Note: As a kid I was a devotee of the card and dice basketball game, "ACC-Tion," which existed from 1980 to 1985. The game was a statistically accurate simulation of ACC basketball that allowed you coach one (or both) teams, and featured such nuances as home court advantage, momentum swings, and injuries. When I realized a new edition of the game for 1985-86 was not going to come out, I made my own update to the game, using official statistics and creating an individualized card for each player which consisted of a white notecard a top of light cardboard in the color appropriate to each school. The final piece was writing up a "scouting report" for each school in the game, which was an imitation of the team-by-team scouting report that came with prior editions of the game. After not having seen this document in many years, a printout of it recently surfaced and I've scanned it here. This was written when I was a 16 year-old, in November 1986.

1985-86 ACC SCOUTING REPORTS

DUKE BLUE DEVILS- After two close midseason losses to Carolina and Georgia Tech, Duke rode a 21-game winning streak to win the ACC championship and finish second to Louisville in the NCAA Tournament. It was a near perfect season for the Blue Devils; Duke won the preseason NIT, the ACC regular-season championship, the ACC Tournament, finished No.1 in both wire service polls, and won the East Regional before succumbing in the final minutes of the national title game. The backcourt duo of Amaker and Dawkins was the most consistently effective in the country, as Dawkins averaged 20 pts. a game to earn All-America honors, while Amaker averaged six assists a game. Alarie once again led the Duke frontcourt, and his intelligent play helped make up for what the Dukies lacked in size up front. Henderson finally became a starter at SF and responded by becoming Duke's best clutch player. Freshman Ferry was forced to start early on due to Bilas's injury, and played well overall, although his shooting was disappointing. Bilas once again played his game: rebounding and fouls(both drawing and committing). King was a big help on the defensive end, giving Coach K five extra fouls to work with. Snyder played surprisingly well at both guard spots, but Strickland had a poor sophomore season. Williams and Nessley both improved their play, but still only made negligible contributions. Duke was a great team in '86, but they dominated few teams; 9 of their 15 ACC wins came by 10 points or less. Without good coaching, Duke is very beatable.

GEORGIA TECH YELLOW JACKETS- Despite failing to live up to pre-season billing as the best team in the country, Tech's story was not a sad one. The Jackets won the most league games (13) in their history and came a bucket away from repeating as ACC champions. Price continued to lead the team effectively and still score a lot in his senior season. Price was without a doubt that most important single player under 6-11 in the country in terms of helping an entire program during his four years. Salley struggled at center all year long, but nevertheless was crucial to Tech's success. Hammonds stepped right in and played like a senior in his rookie year, as he the Jackets in FG% and provided good rebounding. Ferrell has yet to reach his full potential, but was still the No.3 SF in the league behind Bias and Henderson. Dalrymple's shooting was still a question mark compared to his teammates, yet Bruce was perhaps Tech's best all-around player, particularly in high-tempo games. Tech had virtually no depth; Neal tended to play out of control, while Ford was a liability offensively, although his game improved in other areas. Tech stood head and shoulders above most of the league in '86; however, Tech failed to beat other great teams all year long, primarily because of lack of depth. Still, with a little more luck, Tech very well could have been ACC champions in both the regular season and tournament.

