Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Tony Bennett has developed an ex- tremely solid program. Last year, they surprised the conference by winning the ACC. While a repeat performance would not be stunning, they still fall under the radar nationally. With seven of their top nine contributors from last season on the team again this year — led by redshirt junior guard Malcolm Brogdon — Virginia is as steady as it gets in this conference. 3. LOUISVILLE CARDINALS (11-1) Head coach Rick Pitino's bunch is the newest entrant in the ACC and hopes to crash the party in year one. The Cardinals' lone blemish thus far came against No. 1 Kentucky (58-50), and there's no shame in that. Junior forward Montrezl Harrell de- cided to wait on the NBA Draft for another year after leading Louisville in points and rebounds per game last year. Point guard Russ Smith has moved on and that's a significant loss, but Pitino rarely struggles to reload. 4. NORTH CAROLINA TAR HEELS (9-3) The last few years, the Tar Heels have been consistently inconsistent. Few programs sign the caliber of tal- ent head coach Roy Williams brings in, but the results have not always been Non-Conference Standouts Here are five ACC players who performed as well as anyone during non-league play: Fifth-year senior guard Jerian Grant, Notre Dame — Grant's return to the Irish has gone about as well as expected. The team fell apart after his academic suspension last season, and it's no coincidence that the Irish look like an NCAA Tournament squad after his return. Grant secured ACC Player of the Week honors after notching a career-high 27 points against Michigan State Dec. 3. His 17.6 points and 6.2 assists per contest have bolstered Notre Dame's offense. Junior forward Montrezl Harrell, Louisville — Harrell leads all ACC players with two Player of the Week honors through non-conference play. His 16.0 points and 9.8 rebounds per contest paced Louisville in his return to the Cardinals after passing on the NBA. Even without point guard Russ Smith, the Cardinals have spent most of the season in the top five thanks to Harrell. Junior guard Justin Anderson, Virginia — Like his team, Anderson has mostly flown under the radar to date despite playing as well as anyone in the ACC. He earned an ACC Player of the Week honor during non-conference play and is averaging 15.1 points and 4.8 rebounds per contest. Only twice has he been held to single-digit point outputs. Freshman center Jahlil Okafor, Duke — The 7-0 freshman hasn't wasted any time asserting himself on the college level. He has won four of the seven ACC Rookie of the Week honors and is averaging 18.3 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. He grabbed an astounding 20 rebounds to go along with 25 points against Elon, and helped the Blue Devils survive non-conference tests against Wisconsin and Michigan State. Senior forward Rakeem Christmas, Syracuse — Christmas is one of the only familiar names remaining on Syracuse's roster after the departure of forwards C.J. Fair and Jerami Grant. He has been a pleasant surprise this year, averaging 17.2 points and 8.8 rebounds per contest. Head coach Jim Boeheim has relied on him during the team's rough non-conference performance with a young roster. — Andrew Owens