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GREENSBORO, N.C. (theACC.com) – Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt is ecstatic to have wing player D’Andre Bell back with the team.

Bell missed the 2008-09 season after back surgery to correct a congenital condition called spinal stenosis.

“He’s doing great,” Hewitt said during ACC Operation Basketball held last Sunday. “He’s playing really well. I’ve been very impressed with him.

“Early on I was worried about his conditioning. He was struggling during the preseason stuff a little bit; just trying to break through after eight months off. He played (Saturday night) in an intra-squad scrimmage and looked like, I won’t say midseason form, but close to it.”

So far, Hewitt said, he has seen no ill effects of the surgery.

“I ask him every day if his back hurts and he says ‘my body is not cooperating like it did three years ago when I was a little younger,’” Hewitt said. “You know, where I noticed the improvement after the surgery is his lateral quickness is much better. He used to talk about getting tingling down his arm on quick movements. He can change directions, especially with the basketball in his hands, much quicker. There are no side effects at all.”

The worsening condition had affected Bell to the point that nobody could explain what was wrong and he was getting frustrated because he knew he was a better player than he was showing. In a preseason scrimmage last season, he collided with a teammate and received a “stinger” that temporarily numbs the body. An MRI revealed the spinal problem.

So how will the 6-6 Bell help the Jackets, who lost a bevy of games at the buzzer and in overtime en route to finishing last in the ACC?

“Big difference,” Hewitt said. “In late-game situations he’s steady with the basketball, he’s a very good free throw shooter. A healthy D’Andre Bell last year could have made the difference between two and maybe as many as nine wins.

“We did a poor job closing out games. With Bell, (freshman) Mfon Udofia, a healthy Moe Miller (missed several games with a concussion) and Iman Shumpert, we’ll do a better job in those situations. And hopefully the coach is a little smarter.”

Leaving an imprint

Naturally, new Virginia coach Tony Bennett learned a lot from his dad, Dick Bennett. Tony Bennett played for his father as a point guard at Wisconsin-Green Bay and later served on his staffs at Wisconsin and Washington State. Tony Bennett took over at Washington State when his father retired.

“He was very passionate, a fiery Italian guy, and he’d get after his guys with great intensity,” Tony Bennett said. “Whenever he would step over the line – with me it was many times as a player – whether it was at the end of practice, the next night, the next day, sometimes in front of the team, sometimes one-on-one, he’d apologize, say ‘I’m sorry, I made a mistake, forgive me, I didn’t mean to act that way, I lost my temper.’

“As a player and as a young coach, it gets intense, you do things and say things you regret, but to see someone who is that successful with that much wisdom have the humility to do that, I always thought it was a great example of a life lesson to the young man. When someone is not afraid to admit they screwed up and made a mistake, I think that really validates them and gives them some more substance with the players. I always marveled at that.”

The other thing that has stuck with him is the way his father stayed true to himself.

“He knew what he wanted, he didn’t get too swayed by what other people were saying, he knew what needed to be done to give the (players) a chance to be successful,” Bennett said. “It was always about playing in such a way to give your team a chance to compete against the best in your conference, in the country. Your system, your style, whatever it is, it has to be about that and (not about) beating this team because you’re more talented.”

Steady influences

Defending national champion North Carolina has a talented but young roster, so Roy Williams welcomes the presence of senior Deon Thompson, the only starter returning, and fifth-year senior Marcus Ginyard, returning after missing last season with a stress fracture in his foot that required surgery.

“You can’t put a value to it,” Williams said. “(Marcus has) been sensational and Deon has been a very good leader as well. I think Deon playing a major role the last two years and playing some as a freshman has helped him.

“There’s no question they’re going to help the young kids get focused, they’re going to help the young kids be disciplined, they’re going to help the young kids understand what truly is important, and they’re going to push them to learn those truly important things.”

Asked if this was Thompson’s time to step out from the shadows of the departed Tyler Hansbrough, Danny Green, Wayne Ellington and Ty Lawson, Williams responded: “Let me put it to you this way – I hope he doesn’t feel that way. I hope he feels like he can just be Deon and that naturally if you’re more aggressive and you’re more experienced and you’re better, that will take care of it. I don’t want him to feel the pressure to get 25 points and 13 rebounds. I think he’ll be better.”

Finishing better than starting

NC State’s Sidney Lowe, who knows a thing or two about being a point guard, isn’t concerned about who will start there. Javier Gonzalez and Farnold Degand are the top candidates and Julius Mays also figures in the mix. Lowe remembered the lessons taught to him by the late Jim Valvano.

“It never mattered to me (about starting),” Lowe said, “maybe because my coach drilled in my head that it wasn’t important who started, it’s more important if you could finish it. That means you’re capable of being in the game when it’s on the line, making the right plays and not turning it over, getting your team in your sets or whatever it might be. That’s what I tell our guys, I’d rather you be more upset about not being in at the end than not starting.”

Lowe said no point guard has emerged as the leader yet, but he plans to choose one as the starter and stick with him.

“When the time comes we’re going to have to evaluate and make a decision and that’s the way we’re going to go with it,” he said. “We won’t be changing point guards every other game. But I think what’s going to happen is if the one that’s coming off the bench is better, then he’ll probably see himself in the game at the end. That’s what’s important.”

Abundance of big men

This year’s Duke team will have a different look without Gerald Henderson, who could create a shot when it was needed.

