For a conference that’s been top-heavy in recent years, with powerhouses like Duke and North Carolina dominating the headlines, the parity of college basketball has crept back into the ACC.
Last week was a prime example, when Duke — then undefeated and ranked No. 2 in the Associated Press poll — lost to both N.C. State and Miami in blowouts. Not since 1983, during the Michael Jordan, Ralph Sampson, Len Bias-fueled golden years of the ACC, had Duke lost back-to-back regular season conference games by double digit scores.
Duke proceeded to bounce back Saturday by blowing out No. 6 Louisville, an ACC newcomer, at home. Thirty-two seasons later Mike Krzyzewski is gunning for his 1,000th win, the most of any men’s Division I basketball coach, in a reprieve from conference play Sunday against St. John’s.
“I think that the balance is there,” said Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, whose Orange are 4-1 in ACC play by virtue of beating Virginia Tech (0-4 in ACC) and Georgia Tech (0-5 in ACC) by a total of three points and needing overtime to beat Wake Forest (1-4 in ACC) at home.
“I think the bottom teams, they’re losing, but they’re not losing by much,” Boeheim continued. “They’re hanging in there, and they have opportunities to win all those games. Georgia Tech certainly could have won at least two or three games at this stage, and it’s just the way the league is. Those teams are good enough to beat the teams that are near the top. Virginia is the only team that’s pretty much dominated.”
Virginia (17-0), which is one of only two undefeated teams left in college basketball along with Kentucky, needed double-overtime to beat Miami to open its ACC slate. The Cavaliers don’t plan to take Georgia Tech (Thursday) or Virginia Tech (Sunday) lightly either, even though the standings say this should be the easy portion of their conference schedule.
“(The Hokies) haven’t won, the same with Georgia Tech, in terms of conference,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. “But the separation is so minimal.”
In the middle of the argument is Notre Dame, which has to feel fortunate to be ranked second in the ACC at 5-1 after needing double-overtime to beat Georgia Tech at home and then trailing the Yellow Jackets by one with five minutes to play in Atlanta before securing the win.
“This now feels like the old Big East,” said Notre Dame coach Mike Brey, who is coaching his second season in the ACC since the Fighting Irish moved from the Big East. “Those last couple years when we were in it, when we were getting nine and 10 bids. I was wondering when (the ACC) would get into that territory, and I think we’re flat out in it. And it’s exciting. When we were in that old Big East, you said, ‘Oh my god, you’re in that league, every night is a tough one.’”
Expansion has certainly helped the depth of the ACC, as well as its parity, but Brey feels like the talent top-to-bottom has been better this season, a season after Syracuse, Notre Dame and Pittsburgh joined, and shortly after Louisville arrived.
Whether the ACC will get two handfuls of NCAA bids remains to be seen. The Big 12 might be more likely to set the pace come time for the NCAA tournament draw. But as ACC play moves into the heart of its schedule, the conference is making its own case.
One thing Brey thinks has made the ACC so strong and so evenly matched is the level of coaching. And that’s not something any other conference, including the Big 12, can challenge. The ACC has four Hall of Famers in Krzyzewski and Boeheim, Rick Pitino at Louisville and Roy Williams at North Carolina. The only other active Hall of Fame coach in the college ranks is Larry Brown at SMU.
Miami coach Jim Larranaga has 543 wins and a trip to the Final Four while at George Mason. Virginia Tech’s new coach Buzz Williams took Marquette to five consecutive NCAA tournaments, including the Elite Eight.
“I just think it’s a tribute to coaching now in the league,” Brey said. “There is really great coaching in this league top to bottom, and records don’t matter. That’s the one thing coming into this league I was so impressed with is the leaderships of the other programs. And I think it’s playing out that way. Any league win you get you’re thrilled to get it.”
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