Chansky's Notebook: Mysterious ACC

The ACC is balanced again, but is it good or just average?

Last year, ACC Basketball took hits from almost the beginning to the end of the season, when all the data used by the NCAA tournament selection committee yielded only five bids among the 15 schools.

And then two of those teams – regulars Carolina and Duke – made it to the Final Four and the ACC attention changed almost overnight. The credentials are confusing with Quad 1 wins at home and on the road, plus overall strength of schedule and maybe some other voodoo mixed in.

But here we are in early January, and the question looms: Is the league just balanced or kind of meeting in the middle of mediocrity once again?

Look what happened on Wednesday night alone in the Big Four doubleheader on the ACC Network. Duke fell behind 15-0 to N.C. State’s improved Wolfpack and suffered a historic 84-60 loss. Carolina held serve against a scrappy Wake Forest team. Both games will be rematched in February, swapping home courts.

Georgia Tech, which was 0-4 in the league and looking like a contender for 15th place, rallied at home to stun previously 4-0 Miami, which was getting ACC championship and Final Four buzz before that game.

Clemson won at Virginia Tech and remained the only other unbeaten with Pitt in first place. Remember, the Tigers, Yellow Jackets and Panthers didn’t get a sniff of the last Dance with losing records buried deep in the standings. For the moment, at least, the Tigers are the class of the conference with their second road win in Blacksburg. Pitt is a total make-over in talent and toughness, having beaten 25th-ranked Carolina and No. 11 Virginia within a three-day span at home.

Heading into the weekend, when only Miami is idle, the new symmetry of the ACC has usual have-nots (Clemson and Pitt) at 4-0 and schools with basketball brands (Notre Dame and Louisville) in dead last at 0-4. Miami (4-1) and Syracuse (3-1) are your third- and fourth-place teams, followed by six tied with 2-2 records including perennial powers Duke, UNC and Virginia.

If the usual cream rises to the top, there will surely be more than five getting NCAA bids and they will have to prove their worthiness in March, just like the 2022 Tar Heels did from the eighth seed to a three-point loss to Kansas in the championship game.

As Churchill said (and it could apply to today’s world as well), the ACC remains a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.

Featured image via NC State Athletics

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Chansky’s Notebook: Mysterious ACC

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