“G was the guy, you could give him the ball at the end of a clock and he could make something, he could create some shots,” coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “We don’t have that (now) but we do have alternative ways of scoring. Hopefully one of them would be the post because we have good post players now.”

Ah, the post players. The Blue Devils have had their share of fine post players in the past – Danny Ferry, Christian Laettner, Elton Brand, Carlos Boozer and Shelden Williams come to mind – but rarely have there been so many at one time. When Krzyzewski walks out to practice he can see 7-1 senior Brian Zoubek, 6-8 senior Lance Thomas, 6-10 sophomore Miles Plumlee, 6-10 freshman Mason Plumlee and 6-10 freshman Ryan Kelly.

“I’d like to have them along with Jason Williams and Bobby Hurley,” Krzyzewski cracked, referring to two great point guards. “A coach always wants more.

“I think our big guys can be really good. They’re pretty athletic, Brian (Zoubek is) not the athlete, but the Plumlees are good athletes and Lance is a good athlete and Kelly is just a really good player who, with strength, I think is going to be an outstanding player. We just have to keep working on them while we already have our perimeter, at least those three guys (Jon Scheyer, Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith) pretty far ahead.”

There isn’t a prototype point guard on this year’s roster, but neither was there in the late 1980s when Duke had Ferry. Quin Snyder ably assumed that role.

“We got open a lot with those teams by screening off the ball,” Krzyzewski said. “This will be more a team like that.”

Fast breaks

• Oliver Purnell said his Clemson team wasn’t playing its trademark tough defense at the end of last season. “If we’re sitting here at the end of the year saying we have a better team, like we have for the last five years, it will be because we’re an outstanding defensive team. When you watched us play at our best last year, that’s the thing you most remember. When we were not playing at our best at the end of the year, we were not defending as well. Not only do we have to get it back to that level, we’ve got to be more consistent. We’ve got to understand that is our identity and if we’re going to have any success at the end of the year or any part of the year, we’ve got to defend.”
  
• Wake Forest’s Dino Gaudio considers senior Ish Smith one of the best point guards in the ACC and will be asking him to do a bit more this season. “I know you’re going to see Ish score the ball more. No question he’s a blow-it-up-the-court guy who makes other guys better, which he’s going to do. (But) when he’s driving in there and he’s got the shot, take it. He really worked on his shot this summer and I hope it shows itself when we start the season. There’s no question he’s drive first, but his pull-up has gotten better. When he develops that middle-range game, that will help him as well.”
  
• Miami coach Frank Haith, now in his sixth season, wants his team to regain some of its chip-on-the-shoulder attitude. “Since we’ve been at Miami we’ve had that edge, that toughness, that little chip. It doesn’t matter what anybody says, we’ve got to have that edge. That’s what we’ve got to have to be successful in this league. We’ve always got to be a team that plays with this little chip. We’ve had that every year I’ve been here and we lost that a little bit last year.”
  
• Maryland’s Gary Williams believes it will take some time to sort out the new rule on sportsmanship that prohibits taunting. “I’ve always felt that you want to have sportsmanship, you want to be hard and be physical when you play and when the game is over you shake hands. I think college basketball does a pretty good job of that. I think what you’ve got to decide is what’s taunting and what’s celebrating. Celebrating is a good thing, taunting is a bad thing. So, is popping your jersey, is that taunting the other team? I don’t think it is. But some referee might take that as taunting. You adjust to officials all the time; some guys call it tight, some guys don’t, you have to make that adjustment on the fly, so hopefully we can do the same thing here.”
  
• Florida State’s run to the ACC championship game last year should have a nice residual effect for the Seminoles, according to Leonard Hamilton: “It gave us a tremendous amount of confidence and more than anything else I think our players understood that if we execute the things we have in our game plan, it works. Anytime you have six first-year players, it’s difficult to overcome. In the semifinal (ACC tournament) game last year, our freshmen hit six threes and early in the year they might not have been able to do that at the end of the game. They played like veterans and we hope they’ll pick up where they left off.”
  
• Losing a four-year starter like Tyrese Rice is difficult, said Boston College coach Al Skinner, but it’s not like the team wasn’t prepared for it. “We understood that at some point in time there was going to be a transition. So I think guys are prepared to move on. He clearly had a tremendous impact on our program. But we’ve lost other good players prior to him – Jared Dudley, Craig Smith. As long as you are prepared, which I think from a mental standpoint we are, I’m hoping that some of his mental toughness, his confidence, he left some of that behind and we can take that from him. That’s the real impact of a player, when his legacy is continued on after the fact. It was passed on to him and hopefully he’s passed it on to these guys.”
  
• Virginia Tech’s Seth Greenberg said that while he likes and respects his fellow ACC coaches, it’s difficult to establish close relationships with them. “That’s just the reality of it. I’m friends with (Michigan State’s) Tom Izzo, but we don’t play them. How much in common do you have with those people? I consider Roy (Williams) a friend; I wouldn’t say that we’re friends. You have people that you consider a friend that are not friends. Does that make sense? It’s different. I’m friendly with all the coaches in the league. We’re all competitors.” 

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Bill Hass is a long-time observer of ACC sports. His career at the Greensboro News & Record spanned 36 years, from 1969 until his retirement in March, 2006. He is now writing "Bill Hass on the ACC" for theACC.com. His weekly columns will keep fans plugged in to the Atlantic Coast Conference.

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