Death blow for the ACC Tournament?
posted by LW, Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Jacked about the ACC Tournament.
Always have been, always will be.
Probably.
I say probably because I'm not sure how much the anticipation and excitement will be diminished if it comes right before -- and just typing this makes me nauseous -- a 96-team NCAA Tournament.
For the ACC purists, the ACC Tournament has already been severely diminished by the conference's decision to add three more teams.
The field is watered down to the point that quarterfinal Friday, which used to fill every single seat at Greensboro Coliseum every single year it was there, now draws empty seats with regularity.
I'm planning on going up to Greensboro for this week's tournament. But I have almost zero interest in Thursday's games -- with the exception of the nightcap featuring Clemson and N.C. State, of course.
The opening game of the tournament -- Boston College plays Virginia for the right to face top seed Duke -- helps make the purist's argument that expansion has watered down the tournament and made it much less interesting.
The current state of the tournament doesn't bother me all that much. It's still a really cool event that will play host to really cool games in a really cool setting. If there are a few empty seats for Friday's 9:45 p.m. nightcap, no biggie.
But then again, I wasn't around when it was (supposedly) much cooler. So maybe, probably, the purists have a legitimate beef.
The idea of a 96-team NCAA field presents quite a threat, though. And I'm surprised the coaches who revere and treasure the ACC Tournament -- Oliver Purnell included -- aren't more concerned about the potential for damaging something they love so much.
I guess they could say it's exciting to watch a below-mediocre 10 seed battle it out to get into the tournament field. Not sure how many fans or television viewers would find that riveting, but maybe that's just me.
Then again, is the existence of bubble teams fighting for NCAA at-large inclusion the main reason we find the ACC Tournament compelling? I'm not so sure about that.
Wake Forest enters this week trying to solidify its case. Same with Georgia Tech. But if the Deacs and Jackets were already in the NCAA field, I don't know that I'd be a lot less interested.
Friday will feature several killer games, and that'd be the case regardless of teams' NCAA bubble status.
Still, though ... Virginia versus Boston College?
And oh by the way, the Cavs are not only without Sylven Landesberg, but Calvin Baker as well.
Caulton Tudor isn't optimistic about the ACC Tournament's viability amid an expanded NCAA field.
Expansion has been a disaster for basketball and about the same for football.
The move to 12 teams has only diluted competition, created senseless scheduling quirks and combined with Carolina's season as an N.C. State look-alike, is eroding fan interest. If the NCAA expands to 96 teams, there's no reason whatsoever to think the ACC tournament will remain a viable endeavor.
But hey, it used to be the best show around until television became ultimate sports dictator.
Tudor makes a great point in mentioning that North Carolina's disastrous plummet has been great for N.C. State because it's diverted the focus from the Wolfpack's struggles under Sidney Lowe.
If Carolina's spectacular crash hadn't so completely dominated the landscape, State's fourth-year coach would have been on a blistering griddle to Greensboro since early February.
But regardless of what happens next season, Carolina can't provide a second straight diversion for Lowe and his program.
He needs to get a jump start on a big season by winning a couple of games this week.
Greivis Vasquez reacts to winning ACC player of the year honors, and check out this humble quote.
"Going against those [Scheyer and Delaney] is not an easy thing. You got to give them credit. They're good. They're just as good as I am right now."
J.P. Giglio examines the root of N.C. State's recent improvement: More offensive precision.
The growth of N.C. State's basketball team can be measured by the Wolfpack's finish, winning three of its final four games, but also by its scoring lapses.
Eight times in the ACC, the Wolfpack went longer than 4 minutes in a game without scoring but only two of those droughts came in the past five games.
It shows, senior Dennis Horner said, that State is learning from the mistakes it made early in conference play.
"We're finding out the difference between a bad shot and a good shot," Horner said.
Nice little piece from Ron Morris, who writes about Clarke Bynum and a life-changing experience.
Bynum was returning from a mission trip to Uganda when a man rushed the cockpit of a British Airways flight in an attempt to crash the plane. Bynum and fellow Sumter businessman Gifford Shaw wrestled the hijacker to the floor and saved the lives of the 398 passengers.
Bynum said the incident changed his life.
"I will never look at life in the same way," he told The Item. "When you come within seconds of death and feel like you have seen the finish line and you know you have been given another day, how can you?"
Really good story by The Post and Courier's Travis Sawchik, who writes a feature on Oliver Purnell's upbringing.
Oliver's friend, Larry Waples, had been the first African-American to integrate Decatur High School in 1964. As seventh grader in 1965, Oliver Purnell had a choice to make: attend the all-black high school across town or join a half-dozen other classmates and integrate for access to the best teachers, best books -- and equality.
Purnell and his friend Pat Henry, an artist who shares Purnell's passion for cooking, opted to take on their first major challenge.
"All of the circumstances of life came together at that particular time," Henry said. "We were at the right place and it is was the right time to go through this tunnel."
Phyllis Purnell, always trying to immerse her children in other cultures, supported the decision. But on that first day, that late summer day in 1965, she waited anxiously around the phone, hoping it wouldn't ring.
