http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4006995&name=marchmadness

You didn’t even know who Mark Schlabach was until a couple of weeks ago.

Your right! But don’t shoot the messenger LD3.. me being the messenger. lol

Funny how during football season, TBE rants about head to head and all the statistical stuff when the Big East wins that.
Now during BBall season he says throw all that RPI/Head to Head stuff out and the tournament is the only thing that matters.
Pundits who support him are smart as opposed to the “dumb” ones that blast Big East football (meaning Schlabaugh is smart in winter and dumb in fall)
Must be nice to spin things anyway you like…

I will say it once again, the ACC was the stronger conference top to bottom and the Big East had the best teams at the top. The NCAA tournament is proving that.

First off, Schlabaugh is the same writer now as he was in football. The difference I have recently learned is he doesn’t hang out in SEC school hoops offices. He does however hang out in SEC football offices. lol mostly Georgia. So he was a hack then, and he is now. All he is doing is jumping on the injured.

SoPines my friend, the numbers don’t lie. 5 out of our 16 team league is in the Sweet 16 including 3 of them being ONE SEEDS. And Syracuse is playing better than anyone in the tourney. You can pout, scream, throw out numbers, submit, run through your neighborhood scream ACC ACC…. but it won’t matter.

The fact is…........ well you know. You just don’t want to face it. lol It’s not like it’s the end of the world. Maybe next year for you guys. And, UNC or Duke might win it all. The world isn’t coming to an end because the Big East is better in hoops than the ACC this year. lol Believe this or not but many, millions of people feel that the BE is better than the ACC EVERY YEAR. lol

Hang in there…

I’ll second my previous statement on another post…..Who Cares? Md, FSU, WF, Clemson, and BC lost….so what? UNC is still in it, and in a position to win it. Then the best all of those Big East teams can do is first loser aka second place. I’m not guaranteeing that, but hey, it’s a real possibility.

Yes it is a possibility.

The ACC now stands for ‘Atlantic Choke Conference’  Reply
Major Bids, Minor Results
The ACC now stands for ‘Atlantic Choke Conference’

GREENSBORO—Once again another NCAA men’s basketball tournament comes up and once again the Atlantic Coast Conference shows how overrated they really are.

The Conference that now runs from “The Sunshine State”, “Tobacco Road” to the “Crab Cakes” of Maryland, failed to get more than two teams through the first weekend of the “big dance”.

During the selection show, the debate was about how little the mid major conferences received in at large bid while the “major conferences” like the Big East, Big 12, Big 10, Pac 10, and ACC received most of the at large bids.

The Big East and ACC received seven bids, while the Big 12, Big 10 and Pac 10 all received 6 and a good number of the conference I mention still have many of their teams alive with the exception of the self proclaimed “Best conference in America”, the ACC.

Let’s take a look at the teams left in the tournament going into the second weekend of play (at the time the Sweet Sixteen was set):

1. Big East: Began with seven teams and have a record five teams in the Sweet 16.

2. Big 12: Began with six teams and have three teams remaining.

3. Big 10: Began surprisingly with six teams and have three remaining teams.

4. Pac 10: Began with six teams and have only one team (Arizona) remaining, but USC, Arizona State, Washington and UCLA all played their opponents close and Arizona, who most thought didn’t deserve to be in the tournament (Like Dick Vitale the ACC apologist) has played like a number one seed which speaks to how underrated their conference truly was.

5. ACC: Began with seven teams and have only two teams remaining which are the two typical teams they have in the Sweet Sixteen every year. The other five teams that lost over the weekend (Wake Forest, Maryland, Clemson, Florida State and Boston College), was either upset, overachieved, underachieved or just plain stunk which speaks to how OVERRATED THE CONFERENCE TRULY WAS!

The bad thing for the conference after seeing their two best and remaining teams left in the tournament in person, is that Duke is overrated and shouldn’t have been seed and only received their seed based on their reputation and a flawed North Carolina team that could have and should have lost to LSU if it wasn’t for the heroics of their all-everything guard Ty Lawson could lose to their next opponent, the fourth seeded Zags of Gonzaga.

I said to some friends and colleagues when the seedings were announced, the ACC received so many bids based on reputation and I was right.

Every year, the Vitales and ACC apologists like him, speak to the quality of play and depth of good teams and at the end of the day, either Duke or North Carolina win the regular season and/or the conference tournament and with Maryland as the exception, they are the only two programs that have won or have a chance to win the National Championship.

The ACC gets the accolades and the title of “Best in the Country” because most of their success has come from the state of North Carolina. You know the state that feels every boy and girl and girl is born with a basketball in their hand.

They think God somehow has ordain the state as basketball greatness or some kind of “round ball royalty”. NOT SO FAST. The claim that the ACC and their fans are so readily to brag about comes from outside of North Carolina when you consider Michael Jordan was born in New York and coaches like Roy and Gary Williams along with Coach “K” recruit most of their kids from the north east, mid west and west.

Someone mention on television “The Big East” is the best it’s been in 30 years and I am not ready to concur with that assessment but I also know the ACC year after year is vastly overrated and this year is no exception.

By the way, the remaining teams in the Sweet Sixteen are Gonzaga (West Coast Conference), Memphis (Conference USA) and Xavier (Atlantic-10).

Link: http://blackathlete.net/artman2/publish/College_Basketball_21/Major_Bids_Minor_Results.shtml

Millions of people…

Hahahahahaha!

