ACC propagandists are excited about Miami. They feel justified by Miami. They feel Miami’s presence in the Final Four proves wrong all those people who said the ACC was a bad league this year. Or at least they’re saying that. It’s unclear if they’re really buying their own shtick.
Miami is having a great tournament. Our quarrel is not with Miami. Miami beat two of the best teams in college basketball last weekend, and each win was emphatic in its own way. Miami has great offensive players, and those players play great offense together, and Jim Larrañaga is both lovable and a great coach.
But the ACC?
There are, of course, ACC fans who’ll admit the league is down right now, and who’ll admit that teams need to get better, and who’ll rightfully recognize that teams probably will improve. Duke has no shortage of talent. UNC will eventually bounce back. It’s nearly impossible for Louisville to get worse than Louisville was this year. But the league had a lot of bad teams, and it had a lot of really bad teams, and Miami’s had a great tournament but they haven’t even had a great season, and they’re the best this conference can offer.
There’s a key difference here between the ACC and between Conference USA. With Conference USA, the postseason really does prove a point: The league was better than it got credit for being. Why are they allowed to claim the postseason as a success and the ACC isn’t?
For one thing, it’s been more than just one team. Charlotte won the CBI. North Texas won the NIT. UAB didn’t lose to anyone outside the conference within the NIT. Even Rice won their first game in the CBI, and they didn’t get embarrassed by Southern Utah. Then, of course, there’s Florida Atlantic, who probably should have been the favorite against Kansas State, and who beat a Tennessee team of comparable quality to one of those two big notches in Miami’s belt. That’s a lot of teams performing well.
For another, Conference USA is 18–2 in postseason play, or 17–1 if you only count non-conference opponents. The one non-conference loss came by two points. Meanwhile, the ACC is 7–6. Competition hasn’t been equal, but that’s not the point. The point is that it’s different to make broad claims in March about a collection of teams that’s 16 games over .500 than it is to make those about a collection that’s one game over .500. One of those records is noteworthy. The other is not. Conference USA, across the board, has outperformed its seeding. That even goes for Rice, back in the CBI. From the ACC, only Miami and Pitt overperformed, while Virginia and Clemson were embarrassed and Duke, NC State, and Virginia Tech did what was expected of them.
It’s ok to give Conference USA its flowers based on postseason tournaments. Miami deserves its roses too. But we can do that without giving the ACC the same. Conference USA is doing this across the board. With the ACC, on the aggregate, the league has mostly met already low expectations.
