ACC Basketball is always one of the premier conferences in the sport. So much has already happened in that conference in just one month. What are the five biggest stories?
ACC Basketball is consistently one of the top leagues in NCAA Basketball. The teams in the conference are one of the wins other teams always want to have on their resume. Even the teams at the bottom at the league always have the potential to knock off one of the league’s premier teams. In the words of Seth Greenberg, “this league doesn’t have a rocking chair game.” If a team has an off night, they will get beat.
The conference gauntlet leads to teams being battle-tested when they compare to the rest of the teams in the country. This fact is never more evident when looking at the NCAA tournament. Over the last seven years, an ACC team has won or played in the National Championship 5 times. Virginia, North Carolina, Duke and Louisville were all crowned Champions in that span. Even though Louisville is not allowed to hang the banner because of some NCAA violations, everyone knows who won the game that was played.
This year is no different for the conference. In the seasons first four weeks two ACC teams Duke and Louisville have been placed atop the college basketball rankings. The Cardinals are the current number one team in the country at the time of this writing. North Carolina, Virginia and Duke are all top ten teams.
The conference has already had their fair share of headlines with Duke taking a loss to Stephen F. Austin on their home floor. Virginia Tech shocked the basketball world with their hot start and beating Michigan State in Maui. Those are not even scratching the surface of what has happened in this conference for the first month.