Usually by this time of year, I'm pretty informed about ACC basketball.
There's typically ample motivation in late December and early January, as college football season is winding down, to start studying up in preparation for the entertaining grind that culminates with the ACC Tournament in mid-March.
One of the best things about covering college sports is the rhythm of the changing seasons, the transition from one sport to the other at just the right time. It usually just feels right to turn the focus to college basketball in January.
This year is different. A lot different. Here we are, on Jan. 17, and I'd consider myself lucky to name more than one starter for some of these teams off the top of my head.
I'd rather watch a replay of the Meineke Car Care Bowl than take in some of the recent ACC basketball offerings.
OK, that was a bit of an exaggeration. But you get the point.
Clemson basketball has been compelling thus far under first-year coach Brad Brownell, so there's plenty of reason to pay attention there. But beyond the Tigers, and maybe the occasional glimpse at Duke to marvel at the Blue Devils' ridiculous collection of talent, I can't remember when I've been less interested in ACC basketball.
Maybe this is more a reflection of an overall decline of college basketball, which has some issues to work out as it deals with early entries to the NBA Draft, a regular season that seems interminable, the rising popularity of college football, and the fact that many people don't start paying attention until brackets are printed.
But the ACC's rich competition and tradition has always given it a unique feel that provided a layer of insulation and assurance that it was different and would always be different. Even on the rare occasions that the conference has been mediocre as a whole, there's still motivation to watch the intra-conference battles that take place in January and February.
This year is different. A lot of this stuff is just mustn't-see TV.
It starts with the awful non-conference losses that have dragged down the ACC's standing. Georgia Tech lost to Kennesaw State. Wake Forest lost to Stetson, Winthrop and Presbyterian. Virginia lost to Seattle. Florida State lost to an Auburn team that scored six points in a half last week. Boston College has some notable wins but has been allergic to Ivy with losses to Yale and Harvard.
Last week, Georgia Tech looked abominable at times in a 25-point loss at Clemson. Last night, the Yellow Jackets smoked North Carolina in Atlanta and no one was surprised.
Also last week, the Tar Heels managed to come from behind at home to beat an injury-plagued Virginia Tech team. ESPN analyst Jay Bilas was almost mortified by the sloppy play by both teams and said so on the air.
We're used to seeing bad basketball in November and December, but this year the missed layups, the bricked 5-foot jumpers and other assorted gaffes seem to have extended into January.
Bilas didn't hold back in this article by The Washington Post, which pointed out that just one ACC team (Duke) resides in the Top 25.
"You can just open your eyes and look at it. No reasonable basketball person can look at the ACC and say, 'Boy, this is as strong as we have been.' It is down. And it is weak. And it is incontrovertible."
And more from the article:
Joe Lunardi, who projects the NCAA tournament field for ESPN, wrote last month that the projected seeding gap between the best ACC team (Duke, a projected No. 1 seed) and the league's second- and third-best teams (North Carolina and Boston College, then projected as No. 8 seeds) would be the largest in the history of the conference if such a disparity holds up. Lunardi noted that the ACC has never had a second team seeded worse than No. 4 in the history of the expanded NCAA tournament field.
The RPI has not been kind to most ACC teams. While the Big East had eight teams in the top 17 of the RPI earlier this week, the ACC only had six teams in the RPI's top 100, the same number as the Colonial Athletic Association.
This is great for Clemson, of course. Back in December, when a lot of us were wondering whether this team would crack three ACC wins, it would've been wise to study up on the ACC and discern the sad state of the conference.
Boy, can't wait for opening day of the ACC Tournament in Greensboro.
Plenty of seats available!
LW
No comments:
Post a Comment