Courageous Cougar

The NCHSAA has awarded Quontellas Norwood  of SouthWest Edgecombe High School the Courage Award for the school year 2015-2016.  If you recall back in August of 2015 after a Cougar Football game Norwood was shot while driving a car in Rocky Mount.  Asking for help by knocking on a near by door Norwood received treatment and surgery from his wounds.  It took four weeks to recover but Norwood played a vital part in the Cougar run during conference play and in the state playoffs.  Norwood won the award at the year end State meetings held Thursday at the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill.

There are three weeks remaining in the ACC baseball race and only ten of the conference's teams will get invited to play  in the end of the season tournament.  Right now Miami has the  best record in the conference with a 14-5 record.  Florida state comes next at 14-6.  Louisville 14-7 ranks third and N C State stands fourth at 12-7.  All four of these teams seems to be shoo ins to make it to Durham when the ACC tournament starts May 24th.

Virginia stands at 14-10 and have a little distance between themselves and everyone else still in the hunt.  Georgia Tech is the only other ACC school not sporting a losing record at this point and they are 10-10. That makes them sixth in the standings and sixth is a magic number for only having to play four games to win the tournament.  Tuesday the 24th 7th place will play 10th and 8th will meet 9th and the two winners will make the top eight  and join the field.  Any team 11th or more the season is over.

 Wake Forest 10-11,Notre Dame 9-10, Clemson 11-13, North Carolina 9-12, Boston College 9-13 Pitt 8-12 and Duke 10-14 all have shots at making  the field. Starting with Georgia Tech right on through Duke  eight teams are just two games apart in the standings so every series the next three weeks can get you in the top ten  or out of the NCAA tournament.

This weekend N C State 8th in college baseball RPI and a real shot at hosting a regional and possibly eligible to host  a Super Regional plays at Clemson  9th in the RPI but 9th in the ACC and if the tournament started today Clemson will play the Tueday play in game.  This series is huge for both.

Louisville 2nd in the RPI visits  Carolina 14th in RPI but 10th in the ACC standings.  If Carolina can make a push to make the final ten or the top six teams in Durham they must win two of three this weekend.  Having missed the NCAA last year Carolina needs as many wins a possible to insure life in Durham.  Wake Forest heads to Boston to play BC and both need wins to stay or go to top ten spots. Duke has this weekend off from ACC play so they  need some of those ahead of them to lose more than they win this weekend.

One of the great features of the ACC tournament in North Carolina is that there has been record attendance every year especially in Durham with Duke, Carolina and State so close to the DBAP.  If say only State is the only local team to make the final eight can the Wolfpack faithful fill up the ball park enough to even show reason to keep the tournament in the Tar Heel State.  All the political pressure being applied to the ACC about any event being held any where in North Carolina  money raised through attendance will always out weigh outside pressure.

A Georgia Tech - Miami game played at any site is only going to have a thousand people there including a 10:00am game in Durham.  In the past one of the reasons despite what Carolina or State's
seedings have been they always get the night time games because eight thousand will show up and if they play each other the place is not big enough for the possible crowds.

Duke, Wake, and Carolina have some work to do to get invites to this years tournament.  The Wolfpack has just as much work to hold on to what they have earned to date.  If all four could get to Durham then the crowds would probably break the existing records for attendance.  It would then be possible that a North Carolina school could be involved in every game played every day.