ACC Media Day (future scheduling, interviews, and awards)

[JasonEvans]

Today in Charlotte, coaches and select players from each ACC team will chat with the media. Media members will also vote on pre-season POY and other awards as well as the pre-season rankings for the men's basketball teams.

I would imagine the biggest award question is whether Flip or Bacot will be voted pre-season POY. My money is on Flip. My guess at the pre-season first team would be:

Kyle Filipowski, Duke
Armando Bacot, UNC
PJ Hall, Clemson
Reece Beekman, Virgina
Nijel Pack, Miami

It is possible that Proctor finds his way onto that preseason first team. I expect UNC's Elliot Cadeau to be the preseason freshman of the year.

We can use this thread to discuss all that comes out of Media Day...

[tteettimes]

ACC Tip Off: Mens basketball is on the ACCN as we type

[JasonEvans]

Flip talks about why he came back and expectations for this season: "National championship"

https://twitter.com/TheAndyKatz/stat...57606651809964

[JasonEvans]

Whoa...

https://twitter.com/murphsturph/stat...64169563193558

Phillips: "I don't know that we would invite 18 teams to a men’s or women’s ACC championship." Meaning ACC basketball tournament. Says he is not in favor of all 18 schools making it, feels like it should be earned.

I mean, I get it. 18 teams would require a 6-day tourney. That's a little bit absurd. Frankly, 4-days in a row is a TON. Duke won the ACC in 2017 by winning 4 games in a row (the first time it was ever done) and then Va Tech did it in 2022, but no one has ever won 5 in a row.

[DavidBenAkiva]

Whoa...

https://twitter.com/murphsturph/stat...64169563193558


I mean, I get it. 18 teams would require a 6-day tourney. That's a little bit absurd. Frankly, 4-days in a row is a TON. Duke won the ACC in 2017 by winning 4 games in a row (the first time it was ever done) and then Va Tech did it in 2022, but no one has ever won 5 in a row.

If you don't do 18, where do you cut it off? If you do 16 teams, then the eventual winner will have to play 4 games. I would imagine that would be a non-starter as that's a lot of games for your "best" teams to play right before the NCAA Tournament. The next option is to give the top 4 a bye for the first round, but then you would have to cap the tournament at 12 teams. I don't see how the ACC is going to agree to reduce the number of teams in the tournament. My guess is that they end up with an 18-team field with 6 teams playing on Tuesday following the end of the regular season.

[hallcity]

Whoa...

https://twitter.com/murphsturph/stat...64169563193558


I mean, I get it. 18 teams would require a 6-day tourney. That's a little bit absurd. Frankly, 4-days in a row is a TON. Duke won the ACC in 2017 by winning 4 games in a row (the first time it was ever done) and then Va Tech did it in 2022, but no one has ever won 5 in a row.

Amen to that. I'd like to see the tournament back to 8 teams.

Phillips is saying a lot of other interesting things. Greensboro is still in the ACC men's tournament rotation. East coast ACC teams will be traveling out to the Bay Area in twos, with each team playing two games while on the trip. The ACC is close to releasing football schedules but is still trying to protect rivalries, both inside and outside the conference.

[1Devil]

Whoa...

https://twitter.com/murphsturph/stat...64169563193558


I mean, I get it. 18 teams would require a 6-day tourney. That's a little bit absurd. Frankly, 4-days in a row is a TON. Duke won the ACC in 2017 by winning 4 games in a row (the first time it was ever done) and then Va Tech did it in 2022, but no one has ever won 5 in a row.

I think it would be great if only the top 8 teams made the ACC tournament. But I doubt they will want to leave out 10.

[chrishoke]

Amen to that. I'd like to see the tournament back to 8 teams.

Yes, yes, yes. Expansion has killed the ACC tournament.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Basketball is one of the last remaining sports to have all of the teams, right? Most others limit the number, with baseball sticking out in my mind as a prime example.
I'm in favor of lesser teams. Everybody knows that a 1 or 2 win team is going nowhere. Hell, any team with a losing record at all isn't going anywhere.

[CameronBornAndBred]

The #1 issue I see with limiting teams is ticket distribution. A "bubble" team's fans won't know if they are going or not until possibly three or four days before the tourney. Tickets have been sold long before then, with each school being given an allotment, plus general sales.
How will the league deal with schools that have sold a bunch of tickets without a rep in the field?

[hallcity]

The #1 issue I see with limiting teams is ticket distribution. A "bubble" team's fans won't know if they are going or not until possibly three or four days before the tourney. Tickets have been sold long before then, with each school being given an allotment, plus general sales.
How will the league deal with schools that have sold a bunch of tickets without a rep in the field?

Given the weak ticket sales recently, I don't know how much of an issue that is. I think that some tickets could be held in reserve until the teams playing are known. How many tickets are purchased by BC or Ga. Tech fans anyway? I remember Miami winning the ACC tournament. The Miami section in the Coliseum seemed to have only a few dozen fans. There were almost none elsewhere in the Coliseum. It's only a few fanbases that buy tickets to the tournament regardless of how their teams play.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

The #1 issue I see with limiting teams is ticket distribution. A "bubble" team's fans won't know if they are going or not until possibly three or four days before the tourney. Tickets have been sold long before then, with each school being given an allotment, plus general sales.
How will the league deal with schools that have sold a bunch of tickets without a rep in the field?

