Even before expansion, ACC rebuilding depth

In the meantime, though, some current teams not named Duke or North Carolina are re-emerging in the upper and middle tiers of the ACC.

N.C. State, which returns four starters from a team that made a Sweet 16 run last March, was chosen Wednesday as the ACC media’s preseason favorite to win the conference. That hasn’t happened since 1974, when David Thompson was a junior.

Florida State is the defending ACC champion, after winning its first ACC tournament in March at Philips Arena. The Seminoles were chosen to finish fourth this season, and that’s after losing four starters from last season’s team.

That’s more affirmation, perhaps, that the reputation of schools other than the “800-pound gorillas,” as FSU coach Leonard Hamilton refers to Duke and UNC, are improving.

Four consecutive trips to the NCAA tournament, the return of standout guard Michael Snaer and another group of 7-footers have earned the Seminoles a more permanent spot among the projected elites.

“Miami, Florida State, North Carolina State are all big players now,” second-year Maryland coach Mark Turgeon said. “Tony (Bennett) has done a great job at Virginia, they’re a major player, and I think the bottom-half guys are going to be better. And then you still have Duke and Carolina.”

Duke and UNC lost six players between them to the first round of the NBA draft. But Hamilton rejects any notion that they’ve fallen back to the pack. He thinks teams such as FSU and others are moving up.

“If any of us sit around and wait on Duke and Carolina to drop off, we’re all going to be waiting a long time,” Hamilton said. “It hasn’t happened in 50 years, and it’s probably not going to happen in the next 50.”

Hamilton points to the financial commitments that ACC schools have made in recent years to their basketball facilities. Georgia Tech will open newly renovated McCamish Pavilion on Nov. 9. Virginia, Maryland and Miami have opened new arenas in the past 10 years. FSU’s board of trustees just voted this summer to overtake financial responsibility of Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Center.

And this time last year, the ACC was introducing four first-year head coaches, which was unprecedented turnover in conference history. On Wednesday, only James Johnson of Virginia Tech was a newcomer.

But the number that means the most is how many ACC teams make the NCAA tournament field. The Big East had as many teams in last year’s tournament (nine) as the ACC had the past two years combined.

“I don’t think it’s any secret that maybe our depth in the past few years hasn’t been what’s it’s been at some other times in our history,” Swofford said. “Not only have the best teams built this league, but the depth has built this league from a basketball standpoint. What I see looking at it in the preseason is that it’s on its way back. Then when you look ahead to Pitt and Syracuse and Notre Dame coming in, it’s really going to be competitive.”

Turgeon thinks the coming expansion is helping depth in the league now.

“I do think because of our league and where it’s heading, it’s really helped recruiting for all of us,” Turgeon said.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski calls himself a purist and said again Wednesday he thinks every team that joins the ACC should be treated the same, unlike the exception made for Notre Dame to remain independent in football.

But there was no denying the positive impact it will have in basketball.

“It’s an amazing coup for Notre Dame, and it’s good for us,” Krzyzewski said. “Basketball-wise, with the addition of those three programs in this escalation war, or whatever you want to call it, we won.”