ACC's blues make most news
Oct 26, 2008
Outsider may have it right.
Miami coach Frank Haith said the uninitiated look at the ACC and “everybody assumes it’s just North Carolina and Duke.” That impression hurts the conference when NCAA bids are awarded, Haith argued, one of several plausible if limited explanations for the league’s recent snubs in tournament representation.
Maryland’s Gary Williams, the only coach privileged to play both Duke and UNC twice annually, often laments that those two schools overshadow the achievements of the ACC’s Others. The other 10 league teams have 21 league titles and nine Final Four appearances as conference members.
Most ACC coaches are also quick to protest a general lack of appreciation for the balance and relentless rigors of league play. “The truth of the matter is, we were the closest thing to a gimme this (past) year,” said Boston College coach Al Skinner, “and we almost beat the No. 1 team in the country.” The Eagles, tied for last in the ACC with N.C. State in 2008, led UNC at halftime at Boston before folding on March 1. They, along with the Wolfpack and Virginia, again figure to bring up the rear in the ACC.
“This league, top to bottom, there’s no day off,” Virginia Tech’s Seth Greenberg said. “And the teams that were brought in with expansion, that were supposed to bring the league down, have done really well.” Those would be Miami, which last year reached the NCAAs for the first time since 2002, and Virginia Tech, which finished in the ACC’s upper half in three of its four ACC seasons, including 2008. Both squads are seasoned and chocked with talent, and should be formidable this year.
Still, outsiders may have a more realistic view of the ACC than those who bear its bruises or otherwise know it intimately. North Carolina and Duke are again the teams to beat in 2008-09, a fact apt to confirm popular prejudices. Like it or not, the ACC has become the Blue Devils, Tar Heels, and everyone else.
Eleven of the last dozen ACC Tournament championships went to the Devils or Heels, as did 10 of the last 12 first-place finishes. That’s domination. “I do believe the more you win, the more you win,” said Carolina’s Roy Williams, sounding a bit like Yoga Berra or Yoda, the Star Wars character.
The last time both North Carolina and Duke failed to hit double digits in ACC wins was 1990, and Duke still made the Final Four. The last time both started a season outside the AP top 10 was 1996, the same year neither reached the ACC Tournament finals.
North Carolina is the national preseason favorite for the second consecutive season, the third time since 1994. Williams vowed to ratchet up the tempo, given his team’s extraordinary depth, and to place a heightened emphasis on defense, only sporadically a strength during the first five years of his Chapel Hill tenure. “I’ve never seen a bad defensive team win the national championship,” Williams said.
Duke also was the early No. 1 three times since the mid-90’s, most recently in 2006, and will again start this season highly ranked. “We are a potentially very good basketball team because we have great guys, we have really good talent,” said Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, characteristically straightforward in assessing his squads. Like the Tar Heels, the Blue Devils count on extraordinary depth and experience, and can be a crushing defensive unit.
UNC and Duke have seven NCAA titles between them. The rest of the league has three (N.C. State in 1974 and 1983 and Maryland in 2002). The Devils and Heels reached 31 Final Fours as ACC members, more than any two programs in any two leagues. Seventeen of those appearances came since 1990, yielding five NCAA championships, surpassing any two schools during that period.
No wonder ACC rivals are left feeling if they don’t wear blues, they don’t make news.
Yet the prominence of the U.S. 15-501 neighbors doesn’t adequately explain the ACC’s waning presence in the NCAAs. Nor does expansion, which destroyed round-robin competition. Whatever the factors, something is amiss when more than half the league’s membership made the NCAAs in only three of the last nine years, compared to nine in the decade from 1990-99.
Of course the easiest way to increase NCAA inclusion is to have more teams do well. Half the ACC’s membership appears up to the task: Clemson, Duke, Miami, North Carolina, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest. Three others have a shot: Georgia Tech with modest overall experience, Maryland with minimal interior experience, and Florida State with little perimeter experience.
The fates of the Demon Deacons and Terrapins figure to be especially compelling subplots to the overall season.
The Deacs are poised to make the league’s greatest leap forward after finishing 17-15 and tied for seventh place in 2008. They return every starter, including All-ACC Freshmen picks Jeff Teague, a natural leader at guard, and forward James Johnson, who topped the team in scoring (14.6) and rebounding (8.1). Skilled center Chas McFarland, fast earning a reputation for chippy tactics, also emerged as a force.
The returning mix was bolstered by a sterling, three-man recruiting class. The shortest, 6-8 Al-Farouq Aminu, has star potential. “We’re very, very excited about them,” Dino Gaudio, the second-year coach, said of the acclaimed freshmen, who honored their commitments despite the death of Skip Prosser. “They bring another dimension to the team with their size.”
Maryland is coming off a 19-win effort for the third time in four years. In each of those seasons it failed to make the NCAAs. Critics say Gary Williams has done little to capitalize on his program’s 2002 NCAA title. His latest recruiting class is once again modest.
But Williams does have one of the ACC’s premier backcourts in aggressive, big-play guard Greivis Vasquez (a league-high 231 assists and 149 turnovers last year) and smooth Eric Hayes. Maryland also retains Williams’ feistiness. “We’re still very competitive,” he said. To support his argument, the 20-year Maryland coach cited a 2008 Terp victory over North Carolina, a feat matched only by Duke and Kansas.
Williams surely covets the affirmation of an NCAA berth, if only to stick it to his detractors. Meanwhile he unapologetically touted winning 19 or more games for 12 consecutive seasons. Too much is made of the NCAAs, he insisted. “The NCAA tournament has become such a big deal that it’s diminished regular season play. Some of the great games are played during the regular season. For people to not think they’re great anymore because it’s not an NCAA tournament game, it’s a shame.”
Outsiders may miss that charm of ACC competition, but Williams, who played in the league, knows better. Unremittingly intense and occasionally superlative play remains much appreciated within the neighborhood.
