Well for the so-called best basketball conference in the land, it was an absolute nightmare Saturday for the ACC. We’re an ACC-centric blog and we’re quick to praise the ACC teams when something good happens. When you have a Saturday like the ACC teams had going 0-4 in the post-season, well we’ve got the best excuses for your ACC basketball hating friends.
Let’s start with with Syracuse who took a home loss to Ole Miss in the NIT. Clearly the Orange didn’t want to be in the NIT. The Cuse just missed the NCAA’s and who cares the about the NIT. NIT doesn’t matter.
Notre Dame lost by 12 West Virginia, FSU got blown out by Xavier, and UVa was humiliated by Florida. I think we know what was going on here. The ACC regular and ACC tournament are just too tough. The ACC teams were just wore down by the time the NCAA tournament starts. When you play in league like the ACC, you get leg weary while teams from other conferences are more well rested. Here is another one you can use…
@TalkinACCSports They aren't conference games so who really cares ?
— yehonala04 (@yehonala04) March 19, 2017
Now that the ACC was the nation’s top football conference in 2016, the ACC really is a football conference anyways.
OK What really happened Saturday? First let’s get give credit to the ACC teams opponents.
Ole Miss got a great individual performance from Terrance Davis who scored 30. West Virginia was an extremely difficult matchup for Notre Dame with their full court press. The Mountaineers took the Irish out of their game, and Notre Dame missed everything. Xavier zoned up FSU, and the Noles looked like the team that got whacked in Atlanta, when Georgia Tech mixed zones and FSU failed to adjust. As we’ve said all year Virginia could only go as far as London Perrantes could take them. Florida locked down on Perrantes, and Uva was finished. None of the 4 teams, have what I would call great guard play that you need in March either. Of course no one would expect what happened today. Virginia and FSU were flat out embarrassed in their games.
These were flawed teams that lost today to opponents that were better prepared and played better. It happens. That’s leaves it up to the ACC Basketball Blue-Bloods Duke, North Carolina, and Louisville to try and salvage the ACC’s NCAA post-season. Georgia Tech also remains alive in the NIT.
