ACC Season Recap

The ACC didn’t return to glory this past season.

After a disappointing 2009-10 season, in which Duke’s championship run and the great play of Maryland’s Greivis Vasquez were the highlights, optimists figured this season had to be better. Surely the conference would return to putting multiple teams in the polls each week.

Nope. And don’t call me Shirley.

Although Duke met much of the preseason hype, at least during the regular season, the rest of the conference failed to impress. Until North Carolina returned to the polls midway through conference play, the ACC had Duke and no one else representing the conference nearly each week.

As predicted, Duke dominated and looked like world beaters in November and early December. with Kyrie Irving running the point and Nolan Smith carving up defenses like a Thanksgiving turkey. But a few weeks after Thanksgiving, trouble popped up — in Irving’s toe to be precise. An injury that best resembles turf toe sidelined Irving for three months and turned a seemingly unbeatable Blue Devils squad into a very good but decidedly beatable team.

Despite missing most of the season, Irving made an unlikely return to the team for the NCAA Tournament. It’s hard to argue with giving such a talented player minutes if his health allows it. But Duke looked out of sync with Irving back in the lineup, and Smith in particular struggled to flow in the Blue Devils’ offense. As a result, the door was open for a hot team, such as Arizona, to burn Duke. And the Wildcats did just that, using a stellar second half to upset No. 1 seed Duke in the Sweet 16.

Although Duke faltered, the rest of the ACC fared well in the NCAA Tournament. As a No. 2 seed, North Carolina reached the Elite Eight before losing to a Kentucky team that had the chops to beat No. 1 seed Ohio State, which many experts predicted to win the title. Florida State made the tournament as a No. 10 seed, but the Seminoles outplayed that seed by beating Texas A&M in the second round then upsetting No. 2 seed Notre Dame in the third round. Clemson slipped into the tournament as a No. 12 seed playing in the First Four, and the Tigers made quick work of UAB in that round and challenged No. 5 seed West Virginia in the second round.

But that was it for the ACC in terms of NCAA Tournament teams. And four teams just isn’t what ACC fans have in mind for an elite conference.

When the season started, Virginia Tech was in position to join those teams. But a series of unfortunate events left the Hokies out-manned and eventually out of the NCAA Tournament.

Elsewhere, Miami, North Carolina State and Georgia Tech couldn’t find any consistency, a lingering problem that eventually cost the teams’ coaches their jobs. Maryland also joined the ranks of ACC teams that will have a new coach after Gary Williams unexpectedly announced his retirement May 5.

In Boston, new Eagles coach Steve Donahue made an immediate impression by taking a predicted bottom feeder and turning the team into a feared predator. The emergence of Reggie Jackson as a nearly unstoppable scorer was one of the major story lines of this past season.

Let’s get on to the rest of the highlights from this past season and look ahead to the next one.

Final Standings

1. North Carolina 29-8, 14-2
2. Duke 32-5, 13-3
3. Florida State 23-11, 11-5
4. Clemson 22-12, 9-7
5. Boston College 21-13, 9-7
6. Virginia Tech 22-12, 9-7
7. Maryland 19-14, 7-9
8. Virginia 16-15, 7-9
9. Miami 21-15, 6-10
10. North Carolina State 15-16, 5-11
11. Georgia Tech 13-18, 5-11
12. Wake Forest 8-24, 1-15

ACC Tournament Notes

Although the ACC Tournament did not lack drama, the final result was very familiar: Duke won another conference championship, with North Carolina also reaching the title game. The Blue Devils dominated the skittish Tar Heels in the conference championship game to claim their third straight title and 10th in 13 seasons. That’s the definition of domination.

North Carolina struggled in every game of the tournament, needing huge second-half rallies to get past Miami in the quarterfinals and Clemson in the semifinals. On the other hand, Duke manhandled Maryland and Virginia Tech en route to the title game. The Hokies provided the most dramatic moment of the tournament as Florida State’s would-be game-winning buzzer beater actually was actually a fraction of a second too late.

