Who was the single-season ACC basketball team of the past decade? | answered by @mattzemek

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ACC QUESTION of WEEK : Who was the single-season ACC basketball team of the past decade?

The Louisville Cardinals won a national basketball championship this past decade, but not as a member of the ACC. Three ACC programs won a combined four national titles. Duke won it all in 2010 and 2015, while North Carolina won in 2017 and Virginia won last year. Which of those teams was the best?

Let’s start at the beginning of the past decade. The 2010 Duke team was widely viewed to have deserved a No. 2 seed. West Virginia was supposed to get a No. 1 seed, but that did not happen. Duke’s bracket path was very manageable. The Blue Devils played third-seeded Baylor in the Elite Eight. The No. 2 seed in their region was a Villanova squad which looked ripe for an upset when the 2010 NCAA Tournament began.

Duke’s best game in the 2010 NCAA Tournament came — interestingly enough — against West Virginia in the Final Four semifinals. The Blue Devils wanted to shut up everyone who said WVU should have been seeded higher. That excellent performance did not lead to a brilliant display in the national championship game, but the Blue Devils were good enough to fend off Butler by a bucket. This was a very good team, but not a great one.

The 2015 Duke team was clearly better than 2010, beating a strong Gonzaga team in the Elite Eight and a loaded Wisconsin group in the national title game. This was Mike Krzyzewski’s one-and-done title team with Jahlil Okafor, Tyus Jones, and Justise Winslow. As good as this Duke team was, it trailed Wisconsin midway through the second half and needed a Grayson Allen surge (at a time when Allen was a role player, not a leading man) to rally for the win.

The 2019 Virginia team was the first in program history to win the national title, so this team will — and should be — special in the hearts of Hoos everywhere. Yet, we can obviously note the squeakers this team played and won from the Sweet 16 onward. Every game was extremely close: Oregon, Purdue, Auburn, and Texas Tech. If Ty Jerome had correctly been called for double-dribble at the end of the Auburn game, UVA would not have won. The Cavaliers were a great team, but they needed some help. (Not that receiving help is bad; it merely affects larger discussions such as this one.)

This leaves 2017 North Carolina. The Tar Heels escaped Arkansas in the round of 32 and then handled Butler easily in the Sweet 16. The Elite Eight was a heavyweight fight with second-seeded Kentucky. Luke Maye’s jumper with 0.3 seconds left carried the Tar Heels to the Final Four. Oregon was a very tough opponent, having dispatched top-seeded Kansas in Kansas City in the Elite Eight. North Carolina didn’t dominate but led most of the way and generally outplayed the Ducks. The championship game was a meeting with a stacked No. 1 seed from Gonzaga. North Carolina played its best ball in the final few minutes and won Roy Williams’ third national title.

Of these four teams, 2015 Duke and 2017 UNC rise to the top. This isn’t a clean or easy comparison, but North Carolina had more experience and didn’t need to mount a big rally in its national championship game. Give me the 2017 Tar Heels, but it’s close.

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