The story of the day in Greensboro was page 39 of the ACC record book.
ACC Tournament 2015: Strong guard play rules the day in Greensboro
Elite guard play (and shoddy copy editing) took center stage on day two of the ACC Tournament setting up must-see match-ups in the Thursday Quarterfinals. Cat Barber leads the day with 34 points.
Turned to page 39 of the #ACCTourney program and noticed a pattern. pic.twitter.com/TFhQBhtwme
— Joe Ovies (@joeovies) March 11, 2015
While Duke and North Carolina grab the national spotlight for their classic battles on the basketball court, few rivalries can match the next-level bitterness and intense contempt between North Carolina and North Carolina State. So, Wednesday morning when word began to spread that the record books distributed backstage listed the Wolfpack as “UNC State”, fans justifiably were unhappy about the typo. Although thoughts of conspiracy and disrespect circulated around the arena and social media, News and Record writer Powell Lattimer discovered the far more plausible and innocent root cause.
Before publication, North Carolina players were listed in the record books as "Marcus Paige, NC" when the proper citation should read "Marcus Paige, UNC". The printer did find and replace to change "NC" to "UNC," which subsequently changed "NC State" to "UNC State". The explanation settled down the conspiracy talk for one day, but expect this to evolve into something far more sinister and intentional as the legend grows over time.
Don't remember these jerseys... pic.twitter.com/PEwSO1DIL9
— Weather Moose (@WXMoose) March 11, 2015
Elsewhere around the arena, terrifying levels of school spirit and inappropriate mascots stole the show on Day 2.
Dear lord RT @BarstoolBigCat: Ok pic.twitter.com/DTlIGzBlUy
— Will Thompson (@thrillis4) March 11, 2015
Guards rule the day
March is for guards, and the ACC had some pretty good ones playing today. Of the 293 points scored in the morning session, 120 were scored by a combination of Xavier Rathan-Mayes, Rod Hall, Gabe DeVoe, Olivier Hanlan, Aaron Brown and a finally healthy Marcus Paige. Then NC State's emerging star Cat Barber decided to one-up everyone and score 34 points on just 13 field goal attempts in a win over Pitt. Oh, by the way, Jerian Grant, Tyus Jones and Quinn Cook haven't even arrived in Greensboro yet. The ACC is extremely top-heavy in terms of elite basketball teams, but the depth of backcourt talent is simply staggering. Guards generally rule the NCAA tournament, and though the league only has six schools that are locks for the big dance, all six could ride their guards into the Sweet 16.
The top four seeds take the court on Thursday for the first time, and we’ll get to see UNC vs. Louisville at 2:30 p.m. and Duke vs. NC State at 7:00 p.m. Looking ahead at the quarterfinal matchups has me like:
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