Hoopville’s ACC Awards

Player of the Year: Nolan Smith, Duke

Defensive Player of the Year: Iman Shumpert, Georgia Tech

Rookie of the Year: Kyrie Irving, Duke

Coach of the Year: Steve Donahue, Boston College

All-ACC First Team
Nolan Smith, Duke
Iman Shumpert, Georgia Tech
Reggie Jackson, Boston College
Jordan Williams, Maryland
Kyrie Irving, Duke

All-ACC Second Team
Chris Singleton, Florida State
Malcolm Delaney, Virginia Tech
John Henson, North Carolina
Tyler Zeller, North Carolina
Kyle Singler, Duke

All-ACC Third Team
Jerai Grant, Clemson
Harrison Barnes, North Carolina
Demontez Stitt, Clemson
Reggie Johnson, Miami
Kendall Marshall, North Carolina

All-ACC Rookie Team
Kyrie Irving, Duke
Harrison Barnes, North Carolina
Kendall Marshall, North Carolina
C.J. Leslie, North Carolina State
Travis McKie, Wake Forest

All-ACC Defensive Team
Iman Shumpert, Georgia Tech
Chris Singleton, Florida State
John Henson, North Carolina
Dino Gregory, Maryland
Jerai Grant, Clemson

SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

What we expected

ACC people didn’t want to hear about a down year. But entering this season, the conference looked like it would be hard pressed to put more than four or five teams in the field. Four was the magic number, as it turns out.

Duke and North Carolina made it into the field with ease, and Florida State was fairly safe as a No. 10 seed. Clemson squeaked into the tournament as a No. 12 seed that had to play in the First Four. And that was it for the conference, with Virginia Tech and Boston College just missing.

However, once in the tournament, the ACC teams performed well. Clemson handled its business against UAB in the First Four and gave No. 5 West Virginia a serious test. North Carolina met expectations by reaching the Elite Eight and was tied with Kentucky late in the game before losing to the Final Four-bound Wildcats. Florida State provided the biggest surprise in the conference by upsetting No. 2 Notre Dame before falling in overtime to upstart VCU, the eventual Final Four representative from the Seminoles’ region.

The only disappointment for the ACC in the NCAA Tournament was Duke, which failed to live up to its No. 1 seed expectations by losing to No. 5 Arizona in the Sweet 16. In Duke’s defense, the Wildcats played one of the best 10-minute stretches of any team this season when Arizona opened the second half on fire and built what proved to be an insurmountable lead.

What we expected but failed to happen

This season was supposed to be the one in which Virginia Tech made some serious noise, especially in the NCAA Tournament. To start the season, it seemed inconceivable that the Hokies would once again narrowly miss the NCAA Tournament, leaving coach Seth Greenberg to pull out his remaining hair while devising a game plan for an NIT game. But then the injuries took over.

Dorenzo Hudson went down with an injury mid-season, which is better than Allan Chaney, a transfer from Florida who was supposed to help in the post. A heart condition forced Chaney to sit this past season. He joined J.T. Thompson among the Hokies’ big men who missed the entire season. Reserve Cadarian Raines also missed most of the season.

In retrospect, with so many key players down, it’s impressive that coach Seth Greenberg had this team competing for an NCAA Tournament bid and finishing among the top tier of the ACC. In the end, the Hokies found themselves in a familiar position: one of the first teams left out of the tournament. The team’s season ended with a second-round knockout to Wichita State in the NIT.

What we didn’t expect

Did you foresee Reggie Jackson turning into a deadly perimeter shooter and the Eagles finishing tied for fourth in the ACC? Yes? Stop lying.

Entering this past season, Jackson was a 28.4 percent shooter from three-point range. New coach Steve Donahue helped him refine his shot, and Jackson turned into a deadly 42.0 percent shooter this past season. Already a talented slashing guard, Jackson became one of the most explosive scorers in the conference, averaging 18.2 points per game with his new-found jump shot.

With Jackson leading the way, Boston College, predicted to finish near the bottom of the conference, ended up with a 20-win season and nine ACC victories.

Team on the rise

We’ll disqualify North Carolina from this category because the defending regular-season champs can’t rise any further in conference play. Instead, we’re going with Virginia.

Tony Bennett’s squad exceeded expectations this past season by winning seven ACC games. The Cavaliers will lose guard Mustapha Farrakhan, who graduated in May. He became the team’s leading scorer when forward Mike Scott went down with an injury after playing only 10 games. But that’s about it. Scott has received a medical redshirt, enabling him to return for a fifth season of eligibility. He joins Joe Harris, K.T. Harrell, Sammy Zeglinski, Jontel Evans and Assane Sene for Bennett, who has one of the most stable rosters in the conference this off-season.

In addition to that core, Bennett has four-star recruit Malcolm Brogdon en route to Charlottesville from Norcross, Ga. The shooting guard will add more depth on the perimeter. Three-star recruits Darion Atkins and Paul Jesperson provide more options in the frontcourt.

Team on the decline

In this category, we’ll disqualify Boston College because it’s not fair to pick on a team losing 88 percent of its scoring, with Reggie Jackson opting to remain in the NBA Draft and seven players graduating.

Instead, we’re going with Maryland. In fact, we went there before coach Gary Williams announced his sudden retirement May 5.

