Maligned ACC shines in first weekend of NCAA Tournament
Leading up to Selection Sunday for the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, the conversation surrounding the ACC was about the league being below average again.
But after getting just five teams in the field, four advanced to the Sweet 16 -- North Carolina, Duke, North Carolina State and Clemson -- more than any other conference.
So is the ACC underrated or is it simply top heavy?
The answer is somewhere in between.
The bottom of the ACC was bad this season. Georgia Tech, Notre Dame and Louisville all finished the regular season with a KenPom ranking of 120 or worse, with losses to teams like University of Massachusetts Lowell, Western Carolina and The Citadel early in the year.
While those teams improved over the course of the season, the early losses had an impact on the perception of the rest of the conference by association. So much so that CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jon Rothstein posted on "X," in January following Clemson's loss to Duke that the ACC could get a few as two teams in the Big Dance.
Part of the issue is inconsistency with the selection process. Michigan State made the tournament as an 8-seed despite a 19-14 record and sixth-place finish in the Big Ten. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh missed out with a 22-11 record and finishing fourth in the ACC.
This year's field was the third straight with just five ACC teams. Despite this, the teams selected have shown staying power.
This season 11-seed NC State is the lowest seed remaining.
Last year Miami made it to the Final Four as a 5 seed, one year after a trip to the Elite Eight as a 10 seed. The season before North Carolina made it all the way to the title game as an 8 seed (beating another ACC team, Duke, in the Final Four).
So while regular season results do matter, teams are ultimately judged by their success in March. And the ACC is once again doing what it always does — succeed.
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