The Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, for me, is the big one this time of year. Used to be back in the day, my dad would stay home from work and I'd be sick from school so we could indulge in the opening round on Friday afternoon. Back then, it was a perfect crazy eight teams, simple three-day single elimination tourney. The extra round adds not a whole lot, and were it up to me, the first round would be played middle of the week at the home campus of the higher seed to whittle the ACC field down to a simple eight teams for a three-day tournament. Unfortunately, growing up a UVA fan, there weren't a lot of high points in my lifetime. Since Virginia Tech has joined, I root for both state teams, and Virginia Tech has flirted with success (actually getting a bye four out of the last six years), but has yet to bust down that door, usually getting stifled by stupid North Carolina. And luckily for me, Friday is considered Spring Break Day at my new job, so I will be getting paid, and I will be sitting down with a cold ass beverage in my hand about noon, and watching some basketball. Hopefully, Virginia can win with their mangled depleted roster tomorrow afternoon, and on Friday I can root against my better senses for UVA to upset Duke. Shit, even if it's Boston College I'm gonna root against Duke. People who root for Duke are of questionable character to me. My homeboy and freestyle tag team partner Mike Gee is a Dookey rooter, and I try to forget that because it's really the only questionable mark on his overall awesome personal character, but it tends to come up this time of year. Nonethelesses, here are the top 14 scorers in ACC tournaments of the past four year cycles...
#1: Tyler Hansbrough (North Carolina forward; 186 points in ACC tourneys '06-'09) - Oh man, I hated me some Tyler Hansbrough during his never-ending stint in college, mostly because he always looked like a bratty seven-year-old soccer player with those bug eyes and that haircut. Hahaha, I think I have the same haircut now, with my sell-out ass. But even though I hated me some Hansbrough, I feel sorry for dude, all trapped up in the confines of the modern NBA, which has no room for his scrappy 1953-style whiteboy game. Tough shit though, Tyler; sit on the Pacers bench and clock your grip asshole. Maybe you can get a better haircut.
#2: Wayne Ellington (North Carolina guard; 142 points in ACC tourneys '07-'09) - Funny thing is I didn't mind Ellington so much. I actually don't even hate North Carolina like I used to now that fucking cryptkeeper Dean Smith took his dusty ass into retirement. Longshot Wayne is on the Minnesota Timberwolves now. Sometimes I wish pro sports in America was more chaotic, without all the reverse order drafting and shit, so that guys ended up playing pro near where they played college, and then you could have a regional rooting interest and we could all get drink and go on bus trips to other cities and burn each other in the streets over sports, like soccer.
#3: Tyrese Rice (Boston College guard; 126 points in ACC tourneys '06-'09) - Holy shit, I was absolutely shocked to see Tyrese Rice is playing in Greece right now (for Panionios ON Telecoms Athens). He's a former Richmond area high schooler, who public schooled his way into Division I basketball, and was dominant at times, taking over games. But the more I look up these former college level superstars, the more I realize just how few NBA jobs there are for people to snag.
#4: Toney Douglas (Florida State guard; 125 points in ACC tourneys '07-'09) - Douglas helped take Florida State to the tournament championship last year, and now kicks it with the dismantled New York Knicks. I did not know his full history though. He played a year at Auburn, and actually did really well, put his name in the NBA draft, but withdrew it without taking an agent, and transferred to Florida State. He's from Tampa, so I guess he needed to move home and get his head together. It's always hard to trust the grey matter of FSU athletes, even with that one Rhodes Scholar football player doing interviews around the clock because everyone is so amazed a football player can be smart. I always assumed Douglas was gangsta as fuck, wore gold teeth, and raped strippers with T-Pain.
#5: A.D. Vassallo (Virginia Tech guard/forward; 112 points in ACC tourneys '06-'09) - Vassallo, from Puerto Rico (HOOOOOO!), was one of the best guards in the state of Virginia in a while, and helped make Virginia Tech a real threat in the ACC. Post-college, he played pro ball back in Puerto Rico (HOOOOOOO!, shout out to Frankie Cutlass), as well as on the national team that won silver in the FIBA Americas Cup last year. This year, he's plying his trade in France for Paris-Levallois, and he made the All-Star game, so his shot obviously hasn't stopped hitting.
#6: Jon Scheyer (Duke guard; 110 points in ACC tourneys '07-'09) - Still in college.
#7: Brandon Costner (North Carolina State forward; 95 points in ACC tourneys '07 and '09) - Costner pretty much took over the ACC tournament in 2007, carrying the Wolfpack to the championship game. This final two years weren't as noteworthy as that sophomore year, and he played himself down to the Belgium League with Dexia Mons-Hainaut. Still, he's still ballin'.
#8: Greg Paulus (Duke guard; 87 points in ACC tourneys '06-'09) - Oh man, fuck Greg Paulus. Fuck his goofy whiteboy Duke style; fuck him going to Syracuse to be QB for a year afterwards; and fuck him pretending he can get into the NFL. Fuck him.
#9: Jared Dudley (Boston College forward; 85 points in ACC tourneys '06 and '07) - Jared Dudley's another bad ass from Boston College, who was ACC player of the year his senior year in 2007. He spent some time with the Charlotte Bobcats (who drafted him coming out of college) but got traded to the Phoenix Suns last year, where he currently is a starter.
#10: Gavin Grant (North Carolina State forward; 85 points in ACC tourneys '06-'08) - I don't even remember Gavin Grant. He was with the Utah Flash in the D-League until he left the team last December, so I probably won't have to remember him ever again.
#11: Sean Singletary (Virginia guard; 80 points in ACC tourneys '06-'08) - Singletary is probably the best guy who's played at Virginia since I've lived in the area the past decade. After graduating in 2008, he was drafted by the Sacramento Kings, traded to the Houston Rockets, moved to the Phoenix Suns, and traded again to the Charlotte Bobcats. All of this was even before the end of December of that season. In March of last year, the Bobcats sent him down to the Sioux Falls Skyforce in the D-League to finish the year out. This year, he was in preseason camp with the Philadelphia 76ers but didn't make the team, and now is in Spain playing for Caja Laboral Vitoria. Good lord.
#12: K.C. Rivers (Clemson guard/forward; 75 points in ACC tourneys '06-'09) - No NBA for this thuggish ruggish swingman after he finished pretending to go to Clemson last year. He has landed in Italy, where he started out for Associazione Basket Latina in their second league, but upgraded his self through his play to Benetton Treviso in the top league.
#13: Greivis Vasquez (Maryland guard; 73 points in ACC tourneys '07-'09) - Still in college; will speak upon him tomorrow.
#14: Jason Rich (Florida State guard; 72 points in ACC tourneys '06-'08) - Guiltless shooting guard who missed out on the Seminoles' ACC run last year, because he was in Italy playing pro already. This year he is on the esteemed Maccabi Haifa Heat in the Israeli Premier League.
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