ATLANTIC COAST CONFIDENTIAL

Coach K will go for Gold, again

M. Caffrey — Thu, 23 May 2013 01:14:44 +0000

I want to win this many golds!

The news over the weekend was that Coach Blue Devils Head Coach, Mike Kryzewski’s was considering a return as the USA Men’s Basketball coach.

At first, all signs indicated that Coach K was ready to pack-up his 2 gold medals and move on, and that the USA basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo was planning to name a new coach.

But something changed in recent weeks, and now it is widely being reported that Coach Kryzewski will return as the USA Men’s Head Coach when they travel to Rio in 2016.

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Obviously the biggest question on everyone’s mind is, how exactly did Colangelo get Coach K to change his mind?

There are a few theories:

1) Jerry Colangelo stood below Coach K’s window in the pouring rain with a boombox over his head playing songs by Kara DioGuardi…

2) Coach K heard that Team USA was interested in Tom Izzo…

3) Jerry Colangelo asked Jim Boeheim if he would tell Coach K that the Chairman “liked” the job Coach K did and see if he “like-liked” being the Coach….

4) The price of gold is down and Coach K wants to stock up while he can…

5) or, the Confidential’s recent article put everything in perspective for Coach K:

Look, let’s not say that these are dirty old men. But if they don’t want the chance to go to Rio for the 2016 Summer Olympics, they might as well have someone pull the plug. That’s a pretty great destination.

What do think was the reason(s) Coach K changed his mind? Leave your comments below.

Detroit Lions adding a new bowl; ACC in the mix

M. Caffrey — Tue, 21 May 2013 23:31:44 +0000

It looks like the Big Ten Conference may finally get North Carolina and Virginia after all… but not as conference mates.

A few weeks back, The Confidential reviewed the future ACC bowl lineup. With four more teams entering the league, it was believed that the league might increase its bowl affiliations to nine or 10.

Brett McMurphy of ESPN is reporting that the Detroit Lions are looking to replace the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl after this season and operate a new bowl game at Ford Field starting in 2014.

The bowl will still feature a team from the Big Ten, but is expected to have an opponent from the ACC.

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Although it’s not St. Louis or Indianapolis (as a brilliant commenter had originally suggested) it is still a good move for the ACC. It provides yet another opportunity for postseason play for the expanded conference and it allows the ACC to match-up against their chief conference realignment rival, B1G.

Although it’s yet to be determined what selection from each conference will be taken by the proposed bowl, this could be a suitable landing spot for teams with regional appeal like Pittsburgh, Louisville, Notre Dame, and Syracuse since fans can drive to the game in just a few hours.

But should a southern team like Miami, Georgia Tech, FSU, or Clemson be selected, the game will be a in dome and not provide an advantage to a mid-western team that has more experience playing in the snow/ice.

What do you think? Do you like the idea of the ACC in this new bowl? Leave your comments below.

ACC Baseball Tourney

lenvillecards — Tue, 21 May 2013 20:07:51 +0000

The pools and games have been set for this years ACC Baseball Tournament. With North Carolina being the top ranked team in the country almost the entire year and the ACC #1 conference RPI, this should be a very exciting tourney.

Pool A                                           Pool B
#1 North Carolina                     #2 Florida St
#4 NC State                                #3 Virginia
#5 Clemson                               #6 Virginia Tech
#8 Miami                                    #7 Georgia

Each team will play each other in their pool Here’s a look at the tournament schedule:

Wednesday     Thursday     Friday        Saturday          Sunday
#7 G Tech       #3 Virg         #4 NC St   #2 Fla St           Champion-
#2 Fla St          #7 G Tech    #8 Miami #3 Virg                   ship
11am          Games                                       1pm
#6 V Tech      #8 Miami      #7 G Tech   #8 Miami
#3 Virg          #1 N Car        #6 V Tech #5 Clemson
3pm           Games
#5 Clemson   #2 Fla St      #1 N Car       #1 N Car
#4 NC St        #6 V Tech    #5 Clemson #4 NC St
7pm             Games

There’s no denying the depth of the ACC this year and that makes predicting a champion difficult but I will look into my cracked and clouded crystal ball and select the Seminoles as the champion. Sorry Tar Heels but anything can happen and the Wolf Pack are in the same pool. I can see either of you knocking the other out of the tournament. What are your thoughts and predictions?

The Big East tournament is a double elimination set-up so the only set games are in the first round. Games of interest are: #1 Louisville vs #8 UConn at 5pm, #2 Pittsburgh vs #7 St Johns at 10am and #3 Seton Hall vs #6 Notre Dame at 1pm all on Wednesday.