NORTH CAROLINA TAR HEELS- Let's face it: for the first two months of the season, Carolina was the dominant team in college basketball. Unfortunately for the Tar Heels, it's the last month that really counts, and once again, injuries to key players kept Carolina from showing how good they could be in March. Still, 28 wins ain't shabby, and when healthy, North Carolina had perhaps the finest load of talent and potential talent by any ACC team, ever. Daugherty"s improvement continued into his senior year, and once he got the ball, the 6-11 center was the most effective player in the conference, as he had an unbelievable 65% FG rate. Carolina had the best three-guard rotation in the nation; senior Hale did everything well, and had the best overall performance of the season by an ACC player in the home win over Duke; his injury in late February probably cost Carolina. the regular-season title. Kenny Smith did not improve his numbers statistically; nevertheless he was Carolina's most important player, and was the premier point guard in terms of total performance in the league. Freshman Lebo's shooting fluctuated all year, but he was the most fundamentally sound newcomer in 86, save for Hammonds. Wolf  played well at all frontcourt spots - his injury in the ACC Tournament did the Heels in. Junior forwards Popson and Hunter continued to fall short of expectations, yet each improved their games significantly despite having playing time cut as the season wore on. Martin was hobbled by injuries in '86, and was thus less effective - an off-season injury had caused the big guy to regress in his development of speed and coordination - but still a big plus. Freshman forwards Madden and Bucknall excelled at opposite ends, Madden offense, Bucknall defense, and although Madden saw a lot of playing time early, neither player was developed enough to fit into Dean"s plans as a rookie. Ranzino Smith was an amazing offensive player, given the opportunity, but the 6-0 sophomore had no realistic chance of cracking the backcourt rotation. Overall, a great team, but great coaching is needed to establish a solid lineup and deal with injuries to win a better fate than befell the Heels in '86.

NORTH CAROLINA STATE WOLFPACK- Led by the imposing Washburn, State enjoyed a typically good season. Valvano rotated a lot of players during the regular- season, then took his one-game-at-a-time attitude to the NCAA tournament and came five minutes away from joining Duke in the Final Four. Washburn was the man for State; he played outstanding offensive basketball, but other areas of his game were suspect, and he did play passive defense at times. McMillan was the only other constant in the State lineup, and he played well in all of the many roles he had to assume throughout the season. Myers had a terrible FG%, but was still capable of lighting it up on occasion. Freshman Shackleford benefitted from the attention opponents gave to Washburn inside to average double figures. Bolton nailed down a starter's job by season's end, and he was prone to amazing hot streaks from way outside. Lambiotte played well for a freshman, but his playing time was juggled to meet Coach V's needs. Fasoulas was a force on the defensive end, and was a very effective player overall, but could not play in the postseason due to eligibility questions. Big men newcomers Brown and Biins also saw fluctuating playing time, and made only small contributions. Weems, Del Negro, and Jackson all were tried at PG- however, none proved to be capable of playing the position as a starter in the ACC,yet. Basically, State had a lot of players, but their talents were too diverse to mold into a solid lineup. In a year with three great teams, State was hard pressed to improve on their conference showing, although certainly capable of winning one (or even three) game against anybody.

VIRGINIA CAVALIERS-

Virginia bounced back from a last place finish in 1985 to become a very good team in '86, as the Cavaliers' considerable talents began to flower. Lack of clutch play cost Virginia an undisputed first division finish. Virginia proved it could hold its own with the big boys- the Wahoos blew out Carolina and had Tech,Duke, and Carolina again on the ropes, but lost those three games in the final minutes. With a little more consistent play and better foul shooting Virginia could well have joined the ranks of the elite - but it didn't happen last season. Polynice was an excellent scoring center, but weaknesses in his game in other areas really hurt the team. The Kennedys, Mel and Andrew (not related), were a potent scoring and rebounding combination at forward, although Mel usually started at big guard. Despite being at the top of everyone's hate list, Sheehey had a slightly better-than-average season at power forward. In the backcourt, Calloway and Johnson were adequate as a single point guard entity, while "King Richard" Morgan was explosive at the SG spot when called upon. Simms and Blanks were beaten out early at guard, and were ineffective offensively thereafter. Dyslin put in a few good minutes as designated shot-blocker. Virginia's talent was only average for the ACC, but they played well as a team, and came as close as anyone to defeating Duke during their win streak. With excellent coaching and some luck at crunch time, the Cavaliers are capable of leapfrogging into first division.

