Friedlander: Sights and sounds from Day 1 of the ACC’s Basketball Tipoff Event
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CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Signage proclaiming the ACC as “The Premier Conference in College Basketball” is posted everywhere you look around the hotel lobby and other areas of the league’s annual Basketball Tipoff media event.
There are those in the national media and on the NCAA Tournament selection committee that might debate that claim.
But you have to give the ACC credit for at least trying to yell a little louder so that its voice won’t be as drowned out by the noise.
The campaign is part of a concerted effort to promote and create a more positive national perception about a conference commissioner Jim Philips described as “undervalued” because of its comparative lack of NCAA Tournament bids over the past few seasons.
“I know you don’t get credit for past successes. I totally get it,” he said Wednesday during his semi-annual media forum. “But we just feel like the last 3 years with 5 invitations is not reflective of the basketball that’s being played in this league.
“We have to fix it. We have to be more intriguing and deserve to be selected than maybe what we’ve done. That’s why we did a complete kind of rebuild to look at this thing objectively.”
Phillips said that the ACC initiated “an extensive statistical analysis with multiple experts” last spring in order to get a better understanding of the metrics involved in the NCAA’s NET ranking system.
The primary emphasis of that study has been scheduling. But because of the human element involved in the selection process, Phillips said the league plans to be more aggressive with television partner ESPN “to make certain our coverage is appropriately reflecting the talent and the teams we have in this outstanding league.”
Talking points and signage isn’t enough, though. If the ACC really wants to be taken seriously when it calls itself the nation’s premier college conference, it has to prove it on the court.
And not just in March.
“Now we have to go play. Now we have to go win games,” Phillips said, adding that “Whether we like it or not, the narrative starts to get set in November and December in the nonconference games. You have to perform at a greater level.”
Familiar faces in different places
Jaylen Blakes is no stranger to the ACC. It’s just the uniform he was wearing on Wednesday that made him seem out of place.
Blakes is one of the last remaining active college players from Mike Krzyzewski’s final team in 2022. But after 3 seasons at Duke, the senior guard has traded in his Blue Devils blue for the red and white of the Stanford Cardinal.
He’s one of 2 players at the ACC Tipoff representing a different conference team than the one he’s played for previously. Boopie Miller, who transferred to SMU after playing point guard at Wake Forest is the other.
“It’s definitely surreal, wearing a different jersey,” Blakes said. “I’m truly grateful to be wearing this jersey, but also wearing a Duke jersey for the past 3 years.”
Blakes was primarily an energy player and defensive stopper off the bench for the Blue Devils. He averaged only 1.8 points and 9.2 minutes per game a year ago and figured to move farther down in the rotation with the influx of freshman talent brought in by coach Jon Scheyer this year.
Even though he now plays for an ACC rival, Blakes said he’s still a member of the Duke family. It’s an opinion that was validated when into former teammate Tyrese Proctor in a players’ lounge area outside the interview area.
Tyrese Proctor and Jaylen Blakes catching up at ACC Tipoff: pic.twitter.com/2t7Vj7bdA4
— Matt Giles (@MattGilesBD) October 9, 2024
“I still stay in touch with him, but it was great seeing him again,” Proctor said. “I’m happy he’s happy, so nothing but love.”
Blakes is hoping the Cameron Crazies who once cheered for him feel the same way when he returns to Cameron Indoor Stadium as a member of the opposing team on Feb. 15.
“They’re still family to me, so I hope they’ll be nice,” he said. “But you want the full fan experience being there. It’s going to be strange. But it’s going to be great going back.”
Miller, who averaged 15.3 points and 3.5 assists last season, won’t have to worry about his reception from Deacons fans. Wake Forest is scheduled to play his Mustangs in Dallas. Also on Feb. 15.
“I’m in a happy space right now,” he said. “I’m thankful for the coaching staff at Wake Forest for giving me an opportunity to make a name for myself in the ACC. But I’m just happy to be at SMU with my teammates and excited to come out and play.
Duke’s ‘other’ freshman sensation
Khaman Maluach hasn’t gotten as much advance hype as freshman teammate Cooper Flagg, the nation’s top-rated recruit and the odds-on favorite to be the 1st overall pick in next year’s NBA draft. But according to point guard Proctor, the 7-foot-2 center might have an even bigger impact on the Blue Devils’ success this season.
Proctor ought to know. He already has experience playing together with Maluach while both were at the NBA Global Academy.
“He’s the backbone of our defense,” Proctor said. “It’s going to be sort of like my freshman year with (Dereck Lively II).”
Lively averaged 2.4 blocked shots per game and was named to the All-ACC Defensive team in 2022-23. But he left for the NBA Draft after just 1 season, leaving the Blue Devils without a rim protector last year.
It turned out to be the team’s most glaring weakness. Maluach’s promises to fill that void. He’s a 5-star prospect with a 7-5 wingspan and a standing reach of nearly 10 feet. He showed his vast potential as a member of the South Sudan National Team, particularly in a pre-Olympic exhibition in which he blocked multiple shots by NBA All-Star Anthony Davis while also knocking down a 3-pointer.
Michael O’Connell still amazed by his ‘shot heard ‘round the ACC’
O’Connell became an NC State legend last March when he hit what is arguably the most important shot as last since Lorenzo Charles’ alley-oop dunk to beat Houston in the 1983 national championship game.
The graduate guard banked in a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer to send State’s ACC Tournament semifinal game against Virginia into overtime and spark an even more improbable run to the Final Four. Seven months later, it still amazes him everytime he watches a replay of the shot. And he’s watched it “more times than can count.”
“Rewatching that video is something unbelievable,” he said. “I still don’t realize I did it sometimes.”
O’Connell was an important, but understated contributor to the Wolfpack before his buzzer-beating heroics against UVa. But that’s not the case anymore. The former Stanford transfer said he gets noticed away from the court a lot more now than before his memorable shot.
“I don’t need the attention,” he said. “But I definitely enjoy it because it usually makes a fan’s day when it happens.”
Hurricanes travel plans doused by a real Hurricane
Miami was scheduled to fly to Charlotte on Wednesday to take its turn running the ACC Tipoff media gauntlet on Thursday. But because of travel restrictions caused by the approach of Hurricane Milton, the ACC issued a statement announcing that coach Jim Larrañaga and players Matthew Cleveland and Nijel Pack won’t be attending.
Award-winning columnist Brett Friedlander has covered the ACC and college basketball since the 1980s.
