Is it the end, or is there a way out?
Why Has ACC Basketball Lost its Luster?
While we are IMPATIENTLY biding our time:
- until another POAPS drops
- until the NCAA women’s and men’s tournaments begin next week when we can root for the Lady Pack and against …
- until coaching targets come available
… it might be interesting to look into the question, “Why the ACC isn’t the dominant league in basketball anymore?” The reasons for the problem are several, but there is some reason for optimism for the future.
There is an excellent article by Myron Medcalf on ESPN analyzing why the ACC seems to have lost its way in basketball. Recommended reading.
- For the tl;dnr crowd, Not surprisingly, the major problem is money. The solution is major money.
- For those a little more interested, many of the highlights are excerpted below and summarize the article
- For those whose interest is peeked, the full article can be found here.
The State of the ACC
- ESPN’s Joe Lunardi currently predicts the ACC to receive only three bids [Edit: since the article was published UNC might have earned #4] for the men’s NCAA tournament on Selection Sunday. That would be its lowest tally in 25 years and a far cry from its record-tying nine berths in 2018.
- The ACC’s current state is as much the result of its collective financial commitment relative to other power conferences as it is a reflection of grappling with its identity, as teams that once thrived off their traditions and brands try to reinvent themselves.
- The level of stability across the conference has also been impacted by heavy turnover among its men’s basketball coaches. Once the home of stalwarts like Boeheim, Roy Williams, Mike Krzyzewski and Tony Bennett, the ACC’s ranks look much different now. Next season, Clemson’s Brad Brownell — who joined the Tigers in 2010 — will be the ACC’s most tenured coach
- Once NIL rules passed in 2021, the ACC was not quick to embrace the new era the way other power conferences did.
- According to Opendorse, the ACC’s top 10 men’s basketball players in NIL earnings in January 2024 made less than their peers in the Big East, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC. In fact, the ACC’s top 10 made less than half of what the Big 12’s top 10 made at the time.
How Has the SEC Changed So Much?
- ”I think for most ACC schools … we never spent any money,” Boeheim said. “We never raised any money. We won games and our programs made money, so we didn’t go out to people and try to raise money. “Southern schools have always raised money. They always had athletic money, beautiful big facilities. So they were used to the money thing. I don’t think it was a problem for them. “It has been a problem in the ACC.”
- As Boeheim suggests, it hasn’t been a problem in the SEC.
- As Selection Sunday approaches, the SEC is primed to break the Big East’s record of 11 NCAA tournament bids (2010-11) with 13 projected berths in Lunardi’s most recent Bracketology. Texas enters this week’s conference tournament on the bubble with a chance to secure a 14th invitation.
- The SEC’s investments have paid off.
- Half of the 12 highest-paid coaches in college basketball, according to USA Today, were in the SEC last season. Additional proof of its commitment to funding NIL: One-third of the top 100 transfers in ESPN’s transfer rankings for the 2024-25 season picked SEC schools.
- What the SEC has accomplished is proof that money arguably matters more now than ever before. And that has been one of the major challenges for the ACC.
What is the ACC doing about it?
- According to Opendorse, the ACC is set to spend more per school on men’s basketball ($4.4 million) than any conference other than the Big East ($5.3 million). [Edit: The BE doesn’t have football, so their revenue share for basketball can be greater than conferences that have to fund football from the same bucket of money. The offset is, they don’t have football revenue, so their overall ‘bucket’ won’t be as big.]
- Based on that reported financial commitment, the ACC seems serious about regaining its perch in men’s basketball.
- ”If there are fair market value checks and the enforcement entity has teeth,” Lawrence said [Edit: discussing the NCAA’s desire to control the NIL Collectives and create some semblance of a level playing field], “then providing athletes significant dollars outside of the cap is going to be difficult.”
- According to ESPN’s 2024-25 transfer rankings, the ACC signed just four of the top 60 available transfers. And if you exclude UNC and Duke (which combined for eight), only three of the top 50 high school players in ESPN’s ranking of the 2024 class signed with ACC schools prior to this season.
- Early signs do point to better days in the future.
- According to Opendorse, the ACC’s top 10 men’s basketball players are now third in expected NIL income ($698,000) compared to other power conferences,
For now, the conference’s leaders and supporters view this season as one of transition.
They are also quick to remind of the conference’s past postseason success: The ACC has won one-third of the past decade’s national championships. It also produced nine of the past 36 Final Four teams.
That’s the true barometer of the league, according to one of its veteran leaders.
“They don’t understand that we’re improving and when we’re playing each other and we’re beating up on each other, that’s because the league has gotten better. And I think you’re always going to see, at the end of the year, once our teams get into the NCAA tournament, they give a full account of themselves,” Florida State’s Hamilton said.
“But none of that is emphasized during the course of the year. We listen to that and we don’t necessarily feel like we have to defend ourselves because, what do they say, ‘The proof is in the pudding.’ Every year, we’re standing tall at the end of the season.”