First two games of the tournament have little excitement

Maryland's Terrell Stoglin (12) played one of his most rounded games in a win over Wake Forest. Can he do it against North Carolina?

The first two games of the 2012 ACC Tournament were expected to be decent at best, but instead they came up flat. Maryland and Wake Forest met in the first game, an eight-nine matchup, with Maryland taking the romp 82-60. The second game featured what was supposed to be the largest margin of any of the first round games as fifth seeded NC State met twelfth seeded Boston College. The Wolfpack took the win 78-57. If nothing else, the first two games showed off a couple of the young stars in the league, while the boredom of it all was the theme.

In the first game Maryland pulled away in the second half to defeat Wake Forest and complete a season sweep of the Demon Deacons. Terrell Stoglin led all scorers with 25 points, and, in one of his most complete games of the season, added seven rebounds and four assists. Freshman Nick Faust added 19 points while ten players scored for the Terps. Travis McKie led the Deacons with 22 points, while Nikita Mescheriakov added 16 and CJ Harris 14. The rest of the team combined for eight points. Maryland, especially in the second half, was a Terrapin team we have not seen this year. They were playing as a team, sharing the ball (18 assists) and were not settling for Stoglin jacking up 25 shots. While walk-on Spencer Barks was one of the players that scored, the ten that made it into the scoring column showed a sense of playing as a team that Maryland has not shown on a consistent basis. This all happened against Wake Forest though. The Terps are lucky they were able to rest their regulars as they have a noon matchup with mighty North Carolina tomorrow.

NC State had to be thinking win or go home for their NCAA chances. It did not really come across that way in their win over Boston College in the second game of the day. While the Wolfpack won by 21, there was a lull during the second half where their lead stuck between seven and ten points for about 10 minutes. Boston College came out of the halftime locker room angry, bringing the lead back to six after being down 13 at the half. Scott Wood led NC State's scorers with 22 while going 5-9 from beyond the arc, while Lorenzo Brown had 12 points and 8 assists. The most impressive player for either team had to be Boston College freshman Ryan Anderson, who also put in 22 points while grabbing 12 rebounds. The season may now be over for the Eagles but Anderson gives fans a reason to think the Eagles would have been right there without 19 turnovers. CJ Leslie added 11 points and grabbed 11 boards but was almost unheard of for a the section of the second half where the Eagles remained in the game. The Wolfpack get Virginia next, and Leslie is going to need to show up the way he has the past month in order to matchup with Mike Scott. The Cavaliers beat the Wolfpack by one on January 28th.

Hopefully the games tonight will be more interesting. Virginia Tech and Clemson promises to be the best matchup of the first round while it will be a surprise if Georgia Tech sneaks up on Miami.

Reaction: Wednesday's Mayhem

This article cannot begin with anything other than discussing how amazing THE game was. The best game of this year's college basketball season, you have to give props to Austin Rivers and the determination of a Duke team that never gave up. The other two games, in case you were too tuned in to Carolina-Duke, were a surprising loss by a hot Florida State team to bottom-dweller Boston College, and Virginia putting their stingy defense to work one more time to dominate Wake Forest.

Winners:

Austin Rivers: The star that Duke fans have seen glimpses of has finally fully arrived. The freshman, who came in as the number one recruit a year ago, poured in 29 points while etching his name into Duke-UNC lore with a shot for the ages. Not only do we know that Rivers can drive but on a court that featured the like of Seth Curry, Andre Dawkins, Reggie Bullock, and Harrison Barnes, Rivers was the best shooter. It will be fun to see how teams try to defend the dual threat, especially knowing that he has become Duke's top weapon.

Tyler Zeller: In a losing effort, Zeller continued to put up numbers that put him in the talks for conference player of the year. Zeller scored 19 of his 23 and secured 8 of his 11 boards in the first half, becoming the sole reason Carolina was able to stay in the game and take a three point lead into the half. Look for Zeller and Virginia's Mike Scott to battle it out for POY the rest of the season.

Jordan Daniels: The Boston College freshman made sure that his team could finish the year with at least one big time win under their belt. The guard scored a career high 19 points, including four threes, that helped push the Eagles past soaring Florida State. Daniels' first three was the beginning of a 23-3 run by the Eagles that put the game out of reach of a comeback.

Mike Scott: No surprise to see the Virginia redshirt senior here, as he has been all year. Not only did Scott put up his average 19 points but he set a school record by going 9-9 from the field. On a night when Zeller led his team for one half in a losing effort, Scott led his team to a blowout win. More good news for him? He got help, four other Cavaliers scored in double figures.

Losers:

Reggie Bullock: Bullock was in the middle of controversy during a chippy end to the first half. The sophomore was trying to keep Rivers from getting the ball with under a minute to go. The matchup got physical and Rivers ended up on the grounded. Bullock "stumbled" over Rivers and the refs had to interfere after UNC's John Henson and Duke's Tyler Thornton started talking too. What's worse? Bullock scored only four points to Rivers' 29. Carolina missing Dexter Strickland?

Wake Forest Offense: The Deacons managed just 44 points on 34% shooting against a defense that is used to seeing those kind of numbers from their opponents. Travis McKie was matched up with Scott all night and managed a rough 14 points. CJ Harris, the leading scorer for the Deacons, was held to ten. These two got no help, as the rest of the team managed a mere 20 points.

Luke Loucks, Florida State Offense: The Seminoles point guard has been on a quiet tear lately but came out flat against a determined Boston College defense. Loucks ended with just two points on 1-8 shooting, a representation of Florida State's offense as a whole, which shot below 40% and turned the ball over 14 times to just 8 assists.