BOSTON — After Villanova finished demolishing Duke on Thursday night, a reporter asked Wildcats coach Jay Wright how Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese would react to having two teams in the East Regional final in the NCAA Tournament.
Wright smiled, because March has been good to Tranghese. The Big East has followed through on its claims of college basketball superiority in this tournament.
On Thursday night, Villanova, Pittsburgh and Connecticut all advanced to regional finals. Louisville and Syracuse have a chance to join them if they can win regional semifinal games tonight.
"I don't think he's gloating or anything,” Wright said of Tranghese after Villanova's 77-54 win. "But he always likes when his guys are successful. I think everybody in the Big East likes this.”
Nobody in the ACC likes this. The ACC finished the regular season atop the RPI, a mathematical formula that combines won-loss record and schedule quality to measure the relative strength of teams.
The Big East finished fourth in the RPI. For most of the season, coaches from both leagues tried to make the case that theirs was the best conference.
It seems the Big East's and ACC’s NCAA Tournament results have settled that dispute. The seven ACC teams that reached the tournament are a combined 5-6, with only North Carolina still alive as it prepares to meet Gonzaga at 9:57 p.m. in today’s South Regional semifinals.
Since expanding to 12 schools before the 2005-06 season, the ACC has won 53.3 percent of its NCAA Tournament games, a 24-21 record. Before expansion, the ACC was 313-153 in its history for a 66.9 percent clip that led all Division I conferences.
Those are numbers that will make even the conference’s most enthusiastic backers cringe. Clearly something has changed in ACC basketball since expansion, and it's not a change for the better.
Meanwhile, the conference that lost Boston College, Virginia Tech and Miami to the ACC is dominating the NCAA Tournament. If you're Tranghese, who criticized the ACC as it took the three schools from the Big East, maybe you do gloat a little.
If you're the ACC, maybe you stop trying to claim you're still the best, and you start trying to figure out what you have to do to get better.
Comments
Hey HellinVaBeach
Fri, 03/27/2009 - 22:31 — echllcYou gotta quit bustin balls here on the grammar. Let's look at what's come out of Va Beach. Ronald Curry umm maybe the best ever at UNC before his Jr. year and Michael Vick. Not alot of bragging rights there, plus your beaches suck, so lay off the grammar english boy.
Really are yall surprised about this
Fri, 03/27/2009 - 22:28 — echllcTitle again. Dook was totally overrated and it showed against Nova last night. Big East is good but come on Pitt hasn't reached the great eight since what 74? And if Fields didnt hit the luck 3 (dook version of the 3) they would be watching the games from home tonight with Dook. We'll see provided UNC can get past Gonzaga.
This isn't the SATs
Fri, 03/27/2009 - 15:56 — gtrain82Lay off people's grammar. This is an open forum for people to share their opinions and you aren't helping the notion that UNC alums are elitists (assuming that's what "HeelInVaBeach" means).
With that said, I don't think the ACC has to be the best conference in the country every year. The Big East is better this year. That's hard for me to say since I hate them so much, but it's true. Then next year they'll suck and all will be right with the world. Whitman22 has it down though. State, UVa, GT and the like need to step it up. Wake should just disband their team completely if they can't do anything when it counts.
ACC Big East Grammar
Fri, 03/27/2009 - 15:23 — HeelnVaBeachI hope the last poster didn't go to an ACC school. His grammar is way more embarrassing than the conferences performance in the NCAA.
"the ACC don't have the same game plan as the BIG East. ACC have teams that look good but on the average the Big East is playing about 10 players minimum. That's why they have quality players and teams. The Coaches in the Big East is letting the players play and getting the recruits to come their university with expectations of getting quality minutes. "
It's like
Fri, 03/27/2009 - 13:51 — jeromfitzthe ACC don't have the same game plan as the BIG East. ACC have teams that look good but on the average the Big East is playing about 10 players minimum. That's why they have quality players and teams. The Coaches in the Big East is letting the players play and getting the recruits to come their university with expectations of getting quality minutes. This is what I'm seeing on the court in the Big East is subbing and running it up and down. That everyone in the Big East is looking at what UConn is doing and trying to keep up with their game plan. That's why the Big East is dominating the ACC in the NCAA Tournament this year. Just look at the overtime games the quality of play is close to equal or anybody's game for the night. One conflict I've seen is how the referees aren't blowing the whistles under the baskets like usually and how the calls they make be of a lighter foul than what happen on a non-call foul.
It's the fall-off from the traditionally good programs
Fri, 03/27/2009 - 13:49 — whitman22The main problem in the ACC is that some of the schools that should be doing very well and traditionally have done very well in basketball are not getting it done. There's no reason Georgia Tech, NC State, Virginia and (lately) Maryland should be bad to mediocre year after year; these are all ACC schools that have won titles or reached multiple Final Fours and have great facilities or recruiting bases or both. The fact that, outside of UNC and Duke, the ACC has been relying on the Clemsons, FSUs, VTs and Miamis (football first schools) of the world to carry the banner is a big reason for the slippage.
Villanova just pretty much
Fri, 03/27/2009 - 11:07 — gjaluvkaVillanova just pretty much killed the assertion that the ACC made all year, that they were "better at the top". Though it was laughably obvious to anybody paying attention all along.
If by "better at the top" they mean the best ACC teams can beat St. John's, well, then, maybe.
the ACC is so overrated.
Fri, 03/27/2009 - 10:57 — jejohn8the ACC is so overrated.
Simple solution
Fri, 03/27/2009 - 10:48 — JPDOhioClearly the ACC is stuggling because of UNC's unfair advantage in talent. The Tar Heels unchecked dominance is having a disastrous impact on the other teams' ability to succeed. So I have a solution.
UNC must take at least half of its championship banners and submit them to the ACC for redistribution to the other members of the conference. ACC staff will determine which schools are worthy to receive banners, with the Commissioner having final approval of (and veto power over) the distribution plan. The banners will be modified to reflect the recipient school's logo and colors and then distributed as soon as possible, to maximize the stimulative effect on the middle and lower class of the conference.
The benefits to the conference should be immediate. Jealousy towards UNC will be reduced, because each school will have its own championship banners to display. The recipient schools will feel better about themselves and so will the Tar Heels, who should be happy to share their wealth with their less fortunate counterparts.
After all, what's good for the country should be good for the ACC.
records of "new" ACC teams compared to "old" ACC teams
Fri, 03/27/2009 - 10:25 — shadleKen,
How about showing the record of the "new" ACC teams (BC, Miami, VT) and the "old" ACC teams (everyone else) in the NCAA tournament since expansion? The 24-21 record only shows how well the conference as a whole has done, not how much the newer teams have or haven't brought down the league winning percentage. That might tell a more interesting story.
It's called Wikipedia
Fri, 03/27/2009 - 10:50 — EdwardGreene2006: BC goes 2-1 losing in OT to 1 seed Nova
2007: BC and VT each go 1-1
2008: Miami goes 1-1
2009: BC goes 0-1
Combined 5-5, which means the 'Originals' have gone 19-16. Only one team went one and out, this year's BC.
Took me three minutes to look this up.
I don't think it will tell a
Fri, 03/27/2009 - 11:09 — gjaluvkaI don't think it will tell a very interesting story. In fact, the ability of a midlevel (BC) and bottom rung (VT) Big East to compete so well in the ACC is not a tale I think the ACC wants to tell at all. In the Big East VT never made the dance because they got their clocks cleaned on a regular basis.