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Friedlander: ACC basketball is an industrial strength mess right now. But at least there’s still Duke
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DURHAM, NC – ACC basketball is a mess.
An industrial strength, toxic waste dump of a disaster area that might take an army of workers in Hazmat suits to clean up.
But at least there’s still Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The 9th-ranked Blue Devils salvaged at least a shred of dignity for their once-proud conference on Wednesday by holding serve on their home court against No. 2 Auburn.
As they usually do.
Combined with Clemson’s win against No. 4 Kentucky the night before, their 84-78 victory was the only thing that stood between the ACC and an even more embarrassing goose egg in its “Challenge” with the SEC that was a challenge in name only.
It’s bad enough that the conference went 2-14 over the past 2 days. The way it happened only added insult to injury.
No. 20 North Carolina, the league’s other brand-name program, barely put up a fight in losing by 15 to No. 10 Alabama. At home, For its third straight setback.
No. 18 Pitt, the only other ACC team to be ranked this week, was even worse. The Panthers went to Mississippi State and got waxed by 33.
Syracuse, Louisville, Boston College and Notre Dame all got beat by 20-plus while only Miami (by 3 against Arkansas), NC State (by 4 against Texas) and Cal (by against Missouri) managed to stay within single digits.
Commissioner Jim Phillips can crow all he likes about his league’s record in March. And it’s a good one, with more wins than any other conference last year to go along with 3 of the final 8 teams playing in region finals. Not to mention the fact that 4 ACC programs (including Louisville) have won a national title since the SEC’s last champion, Kentucky in 2012.
But in order to do well in the NCAA Tournament, you first have to get into the NCAA Tournament. And while there’s still plenty of time and room for growth, there aren’t many ACC teams that pass the eye test right now. Let alone those actual tests on the court against high-level competition.
This week’s carnage brings the ACC’s record against the SEC this season to a dismal 3-26.
The start of conference play can’t come soon enough. At least then, ACC teams will get to face teams they’re capable of beating.
But at least there’s the glimmer of hope provided by Duke and Clemson — which took out a pair of Final Four hopefuls and 2 the SEC’s 3 highest-ranked teams.
The Blue Devils and Tigers are 2 of the 3 ACC teams that advanced to the Elite 8 a year ago, so it’s hardly a surprise that they’re the teams that prevented their conference from a complete ACC/SEC Challenge disaster.
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That’s about the only thing they and the victories they earned this week have in common.
Compared to Duke’s freshman-dominated lineup, Brad Brownell’s Tigers are a bunch of Baby Boomers.
Their roster is fully stocked with juniors, seniors and a graduate point guard, Chase Hunter, who is in his 6th season in the program. And their maturity showed down the stretch in holding off No. 4 Kentucky 70-66.
The Blue Devils, on the other hand, looked overmatched during an opening 3 1/2-minute stretch in which they were knocked back by Auburn’s physicality while falling into an early 13-2 hole.
It was a development that left the Cameron Crazies as stunned as their team. So much so that chants of “Let’s go Auburn” were clearly audible through the crowd. But they were quickly drowned out following an uncharacteristically early timeout that settled Duke’s young players.
What happened next was as much of a Bar Mitzvah as much as a basketball game.
It was a rite of passage in which Jon Scheyer’s boys became men.
“Those guys always come to play,” said graduate guard Sion James, who made his first start as a Blue Devil, replacing sophomore Caleb Foster in the lineup. “They definitely grew up tonight.”
It was more than just freshman sharpshooter Isaiah Evans coming off the bench to make 6 3-pointers and score all 18 of his points before halftime. Or 17-year-old star Cooper Flagg putting together one of his best overall efforts with 22 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists and no turnovers.
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The transformation was most noticeable in the way the Blue Devils matched and eventually surpassed Auburn’s toughness. The way they locked down the Tigers for long stretches in the second half to open a double-digit lead.
And unlike their late-game shortcomings in close losses to Kentucky and Kansas, the confidence and efficiency with which they closed out the game once Auburn made its run.
It was a growth Scheyer said he’s seen coming.
“I think we’ve learned from some of these other games we’ve been in,” Scheyer said, adding that even in the close losses, he knew “we have something with this group.”
“They have special character. Special toughness,” he said. “We have a lot to work on, still. But I thought down the stretch we made the tough plays we needed to win.”
Scheyer’s coaching counterpart Bruce Pearl was equally impressed by the young Blue Devils, saying that as good as they were Wednesday night, they’ve only just scratched the surface of their unlimited potential.
The ACC better hope Pearl is right.
Because other than Clemson, they’re the only glimmer of hope their mess of a conference has going for it right now.
Award-winning columnist Brett Friedlander has covered the ACC and college basketball since the 1980s.