"No one had gone through that before," Phyllis said. "That was really tough. Parents were afraid for them, afraid they wouldn't be up to it. Afraid some might fail.
"They just went on with it."
There were racial slurs.
There were cold shoulders.
But Purnell knew it was an opportunity and calls it a "watershed" moment in his life.
"It was scary," Oliver Purnell said. "You were going from an environment you were totally comfortable with to an environment that was totally foreign."
Marcus Ginyard provides some interesting insight into this disaster of a season for the Tar Heels.
Asked if he'd had any indication early on that the defending national champions, with one of the top recruiting classes in the country coming into a program that had two titles and three Final Fours in five seasons, could have possibly turned out the way it has, he didn't hesitate.
"Yes," he said.
Ginyard said they knew it from the very beginning, the scars that would never heal, the players that would never come together, the instructions that would be hammered into their heads over and over again that would go unheeded.
"The very first time we stepped on the court together," he said.
He was talking about a scrimmage game back in October, a hastily scheduled trip to Nashville, Tenn., to play Vanderbilt. What happened that day, Ginyard said, has haunted the team all season.
Rob Daniels of The ACC Sports Journal revisits ACC Tournament games you probably forgot but shouldn't have.
Dabo Swinney's salary increases to $1.75 million.
Interesting.
Back in the fall, when the Tigers won the Atlantic Division title and triggered the clause in Swinney's contract that gives him a raise to the median of coaches in the ACC, Clemson told us the raise went just past $1.8 million.
I'm guessing the lower figure is a result of the median salary dropping after the departures of Bobby Bowden and Al Groh.
But couldn't Swinney make a legitimate argument that his raise should've reflected the median salaries at the point he fulfilled the requirement for his raise? Not saying he made the argument, and not saying it's a big deal. Just saying...
More on the salary increases for Clemson's coaches in the Greenville News and Independent-Mail.
Also in the Greenville News, the basketball team says it's still confident despite Sunday's loss in Winston-Salem.
At Miami, RB Damien Berry realizes he's the man now.
In something I'd pay to see, Mike Leach's deposition is scheduled for Friday.
Ten Wolfpack football players will miss spring practice. Included is Russell Wilson, who's off doing the baseball thing.
And one look at this picture tells us N.C. State LB Nate Irving is tremendously lucky to be with us right now.
LW
Click here for the "Eye On The Tigers" blog archive.
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
Jacked about the ACC Tournament.
Always have been, always will be.
Probably.
I say probably because I'm not sure how much the anticipation and excitement will be diminished if it comes right before -- and just typing this makes me nauseous -- a 96-team NCAA Tournament.
For the ACC purists, the ACC Tournament has already been severely diminished by the conference's decision to add three more teams.
The field is watered down to the point that quarterfinal Friday, which used to fill every single seat at Greensboro Coliseum every single year it was there, now draws empty seats with regularity.
I'm planning on going up to Greensboro for this week's tournament. But I have almost zero interest in Thursday's games -- with the exception of the nightcap featuring Clemson and N.C. State, of course.
The opening game of the tournament -- Boston College plays Virginia for the right to face top seed Duke -- helps make the purist's argument that expansion has watered down the tournament and made it much less interesting.
The current state of the tournament doesn't bother me all that much. It's still a really cool event that will play host to really cool games in a really cool setting. If there are a few empty seats for Friday's 9:45 p.m. nightcap, no biggie.
But then again, I wasn't around when it was (supposedly) much cooler. So maybe, probably, the purists have a legitimate beef.
The idea of a 96-team NCAA field presents quite a threat, though. And I'm surprised the coaches who revere and treasure the ACC Tournament -- Oliver Purnell included -- aren't more concerned about the potential for damaging something they love so much.
I guess they could say it's exciting to watch a below-mediocre 10 seed battle it out to get into the tournament field. Not sure how many fans or television viewers would find that riveting, but maybe that's just me.
Then again, is the existence of bubble teams fighting for NCAA at-large inclusion the main reason we find the ACC Tournament compelling? I'm not so sure about that.
Wake Forest enters this week trying to solidify its case. Same with Georgia Tech. But if the Deacs and Jackets were already in the NCAA field, I don't know that I'd be a lot less interested.
Friday will feature several killer games, and that'd be the case regardless of teams' NCAA bubble status.
Still, though ... Virginia versus Boston College?
And oh by the way, the Cavs are not only without Sylven Landesberg, but Calvin Baker as well.
Caulton Tudor isn't optimistic about the ACC Tournament's viability amid an expanded NCAA field.
Expansion has been a disaster for basketball and about the same for football.
The move to 12 teams has only diluted competition, created senseless scheduling quirks and combined with Carolina's season as an N.C. State look-alike, is eroding fan interest. If the NCAA expands to 96 teams, there's no reason whatsoever to think the ACC tournament will remain a viable endeavor.
But hey, it used to be the best show around until television became ultimate sports dictator.
