It wasn’t long ago when the ACC was the standard for college basketball. Legendary coaches such as Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams and Jim Boeheim dominated the landscape, and the conference was earning upward of nine bids to each NCAA Tournament.
Nowadays, though, those coaching icons are gone, and the ACC has fallen behind in the world of NIL. The conference is coming off a season in which only four teams made the field of 68, its lowest total since 2013, and most of those squads didn’t even look like they belonged.
So where does the ACC go from here, and how does it gain respect again?
Win the non-conference games
The quickest answer is to succeed in the upcoming non-conference schedule, something that the ACC struggled with in 2024.
In 2024, Georgia Tech fell to North Florida, Jacksonville beat Virginia Tech, and Elon upset Notre Dame. Even the conference’s top dog, Duke, failed to overcome other highly touted schools such as Kentucky and Kansas — both of which were seeded lower than the Blue Devils come March.
As a result, when most teams in the ACC were defeated, it didn’t go down as a Quad 1 or even Quad 2 victory. This hurt teams such as Wake Forest and SMU on Selection Sunday, as they fell to the wrong side of the bubble.
If the conference wants to avoid another year of disrespect, many of its teams will have to gain quality wins against other power conferences. Fortunately, there will be plenty of opportunities to do so, including when SMU takes on four SEC opponents, Wake Forest challenges Texas Tech and Oklahoma, and North Carolina plays Kentucky and Michigan State.
Adapt to NIL, transfer portal
Unsurprisingly, this is the biggest key. The ACC’s colleges are rooted in tradition, and basketball is no exception. However, that same loyalty has held the teams back from excelling in the modern era. ESPN analyst Dick Vitale summed it up perfectly:
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