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BOZICH | Can Duke, Louisville, Clemson save ACC's reputation in March?

  • Updated
  • 3 min to read
UL DUKE Chucky Hepburn

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Welcome to the Hot Seat, Atlantic Coast Conference.

You used to be the Gold Standard of men's college basketball. You were Apple. You were Alphabet. You were the best of the best.

Now, you're not. You're a mess.

In three weeks, you'll need Duke, Clemson and Louisville to step forward and polish your reputation.

The prediction boards for the NCAA Tournament have the surging Southeastern Conference getting 11 to 13 teams in the field. Mark the Big Ten down for 10 teams and the Big 12 for eight.

You're getting four, ACC.

Or maybe three. No more than five — and that's for a mammoth 18-team league.

"It's disappointing, obviously," Clemson coach Brad Brownell said Monday on the ACC coaches' weekly teleconference.

"I understand that a lot of our teams didn't perform as well in the non-conference and that's why we are where we are."

But it's more than that. You've got two programs — Miami and Virginia — that had likely Hall of Fame coaches walk out in the middle of the season, leaving their teams to power on without them.

That has gone as well as you would it expect. The Cavaliers are tied for 12th place with Notre Dame and will miss the NCAA Tournament for just the second time since 2013.

There's a bigger mess in Miami. Not only are the Hurricanes the worst team in the league, nearly eliminated from making the ACC Tournament. Miami became the league's worst nightmare: a last-place distraction.

On Saturday night, word leaked that Duke assistant coach Jai Lucas was in line to become the next Miami coach. Not only did this story start percolating while Duke was playing a prime-time national TV game against Illinois in Madison Square Garden, it apparently also got out before Lucas had a chance to explain everything to Duke head coach Jon Scheyer.

"Any report or anything that's out there, I'm just getting wind of it now," Scheyer said after the game.

Nice. PR 101.

Not only does Duke play in Miami on Tuesday night, the Blue Devils will have to navigate their role as co-NCAA Tournament favorites while answering questions about a lame duck assistant coach. Scheyer tried to patch things up during his time on the ACC teleconference, but it's going to get extremely awkward if Miami rightly wants Lucas on the job when the transfer portal opens — and it will open in the middle of Duke's NCAA Tournament run.

Amateur hour in Miami.

You've had Notre Dame coach Micah Shrewsbury calling out his fans for their lack of support for his 12-15 team. Properly motivated, Fighting Irish fans responded with a crowd of 4,332 for the team's next game against SMU.

You've got North Carolina State lamenting that the Wolfpack's fluke Final Four run last season stuck their program with bonus time with coach Kevin Keatts, whose team is 11-16 and tied for 16th place.

North Carolina fans don't know what to do about Hubert Davis. Three years ago, he made the NCAA title game, dealing Mike Krzyzewski two of the final three defeats of his Hall of Fame career. Last season, Davis won the ACC regular season title and made the Sweet 16.

Ranked No. 9 in the AP preseason Top 25, the Tar Heels sit outside the NCAA Tournament cut line, losers to Stanford and Wake Forest. UNC has work to do to make the 68-team field.

So does Wake Forest, which slipped in the tournament forecasts with losses to Florida State and N.C. State in its last three games.

The only three ACC teams assured of playing in the tournament that matters are Duke, a certain No. 1 seed; Brownell's Clemson squad (which beat Kentucky), a likely 6-seed, and Louisville, a 6- or 7-seed in Pat Kelsey's first season.

The last time the ACC had as few as four teams in the tournament was 2013, which was before Syracuse, Pitt and Louisville migrated over from the Big East.

By 2017 and 2018, the ACC put nine teams in the party. But the decline has been legitimate. The ACC has been stuck on five NCAA teams the last three seasons.

Of course, last season Duke, Clemson and NC State turned the bids into an ACC party. Duke made the Elite Eight before losing to N.C. State, which lost to Purdue in the Final Four. Clemson lost to Alabama by seven in a regional final.

"Some of the same things were said last year, and that's what's frustrating," Brownell said. "Kevin's team was like 10th in our league and they went to the Final Four. We finished tied for fifth and went to the Elite Eight.

"So I do think our league is better than it usually gets credit for."

Could be. But the record shows that Michael Jordan's league has a losing record against the four other power conferences this winter — 2-5 against the Big East; 7-9 with the Big Ten; 3-8 against the Big 12 and a woeful 4-30 against the SEC.

Add it up, and that's 16-52, a winning percentage of .235. That's a 3- or 4-bid conference.

The ACC will need Duke, Louisville and Clemson to plant their feet and make a stand for their conference next month.

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