For years, the ACC has made itself easy to pick on.
The conference's move to expand has yet to produce the desired football results, and the purity of its crown jewel (basketball) has been compromised as a result of a regular season that lacks definition and a conference tournament that lacks wholesale interest.
No BCS title-game participant since Florida State in 2000. Regular Orange Bowl embarrassments, the latest Stanford's shellacking of Virginia Tech. And even when an ACC representative has been the last basketball team standing at the end of March Madness, the conference has drawn criticism for everyone but Duke and North Carolina doing nothing of note.
The ACC has made a statement in this year's tournament, and that statement becomes even stronger in light of the implosion that has befallen the (supposedly) mighty Big East.
A mere four ACC teams were part of the initial 68-team field. Florida State was the third-place finisher during the regular season and was saddled with a 10 seed. Clemson finished fourth and was saddled with the indignity of having to win a play-in game to earn a 12 seed ... then facing a rested West Virginia team 36 hours later, almost 1,000 miles away.
The feeling here on Selection Sunday was that the Selection Committee over-penalized the ACC. Yeah, the conference encountered some struggles this season. But when No. 3 team gets a double-digit seed, and a 9-7 team that wins two tournament games doesn't even get in (Virginia Tech), it's hard to escape the feeling that the conference is a bit undervalued.
A week later, three of the ACC's teams are still standing. And the fourth team (your Clemson Tigers) departed with no shortage of national respect after playing four games in six days in three different cities.
You have to go all the way back to 2005 to find the last time the ACC had three representatives in the Round of 16. You have to go back to 2006 for the last time an ACC team not named Duke or North Carolina survived and advanced past the Round of 32.
Here's how the rest of the ACC had fared in the NCAA Tournament since Boston College advanced to the Round of 16 in 2006:
BC: 0-1 in 2009; 1-1 in 2007
Clem: 0-1 in 2010; 0-1 in 2009; 0-1 in 2008
FSU: 0-1 in 2010; 0-1 in 2009
GT: 1-1 in 2010; 0-1 in 2007
MD: 1-1 in 2010; 1-1 in 2009; 1-1 in 2007
MIA: 1-1 in 2008
UVA: 1-1 in 2007
VT: 1-1 in 2007
WF: 1-1 in 2010; 0-1 in 2009
The ACC has claimed five national titles since 2001, and three since 2005. But those bragging rights are toned down a bit in view of the sustained NCAA struggles from the rest of the conference.
Florida State's curb-stomping of Notre Dame certainly helped that image, and it doesn't hurt that it came at the expense of a supposedly elite Big East team.
Chris Singleton didn't hold back after the game in this article from Stewart Mandel.
"I have something against the Big East," the Florida State forward said in the Seminoles' celebratory locker room after his 10th-seeded team routed the second-seeded Irish 71-57. "I don't understand if they do scouting reports or not, I don't know if they do opposing tendencies or not. I don't respect any of their teams' defenses."
And this from Michael Snaer:
"We found it very disrespectful. The ACC has been so good for so long, yet they disrespect us year after year. We just come out and use it as fire."
A few thoughts from the weekend:
-- Props to Charles Barkley, who said over and over and over that the Big East was overrated. Barkley is so often full of hot air, and you wonder how much homework the guy actually does, but he hit on this one.
-- Speaking of doing homework, Greg Anthony does his. He's become an excellent studio analyst.
-- CBS' A team of Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg completely whiffed Sunday afternoon when they spent at least a minute hyperventilating about the possible goaltend from John Henson, failing to realize it didn't matter because Washington's shot was clearly a 2-pointer and the Tar Heels were up 3.
-- The notion of parity has become a cliche spouted by coaches at every turn, but it's also indisputable at tournament time. There's just not much difference between these teams. An 11 seed (Gonzaga) was actually favored over a 3 seed (BYU). And there was nothing fluky about VCU's trouncing of Purdue yesterday. Shaka Smart's team had the best player on the floor in Joey Rodriguez.
-- I'd say yesterday's games in Chicago were worth the price of admission (unless you pull for Purdue or Notre Dame). The 11 and 10 seeds win by a combined 32 points. Here's a column by someone who took it all in.
-- Time for Jay Bilas to man up and admit he was wrong about Smart's VCU crew. Dick Vitale paid his penance, but so far nothing from Bilas.
-- A lot of ripping was done in this space last week in reaction to the "First Four" concept. So it's only appropriate to dish some props where they're deserved.
Brilliant move to put the games on different channels, and to stagger them as effectively as possible for maximum viewing pleasure.
And props to the NCAA for allowing its coordinator of officials to present his objective take on the officiating. The zebras didn't get everything right during a weekend that would inch most refs closer to early retirement, but you respect the process a heckuva lot more when there's honesty and accountability.
Hey, maybe Adams can give his take on some of the calls in Clemson's loss at Duke earlier this month...
LW
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