ACC & The Olympics

acaffrey — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:48:03 +0000

You were probably expecting an article about how the ACC teams do in the non-revenue/Olympic sports. After all, we devoted several posts to performance in the revenue sports. See here, here, and here. No, this article is much more simple.

It looks like there is a good chance that basketball icons Coach K and Jim Boeheim will re-up to coach TEAM USA in the 2016 Olympics. ESPN is reporting that Coach K is “mulling” the idea of returning. And if Coach K comes back, Jim Boeheim probably will too.

Look, let’s not say that these are dirty old men. But if they don’t want the chance to go to Rio for the 2016 Summer Olympics, they might as well have someone pull the plug. That’s a pretty great destination.

Lest you need to be reminded, Coach K and Boeheim are 1-2 on the all-time collegiate wins list. And they have two Olympic gold medals. Not too shabby. Recall that Larry Brown was only able to lead the USA to a bronze medal in Athens in 2004. So the two college coaching legends were able to get these pro-laden Olympics teams back on track.

So, while we can look forward to Coach K and Boeheim on opposite benches for upcoming ACC games, we may yet seem them on the same bench in the 2016 Olympics. Stay tuned.

Revenue Sports Decade in Review

acaffrey — Mon, 20 May 2013 13:51:46 +0000

Last week, we analyzed the last decade of ACC performances in football and basketball. There were some surprises. For example, Boston College in football and Florida State in basketball. But what does it mean overall? How about a ranking of the performances of all schools in both sports? Here you go.

The rankings of the ACC programs overall:

Florida State (#2 in football and #3 in basketball) 5 points
Virginia Tech (#1 in football and #7 in basketball) 8 points
North Carolina (#2 in basketball and #7 in football) 9 points
Miami (#5 in basketball and #5 in football) 10 points
Boston College (#5 in basketball and #6 in football) 11 points (Yes, that is three former Big East teams in the top 5)
Clemson (#3 in football and #9 in basketball) 12 points
Duke (#1 in basketball and #12 in football) 13 points (The extremes)
Maryland (#4 in basketball and #11 in football) 15 points
Georgia Tech (#4 in football and #12 in basketball) 16 points
North Carolina State (#7 in basketball and #10 in football) 17 points
Virginia (#7 in football and #11 in basketball) 18 points
Wake Forest (#9 in football and #10 in basketball) 19 points (Who else thought that Wake Forest basketball HAD to be the strong part of the program?)

Obviously, Florida State deserves props here. For all the talk about Seminoles fans being overly-arrogant…. scoreboard. Florida State is the best program in the ACC on and off the field. Mea culpa.

At the other extreme… whither Wake Forest? Perhaps the ACC needs to put up some billboards. At least do well in hoops, Demon Deacons. C’mon.

Memorial Day Weekend is Orange

tjcuseacc — Mon, 20 May 2013 01:57:04 +0000

As much as I fear the worst for the Orange come the NCAA hoops tournament, the opposite is true for lacrosse. For the first time since 2009 Syracuse returns to the Final Four on Memorial Day weekend. This holiday has essentially been a Syracuse holiday. With the growth of lacrosse across the country and schools adding it, the Orange can’t expect to dominate like it used to, so it’s nice to still be at the front of the pack. The Orange advanced with another one goal victory over Yale yesterday to save the senior class from not having been to a Final Four.

The Orange will play Denver on Saturday while Duke will play Cornell. It is possible to have an all Upstate New York final on Memorial Day. This Orange team is not as dominant as teams of a decade ago, but has played tight games all season with a resiliency of a team on a mission. Scoring three goals so late in the game against Yale yesterday was just another typical game for the Orange.

Philadelphia plays host this weekend and with three East Coast teams the crowds should be large. The reality is lacrosse success can never take away the sting of an NCAA tournament basketball loss, but it is always nice for Syracuse fans to have Memorial Day weekend to look forward to for something positive after basketball season. Now my Memorial Day weekend seems to be the way it should be, with the Orange in the Final Four again.

Men’s L-ACC-rosse: Duke beats ND, advances to Final Four

M. Caffrey — Sun, 19 May 2013 21:48:44 +0000

Regardless if you are a Duke fan, or a Notre Dame fan, Lacrosse fans in general were treated to a fantastic quarterfinal game that embodied what men’s lacrosse truly should be.

