UNC and Duke lead way as ACC looks for stronger start following March resurrection
The ACC’s resurgent March, when a conference maligned for a long string of bad nonconference losses ended up with two teams in the Final Four and three teams in the Elite Eight, showed the peril of judging a team and a conference too early.
It was hard to argue at the time that the ACC deserved much better, based on its results, but it’s clear now in hindsight that Wake Forest deserved to make the NCAA tournament, that North Carolina was actually the team everyone thought it was before the season and Duke was talented enough to navigate the emotional crucible of Mike Krzyzewski’s final season, not that there weren’t bumps along the way.
That seems unlikely to happen again. Not only are North Carolina and Miami facing high expectations thanks to their postseason runs – and Duke will with an almost entirely new roster, as usual, and new coach, unusually – but the traditional powers that so disappointed last year all appear positioned for success.
What the ACC lacked in roster continuity last year, the root cause of that embarrassing pre-holiday period, it has in surplus this year. Even though every team has dipped into the transfer portal, some more than others, there’s enough talent returning to believe the ACC can avoid what it did last November and December and match what it did last March.
Two teams in the Final Four may be a bridge too far, but it certainly feels like there are more than five ACC tournament teams this time around with six ACC teams in the top 50 of Ken Pomeroy’s preseason efficiency ratings and three in the AP Top 25 with another four receiving votes.
It starts, as it so often does, with North Carolina and Duke, only seven months removed from their cataclysmic collision in the Crescent City. The Tar Heels, the preseason No. 1, bring back everyone of note but Brady Manek, and they replace him with plug-and-play Northwestern transfer Pete Nance. Expectations will be high, but when are they not in Chapel Hill?
And Duke, as usual, brings in a new wave of elite freshmen to go with one returning rotation player, Jeremy Roach, but that’s not the turnover everyone’s talking about. Jon Scheyer had the benefit of his season-long apprenticeship to Krzyzewski, but it’s always different when it’s your show to run.
It’s easy to get caught up in those two, but this is one of those years where a good chunk of the rest of the ACC isn’t going to be far behind. Virginia isn’t being talked about nearly enough, with the ACC’s best defensive player in Reece Beekman and yet another season of point guard Kihei Clark, 22, who’s been at Virginia long enough to get a doctorate and may be the TA for some of his younger teammates’ survey classes at this point.
Of last year’s March successes, Miami dipped into the free-agent market to add Nijel Pack to the core of the team that made that run, and Virginia Tech returns three starters from the ACC champions. Mike Brey has a classic get-old-and-stay-old team with the ACC’s last zewski – forward Nate Laszewski – and while the Irish lose Blake Wesley they add another phenom in J.J. Starling. When Notre Dame can put five shooters on the floor, look out.
Matching the Irish for experience, Clemson could start five juniors and seniors once P.J. Hall is healthy, and Florida State is right there with Notre Dame in its roster-mix comfort zone. After an injury-plagued season, Leonard Hamilton has the right blend of skill (Matthew Cleveland) and experience (Caleb Mills) and depth (the Seminoles will go at least 11 deep) – the Ham sandwich that has brought the Seminoles success in the past.
The middle of the league should be stronger. Some of the teams at the bottom of the league – Boston College and N.C. State in particular– should be better, although it could be a grim season for Louisville and Georgia Tech. Pittsburgh could go either way and who ever knows with Syracuse in the twilight of Jim Boeheim’s career (which probably means the final decade or so).
There’s every reason to believe last season was an aberration. There’s also only one way to find out.
Never miss a Luke DeCock column. Sign up at tinyurl.com/lukeslatest to have them delivered directly to your email inbox as soon as they post.
Luke DeCock’s Latest: Never miss a column on the Canes, ACC or other Triangle sports
This story was originally published November 7, 2022 at 5:10 AM.