The Terrapins labored to finish in the middle of the pack this season with several veteran starters and Jordan Williams in the middle. With Williams leaving for the NBA, three starters graduating and coach Williams retiring, Maryland is left scrambling to find any semblance of consistency.

Freshman guards Pe’Shon Howard and Terrell Stoglin teased fans into thinking they can have the same chemistry that Greivis Vasquez and Eric Hayes pulled together in 2008 and 2009. But it took a solid two years to get those two to coexist in complementary roles. Maryland doesn’t have that much time with Howard and Stoglin because they will be the cogs running the Terps next season. Sean Mosley often disappeared in games this past season, and Maryland desperately needs Mosley to emerge as a legitimate scoring threat for Stoglin and Howard to feed.

The Terps lacked good outside shooting last season, and the arrival of Nick Faust at shooting guard should help some. But without Williams in the post, Maryland lacks an inside threat and doesn’t have enough good outside shooters to present match up problems. Given the tumultuous off-season, Maryland might be doing well to avoid the ACC’s cellar.

Next Season Outlook

In many ways, next season will have a similar to feel to the one that just wrapped up.

This past season, Duke entered as a favorite to win the national championship — in addition to the ACC title — because the Blue Devils returned super-talented veterans and added solid recruits. Duke looked to have all the complementary pieces needed to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. Only a toe injury to Kyrie Irving derailed that plan.

Next season, North Carolina will step into that position, with every major contributor returning from this past season’s Elite Eight squad. Harrison Barnes’ decision to forgo the NBA Draft moved the nexus of power in the ACC down US 15-501 from Durham to Chapel Hill. With Kendall Marshall at point guard to start the season, the Tar Heels will look to run their offense at least as efficiently as they did toward the end of this past season.

However, Duke won’t drop off too much. The arrival of another great recruiting class, headlined by Austin Rivers — son of Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers — will have the Blue Devils right back near the top of the ACC. Lest the Tar Heels forget, North Carolina found a way to steal the regular-season title from Duke this past season, even though Duke looked like the prohibitive favorite in early January. Anything can happen during the long march of the conference’s 16-game season.

After Duke and North Carolina, the rest of the conference is up for grabs. Florida State returns most of its lineup, but the Seminoles must replace Chris Singleton, who was the heart and soul of the team. He also was one of Florida State’s few reliable offensive weapons. If coach Leonard Hamilton’s team can coalesce on offense during the summer and maintain its defensive intensity next season, the Seminoles figure to be in line for the No. 3 spot.

From there, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Miami will be in contention to finish in the upper half of the conference. All three teams return reliable scorers. Miami must adjust to new coach Jim Larranaga’s style, but the Hurricanes have plenty of talent in the backcourt to move upward in the standings. The return of man-mountain Reggie Johnson is huge for Larranaga and the ‘Canes after the center flirted with the NBA Draft this spring.

Toward the bottom half of the conference, Maryland will be the most intriguing team to watch. Life without Gary Williams — and Jordan Williams — will be tough. And the entire country will be watching to see how the Terrapins fare with a new coach — Texas A&M’s Mark Turgeon — for the first time since 1989. Regardless of whether Williams or Turgeon is on the sidelines as coach in November, the Terrapins figure to struggle to win more than four or five conference games because they’re losing too many critical players and lacking an influx of great recruits.

Another ACC fixture, Wake Forest, will need to make some serious progress after finishing one of the worst seasons in most Demon Deacons’ memory. The departure of Ari Stewart won’t make life any easier for coach Jeff Bzdelik. Given the win-now mentality in all sports, Bzdelik might start facing some heat if the Demon Deacons fail to improve significantly. Fair or not, that criticism will be partially a product of discontent that Athletic Director Ron Wellman canned former coach Dino Gaudio because of the perception that Gaudio couldn’t take Wake Forest to the next level. So far, the fans aren’t convinced that Bzdelik can take Wake Forest to Gaudio’s level.

Speaking of coaching changes, Georgia Tech and North Carolina State also will be starting new regimes after the Yellow Jackets dumped Paul Hewitt for Dayton’s Brian Gregory and the Wolfpack predictably dismissed Sidney Lowe, replacing him with former Alabama coach Mark Gottfried. Both those fan bases will be eager for better times, preferably starting next season.

The tumultuous off-season will make the ACC one of the most fascinating conferences to watch throughout the season. The quality of basketball might still be subpar compared to the conference’s usual dominance. However, Duke and North Carolina should still give the conference a couple of legitimate Final Four contenders, and at least one or two other teams should emerge as legitimate NCAA Tournament squads.