It was a physical game with countless hard hits, plenty of scores on both sides to keep the game tight, and an incredible effort right down to the final ticks of the clock. There is no love lost between this growing rivalry and Notre Dame was looking to avenge being knocked out of the tournament by Duke in 2 of the last 3 years.

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In front of a crowd of around 8,000 people, it looked as though the fans at Lucas Oil Stadium, just 15 minutes from Notre Dame’s campus, would watch their hometown team finally shake off the postseason blues from the Devils.

But, #7 Duke would prove to be too much for #2 Notre Dame.

After being knotted up for most of the game, Notre Dame would pull ahead in the fourth quarter with goals from Jim Marlett and Conor Doyle. Unfortunately for the Irish, their luck would run out as Duke came back to tie it with 3:17 left and one minute later get the game winning goal from David Lawson with 2:16 remaining.

The final score was Duke Blue Devils 12, Notre Dame Fighting Irish 11.

This marks 7th consecutive year that Duke will advance to the Final Four, where they take on the red hot Big Red of Cornell.

Duke is technically the only ACC team remaining, and will be responsible for representing the state of North Carolina, following Denver’s dramatic come-from-behind win over UNC.

All-in-all, it was a fantastic game and a great example of how the game is to be played. As the sport continues to migrate west, it is games like this one that will continue to advance the popularity of lacrosse among fans that are looking for a fast paced sport in the spring.

The Fur and Feathers Still Flying

lenvillecards — Sun, 19 May 2013 14:01:45 +0000

You would expect a cat to trounce a bird in any matchup but this was for the Big East regular season championship. The 10th ranked Louisville Cardinals hosted the 16th ranked Pitt Panthers in a 3 game regular season ending series and both teams laid it all on the line. Louisville needed to win two out of the three to force a tie for first place, it started Thursday night with 5-2 Cardinal victory. Louisville followed that win with a 12-4 thumping Friday night.

With the stage set for the all important 3rd game in front of a packed Jim Patterson stadium and an ESPN2 audience, neither team was willing to accept defeat. Louisville struck first with 5 runs in the 3rd inning but the Panthers clawed their way back to a 5-3 deficit. Louisville entered the game with a 36-5 record when scoring first. Clinging to a 7-4 lead going into the top of the 9th, the Cards called on their flamethrower, sophomore Nick Burdi. With a fastball topping out in triple digits, Pitt had their hands full. Burdi struck out the first batter but Pitt still had plenty of fight left and managed to get a couple runners on the bases. Burdi wound up striking out the side and leaving the tying run at home plate.

Burdi picked up his third save in five days, his BE leading 14th of the season. In those three games he has 7 strikeouts in 3.2 innings pitched. Pittsburgh’s starter Rhys Aldenhoven (5R 4ER 5H 2BB 5INN) picked up his first loss of the season, falling to 8-1.

The series sweep was the Cards 10th of the season and the win is their 16th straight which is the longest active win streak in the nation and Louisville’s 2nd longest in school history (20 games). During the streak the Cards have a 2.00 ERA, 170 K, 50 BB in 144 INN and have committed just 8 errors. They matched the schools record for regular season victories with 46 (2010). This is the Cards 4th regular season championship in five years. They also ended two of those championships season with sweeps, 2009 against USF and 2010 against Notre Dame.

The BE final standings has Louisville (20-4 46-10) at #1. Pittsburgh (18-6 40-15) finished tied for 2nd with Seton Hall (18-6 36-17). Notre Dame (10-14 31-23) finished tied for 6th with St. Johns (10-14 23-33). In the double elimination BE tournament, the Louisville will face UConn at 5pm Wednesday while Pitt will play the early game at 10am against St. Johns.

Louisville is projected to host Miami, Fla, Illinois and Tennessee Tech in one of the 16 regionals. After the sweep Pitts chance of playing host to a regional seems to have slept away. Pitt is projected to be in a region hosted by Virginia along with Campbell and Holy Cross.

Louisville softball team (44-11) received a #15 seed in the post season and hosting UCLA, UAB and IPFW which started last Friday night. They defeated IPFW on opening day but was eliminated Saturday with losses to UAB and UCLA.

Earlier this week Rutgers hired Louisville’s Senior Associate Athletic Director Julie Hermann as their new AD. She became just the third female AD at a BCS school. Good luck Julie and thank you for your 15 years of hard work at U of L.

Syracuse puts the “lax” in Lax; heads to Final Four

M. Caffrey — Sat, 18 May 2013 23:25:25 +0000

After quickly jumping out to a 4-0 lead over Yale, the Big East/ACC Tweener Syracuse Orange lacrosse team either fell asleep or decided to do their best impression of Bryant, and would go virtually the entire rest of the game without scoring again.

