The Confidential

The ACC Sports Blog

06 Feb 2012
3 Comments

New TV Deal for ACC?

With the addition of Syracuse and Pittsburgh, the ACC was able to open up its negotiations with ESPN regarding television contract rights.  Currently, the twelve ACC schools have a 12-year, $1.86 billion agreement that pays each school approximately $13 million per year.

If the negotiations go as planned, just adding Syracuse and Pittsburgh will result in at least one or two million dollars more for each school:

Under the new terms that are being negotiated, each of the ACC’s 14 schools can expect at least $14 million to $15 million a year, sources said, depending on how negotiations between the conference and ESPN conclude.

That would help the ACC close a fairly significant annual revenue gap with other major conferences. The Pac-12 and Big Ten each are distributing close to $21 million per school a year. The SEC’s deal provides $17 million per school, and the Big 12’s schools each average $15 million.

There is talk that the ACC’s deal will be extended for three more years.

While the extra money is good news, it will not start until Pitt and Syracuse actually begin playing in the ACC.  So this adds increased urgency for the Big East and the two schools to resolve their differences.

The article further notes the remaining disparity between the ACC and the other conferences.  When the SEC renegotiates its deal, it will likely reach the payouts of the Big Ten and Pac-12.  And the Big XII gets to renegotiates with ESPN in about 5 years.  It is unclear whether this TV revenue increase will satisfy Florida State, Clemson, and others who are troubled by the SEC’s advantage.

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only and tagged ,
06 Feb 2012
1 Comment

ACC Basketball Rankings: February 6, 2012

This is particularly complex with Pitt and Syracuse not yet in the ACC, but it can still be done.  Here is how we view the ACC basketball schools as of January 30, 2012:

1.  Syracuse (23-1)  With Fab Melo back, the Orange returned to their dominant ways.  However, all seven remaining games for the Orange are against teams in the top half of the Big East standings.  This will not end easy for Syracuse.

2. North Carolina (20-3)  Looked dominant in wins over Wake Forest and Maryland.  Next up?  Duke and Virginia.

3. Florida State (16-6)  That’s seven straight conference wins for the Seminoles.  In the process, they have defeated nationally ranked Virginia and North Carolina at home, while defeating Maryland and Duke on the road.

4. Duke (19-4)  The home loss to Florida State at the buzzer was a shocker.  Losing to Miami?  This isn’t football.

5. Virginia (18-4)  No shame in losing to Florida State on the road.  Virginia fared much better than the Tar Heels.

6. North Carolina State (17-7)  A good week for the Wolfpack, who beat both BC and Wake Forest to get back to their winning ways.  All five starters were in double-digits against Wake too.

7.  Miami (14-7)  The win over Duke, at Duke, was the marquee win that Miami needed.  Now they need to keep up the 6-3 conference pace down the stretch.

8. Maryland (13-9)  While the loss to North Carolina stings, it was the road loss to Miami that will be regretted.  That was a winnable game, as evidenced by the overtime.

9. Pittsburgh (15-9)  Don’t look know, but the Panthers have won four straight.  If they keep this up, the Big Dance is not out of the question.

10. Virginia Tech (13-10)  The Hokies took care of business against Clemson.  That 2-6 conference record still hurts.

11. Clemson (11-11)  Swept by both Virginia schools.  A tough road for the Tigers this past week.

12. Wake Forest (11-12)  Wake Forest was overmatched by North Carolina and North Carolina State.  Not a surprise.

13. Georgia Tech (9-14)  Georgia Tech is part of the 3-way tie in the ACC cellar at 2-7 in conference play.  The win over BC gets them to 13th.

14. Boston College (7-16)  The Eagles could have gotten out of the cellar with a win against Georgia Tech.  Alas, it was not meant to be.

Agree?  Disagree?  Let us know!

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Rankings and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
05 Feb 2012

ACC Basketball Recap: February 4, 2012

A few teams got ready for their big rivalry games this week by winning tough games on the road.  Here is the recap for the ACC basketball action on February 4, 2012.

#5 North Carolina traveled to Maryland in a Saturday tune-up for its midweek rivalry game against Duke and came away with a hard-fought victory.  Maryland led at the half and stayed within striking distance throughout the second-half.  However, North Carolina was just too much in the end, winning 83-74.  With the loss, Maryland falls to 13-9.  Terrell Stoglin led the Terps with 20 points, while Alex Len had 9 rebounds.  North Carolina got big games out of its big three, with Tyler Zeller scoring 22 points and grabbing 7 rebounds, while Harrison Barnes added 18 points and 8 rebounds and John Henson added 17 points and 12 rebounds.  North Carolina improved to 20-3 on the season.

