Sometimes you're just due
Mar 28, 2009
Well, it was more than the coaches.
Several theories were quickly advanced to explain the fourth consecutive disappointing NCAA performance by ACC men’s teams. The most common argument, at least in these parts, held that the league suffers a lack of exceptional coaches beyond Mike Krzyzewski and the Williams boys, Gary and Roy.
"That’s one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard," protested Frank Haith, Miami's head coach. "Look at the league’s record against other power conferences – we dominated.”
Haith meant during the regular season. Back in those happy days, folks in and beyond the ACC insisted, bolstered by considerable evidence, that it was on a par with the much-vaunted Big East. But the equality claim and, ironically, the coaching knock, lost steam after Krzyzewski’s Duke squad unraveled in the second half of its Sweet 16 meeting with Villanova the other night.
Duke’s ouster, coming on the heels of a 1-5 mark by five other ACC squads besides UNC, cast a further shadow on the conference’s lustrous and longstanding reputation for postseason strength.
Entering the regional finals, North Carolina was the sole ACC team in the mix. The Big East, the league the ACC had unapologetically decimated in an attempt to boost its own football fortunes, placed Connecticut, Louisville, Pittsburgh and Villanova in the Elite Eight.
Miami did beat Providence, a team that topped Big East mates UConn and Syracuse, but that was in the NIT. The ACC also had a winning record against the Big East during the regular season, its victory total padded by repeatedly pounding also-ran St. John’s. However, the cumulative NCAA showings by each league were markedly different, and not to the ACC's benefit.
“There was a time when many people questioned if (the Big East) could survive,” University of Pittsburgh chancellor Mark Nordenberg told The New York Times. “To arrive at this point where our on-court performance reflects a level of strength that appears to be unequaled, there is a level of satisfaction.”
Not to mention, Nova ousted Duke in Boston, a turncoat town in Big East eyes. After BC announced it was headed to the ACC, its players were pelted with money during a football game at Syracuse.
Several ACC exits from the NCAAs were a bit stunning, notably those of Wake Forest and Clemson. But Duke’s performance against Villanova was also a bit shocking. What a time for the Blue Devils’ least-accurate shooting effort of the season (26.7 percent) and their lowest point production since a humbling defeat at Clemson on Feb. 4.
The Dukies appeared discomfited by Villanova’s strong, athletic perimeter players. For the first time since Jon Scheyer took the offensive reins, an opponent crowded him and got away with it. Scheyer couldn’t drive by defenders, couldn’t readily create open looks for himself. He had several shots blocked.
Duke was unaccustomed to functioning with a sputtering Scheyer. He and the Devils had flourished with the ball in his hands, winning 10 of 11 since he became the playmaker against St. John’s.
Meanwhile, it's well-known that Gerald Henderson, who likely played his last game at Duke, strongly prefers going to his right. What’s more, he is a loose dribbler, putting the ball on his hip or pushing it ahead of him and using his athleticism to catch up and elude obstacles. The Wildcats were able to dictate uncomfortable terms of engagement, as Wake and UNC had done earlier in the season. That led to Henderson's horrid 1-14 shooting and foul trouble.
Krzyzewski tried various stratagems to change the tenor of the proceedings, but failed. Villanova coach Jay Wright expressed surprise at the final 23-point margin. “When we got a lead to start the second half, they had to press,” Wright said at his post-game press conference. “Coach K plays to win, not keep it close. And when you do, it can turn out this way.”
Not surprisingly, there was more befuddlement than disillusionment when Krzyzewski’s team fell flat. Wake's Dino Gaudio was not so lucky, coming in for considerable static after consecutive flubs in the ACC and NCAA tournaments.
The reaction reflected understandable embarrassment, but ridiculous short-sightedness. Gaudio has won 41 games and twice beaten Duke in two seasons as head coach. The Demon Deacons were one of two squads that beat both UNC and Duke this year.
The other was Boston College. Coach Al Skinner has taken five of his last six teams to the NCAAs, including this season, when little was expected of the Eagles. BC is the only ACC squad apart from Duke and Carolina that reached the Sweet 16 since the league went to 12 members in 2006.
Gary Williams continues to do a solid job, directing Maryland to 19 or more wins for 13 straight seasons. That ties Krzyzewski for the longest current streak in the league. Only North Carolina’s Dean Smith sustained that level of success -- and more -- for a longer period. This year’s NCAA appearance was the 13th by the Terps since 1994, the 11th time they won at least once in NCAA competition.
So what does it say about Haith that he’s beaten Maryland six times in eight tries? And if ACC media members voted Florida State’s Leonard Hamilton the league’s 2009 coach of the year, what suddenly made him unimpressive? (Other than failing to deploy center Solomon Alabi in the post on the final, decisive defensive stand in FSU’s loss to Wisconsin.)
Presumably Virginia Tech’s Seth Greenberg can’t be too bad, either, since he’s been ACC coach of the year twice in five seasons at Blacksburg. Georgia Tech's Paul Hewitt is the last coach besides Roy Williams to take an ACC team to the national championship game (2004), and is a strong recruiter, a key part of a coach's job description. "Make sure you tell those writers in North Carolina -- players make coaches look good," Haith said.
Sure, Clemson’s Oliver Purnell is now 0-5 in NCAA play during his career. But he’s also the first guy ever to direct the Tigers to three straight 20-win seasons and only the third to take them to consecutive NCAA tournaments.
Virginia was a weak link with Dave Leitao, but he's gone. Now the Cavaliers have their sights set on Minnesota's Tubby Smith and Oklahoma's Jeff Capel, the former Duke guard whose parents and in-laws live in North Carolina. The jury is still out on N.C. State's Sidney Lowe.
Denigrating the caliber of ACC coaching is amusing, but hardly sufficient to explain why a conference that fancies itself at or near the top of the heap has been left so decisively behind. Maybe the ACC was just due.