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Its unknown how long Syracuse’s offensive drought lasted, since the crew that announced the game failed to ever mention that state, however I believe it was around 44 minutes.

Unfortunately for Yale fans, despite taking over in the 2nd half and having a 2-score lead with just under 4 minutes to go, Syracuse woke up and scored three unanswered goals. The game winner by Tewaaraton Finalist, Jojo Marasco, with 13 seconds remaining, for a final score of 7-6.

Syracuse will be heading on to Philadelphia next weekend for the Final Four. Meanwhile, Yale will return to campus knowing that they are still the most popular D-1 school in Connecticut (Hi, UConn!).

ACC Basketball: A Decade in Review and Prediction for the New ACC

wtnoleacc — Sat, 18 May 2013 12:53:00 +0000

The ACC records for the last decade of football was posted by acaffrey earlier this week so I thought it would be fun to see the numbers for the basketball side of the conference. I believe the biggest surprise over the last decade of ACC basketball has been the emergence of Florida State as the third winningest program in the conference behind Duke and North Carolina, a period that includes an ACC tournament championship for the Noles.

1. Duke 123-39 76%: Arguable one of the most successful decades in conference history. Duke has won at least 10 conference games in 9 of the last 10 years. During the last decade Duke has won one NCAA title, 3 ACC Regular Season titles, and 6 ACC Tournament titles.

2. North Carolina 117-45 72%: The baby blue (UNC) and navy blue (Duke) have dominated the conference in hoops. Although Duke has a better conference record, North Carolina won 2 NCAA titles during the Roy Williams era (which started in 2003-04). The Heels have also won 6 ACC Regular Season titles and 2 ACC Tournament titles during that time.

3. Florida State 85-77 52%: How in the world did the biggest name in ACC college football climb so high in the basketball centric ACC? Leonard Hamilton. Hamilton’s teams consistently play above their talent level through hard work and relentless defense. However, FSU could be hit the hardest from the most recent conference expansion as the competition for 3rd place in the conference gets considerably tougher.

4. Maryland 81-81 50%

5. Miami 67-79 46%: Another “football” school in the top half of the conference. Jim Larranaga and the Hurricanes had a “once in a decade” season last year. Can history repeat itself moving forward?

5. Boston College 60-70 46%: BC started conference play by winning 21 of their first 31 games, but have fallen on hard times winning only 11 contests in the last two years.

7. Virginia Tech 65-81 45%: A perpetual “last team out” on the bubble. Virginia Tech has had 5 winning seasons over the last 10 and has been competitive in basketball play.

7. NC State 73-89 45%: The biggest underachiever in the conference? There is plenty of optimism in Raleigh after two nationally ranked recruiting classes heading into Mark Gottfried’s second year. The next step will be translating potential into wins.

9. Clemson 72-90 44%: The Tigers competed in four consecutive NCAA tournaments from 2007-2010, but only won one game. The last time the Tigers have won an ACC Tournament Championship? 1939!

10. Wake Forest 68-94 42%: While Tim Duncan continues to lead the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA, Wake continues to slide into the bottom third of the conference. After two sub .500 seasons in Winston-Salem Jeff Bzdelik is on the hot seat.

11. Virginia 67-95 41%: A team considered to be on the rise after a few rebuilding years. It will be interesting to see if the momentum gained from an 11 win season in 2012-13 can carry over to next year’s campaign.

12. Georgia Tech 60-102 37%: The Yellow Jackets have not had a winning conference season for 9 consecutive years. What in the Stephan Marbury is going on? The only team with over 100 conference losses in the last decade. Amazing.

New World Order?

It’s clear that the ACC was top-heavy with Duke and North Carolina winning considerably more games than the third place Noles. The impact of Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, and Louisville to the basketball hierarchy will be significant. I believe the increased profile of the conference will help programs like Florida State, Virginia, and NC State attract top recruits and energize the respective fan bases. However, some schools will drop down from the increased competitiveness.

Here’s my prediction for the next decade: (let the debate begin)

National Championship Contenders: Duke, UNC, Syracuse, and Louisville

Consistent NCAA Tourney Teams: Pittsburgh, NC State

On the Bubble Teams: Notre Dame, Florida State, Virginia

Can you say NIT: Virginia Tech, Miami, Georgia Tech

Always Rebuilding: Wake Forest, Clemson, Boston College