I'm not going to worry about upsetting cheater fans!

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

I could not disagree more with this idea.

The beautiful part of college basketball (in my opinion) is that the first week of March literally ANY TEAM can still cut down the nets. It gives each and every school a literal chance. If you can run off 9 (or 10 or 11) wins on a row, you can get nice shiny rings and have one shining moment.

That's true for Duke. It's also true for Wake Forest. And Western Carolina. And Furman. And Davidson.

There's only so much "evolution" I can stomach in regards to college sports. I hope this doesn't come to pass.

[Maged]

I remember when Duke was not very good and would not have made it to the ACC tournament if there were a cut off.

I think every team should be able to play. The tournaments where a lower team made a run were the most exciting.

Let the lower teams play each other on Tuesday and Wednesday, even if the games are at the higher seed's court in order to generate some fan interest.

But don't end a school's season just because there are too many teams.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

I remember when Duke was not very good and would not have made it to the ACC tournament if there were a cut off.

I think every team should be able to play. The tournaments where a lower team made a run were the most exciting.

Let the lower teams play each other on Tuesday and Wednesday, even if the games are at the higher seed's court in order to generate some fan interest.

But don't end a school's season just because there are too many teams.

Sporks for this.

[ChillinDuke]

I remember when Duke was not very good and would not have made it to the ACC tournament if there were a cut off.

I think every team should be able to play. The tournaments where a lower team made a run were the most exciting.

Let the lower teams play each other on Tuesday and Wednesday, even if the games are at the higher seed's court in order to generate some fan interest.

But don't end a school's season just because there are too many teams.

It's also not all that hard, Jim.

3 teams get a double bye, waiting for 5 teams to join them in an 8-team final bracket.

For the remaining 15 teams, 5 teams get a single bye. With the remaining 10 teams playing a first round. The 5 winners play the 5 byes in a second round. And the 5 winners play the 3 double byes in a 3rd round. With a 4th round semi and 5th round final.

Is that really materially different from what we have now?

- Chillin

[CameronBornAndBred]

I remember when Duke was not very good and would not have made it to the ACC tournament if there were a cut off.

I think every team should be able to play. The tournaments where a lower team made a run were the most exciting.

Let the lower teams play each other on Tuesday and Wednesday, even if the games are at the higher seed's court in order to generate some fan interest.

But don't end a school's season just because there are too many teams.

When was the last time a true lower team made it to at least the semis*? Back in the day it wasn't totally rare, but there were only eight teams. Does anyone here really think a 14 seed (or soon to be much lower) has a snowball's chance?

*Don't pull up '21 as an example. Find a year when there were no withdrawals due to the plague.

Also, this topic needs its own thread, ha!

[ChillinDuke]

When was the last time a true lower team made it to at least the semis*? Back in the day it wasn't totally rare, but there were only eight teams. Does anyone here really think a 14 seed (or soon to be much lower) has a snowball's chance?

*Don't pull up '21 as an example. Find a year when there were no withdrawals due to the plague.

Also, this topic needs its own thread, ha!

Understood, and that is obviously the counter. But to me, and seemingly others, it's the principle of the thing that has, in part, made the whole Tourney so compelling over the decades.

And to my previous post, I just don't see 18 being materially different from 15. It's the same number of days. The byes are just a little different. So why lose principle for almost no reason. I know Jason said it would require a 6-day tourney, but I don't think that math checks out.

- Chillin

[pfrduke]

I could not disagree more with this idea.

The beautiful part of college basketball (in my opinion) is that the first week of March literally ANY TEAM can still cut down the nets. It gives each and every school a literal chance. If you can run off 9 (or 10 or 11) wins on a row, you can get nice shiny rings and have one shining moment.

That's true for Duke. It's also true for Wake Forest. And Western Carolina. And Furman. And Davidson.

There's only so much "evolution" I can stomach in regards to college sports. I hope this doesn't come to pass.

There are already non-major conferences where not every team participates in its conference tournament. It's not a ton - Ivy, Southland, Ohio Valley, maybe one or two others. I agree with your point, though, and wish all conferences had fully subscribed conference tourneys.

[Dr. Maturin]

Until recently I would have hated the idea. There is something pure and egalitarian about the idea that every team enters March with a chance to win its conference and play in the NCAA Tournament.

That said, the ACC Tournament most of us grew up with is long gone. What used to be a beautiful 3 day weekend of basketball bliss has become a 5 day event that starts with a depressing Tuesday involving teams that are going nowhere. If you're a fan of those teams, why bother? If you're a fan of one of the double-buy teams, do you bother showing up on Tuesday? I wonder how many people actually attend the whole tournament anymore. You'd had to basically take a week off of work to do so.

I'm not sure we'd lose all that much if Tuesday went away. Maybe, if we went back to 8 teams (or possibly 12) we could rekindle some of the old magic.