For the last three years, the ACC has struggled for NCAA bids and respect.
In 2022 the conference was the NET-rated 5th conference with 5 NCAA bids.
In 2023 the conference was the NET-rated 7th conference with 5 NCAA bids
In 2024 the conference was the NET-rated 4th conference with 5 NCAA bids.
A media narrative has taken hold that ACC Basketball is in decline, the NCAA Tournament says differently, and that’s the only result that matters.
Records in the NCAA Tournament in the past three years:
ACC: 29-11 (.725)
Big East: 25-10 (.714)
BIG-12: 29-18 (.617)
PAC-12: 13-10 (.565)
BIG-10: 21-21 (.500)
SEC: 19-20 (.487)
Mountain West: 9-13 (.409)— Danny Neckel (@DNeckel19) March 25, 2024
That begs the question of what’s going on in the regular season as opposed to March. The answer may not be as difficult as you think.
The bottom of the ACC has really hurt the conference. In 2024 the NET had them ranked 216. In 2023 their NET was 315, to go along with Florida State at 221. Pittsburgh was 193 in 2022. Those kinds of numbers drag the ACC down. Clemson in 2023 may have been left out of the NCAA in part due to a late-season loss at Louisville. Every league has a bottom, but the ACC’s bottom with some of the horrendous OOC losses taken skews the middle and the top of the league metric numbers.
Well, that doesn’t explain it all – what else could be in play for the March performances?
When you watch SEC basketball, their teams are extremely athletic, highly skilled individual offensive players, they largely don’t play much defense and the coaching is pretty average. The SEC is pretty much a copycat league. It’s no wonder Alabama and Tennessee who can play a little bit of defense are the two SEC teams that have advanced to the Sweet 16 out of 8 bids.
In the ACC, there are a variety of styles the teams play. Why wasn’t NC State frustrated by Texas Tech’s switching defense in round 1? Maybe they had just seen something similar with Virginia’s packline defense the week before. North Carolina’s transition offense might not be quite Roy Williams era, but the Heels can get up and down the court with the best of them. Is Clemson concerned about New Mexico or Baylor’s leading guard scorer? It would be tough to compare to what UNC’s RJ Davis brings. How many teams in the tournament match Duke’s player-for-player talent?
What about guard-oriented 4 in 1 offense? Clemson, UNC, Duke, and NC State all saw that with Georgia Tech. Teams that rely on their guards’ perimeter shooting. Virginia Tech was that team.
Pitt in the last couple months of the season was one of the hottest offensive teams in college basketball.
Who plays more half court a little more grinding basketball? Notre Dame they’ll take it deep into the shot clock and make teams work on the defensive end. In previous seasons Syracuse’s zone defense was front and center.
Get the idea? When it comes to March whatever opponents bring ACC Teams have probably already seen it before.
That prepares you for March.
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