For college hoops fans, this evening is much anticipated. On CBS we will hear that all-too-familiar chime signaling the beginning of March Madness. The NCAA committee will announce which 64 (65? 68? 84?) teams are going to the Big Dance. And through it all, we’ll wonder whatever happened to the ACC?
Washington Post sports columnist and bestselling author John Feinstein discussed the strange demise of the Atlantic Coast Conference in his column last week. Having witnessed the nightmarish end of the UVA-Miami first round game of the ACC tournament, Feinstein asks,
That’s the National Invitation Tournament, which once upon a time was referred to mockingly by ACC people as the Not Invited Tournament. These days, a lot of ACC teams call it home.
Ouch. And Feinstein is a graduate of an ACC school (Duke), no less. Still, he calls it the way he sees it:
Had enough? Wasn’t the expansion of the conference in 2003 supposed to make things better (at least for football)? Wasn’t the Big East supposed to be doomed as a result? And exactly how good is Duke, considering the teams it faced during the season and otherwise getting throttled by the Big East’s resurgent St. John’s? I, for one, don’t have the Blue Devils going very far. (Yes, sadly, I do have them going further than my beloved but depleted Georgetown Hoyas—I’ll be delighted if they get past the first round.) Will Kansas disappoint us again? And is Kemba Walker really a Cyberdine Systems cyborg?
Happy Bracket Filling.
Read more at The Weekly Standard.