#2 Syracuse had an easier time in the tuneup before its midweek rivalry game against Georgetown, handling St. Johns 95-70.  The big news for the Orange was the return of Sophomore center Fab Melo, who led the Orange with 14 points.  Syracuse actually had five players with either 13 or 14 points, including Melo, CJ Fair (14), Dion Waiters (14), Kris Joseph (13), and Michael Carter-Williams (13).  Carter-Williams, a freshman, got Syracuse rolling with two first-half three pointers on consecutive possessions.  With the win Syracuse improves to 23-1, while Jim Boeheim tied Dean Smith for 3rd in career coaching wins with 879.

#21 Florida State kept the momentum going, defeating #16 Virginia 58-55.  The win was the Seminoles’ 7th straight–a first for the team since joining the ACC.  With the exception of a portion of the second half, the game was close throughout.  And Virginia had opportunities to tie in the final minute.  With the loss, Virginia drops to a still-impressive 18-4.  But with the win, Florida State maintains its tie for first place in the ACC with a 7-1 record.  The Seminoles are 16-6 overall.  The Cavs were led by Mike Scott’s 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Joe Harris also scored 16 points.  In victory, Florida State was led by reserve Okaro White’s 13 points.  Xavier Gibson was the only other Seminole in double-digits with 10 points.

North Carolina State improved to 17-7 with an 87-76 win over Wake Forest. With the loss, Wake Forest dropped to 2-7 in conference play.  CJ Harris led Wake Forest with 21 points.  All five NC State starters finished in double-figures in points: Scott Wood (23), CJ Leslie (18), CJ Williams (18), Lorenzo Brown (15), and Ty Walker (12).  Howell added 11 rebounds, while Brown added 8 assists.  And, yes, that’s three players named CJ in one game.

In other action:

  • Virginia Tech got back on the winning track with a 67-65 home win over Clemson.  Andre Young and K.J. McDaniels led the Tigers, who dropped to 11-11 on the season, with 14 points each.  The Hokies were led by Jarell Eddie’s 15 points.  Virginia Tech is now 13-10 overall, including 2-6 in ACC play.
  • Georgia Tech defeated Boston College 51-47 to force a three-way tie for last place in the ACC at 2-7 (both schools and Wake Forest).  The Eagles were led by Matt Humphrey’s 15 points.  Glen Rice, Jr., led Georgia Tech with 11 points.

 

 

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Game Review and tagged , , , , , , , , , ,
04 Feb 2012

Weekend Preview: February 4-5

As is often the case this time of year, there are a number of ACC games this weekend in college basketball.

Saturday

At noon, Syracuse travels to New York City–its home away from home–to play St. Johns.

There are three 1:00 games.  Boston College travels to Georgia Tech in a game featuring teams that are a combined 15-29 on the year.  North Carolina State hosts Wake Forest as it tries to improve to 17-7 on the season.  And the big game of the day is #16 Virginia at #21 Florida State.  While Virginia’s season has been a bit of a surprise, Florida State disappointed early but really has things working right now.  Virginia’s tough defense will look to stop the Seminoles.

At 4pm, #5 North Carolina travels to Maryland for its final tune-up before hosting Duke.  The Tar Heels have to be careful to not look past Maryland though.  Clemson travels to struggling Virginia Tech as well.

 

Sunday

At 2pm, Pittsburgh hosts its in-state rival Villanova.  Both teams are struggling through subpar, disappointing seasons.  Someone is coming away slightly happier.

At 3pm, Miami travels to #7 Duke and tries to get the game over well before the Super Bowl.  Miami has been OK this year, but has not shown signs of being ready to defeat a top 20 team on the road.

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball and tagged , , , , , ,
03 Feb 2012

ACC Scheduling Announced

The Atlantic Coast Conference has issued its scheduling decisions.  In a disappointment to the Confidential, the ACC has eschewed the potential for a logical North-South split in football.  Instead, Syracuse will be placed in the Atlantic and Pittsburgh will be placed in the Coastal.

This means the following divisions will apply to football:

Atlantic:

  • Clemson
  • Florida State
  • Wake Forest
  • NC State
  • Boston College
  • Maryland
  • Syracuse

Coastal:

  • Virginia Tech
  • Georgia Tech
  • Miami
  • Duke
  • North Carolina
  • Virginia
  • Pittsburgh

The league further announced as follows: “When Pitt and Syracuse join the ACC, the league will play a nine-game conference schedule. The format will consist of each team playing all six in its division each year, plus its primary crossover partner each year and two rotating opponents from the opposite division. This six-year cycle allows each team to play each divisional opponent and its primary crossover partner six times (three home and three away) while also playing each rotating crossover opponent two times (one home and one away).”

