The ACC is once again a topic of national conversation as we approach the NCAA Tournament.
Once again, the conference, according to several big-name media companies, is having a down year. For example, in the past week alone, Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, Joe Lunardi of ESPN, and The Field of 68 have rated the Mountain West Conference higher than the ACC in either power rankings, comparisons on TV, or in NCAA Tournament bracket predictions. Check them out below.
In Lunardi’s bracket prediction, the ACC only has three teams in the NCAA Tournament field. This, just one year after the conference had the third-highest win percentage in last year’s NCAA Tournament. Its teams went 7-5 in last year’s Tournament, a run that included Miami getting all the way to the Final Four.
“First and foremost, I don’t look at them,” Pitt’s Jeff Capel said about bracketology predictions. “I hear about them, because I hear people complaining about them. People on my staff. But I try not to look at it. I don’t because it doesn’t make sense to me. I don’t understand it. I don’t. For the life of me, I don’t.”
The eight top-70 teams in the ACC this year, according to NET, are listed as follows: North Carolina (9), Duke (19), Clemson (37), Wake Forest (41), Virginia (42), Virginia Tech (53), Miami (62), and Pitt (64). When looking at games played against opponents that slot under the NET’s Quadrants 1 and 2, the ACC only has Florida State (6-5, ranked No. 94), Miami (7-5, ranked No. 62), Virginia (5-4), and North Carolina (9-4) with winning records. Miami is the only team out of the top eight in the league with a Quad 4 loss, which certainly hurts the Hurricanes this year.
In The Field Of 68’s Power Rankings, the ACC ranked 6th out of 7 conferences, sitting behind the Big 12, the SEC, the Big Ten, the Big East, and the Mountain West. The ACC currently has eight teams ranked in the top-70 of the NCAA’s NET rankings, while the Big 12 has 11, the Big East has nine, the SEC has nine, the Big Ten has eight, and the Mountain West has six.
“Our league is really good, the teams in this league are really good, the players, the coaches,” Capel continued. “It’s way more than North Carolina and Duke. Last year, the narrative was that Duke or Carolina aren’t how they normally are. Well, they played the other day, and both teams were in the top ten. Duke and Carolina are Duke and Carolina. They’re both really, really good. But so is NC State, so is Virginia, so is the rest of our league. It’s frustrating. It’s frustrating. If you look at the number of teams that we have that are in the top 75 in the NET, just, all of those things.”
“I wish I had an answer for you, but unfortunately I do not,” Capel continued. “I’m not a bracketology expert, I’m not a number expert, a NET expert. I know what my eyes see. It’s frustrating that a lot of people sit behind a computer and look at numbers and that’s the metrics they come up with. Maybe some of these other teams in other conferences have figured out how to game the system and how to manipulate the numbers. I just know, when we get to the NCAA Tournament — the teams that get there — we win. We win at a very, very high level. Our league does. We played last year a team from the Big 12 that was really good, and we beat them pretty handedly, and we barely got into the tournament from what the numbers say. We played a team from the SEC that was a pretty good team, we beat them. We beat both of those teams without our starting center last year.”
The Panthers defeated Mississippi State to kick off the tournament in the First Four. The Bulldogs went 21-12 in the regular season that year and just 8-10 in conference play. Pitt entered the tournament with a 22-11 record and went 14-6 in ACC play. Then, No. 11 Pitt took on No. 6 Iowa State in the Round of 64. The Cyclones entered the game with a NET ranking of No. 20, while Pitt was ranked No. 67 in NET leading into the matchup in Greensboro. Pitt won the game 59-41 and advanced to the Round of 32.
“You look at what Miami did in the tournament,” Capel said. “I mean, so, we get there, we perform, we do well, but every year, it’s like this same thing over and over. Maybe we need one of the coaches to call some of these bracketology experts out. I mean, I don’t know. I really don’t know. I wish I had an answer.”
The Mountain West also had a Final Four team last year with San Diego State making a run to the National Championship game.
Starting the whining process to once again deflect from his subpar performance. Year 6 of the Capel error will end with one bid. And the apologists on this board will spout the inevitable excuses.
More abuse from the Duquesne grad.
two degrees from Pitt jagoff
fromandThe ACC is not getting the past respect it has had because outside of UNC this year there is not a “great” team in the league. There used to be 4 or 5 really good teams and now it is 1 or 2 with a bunch or good to above average teams. There is a ton of parity now in college basketball, which makes the sport much more fun to watch then college football.
see above, lol
Lol. I saw it. You crack me up.
There are no great teams across the land imo. So it’s not that.
The situation was pretty well nailed on the ACC Huddle last weekend. The way it’s setup favors conferences that schedule weaker teams and win by a higher spreads early, show higher offensive and defensive efficiency. So, when it comes to league play every game becomes a highly rated game. Boeheim suggested that they look at the last 20 games prior to the tournament as with the transfer portal it takes a little while to get the teams to gel, hence their efficiency is lower, but they could easily be a better team by the beginning of March.
Yes the ACC Network is certainly an unbiased outlet lol.
Not anything different than the B1GJoke network or SEC network. lol
*”Nothing but Net”
If a coach does not have the insight (or is too lazy) to understand the system, that is a problem. It leaves his team, and us (fans), in a worse place on Selection Sunday.
Jamie Dixon was a master, even before there was a “NET”. Dixon would, purposefully, beat-up on the TOP team from the MEAC, Patriot, ASUN, or some other low tier conference. This strategy gave Pitt “wins against tournament teams”, which was as important as RPI to the Selection Committee, at the time.
Agree 100%. Another issue throughout the Capel error is the tournament worthy teams in the mid and low majors have been better than the product he has rolled out.
