GREENSBORO -- With 295 pounds of Winston-Salem muscle pounding the glass, 12th-seeded Miami is still alive.
Four years ago in Greensboro, Wake Forest went from last place to the ACC semifinals, but it’s hard to believe it could happen again, particularly given the Hurricanes didn’t win a road game in the league. Yet there they are, playing Duke in Saturday’s early semifinal.
Redshirt freshman Reggie Johnson, a product of Winston-Salem Prep, pulled down 12 rebounds as the Hurricanes kept rolling with a 70-65 win over Virginia Tech.
If no one saw this coming, maybe it’s because Miami’s best players in this tournament had done very little to this point to suggest this was possible.
Freshman guard Durand Scott scored a game-high 17 against the Hokies, almost double his average, after scoring only six points Thursday.
Johnson, who dropped 40 pounds during his redshirt year, hung a career-high 22 points on Wake Forest on Thursday before winning the inside battle with VT’s Jeff Allen on Friday. Miami outrebounded Virginia Tech, 46-29.
DeQuan Jones, a highly touted recruit who did nothing as a freshman and very little this season as a sophomore, has 14 points in each game of the ACC tournament. He scored 16 against Florida Gulf Coast earlier this season, his only other double-figure game.
Together, they’ve helped a team that went 4-12 in the ACC upset the No. 5 and No. 4 seeds in the tournament, echoing Wake Forest’s run in 2006 when the Deacons beat Florida State and N.C. State to advance to the semifinals.
Virginia Tech, meanwhile, can’t make a run in the ACC tournament even with Tyler Hansbrough safely in the NBA.
Still, Virginia Tech had every chance to win if Malcolm Delaney had played up to par. He was 0-for-5 from 3-point range when he missed another with 10 minutes to go, running down the court with his head hanging.
From the bench, Seth Greenberg yelled, “Malcolm! Malcolm!” Without looking back, Delaney nodded, but he never lifted his head.
Delaney missed his next six shots, including a futile airball on Virginia Tech’s last possession, giving the Hurricanes every reason to head into Saturday’s semis with their heads held high.
Luke has worked for The N&O since 2000. He covered the Carolina Hurricanes and the NHL before becoming a sports columnist in August 2008. A native of Evanston, Ill., he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. He can be reached at 829-8947 or 
Comments
no suprises on the upsets.
Fri, 03/12/2010 - 19:20 — duke_blueno suprises on the upsets. this is the last chance that some of them have to get into the NCAA or NIT tourney. of course they are going to bring everything they got.
and there you go....good win
Fri, 03/12/2010 - 21:32 — duke_blueand there you go....good win GT.
Wow
Fri, 03/12/2010 - 18:12 — unc098Everyone is overlooking Miami. Until tomorrow
upsets abound
Fri, 03/12/2010 - 17:22 — gvillegatrevery where you look there are upsets or big buckets by the favored team in every conference tourney game.
it appears all the "madness" has started a week early.