Fixing ACC basketball requires great hires after recent losses of coaching legends

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Reigniting ACC basketball starts by hiring better coaches. The process doesn’t end there. Good coaches require support. But, strong hires are a must.

The ACC’s hardcourt hard times will come into focus on Selection Sunday. Bracket experts expect the 18-team conference to be reduced to three or four bids in the 68-team field. That bid projection is more in line with the Mountain West than the ACC’s Power Four peers.

Duke offers the ACC a national championship contender, and Clemson and Louisville also rumble into March Madness, but there’s just not much conference depth.

As recently as a few years ago, the ACC served as a nesting place for elite coaches. Now, I’d rank Clemson’s Brad Brownell as the ACC’s second-best coach, behind Duke’s Jon Scheyer. I mean this as no dig on Brownell, who’s done a fine job at Clemson, but Clemson possessing the ACC’s second-best coach offers evidence of the conference’s insufficient health.

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Retirements turned ACC basketball on its head

The ACC’s woes became apparent in the fall. The conference mustered a 2-14 record in the ACC/SEC challenge. And the roots extend deeper than that.

In a 43-month period from April 2021 to October 2024, North Carolina’s Roy Williams, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, Notre Dame’s Mike Brey, Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim and Virginia’s Tony Bennett retired. Legends, most of them. Career winners, all of them.

Scheyer, Krzyzewski’s longtime understudy turned successor, kept the Dukies rolling with the elite. Elsewhere, Williams, Brey and Boeheim left voids that weren’t sufficiently filled, while Virginia’s search continues to replace Bennett.

Miami’s Jim Larranaga and Florida State’s Leonard Hamilton retired this season. Each is the winningest coach in his program’s history. Larranaga took two separate schools to Final Fours. More big shoes to fill.

“The ACC is…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/fixing-acc-basketball-requires-great-163520620.html

Author : USA TODAY Sports

Publish date : 2025-03-12 16:35:00

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