It’s pretty easy to understand when you look at it in the current landscape of the 2 bigtime monied sports in college football. For years they said the PAC 12 was weakest with the idea of eventually poaching from it. Done. Next on the hitlist is the ACC and now all of a sudden in a conference that was known for 50 years as the Best in basketball or at least hailed as such by the media …..it isn’t being. Cause it’s a target of the tv network favored BigJoke and SEC for poaching. UNC & UVA are sought after… Read more »
They said this last year and yet there was an ACC team in the Final 4. But none from the supposed great Big 12 or B1Gjoke. It’s all bs.
Hey look boys and girls it’s Rob RaDICK ! The guy who knows absolutely nothing ! Loser
The feeble minded fanboys on this site are hilarious- no understanding that they are being gaslit by a sub mediocre coach who has basically stolen $20 million or so for himself, and hundreds of thousands more for Coach Nepo. But have it- keep on whining
That “mediocre” coach won 4 of 5, and has that team playing their best basketball of the season. Your NOT paying his salary, so why are you complaining? If you don’t like this sight, then hit the transfer portal.
“Won 4 of 5” after losing 5 of 6 clown. ACC record of 40-65. Pretty mediocre. Actually below. “Best basketball” Beating mighty GT, Norte Dame and 3/5 of Duke. You’re a clown
you are just not smart at sports lol it is ok that bald head of yours does not allow protection from the sun to seep in, yeah Capel needs to be better but counting his first 3 seasons as a complete failure is just dumb. He took over a dumpster fire and the facilities and budget left from the old regime was trash, Barnes blew this program up. Year 4 was his biggest failure, last season get into the tournament and I will hold judgment on year 6 since it is not complete…
ok- 3 years lol……..agree to disagree skippy
You’re the very definition of gaslit. Blathering the tired old “dumpster fire” line. Dixon navigated the “facilities and budget” quite well. He may get a pass for year one- but that’s all. TJ at Iowa State took a 3 win team to the tournament in his first year. The sell by on the Capel excuses has long passed. And as for the personal comments- blow me loser
I mostly agree with Rob here. At some point Capel is going to have to have sustained success here. A step back this year was anticipated, but if they don’t make it into the top 7 in the league by the end of the season I think this season is a failure. Top 7 after last year I think shows the program leveled out mid-tier and can take a big step forward next year and beyond. Only difference, or hesitation I have for dismissing Capel completely at this point, in my opinion, is that I think Dixon was the program.… Read more »
There are three keys to coaching college basketball, players, players, and players. I wish that we could compare NIL money between programs. That plays a significant role in the new era of college basketball.
One big weakness on this year’s team is lack of interior scoring. Maybe Kante levels that out but with huett leaving I think Capel needs a ready to contribute big in the portal next year. And that’s assuming the rest of the guys stay…a huge assumption. Capel has done a decent job getting out of the doldrums of the stallings hire but he needs to take a step, and if it’s not next year, then probably need to make a move. I think people forget some of the negative associated with Dixon, and yes pitt was better when he was… Read more »
328-123 at Pitt. .727. “But he never beat a higher seed in the tournament” Lol.
He didn’t. But he did lose to pacific and Bradley. Go ahead and refute it. I like Dixon but I do acknowledge his shortcomings in the tournament.
Guess you’re a Dixon apologist.
So what, lol. Upsets abound in the NCAA tournament. Talk about trying to cherry pick lol. And no apologies needed for a coach with a .727 winning percentage, .640 in arguably the toughest NCAA conferences. Compare that to what Pitt has now………
Cue the apologies for lack of tourney success. He was great at racking up non-conference wins against scrubs. And I already said pitt would be better off if they were doing that again so already did the comparison.
Enjoy your day lol….
Dixon took over a winning program. You are comparing apples to oranges.
And sustained it for well over a decade, despite the “lack of facilities and resources” referred to. Also Dixon’s job rebuilding TCU speaks for itself
Morons like YOU chased Dixon out of here in the first place. He wanted to leave when they moved to the ACC. He hasn’t won anything at TCU. Make sure your next coach can win at Cameron. Make sure your next coach wins 2 of the last 3 with North Carolina. Whatever happens from here forward, he’ll be here longer than Narduzzi.
5-6 this year . 40-65 overall regular season conference. 1-5 in the ACC tourney. 2 wins last year over the worst UNC team in over a decade. A 22 point loss to a full strength Duke team at home, a 4 point upset over 3/5 of the starters, two double digit scorers missing at Cameron. More felons-3 than bids 1. Losses to Missouri and Syracuse twice this year. 1-5 vs WVU. All objective facts. But cherry pick a couple of upsets and blather away. The record speaks for itself. And your use of the term “moron” is hysterical you fucking… Read more »
Regarding Dixon “never winning anything” he actually won the NIT his first year- the tournament that’s Capel’s ceiling in year 6. Jamie is also about to take TCU to the tournament for the third consecutive year- a first in program history. Just a few more facts to answer your pathetic narrative
Wasn’t it YOU that said N.I.T.is nothing. You can remember what you said Moron . As far as TCU history, I don’t care clown. Jamie Dickson left Pitt because ridiculous idiots like you. Your stupid jibber won’t stop Capel from turning this program around. So do EVERYONE a favor and SHUT UP idiot.
Wow. Someone is triggered. First it’s Dixon you semi literate moron. And while the NIT is decidedly inferior, the fact that he won it in year one while it’s Capel’s ceiling in Year 6 is telling. And no, I don’t think I will shut up. Eviscerating the poorly educated simpletons like you is amusing. Loser wannabes that refer to teams as “us” lol.
RaDICK has 2 degrees ????? The idiot boy doesn’t even have 2 balls !!!!!
You ever watch ACC network. 💤
Sad 🤦♂️.
They need better production and better color commentators
BORING!
BIG1 SEC BIG12
Make them look like watching public television.