For basketball, the ACC will stick with one large division and move to an 18-game schedule:

When Pitt and Syracuse join, each school will have one primary partner (Boston College and Syracuse; Clemson and Georgia Tech; Duke and North Carolina; Florida State and Miami; Maryland and Pitt; NC State and Wake Forest; Virginia and Virginia Tech).

The scheduling model will be based on a three-year cycle during which teams will play every league opponent at least once with the primary partners playing home and away annually while the other 12 rotate in groups of four: one year both home and away; one year at home only; and one year away only. Over the course of the three-year cycle primary partners play a total of six times and all other conference opponents play four times.

The basketball plan certainly makes sense.

 

 

 

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Baseball, Football and tagged , , , ,
03 Feb 2012

#7 Duke Defeats Virginia Tech

At 12-9 when it hosted #7 Duke last night, the Virginia Tech Hokies had a chance to get a crucial victory.  Instead, the Blue Devils rolled to a 75-60 victory, dropping Virginia Tech to 12-10.

Although the game was tied at 21, Duke led handily for most of the game.  In fact, Duke led at the half 38-28, and that score required a three-pointer by Erick Green at the buzzer to make it that close.  Duke went on a 24-12 run to open the second-half and make the game a no-doubter.

Erick Green led Virginia Tech with 17 points and 7 rebounds.  Victory Davila added 16 points and 7 rebounds.  With the loss, Virginia Tech is now 1-6 in conference play.  Only Georgia Tech at 1-7 has a worse record in conference play.  Virginia Tech hosts Clemson on Saturday.

Duke was led by Austin Rivers with 18 points. But three other players scored in double-figures: Ryan Kelly (15), Seth Curry (11), and Mason Plumlee (10).  Plumlee added 6 rebounds.  Duke hosts Miami on Sunday,

With the win, Duke moves to 6-1 in conference play and 19-3 overall.  This puts Duke in a three-way tie with North Carolina and Florida State at 6-1.  North Carolina is 19-3 overall, while Florida State is 15-6.  However, the Seminoles have beaten both Duke and North Carolina on the season.  Duke will travel to North Carolina on Wednesday evening for the first game of the season between the two rivals.

Posted by acaffrey in Basketball, Game Review, Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , ,
02 Feb 2012

This Day in ACC History: 27 Years Ago (Maryland & Georgia Tech)

In celebration of Grounghog’s Day, the Confidential is going to roll out another edition This Day in ACC History.  Today, the time machine goes back to a game between the Maryland Terrapins and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on February 2, 1985, 27 years ago.

On February 2, 1985, Georgia Tech traveled to Maryland for a regular season game.  1984-1985 was a good year for both teams.  Georgia Tech would go 9-5 in conference play, and ultimately lose in the Elite Eight to Georgetown.  Maryland would go 8-6 in conference play, and lose in the Sweet 16 to Villanova.  As you may recall, Villanova would shock the world with its defeat of Georgetown in the National Championship Game.

In the game in question, Georgia Tech got the huge road win over Maryland, 72-60.  Maryland’s two leading scorers all season were Senior Adrian Branch and Junior Len Bias.  Branch averaged 18.1 PPG, while Bias averaged 18.9.  There were two of the top three scorers in the ACC that year.  And it was no different in the losing cause against Georgia Tech, with Branch scoring 20 points and Bias adding 14.  Anther key player for Lefty Driesell’s team that night was Sophomore Keith Gatlin, who scored 10 points and added 4 assists

Georgia Tech, coached by Bobby Cremins, was led by two familiar names–Juniors Mark Price and John Salley.  Against Maryland, the Senior Yvon Joseph did most of the damage, scoring 20 points.  Salley added 14 points.  Price had an impressive all-around game with 16 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists.  But Sophomore Bruce Dalrymple nearly matched Price with his 14 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists.

Do you remember this game?  Please feel free to share any details in the Comments section below.

Several of these players would go on to have professional success:

And, of course, Len Bias died tragically only two days after being drafted #2 overall by the Boston Celtics in the 1986 draft.

The famous John Salley, courtesy of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:John_Salley_LF.JPG

This Day in History is a feature that relies heavily on information obtained from Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Basketball Games, Michael O’ Hara, McFarland & Company, Inc. (2008).  Special thanks to that fine publication.

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, This Day in ACC and tagged , , ,
01 Feb 2012
1 Comment

Signing Day Update

According to MaxPreps, the ACC had five teams pull in top-25 recruiting classes.  Most of the school names on the list are the ones that you would expect–Alabama, Texas, Ohio State, and Michigan.  And it is no different with the ACC teams that made the list–especially the top 4 of Florida State, Miami, Clemson, and Virginia Tech.  Impressively, Virginia cracked the list as well.

