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John Chaney, the legendary former basketball coach of the Temple Owls — quite possibly the best coach in the history of college basketball who never made the Final Four — used to have his players practice before six in the morning. It was part of Chaney’s tough-love mentorship of kids from hardscrabble backgrounds, something which transcended basketball.
In the 2019-2020 ACC basketball season, more students will have to attend a very early set of meetings, but this is not 5 a.m. early. This is November 5-and-6 early.
Yes, if you hadn’t noticed, it’s true: Forget the Big Ten playing conference games in early December. Get that weaksauce pansy bullspit out of here.
The ACC is going REALLY strong to the rack with conference games on OPENING NIGHT of the whole season.
On Tuesday, Nov. 5 — the first night of college hoops in the new campaign — Louisville visits Miami to start things off. Then Virginia Tech goes to Littlejohn to play Clemson. Georgia Tech travels to Raleigh to face North Carolina State.
On Wednesday, Nov. 6, Wake Forest goes to Boston College. Notre Dame plays at North Carolina. Florida State makes the trek north to Pittsburgh. Virginia, in its first game as defending national champion, goes to the Carrier Dome to play Syracuse.
Yes, November 6!
We all know why this is happening: The ACC Network, a basketball-first TV property in terms of its main, intended point of emphasis to subscribers, wants to show off its product. Nevertheless, the ACC could have chosen to wait until after Thanksgiving weekend.
It did not.
I’m not saying or inferring that the move is good or bad, merely that the hunger to get a conference game on the network as soon as possible WAS the reason for the decision.
Now comes the obvious set of questions:
A) Will an underdog winner emerge from any of these seven conference games? (Duke plays Kansas, and is the 15th team not included in these league openers.)
B) If an underdog winner does emerge, will that early jolt of happiness carry into the season in any meaningful way?
C) Will a favorite lose?
D) If a favorite loses, will that very early stinger either hijack the next few games, or will it create an early splash of water which will wake the team up and create a level of vigilance which flows through the rest of the season?
We won’t find the answers right away, but the questions are worth holding onto as the season evolves.
Welcome to college basketball, young ACC students! Good luck in these early meetings in the conference room.
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