GREAT LOST: Duke Blue Devils HAVE LOST 2 FIVE-STAR PLAYERS TO A HUGE DEAL OF $906 MILLION WITH…..

In Saturday’s ACC Action, UNC beat NC State 79-70, Florida State lost at Georgia Tech 85-76, Virginia Tech topped Wake Forest 87-76, Notre Dame handled Clemson 69-62, the Panthers mauled Boston College 90-65, and Syracuse finished Louisville 82-76.

In some ways, the Wolfpack played well enough to win but UNC defended very well and also had a major advantage from the line, hitting 23-27 to NC State’s 11-16.

That translates into foul trouble: DJ Burns and Bend Middlebrook had four while Casey Morsell fouled out.

Four out of five starters for UNC hit double figures

The loss drops State to 17-12/9-9 and people are questioning Kevin Keatts’ future in Raleigh. It’s not one season – he’s made the NCAA tournament twice since arriving in 2017 and the NIT twice. He has yet to win an NCAA tournament game. There’s no sense that he’s in imminent danger, but fans are fans and the pressure is likely to rise. State would probably have to run the table at the ACC Tournament to get in now.

Florida State and Georgia Tech were roughly even at the half – Tech led 44-41 – but the second half was different.

Both teams started the half ice cold but Georgia Tech heated up first and a late 11-3 run gave the Yellow Jackets a 78-61 lead.

Baye Ndongo had 15 points and 14 rebounds while rookie classmate Naithan George had 15. Tamara Gape and Tyzhaun Claude both had eight points and 10 rebounds.

Jamir Watkins led FSU with 15 points. He also had seven rebounds and four steals.

Since upsetting Duke, which put Wake Forest on the NCAA bubble, the Deacs have lost to Notre Dame and now Virginia Tech, and both will hurt their resume.

Wake really should have/could have won this game. The Deacs had a 15 point lead in the first half and took a nine-point lead into halftime.

However, Virginia Tech owned the second half, outscoring Wake 50-30 and crippling Wake Forest’s tournament chances.

All the good work of the Duke win has largely been undone.

Despite the second-half meltdown, Wake Forest still shot 50 percent overall. Hunter Cattoor scored 26 for the Hokies while Sean Pedulla had 15. Too bad for Wake Forest, but at some point, you have win on the road too. That’s going to be the epitaph for this season for the Demon Deacons.

Pitt continues to build its case. It’s not that BC is a great win, but, well…it is a win. and in this win, the Panthers hit 16 threes. No matter how you slice it, 48 points is pretty great and more so since BC had just 27. That’s a big advantage and freshman Carlton Carrington had seven of those threes himself.

It’s a solid win for Pitt and does nothing to ding their case. BC falls to 15-14 with the loss. A winning season is still possible but it’s getting close.

This is going to sound stupid so hear it out: Notre Dame is a tournament team.

They’re not going unless they run the table in the postseason. However, the Irish have won five of the last six and are playing like a tournament team, plus Markus Burton has emerged as a star. Right now, Notre Dame is as tough as any team in the conference. They’re damned good.

Burton had 21 points, six rebound and four assists. Braeden Shrewsberry had a modest game with just eight points but Tae Davis racked up 18.

PJ Hall finished with 21 and Ian Scheiffelin had 10 points and 14 rebounds for the Tigers.

When it comes to Louisville, we always start with this: who lit them up?

Because it’s going to be somebody.

In this case, it was Chris Bell, who shot 6-9 and hit 3-5 from behind the line for 23 points.

Louisville’s defense is just awful and it doesn’t really seem to get any better: Syracuse as a whole hit 57.8 percent and 5-8 threes (62.5 percent).

Does anyone think they’re going to be patient after this season?

Seems unlikely. Seems like the die is cast.

But if so, who has next? Maybe Dusty May?

We’d like to suggest another name to keep an eye on and that’s App State’s Dustin Kerns. He’s doing a great job.

And if App State does have an opening, well, Payne may be looking. So might Keatts.

No games until Monday when Duke visits NC State.