ACC's NCAA Collapse is Puzzling

Three days later, I'm still trying to make sense of the ACC's poor showing in the NCAA Tournament. Clearly, the RPI information that suggested the ACC was college basketball's top conference this season was inaccurate.

North Carolina has more than held up its end, dominating its first two NCAA opponents. Miami, realistically, was not expected to beat Texas. Both Duke and Clemson under-achieved in the post-season, based on what they accomplished during the season. Both were teams that during January and early February could have beaten anyone in the country on a given night.

Duke remains the ACC's biggest mystery. The team that could have scored 100 against Wisconsin in November (has anyone ever scored 100 against Wisconsin?) was nowhere to be found in March. West Virginia exploited the Blue Devils' lack of size and girth inside. But Duke spent the entire season being undersized. How did the Devils overcome that liability during the ACC season?

Clemson looked like a solid bet to reach the Sweet Sixteen. The Tigers built a huge lead over Villanova - a lead so great their poor free-throw shooting wouldn't matter. Then Villanova went to an even smaller, quicker line-up. Suddenly Clemson started committing turnovers. The score became close, and then the Tigers' ineptness at the foul line did catch up with them.

One issue that may have hurt both Duke and Clemson - lack of execution in the halfcourt offense. Where North Carolina got noticeably better at scoring without the benefit of transition points, the Blue Devils and Tigers did not. When Duke wasn't able to force turnovers or get defensive rebounds against West Virginia, the Blue Devils' deadly ability to sprint down the court and fire threes was neutralized. And Clemson, although enjoying a great size advantage over Villanova, couldn't get points in the paint late in the contest. That became a season-ending problem.

North Carolina played as impressively this past weekend as any team in the entire country. The Tar Heels suddenly have created quite a gap between the quality of their play and that of the rest of the league. It's startling now to look back over UNC's schedule and see that nine of the Tar Heels' wins against ACC teams could easily have been losses. There certainly wasn't a gap between the Heels and their league rivals during the regular season. Maybe the close wins made North Carolina a confident team headed into the NCAA Tournament. Maybe close losses took the starch out of Duke and Clemson.

The ACC beat the Big Ten like a drum (as it always does) in the ACC-Big 10 Challenge in December. But come springtime, the Big Ten has two teams standing in the event that matters, the NCAA Tournament. The ACC just has one.