MARYLAND TERRAPINS- In what proved to be the last season of a young life, senior forward Len Bias became Maryland basketball embodied during the 1986 season. Bias kept Maryland "from falling to the conference cellar, as he consistently proved himself as the country's most veratile offensive talent. The whole team revolved around the man, as Bias was used wherever he could be most effective offensively, usually at SF. Gatlin was another fine ACC point guard, although his responsibilities were generally to pass to Bias and hit the open jumper. Baxter came into his own as a senior, and developed a deadly shot from way outside. Lewis was the league's premier shotblocker but was otherwise overmatched at C. Tom Jones played well opposite Bias and had an excellent FG%. Johnson proved to be a solid reserve for both guard spots, and Long and Massenburg had some quality minutes around the basket. Dickerson and Gregg were sparingly used as reserve forwards. Maryland played its best basketball in '86 when the rest of the team stepped out of Bias's shadow. However, the supporting cast was not strong enough to do that often, and all too often placed too much of the weight on Bias. Not that  Bias couldn't handle it, as he did play very well under all circumstances, but that his teammates denied themselves the opportunity to improve by depending so much on one guy. Maryland did have some high points last season, as they beat Carolina twice and deserved to win all three games against the Heels, and came within an eyelash of upending Tech in the tournament. Still, the Terps really had no chance to fare any better than they did in regular-season play, but like State, they were capable of winning one game against anybody, making them a threat come tournament time.

CLEMSON TIGERS

Clemson slipped a couple of notches on the ACC ladder in 1986, winning just three league games. The Tigers' record was even more discouraging considering two of the wins came over Wake Forest, and the other over Maryland minus Len Bias. Still, Clemson showed at times it was a quality team; the Tigers were the only team to defeat Bradley during the regular season, and the Tigers lost three of the ACC games by a total of nine points. Clemson was very much a running team, and averaged more shots per minute than any other conference team. Unfortunately, too many of these shots were low-percentage outside bombs taken by too many wing shooters. PF Horace Grant was a dominant player at times offensively, and led the league in rebounding. PG Grayson Marshall led the league in assists, but was not much of a scoring threat. Wingmen Larry Middleton and Glenn Corbit scored more prolificly and rebounded well, but were not as effective as their numbers might indicate due to the kinds of shots they took. Carrying the bad shot selection to an extreme were veterans Chris Michael and Anthony Jenkins - freshman Michael Best, after scoring 20 against Carolina, also settled into that mold quite comfortably with a 39% FG rate. McCants played quite well at C, although he clearly took a back seat to Grant. Freshman forward Pryor showed good potential, particularly on the glass, and JC transfer Tait played adequately when called upon, although he too was a bit trigger-happy. Clemson, then,had some talent, but too much of it was wasted on 20-footers. The Tigers, if they played smart, were certainly capable of moving up in the conference standings, although talk of championships would be far-fetched. They needed to get the ball to Grant and McCants as much as possible, rebound well, and shoot well from outside when appropriate, in that order. It didn't happen in 1986.

WAKE FOREST DEMON DEACONS

New coach Bob Staak came to an already beleagured program, and then saw any hopes of a winning rookie season evaporate before his very eyes. Rookie center Mike Scott, after showing good potential in a starter's role early on, quit the team after 12 games due to homesickness. Forward Thomas moved into the C spot, only to be lost for 12 games with an injury. Outside shooter Cline and midseason walkon Dickens were thrust into the big man's role, and then Cline went down for 2 games. Paul Diebert also quit late in the season. The results: 0-15 in the ACC. But, there were some bright spots. Tyrone Bogues won acclaim as the most amazing player in the country at 5-3, averaging double figures and nearly nine assists a game, and was capable of literally taking games over. Watson stepped right into the SG spot and ended up leading the team in scoring. Larkins, another freshman, played surprisingly well as a 6-4 SF, and rebounded very well. Cline was forced to take more shots than his style of play is accustomed to, and thus his FG% suffered, although he was still Wake's best shooter. Thomas again did an admirable job in the paint, and again was foul prone. Boyd also played well as a reserve guard. Calvert, Dickens, and Deibert were playing in a league well over their collective head. Wake's worst problem was its atrocious rebounding, so the Deacs fared better in slow paced games. For all their problems, Wake came within ten points in six ACC contests, and never gave up. If everything had fallen together on a given night, the Deacs could have beaten anybody, no kidding.