Conference chest-thumping has always been a bit of a weird topic. We always get annoyed when bottom-tier SEC fanbases gloat about Alabama football success like it’s their own. Certain sports media ( * cough * ESPN ) pumping up particular conferences so much in some cases that is to the detriment of the ACC and its members.
We all know the shaft job Florida State received in December, and how the elements in the media played a role in influencing a weak selection committee.
There was a lack of a voice coming out of the ACC offices, and it just seemed like nobody was speaking up for the conference members. Say what you will about the future of the ACC, but it’s here right now and will be next year and ACC schools, fans, and student-athletes are being affected by this kind of negative coverage.
As we moved towards basketball, the media frenzy to downgrade the ACC just continued. Every conference member felt it. ACC schools fighting for bids, and to not only fight when on the court, but also fight the perception the ACC was a 3 maybe even a 2-bid league. It just kept coming, and it didn’t match the results. The Big 12 was looking at 8-9 bids and was 3-9 against the ACC. The MWC conference was a 6-bid league and had a losing record 2-3 against the ACC. The Big 10 had a losing record 2-3 to the ACC. Even the NET had the ACC as the 4th rated conference in the country.
2 Bid League, 3 Bid League, and Mid-Major league were all used to describe ACC basketball.
The NCAA tournament started, and the ACC teams (UNC, Duke, NC State, Clemson) started winning games, they kept winning and won some more beating teams from the Big 12, Pac 12, Big East, and Big 10.
Yet all the pundits could reference was a bad game on a Tuesday night by Virginia, and Pittsburgh’s nonconference schedule.
No one is saying the ACC was an 8-bid league, it really wasn’t about the final tally of bids as 5 max 6 bids was probably right.
It was the lack of respect shown to the entire conference during the season. During the ACC/SEC challenge the ACC led the challenge 7-4 at one point and the ESPN announcer talked about the SEC being an 8-10 bid league.
Throw in the NCAA results + non-conference results of November and December and the ACC is 39-35 against SEC, Big 12, Big 10, Pac 12, MWC, and Big East. That is an entire season’s body of work against the 6 highest-bid conferences.
The ACC now sits with 38% of the Elite 8 in Duke, NC State, and Clemson, and a guaranteed team in the Final 4.
I haven’t even started on the ACC’s NCAA tournament success of the last 3 years.
Most wins in the past three NCAA Tournaments:
ACC: 30
BIG-12: 29
Big East: 26
BIG-10: 22
SEC: 21
PAC-12: 12
Mountain West: 9— Danny Neckel (@DNeckel19) March 30, 2024
Highest NCAA Tournament number of wins per number of bids ratio by conference in the past three tournaments so far:
ACC: 2.13 (32 wins / 15 bids)
Big East: 1.86
BIG-12: 1.38
WCC: 1.29
PAC-12: 1.18— Danny Neckel (@DNeckel19) March 30, 2024
Keep referring to your NET rankings, the ACC will keep pointing out Box Scores.
ACC fans have every right to crow, chest bump, and gloat all they want after the amount of disrespect shown the conference not just this year, but also the last several years.
They were just fed up.
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