Title on line for Terps, Blue Devils

Scattershooting around the ACC in anticipation of tonight's perhaps prelude to next week's conference tournament championship game ...

Duke at Maryland has all the elements of the ACC Game of the Year if both teams play to their potential when the conference leaders collide tonight (9 o'clock ESPN) in College Park.

The Blue Devils hammered the Terrapins in Cameron Indoor Stadium a couple of weeks ago by 19 points, but tonight's game should be a thriller diller. Both teams are playing their best basketball of the season.

If Maryland is to find a way to beat Duke and draw even with the Devils at 12-3 for the league lead, then somehow coach Mike Krzyzewski's team is going to have to find an answer for Terps' star Greivis Vasquez, the flashy senior who has established himself as the leading candidate for ACC Player of the Year honors.

If Vasquez doesn't reap those honors, it will only be because he lets down from here onward.

The Maryland guard heads into tonight's game ranked in the top 10 of eight career statistical categories for the Terps: points scored (3); assists (2); steals (8); field goals made (6); 3-pointers (2); free throws made (6); 3-pointers attempts (1); and minutes played (1), having clocked 4,386 minutes of court time.

If there was a category, Vasquez would also probably lead in clutch shots taken, and shots taken that put another gray hair on coach Gary Williams' head. You know, the kind where a coach is shouting, "No, no," then the improbable shot goes in, and the coach is shown shouting, "Yes!"

The lucky guy that draws the unenviable position of stopping Vasquez is Duke's Nolan Smith, who didn't need any reminders that Vasquez lit up Virginia Tech for 41 points last Saturday night.

"He's definitely a handful," Smith said of the Terps opponent. "In comparison to like a Ty Lawson, he's very different. He's not a speedster, a jet who will beat you down the court in three seconds, but he definitely requires a lot of attention."

Vasquez' comments appear elsewhere in this article under "Quote of the Week."

What's wrong with Virginia?

Personally, I believe that most of the Cavaliers' problems can be traced back to talent, or rather a lack thereof.

The Cavs are comprised chiefly of some very streaky shooters, which in theory translates into not very good shooters. Virginia is playing good defense, but if there's not enough offense to support the effort, then the team is going to struggle to win.

Fact: With two games remaining in regular season heading into tonight's game at Boston College, the Cavaliers are holding opponents to an average of 63.3 points per game, which represents the fifth-lowest scoring average by opponents since Virginia became a member of the ACC in 1954.

Not surprisingly, the four previous lows all came during the Terry Holland era: 57.2 in 1982; 59.6 in 1985; 60.6 in 1981; and 61.6 in 1984.

Most of those Holland teams had enough offensive firepower to win and win big.

What's killing Tony Bennett's team is a lack of offense, a lack of consistent scorers, a lack of quality inside post guys to score offensive rebounds.

Fact: Virginia is averaging a mere 66.4 points per game. Only six previous Cavalier squads, also dating back to 1954, have scored as few points during the course of a season, and only three of those efforts have come in the last 30 years.

Fact: In UVa's 14 wins, the Cavs have shot an average of 48.2 percent; in the 13 losses, only 36.6 percent.

Fact: When Virginia shoots 40 percent or less, the Cavs are 1-10.

It's clear why Bennett and staff have recruited six new players for next year's squad. Virginia needs some guys who can score.

Stat of the week

Sixty-four straight opponents have failed to shoot 50 percent or better against Florida State, which leads the ACC in field goal percentage defense .369.

Stat of the week II

When Maryland beat Virginia Tech in double overtime Saturday night, coach Gary Williams became only the third coach in ACC history to win 200 conference games, joining Dean Smith (422) and Mike Krzyzewski (354).

Quote of the week

On tonight's big rematch with Duke, which defeated Maryland 77-56 in Durham on Feb. 13, Terps' guard Greivis Vasquez commented:

"They're not going to beat us by 20. It's not going to be like that. I could be wrong, but I can't guarantee you that, but I don't think they're going to beat us by 20. Something could happen. I'm not God. [Wednesday] is going to be such a good day just to play basketball. Let's play some ball."

War of words

Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt is catching from heat from the Atlanta media and he's firing back in a war of words.

The Yellow Jackets, 19-9, 7-7, headed into last night's game at Clemson, are attempting to get back to the NCAAs for the first time since 2007. Not helping is a 1-6 record on the road in the ACC, which isn't that unusual for Hewitt's recent teams.

What's helping is an RPI of 33 and a good strength of schedule, ranked among the toughest 15 in the nation.

Still, Tech fans and some media covering the team have wondered aloud whether or not the school is getting its monies worth out of Hewitt, with a 173-140 record in 10 seasons, 68-89 in the ACC and only 6-5 in the NCAA Tournament, including a Final Four appearance in his first year with leftover Bobby Cremins players.

Hewitt makes a salary of $1.375 million a year with an annual rollover and a buyout of approximately $7 million.

However, in response to what he perceives negative reporting, Hewitt is mad as hell and isn't going to take it any more.

The Yellow Jackets coach approved some "tweets" produced by a Tech administrative assistant this week that went out to fans in response to what he felt was unfair treatment.

One read: "Clearly we are playing our best basketball of the season. Don't believe what you read from the 'experts.'"

Another: "Are you a critic or a supporter of this team? Supporters will continue to watch this team fight."

Yet another: "To you critics: when athletes say some of the things you say, then you condemn them as quitters. Are you quitting?"

At a brief media session, Hewitt accused reporters from the Atlanta Journal Constitution and other publications of "cyberbullying."

Free throws ...

...North Carolina guard Larry Drew has vehemently denied published rumors that he plans to transfer after the season. ... Are the Tar Heels beginning to come alive, just a little bit? Freshmen John Henson and Leslie McDonald are playing their best stretches of the season and perhaps that's the spark that UNC needs to win a game or two before season's end. ... Is Wake Forest in its late-season swoon for the second year in a row? The Deacs take a three-game losing streak to Florida State tonight. Coach Dino Gaudio doesn't like what he sees in his team during that span: poor shooting. In the home loss to Carolina, Wake missed 52 shots and shot 29.7 percent. Ouch!

jratcliffe@dailyprogress.com