Tudor makes a great point in mentioning that North Carolina's disastrous plummet has been great for N.C. State because it's diverted the focus from the Wolfpack's struggles under Sidney Lowe.
If Carolina's spectacular crash hadn't so completely dominated the landscape, State's fourth-year coach would have been on a blistering griddle to Greensboro since early February.
But regardless of what happens next season, Carolina can't provide a second straight diversion for Lowe and his program.
He needs to get a jump start on a big season by winning a couple of games this week.
Greivis Vasquez reacts to winning ACC player of the year honors, and check out this humble quote.
"Going against those [Scheyer and Delaney] is not an easy thing. You got to give them credit. They're good. They're just as good as I am right now."
J.P. Giglio examines the root of N.C. State's recent improvement: More offensive precision.
The growth of N.C. State's basketball team can be measured by the Wolfpack's finish, winning three of its final four games, but also by its scoring lapses.
Eight times in the ACC, the Wolfpack went longer than 4 minutes in a game without scoring but only two of those droughts came in the past five games.
It shows, senior Dennis Horner said, that State is learning from the mistakes it made early in conference play.
"We're finding out the difference between a bad shot and a good shot," Horner said.
Nice little piece from Ron Morris, who writes about Clarke Bynum and a life-changing experience.
Bynum was returning from a mission trip to Uganda when a man rushed the cockpit of a British Airways flight in an attempt to crash the plane. Bynum and fellow Sumter businessman Gifford Shaw wrestled the hijacker to the floor and saved the lives of the 398 passengers.
Bynum said the incident changed his life.
"I will never look at life in the same way," he told The Item. "When you come within seconds of death and feel like you have seen the finish line and you know you have been given another day, how can you?"
Really good story by The Post and Courier's Travis Sawchik, who writes a feature on Oliver Purnell's upbringing.
Oliver's friend, Larry Waples, had been the first African-American to integrate Decatur High School in 1964. As seventh grader in 1965, Oliver Purnell had a choice to make: attend the all-black high school across town or join a half-dozen other classmates and integrate for access to the best teachers, best books -- and equality.
Purnell and his friend Pat Henry, an artist who shares Purnell's passion for cooking, opted to take on their first major challenge.
"All of the circumstances of life came together at that particular time," Henry said. "We were at the right place and it is was the right time to go through this tunnel."
Phyllis Purnell, always trying to immerse her children in other cultures, supported the decision. But on that first day, that late summer day in 1965, she waited anxiously around the phone, hoping it wouldn't ring.
"No one had gone through that before," Phyllis said. "That was really tough. Parents were afraid for them, afraid they wouldn't be up to it. Afraid some might fail.
"They just went on with it."
There were racial slurs.
There were cold shoulders.
But Purnell knew it was an opportunity and calls it a "watershed" moment in his life.
"It was scary," Oliver Purnell said. "You were going from an environment you were totally comfortable with to an environment that was totally foreign."
Marcus Ginyard provides some interesting insight into this disaster of a season for the Tar Heels.
Asked if he'd had any indication early on that the defending national champions, with one of the top recruiting classes in the country coming into a program that had two titles and three Final Fours in five seasons, could have possibly turned out the way it has, he didn't hesitate.
"Yes," he said.
Ginyard said they knew it from the very beginning, the scars that would never heal, the players that would never come together, the instructions that would be hammered into their heads over and over again that would go unheeded.
"The very first time we stepped on the court together," he said.
He was talking about a scrimmage game back in October, a hastily scheduled trip to Nashville, Tenn., to play Vanderbilt. What happened that day, Ginyard said, has haunted the team all season.
Rob Daniels of The ACC Sports Journal revisits ACC Tournament games you probably forgot but shouldn't have.
Dabo Swinney's salary increases to $1.75 million.
Interesting.
Back in the fall, when the Tigers won the Atlantic Division title and triggered the clause in Swinney's contract that gives him a raise to the median of coaches in the ACC, Clemson told us the raise went just past $1.8 million.
I'm guessing the lower figure is a result of the median salary dropping after the departures of Bobby Bowden and Al Groh.
But couldn't Swinney make a legitimate argument that his raise should've reflected the median salaries at the point he fulfilled the requirement for his raise? Not saying he made the argument, and not saying it's a big deal. Just saying...
More on the salary increases for Clemson's coaches in the Greenville News and Independent-Mail.
Also in the Greenville News, the basketball team says it's still confident despite Sunday's loss in Winston-Salem.
At Miami, RB Damien Berry realizes he's the man now.
In something I'd pay to see, Mike Leach's deposition is scheduled for Friday.
Ten Wolfpack football players will miss spring practice. Included is Russell Wilson, who's off doing the baseball thing.
And one look at this picture tells us N.C. State LB Nate Irving is tremendously lucky to be with us right now.
LW
Click here for the "Eye On The Tigers" blog archive.
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
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Larry Williams. Larry has covered the daily beat at Clemson since 2004. Williams, who worked for the Charleston Post & Courier from 2004-08, joined Tigerillustrated.com in November of 2008. He may be reached by email at ldubya08(at)gmail.com. Replace (at) with @.