'll get when they are playing in the conference on a national stage, unfortunately they didn't decide to show up on Tuesday and their team suffered. Tonight's ACC Action Tonight, there is only one matchup in the ACC as Georgia Tech hosts Presbyterian, a team Clemson just took care of on Monday night.    Team Conf Pct Overall Pct  Duke  0-0  1.000  2-0  1.000  UNC  0-0  1.000  2-0  1.000  Virginia Tech  0-0  1.000  2-0  1.000  Wake Forest  0-0  1.000  1-0  1.000  NC State  0-0  1.000  1-0  1.000  Georgia Tech  0-0  1.000  1-0  1.000  Boston College  0-0  1.000  1-0  1.000  Clemson  0-0  1.000  1-0  1.000  FSU  0-0  1.000  1-1  0.500  Maryland  0-0  1.000  1-1  0.500  Miami  0-0  1.000  1-1  0.500  Virginia  0-0  1.000  1-2  0.333 Links Duke-Kentucky: Blue Devils prove they are a legitimate Final Four challenger Nerlens Noel of Everett is now the center of attention in Kentucky John Clay: An ‘L’ for Cats — for learning experience Former Duke player Christian Laettner’s shot still riles bluest of Kentucky basketball fans Duke beats Kentucky on a splendid night of Dome hoops This isn’t even dress rehearsal for Kentucky basketball  Fowler: With win, Duke returns to national limelight Duke hands Kentucky basketball first loss Experience pays off for Duke over Kentucky John Calipari calls out Duke players for flopping John Calipari rips Duke for flopping Duke defeats Kentucky 75-68 in marquee basketball game Duke Now: Coach K responds to Kentucky coach’s flopping ‘joke’ Analysis: Kentucky basketball is ‘not who we thought they were’ John Calipari and the Marketing of Kentucky Basketball Men’s basketball scores historic basketball win Men’s basketball: Eagles pull off upset win over Miami UD defeats ACC opponent for first time in 50 years ACC’s early-season struggles continue vs. mid-majors Blue Hose men’s basketball travel to Georgia Tech Wednesday Basketball recruiting: N.C. State, Mark Gottfried have ‘street cred … The 10 wildest games in ACC history After starring in Brooklyn, Len earns ACC Player of the Week honors Virginia in dire need of healthy Evans Loss to Deleware costs Cavaliers trip to Madison Square Garden UNC K Casey Barth Will Miss Remainder of the Season Your user's guide to the new BCS Experience prevails as Curry, Duke topple Kentucky 75-68   Yesterday's Games Matchup    Delaware 59 @ Virginia 53  Box  Miami 51 @ Florida Gulf Coast 63  Box  Duke 75 @ Kentucky 68  Box Today's Games Time Matchup TV    7:00:00 PM  Presbyterian @ Georgia Tech  ESPN3  Preview