Florida State edged out Miami to have the 6th best overall class and the best class in the ACC.  Both schools were probably disappointed to see Florida take the 5 spot ahead of both of them.  For Florida State, it is yet another great class to build on its young foundation and bright future.  But, at #7, Miami showed that the off-field issues are not going to stop the talent from flowing in.

At #11, Clemson took advantage of its nice season.  Again, however, the Tigers finished behind in-state rival South Carolina in these rankings. Even the disappointing (and then some) Orange Bowl performance did not prevent the class from being outstanding.

Virginia Tech landed in at #16, which is pretty much what the Hokies are expected to do most years.  Perhaps more surprising is that in-state rival, Virginia, cracked the top 25.  After a great rebound season under new coach Mike London, the Cavaliers look to challenge Virginia Tech each season.

Obviously, these rankings do not mean much in the big picture.  Texas, Ohio State, and Notre Dame have all had issues in recent years converting top 5 recruiting classes into top 5 seasons.  But it’s all fans have to go by right now.

So congratulations to these five schools and their new recruits.  And congrats to all the future ACC players that signed letters of intent today.

 

 

 

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Football and tagged , , , , , , ,
01 Feb 2012

North Carolina and Virginia Keep Winning

North Carolina and Virginia each did their part in maintaining their placement in the polls last night, as both were able to win.  The #16 Cavaliers defended their home court in a 65-61 victory of Clemson.  The #5 Tar Heels handled Wake Forest on the road, 68-53.

The ugly game of the night across the nation was Illinois’ victory over Michigan State by a score of 42-41.  That is a score reminiscent of the 1940’s.  As usual, however, the abysmal shooting in that game will be rationalized as a product of “good defense.”

Well, their must have been some good defense in the North Carolina-Wake Forest game too, as the two teams shot 31.0% and 29.6% from the field.  Nevertheless, both teams were able to avoid scores in the low 40’s, in part because both teams were competent at the free throw line.  The rebounding numbers were pretty impressive too–with North Carolina edging Wake 50-36.  That’s a lot of boards.  In fact, Tyler Zeller had 18 of them, while Josh Henson added 12.  Terrell McKie led the Demon Deacons with 13 rebounds.  From a scoring standpoint, the Tar Heels only had 6 players score, but 4 of them were in double-figures, led by Zeller’s 18.  CJ Harris led Wake Forest with 19 points.  With the loss, Wake Forest drops to 11-11.  North Carolina improves to 19-3.

Up in Charlottesville, the Cavaliers narrowly defeated Clemson in a typically slow tempo game.  In comparison to the rebound-fest described above, Virginia and Clemson combined for only 48 rebounds–with Virginia having an impressive 31-17 edge in that regard.  But the game was a nail biter for Virginia as Clemson maintained a lead into the early part of the second-half before Virginia pulled away.  The Tigers made it close down the stretch, forcing Virginia to win it at the free throw line.  Devin Booker led the Tigers, who dropped to 11-10, with 14 points.  As usual, Mike Scott led Virginia with 18 points and 10 rebounds.  Virginia improves to 18-3 and maintains its 4th place position in the conference standings.

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Basketball, Game Review and tagged , , , , , , , , ,
31 Jan 2012
1 Comment

Clemson Forms Athletic Advisory Committee

As previously noted here, there have been some Internet rumors regarding the Big XII making a play for ACC schools.  The SEC is also a possibility to expand down the road.  As the conference finances spiral out of control, one just does not know what each conference and university is truly thinking.  Now, Clemson has announced the formation of an Athletic Advisory Committee.  Inherent in the formation of such a committee is the potential to analyze conference loyalty.

The key excerpts of the press release are as follows:

“The nature of college athletics is changing in every area,” said Phillips who has been Clemson’s Athletic Director for nearly 10 years. “These changes are effecting how Clemson Athletics does business. It is a blessing to have access to successful business leaders who have and are facing similar issues in their industries.

“I have asked these Clemson loyalists to advise us as we strive to take our program to the next level. The candid and productive conversations we had and will have focus on key issues and strategies that will make Clemson athletics as good as it can be.”

* * *

“Clemson is one of the top athletic programs in the nation,” said Frampton. “We have only one agenda – how to help Clemson Athletics go to the next level.

“Every area of major college sports is being challenged – competition, academic success, student/athlete welfare, compliance, finances, brand marketing and conference structure. Clemson needs to lead change, not react to it.”

In addition, www.leatherhelmetblog.com is contributing to the mix.  They have an analysis of how the ACC could lose four schools–Virginia Tech, North Carolina State, Clemson, and Florida State.  But a blog is a blog is a blog.

The Clemson announcement is the first hint that maybe there is some fire to the blog smoke.

Does anyone have any other sources to suggest that the ACC is not as strongly tied together as some think?

 

 

Posted by acaffrey in ACC only, Conference Realignment and tagged , ,

Post Navigation

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →