North Carolina State University Athletics
Tony Haynes: Round Robin Flies Away
3/8/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 8, 2004
By Tony Haynes
The horn sounded with Maryland coach Gary Williams pumping his fist and showing off a vertical leap that would have made Buddy Hackett proud. Perhaps lost in Williams' demonstrative celebration in the aftermath of his team's season-ending 70-61 victory over Virginia on Sunday night was the fact that the ACC had just closed out the end of an era. The double round robin schedule format, which has been in place since 1955, is now gone with the win; blown away by an expansion plan that will add Miami and Virginia Tech next year, and then Boston College in 2005-06.
Fortunately, the last season of ACC basketball like it used to be will go down as one of the best and most exciting campaigns on record. It started with Wake Forest's scintillating triple overtime victory at North Carolina in December and ended with the Terrapins and Cavaliers scrapping and fighting for their postseason lives.
In between, the coaches and players of this league left little doubt that the ACC is indeed the standard by which all other college basketball conferences are measured. Duke and NC State, the two teams that somehow limited the multiple losing streaks that kept most of the other clubs hovering around the .500 mark most of the season, were clearly the cream of the crop, thanks in part to their excellence on the road. Between them, the Blue Devils and Wolfpack managed to scratch out 11 wins away from their home arenas.
But perhaps the best measure of the ACC's strength this year are the teams at the bottom. Although it finished in the basement with a 3-13 record, Clemson certainly wasn't a slam dunk for anybody. Along the way, the Tigers knocked off nationally ranked North Carolina and NC State, while also pushing other highly ranked teams to the limit. And Virginia isn't your average run of the mill number 8 seed, not after putting together a late-season surge that included down-to-the wire wins over Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Wake Forest.
In most conferences, a high regular season finish is rewarded with a first-round tournament game against a team that doesn't even need to unpack its bags when it arrives at the tournament site. That, however, is certainly not the case in this league. Congratulations to NC State on its impressive second place finish in the ACC this year. As a reward in the conference tournament, the Wolfpack will get a quarterfinal meeting with Florida State, a team that has 18 wins overall and may very well be just one victory away from an NCAA Tournament berth.
In its final tournament before expansion takes hold, the ACC will be able to showcase an event that has all the makings of a classic. Friday's quarterfinal match-ups alone will probably leave fans squirming more than a conservative in Carrboro.
And while expansion will eliminate the scheduling equity that made the round robin format so appealing, it's doubtful the ACC Tournament will lose much, if any luster once the new conference members join the fray. Starting next year, there will just be more games on Thursday as opposed to the traditional 8 vs. 9 elimination game that was added when Florida State became a ninth ACC member in 1992.
Still, there's a feeling that this ACC Tournament may very well be discussed for years to come for a variety of reasons once it ends at about 3:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.
"I've just never taken for granted the opportunity to be a part of it," said NC State head coach Herb Sendek, whose team is coming off back-to-back appearances in the championship game. "It's a real privilege to be able to participate. It's difficult for the senses to take in all the pageantry, all the fanfare and all the excitement that is present during the tournament. It almost provides sensory overload because there's so much in the air. I have no doubt that the great tradition that we love with the ACC will continue with the addition of the other teams."
By now, Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College are probably giddy about the opportunity to join a league that once again this season provided its fans with the type of quality high-level drama that has become its calling card. If the regular season is any indication, then the weekend ahead could generate almost unimaginable competition and excitement.
Scooter Update: While circumstances could certainly improve over the next four days, Sendek doesn't sound real confident about Scooter Sherrill's chances of being ready to play in Friday's first round game against the Seminoles.
"He still has a ways to go if he's going to play on Friday," Sendek said on Monday. "He's not going to practice again today. I'm not at all optimistic at this point. At the same time, these things have a way of turning and changing. Charlie is doing a good job of getting him as much treatment as he can. We'll hope for the best but I don't know that we can say with any certainty when he's going to come back."
Charlie Rozanski, NC State's Director of Sports Medicine, has been working with Sherrill almost around the clock since the senior guard sprained his ankle in the second half against North Carolina eight days ago.
