The Confidential

The ACC Sports Blog

Archive for the category “Opinion”

18 Mar 2014
7 Comments

Louisville a #4 Seed? The Top 10 Reasons It Makes Sense

One would think that seeding Louisville a #4 was a crime against humanity.   But before digging out your copy of the Geneva Convention or looking up travel information to the Hague, consider that the NCAA committee has long used RPI as a guide.  This is not a secret.  Just like the committee stopped looking at recency, it is what the committee is supposed to do.  The RPI helps gauge schedule strength.  In any event, here are the top 10 reasons the Committee got it right in deeming the Cards a 4 seed:

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Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Opinion and tagged , , ,
18 Mar 2014

The Tigers Aren’t Finished Yet

Picked to finish 14th in the ACC, Coach Brad Brownell’s Clemson Tigers surprised everyone when they ended the regular season 6th in the conference. Not to mention a season long, star performance by junior forward, K.J. McDaniels who was voted an ACC first team All-American and defensive player of the year.

The Tigers take on Georgia State in Littlejohn Coliseum tonight at 9pm on ESPNU in the first round of the NIT, a postseason honor not all ACC schools can boast about. The ACC is one of the toughest basketball conferences in the nation and you must give credit where credit is due to Brad Brownell. He took the underdogs and made them into competitors that demanded to be taken seriously.

With a heartbreaking overtime loss to Pitt at the end of the regular season, Clemson started the ACC Tournament right with a thrilling overtime win against Georgia Tech, just to be fortunate enough to move on to play Duke in the quarterfinals. What at one point looked like it would be a Blue Devils blowout, the Tigers fought back to bring the game back to within a few points, only to lose by 1 on a controversial call that sent Duke to the next round.

While Clemson won’t be entering “The Big Dance” this March Madness season, they do have a lot to be proud of. Players like Landry Nnoko, Demarcus Harrison, and Jaron Blossomgame improved to become vital assets to the team. Consistent players like K.J. McDaniels and Rod Hall gave another tremendous effort to show that at least one school in South Carolina knows how to play basketball.

This young team should be coming back in full force next season, but might be one short. K.J. McDaniels, while only a junior, is likely to enter the NBA Draft after this season concludes. While I can’t say I blame him, I do hope he’ll consider finishing out his career as a Clemson Tiger and seeing how far he can lead this team next season.

If you haven’t had the chance to watch the Tigers play this season, catch them on ESPNU tonight at 9pm in the first round of the NIT!

clemson

Posted by marystewartb in ACC Network, ACC only, Basketball, Clemson correspondent, Conference News, Correspondents, ESPN, Game Review, March Madness, News, Opinion, Results, Schedule, Something Positive, This Day in ACC and tagged , , , , , ,
16 Mar 2014

Dr. Syracuse and Mr. Orange

What is Syracuse?  Who knows anymore.  This is a team that was 25-0 and the #1 team in the country without much debate.  In February.  It had a senior in CJ Fair who was great against Duke in the Carrier Dome and against Pittsburgh down the stretch.  It had a sophomore duo in Jerami Grant and Trevor Cooney that were offensive threats.  It had a freshman in Tyler Ennis that seemed to be more Benjamin Button than a teenager.  Dr. Syracuse looked like a national championship contender capable of beating anyone and everyone.  And then it turned into Mr. Orange–a team capable of losing to anyone and then proving it by losing at home to Boston College and Georgia Tech.  These losses–rather than the other three–are what will keep Syracuse from being a #1 seed.  The bigger question for Syracuse fans is not #1 seed, but whether it will win one game in the Big Dance.

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Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Opinion and tagged , , ,
10 Mar 2014

ACC Seeding Polls: Duke, Virginia, Syracuse, UNC

Here are four polls… where do you think each of Duke, Virginia, Syracuse, and UNC should be seeded?  In other words… where do the teams really and truly deserve to be seeded as of right now.  Base it on the work done as of today!  Not what you think happens later this week.  Don’t forget to scroll down and vote relative to all four schools.

Virginia

 

Syracuse

 

Duke

 

North Carolina

 

If you think you know basketball, and as a fan of the ACC you SHOULD know basketball, let’s see how well you can do against other fans of ACC schools.  Go here:

 

 

 

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Bracket Contest, Opinion, Poll, Predictions and tagged , , , ,
07 Mar 2014

The Tar Heel Panic-o-Meter: A UNC-Duke Preview

As the final week of the regular season comes to a close, it’s time to return to our Tar Heel Panic-o-Meter one last time. When we last visited this concept back in early December, Carolina had an acceptable 4-2 record, with puzzling losses to Belmont and UAB. Inconsistency was the rule, not the exception, and wins at then #1 Michigan State and #11 Kentucky led to an 0-3 start in ACC play.

