Here are the meaningful games in the Atlantic Coast Conference today (January 21, 2014):
Men’s Basketball:
Clemson (13-4, 4-1) @ #22 Pittsburgh (16-2, 4-1). 8:00 pm.
Notre Dame (11-7, 2-3) @ Florida State (12-5, 3-2). 8:00 pm.
Georgia Tech (10-8, 1-4) @ Boston College (5-13, 1-4). 9:00 pm.
Women’s Basketball:
None.
Italics = non-conference game
Here are the meaningful games in the Atlantic Coast Conference today (January 20, 2014):
Men’s Basketball:
North Carolina (11-6, 1-3) @ Virginia (13-5, 4-1). 7:00 pm.
Maryland (11-7, 3-2) @ North Carolina State (11-7, 1-4). 9:00 pm.
Women’s Basketball:
#2 Notre Dame (16-0, 4-0) @ #12 Tennessee (14-3, 3-2 SEC). 7:00 pm.
Wake Forest (9-8, 0-4) @ Clemson (9-9, 1-3). 7:00 pm.
Italics = non-conference game
The Syracuse Orange and Pittsburgh Panthers entered the ACC hoping to add to the top notch basketball reputation of the conference. Two weeks into conference play, Syracuse and Pitt were #1 and #2, at 17-0 and 16-1 overall, and 4-0 in conference, respectively. On Saturday, they faced off in the Carrier Dome to determine who would move forward as the #1 team. Despite being significantly tested, Syracuse defeated Pitt 59-54 to move to 18-0 (5-0) and take a solid lead atop the ACC.
The NFL is NOT broken. Sure, college football is the Confidential’s favorite, for a variety of reasons. But the NFL is the sports king and prints money. Listening to Ryan Clark on ESPN Radio yesterday, he had a very good point, however, about the inconsistency between legislating the physicality out of the game (to protect players), but then scheduling more and more Thursday night games (inconsistent with protecting players). And the “byes” are an annoying feature of the game also. Is there a way to make it all work??? Recognizing that the NFL is far broken, consider this proposal…
Earlier this year, Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim answered a question about how it felt to be a part of what might be the best basketball conference in history. To which he replied, “We already were.” Referring, of course, to the Big East in its former configuration.
Now this correspondent is an old-school ACC guy, so naturally I bristled a little. As did many of us.
And the thought crossed my mind, “wait until he gets into the conference schedule for real…”
The Motivation
Here at the Confidential, we like to talk about sports. Any sports really, but specifically ACC sports and our love for our favorite teams. Sometimes though, there are things that transcend what happens on the field. Sometimes, there are things that are more important. In the case of college athletics, it’s the athletes themselves that ultimately matter, not winning or losing, whether the system in place will say this or not. Ultimately, the most value comes from the people involved and the dreams that they have for the future.
Sporting News published an article that proposes a very interesting way to fix the NCAA. Now, there’s no need to debate it- everyone knows that the current system is broken. You’ve probably seen enough articles to that effect to know what’s going on. But the solution has always been, and will always be debated. How can you fix something that values money more than its money makers? What is the balance for providing a higher quality student athlete experience without compromising the financial benefits? Author Mike DeCourcy proposes a bold way to not only save the academic integrity of our universities, but to improve the lives of the players at the same time–
There is a lot of talk right now about New York State and Syracuse University, among others, partnering to create a new stadium costing approximately $500,000,000. The details are sketchy, and the Syracuse Mayor may be pointlessly interfering with the idea, but these are interesting times on the Hill.
So, here we are… a few years after the Big 10 went on a colonization imperialistic expansion spree. The expectation was that the Big 10 would leverage Ohio State/Michigan and its history to catch up to the SEC in that sport (the money sport). Here we are in 2013-2014 and it does not appear to be shaping up that way. Instead, it appears that the Big 10’s basketball has passed its football, the ACC has set up its football to pass its basketball. For this year anyway. Consider:
An interesting point was made by acaffrey in the comments section of his recent article regarding potential division realignment in the ACC and the ramifications of moving to a schedule with 10 conference games.
The schools that pack their stadiums need 6 or 7 home games a year.
Coincidentally, I started compiling the attendance data for ACC home games just before the end of the regular season but never got around to completing a full post. So, it was a good reminder and a perfect opportunity to look deeper at which schools can boast the best attendance. Read more…
According to ESPN, Swofford suggests that the ACC (or at least he) favors greater latitude in determining who plays in a conference championship game. If the NCAA were to change the rule to allow a conference championship game to feature two teams–without regard to divisions–how would you divide the teams for division purposes?
Let us know below.
Original article:
According to Twitter, specifically: https://twitter.com/larrywilliamsti/status/409357740176179200, the ACC is going to re-consider the idea of the divisions.
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