But a lot has changed since then- this isn’t the same team.

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Posted by Mr. Tar Heel in Basketball, Opinion, Poll, Predictions, UNC Correspondent
02 Mar 2014

Those Darn Refs

30+ years ago, George Brett takes issue with a call by an official.

This author has been following sports for about 40 years now.  The officials have always been a subject of controversy in sports.  Here is one opinion on the 10 worst calls in officiating.  Few are recent.  Most of these go back to an era before instant replay, before sports blogs, and before Twitter.  Now, as noted by Pat Forde (who this author does not generally agree with): “Twitter, message boards and call-in shows are veritable forest fires of ref-bashing both during and after games.”  This is true.  If you follow Twitter feeds for two fan bases during a game, you would come to a conclusion that the refs of <insert league> are incompetent and biased in favor of <insert opponent>.  Nobody loses anymore, they lose to the opponent and a bunch of bribed, incompetent, script-following officials.  Obviously, this is not true.  But respected and successful blogger Sean Keeley (Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician) tweeted a good point:

Re: coaches not respecting referees. Referees should be treated like coaches then and have to face media after games. Level the field.

One of the things that is frustrating is that coaches have to answer to the media after a loss.  This can involve judgment calls–why did you call that timeout, why did you not call that timeout, why not play a backup, etc.  In general, officials do not.  And when Jim Joyce cost the Detroit Tigers’ Andres Gallaraga a no-hitter, his tearful admission of error and apology was, somehow, comforting enough to make it a non-issue.  Human beings, for all their faults, are able to forgive someone who admits an error and is sincerely contrite.  Are we at a point where there is so much media (formal and social) that officials should want to be in front of the media for their own sake?

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Posted by acaffrey in Opinion and tagged , , , , , ,
25 Feb 2014
6 Comments

Proposed Basketball Scheduling for ACC: Updated

Update: With Credit to Bleedinorange44, and some further analysis by the author, here is a revised version!

With the outstanding ratings being drawn by Syracuse-Duke, the question that begs is whether the ACC can configure the schedule to allow Duke-Syracuse to play annually, without interfering with other obligations and rivalries.  The  Confidential has a proposal.

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Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Opinion, Schedule and tagged , ,
24 Feb 2014
4 Comments

Keeping the ACC Title Game in Charlotte is the Right Choice

It’s basketball season in ACC country, and things are better than ever. Four teams are ranked in the AP poll (#4 Syracuse, #6 Duke, #12 Virginia, and #19 North Carolina), and the league is coming off of one of its most exciting weeks ever. An unexpected roadblock in Syracuse’s quest for dominance has sent them reeling, while the Duke-North Carolina game was, well…Duke and North Carolina. An instant classic. So naturally, the league is doing everything it can to seize this media momentum by calling a press conference today to talk about…football.

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Posted by Mr. Tar Heel in Football, News, Opinion, Schedule, UNC Correspondent
23 Feb 2014

Syracuse: Deserving of its 25-2 Record

Last week at this time, this author wrote that Syracuse was a flawed team that is and deserves to be 25-0.  Part of the logic was that a team that captures victory from defeat is deserving of that–even if arguable luck and good calls play a role.  Syracuse haters cannot focus on one or two plays.  One week later, the only reasonable conclusion is that Syracuse deserves to be 25-2.  Again, this author is a diehard Syracuse fan that has been following basketball since, well, forever.  Rest assured, it was before the Carrier Dome was even conceived.  Much like Syracuse haters could not focus on one or two plays as demonstrative of luck or referees dictating the outcome, Syracuse fans cannot do the same here.  It is what it is.  The team is a fair and deserving 25-2.

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Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Opinion and tagged , , , , , , , , ,
20 Feb 2014
9 Comments

Syracuse Loses to Boston College–Yikes!

The Confidential just spent 1,000 words explaining that Syracuse deserved to be 25-0.  They most certainly did–even with their flaws.  But those flaws came out in full force in a loss to Boston College last night.  And now Syracuse most certainly deserves to be 25-1.  Only the specifics of that “1” are such that there is significant cause for concern.  And perhaps even relief.  Here is why.

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Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Opinion, Results and tagged , ,

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