Since UNC and Duke have to go through the Big East to get anywhere, the tests are still ahead. If the Big East teams knock them around then I will concede and TBE can gloat. No matter what you say though TBE, the ACC did not have any St Johns, Seton Halls or Depauls this year. In fact, the ACC has none of those type schools. They should be in the A10 or something. The fact they are in your conference is an insult to schools like WVU and Syracuse that have complete sports programs. Until you get rid of them the Big East will always be less of a conference than the other majors.

Also, the ACC had the guts to turn away Notre Dame when they tried to get membership without football. Too bad yall didn’t. They use yall like a cheap #$%^&... UConn gets a 10 year football series with ND without a home game? What a great conference member!

People can call the ACC whatever they want. If/when UNC wins this thing they’ll HAVE to call it the conference of the National Champions.

Well let’s see…

I agree with your take on Notre Dame, Uconn playing them away all the time… I somewhat agree with your take about them playing in all sports but football also.

I don’t agree with your takes on St. Johns, DePaul and Seton Hall. Those are regional takes and you have no idea what your talking about. All three have better hoops tradition than most of the ACC. And, all three have won, and will win again.

Lastly, 5 out of 16 teams in the Sweet 16 in 2009. That is the first time that has ever happened before I understand. Then think 3 of the 4 ONE SEEDS are from one conference. Then think about both of those amazing stats and understand all those teams play in one conference. The Big East.

Actually I do know what I am talking about. Frank McGuire left St Johns to come to UNC for the better climate for his son’s medical issues. UNC was built on snatching NY bball talent away from St Johns. They are yesterday’s news and will never again rise to their past heights. The fact that they went after Doherty after he ran Carolina into the ground proves their status.

DePaul and Seton Hall? Give me a break. NC State, Maryland, Wake, and UVA all have better traditions not to even mention Carolina and Duke.

San Francisco used to be great at bball. U of Chicago used to be a football power…blah blah. St Johns and DePaul are no different.

State Us along with a few select private schools (Duke, Stanford, Notre Dame) are the real power players today. When the Big East figures that out they will be the real deal. Until then not so much. I dont care if they make up 4 of the final 4.

seton hall made 1 final 4 and are now a power? laughable.

if depaul were so great why did their coach leave for uva, then get canned 4 yrs later for not being good enough.  he was good enough in chicago. depaul has ok tradition but no higher than 9th in the acc.  st. johns would be 6 or 7th but falling fast.  the ugly sweaters and many of the memories are gone.

SoPinesHeel - 26 March 2009 02:52 PM

Actually I do know what I am talking about. Frank McGuire left St Johns to come to UNC for the better climate for his son’s medical issues. UNC was built on snatching NY bball talent away from St Johns. They are yesterday’s news and will never again rise to their past heights. The fact that they went after Doherty after he ran Carolina into the ground proves their status.

DePaul and Seton Hall? Give me a break. NC State, Maryland, Wake, and UVA all have better traditions not to even mention Carolina and Duke.

San Francisco used to be great at bball. U of Chicago used to be a football power…blah blah. St Johns and DePaul are no different.

State Us along with a few select private schools (Duke, Stanford, Notre Dame) are the real power players today. When the Big East figures that out they will be the real deal. Until then not so much. I dont care if they make up 4 of the final 4.

I started three or four times to respond to this with clever quick witted reasons why your in a regional bubble. Then it came to me…. why bother. lol

http://blog.al.com/solomon/2009/03/acc_lays_an_egg_in_ncaa_tourna.html

Here’s another opinion outside of your bubble….. this will be the third in this thread alone. But hey, what does everyone else know huh? There are a ton of these articles on most sites and I didn’t post them because I did a dumb thing. I assumed we all were in agreement that not the ACC is down. But that the BE is up…. Hell, the ACC stunk up the tourney last year too.. I thought it was common knowledge that the ACC was going to be down a little bit.

Note to self…. never ever assume anything sports related when dealing with ACC fans! lol

This was supposed to be a year the ACC flexed its muscles in the NCAA Tournament with seven teams. Instead, when North Carolina and LSU tip off this afternoon—assuming Memphis finishes off Maryland beforehand—the ACC will have exactly one more team left in the tournament than the SEC, which had three bids.

Say all you want about how down the SEC was this year. And it was. But basketball’s not the SEC’s sport. What’s the ACC’s excuse? The biggest meltdown was by Wake Forest, a No. 4 seed who inexplicably was a Final Four pick by many pundits. Anyone who has seen the Demon Deacons play the last couple weeks knew they were ripe for an upset, and Cleveland State destroyed them.

The ACC lost three other games in the first round in which it was the higher seed: No. 7 Clemson lost its cool and the game to No. 10 Michigan; No. 7 Boston College got trounced by No. 10 USC, which needed to win the Pac-10 Tournament last week just to make the field; and No. 5 Florida State squandered a lead and lost in overtime to No. 12 Wisconsin.

Meanwhile, No. 10 Maryland is getting smoked by 20 at halftime vs. No. 2 Memphis. There’s great irony in that score. Maryland’s best player, Greivis Vasquez, said yesterday that Memphis would have a losing ACC record if it played in the conference. “The ACC is too tough,” Vasquez said. “You can’t just win games night in and night out because you’re so athletic.”

Vasquez’s comment speaks to the ACC’s arrogance in basketball, which only rivals the SEC’s arrogance in football. The ACC howled when it got only four teams into the 2008 tournament. Within the next hour, only Duke and North Carolina will remain as ACC representatives in this year’s tournament. In other words, the mighty ACC—the biggest disappointment in the NCAA Tournament thus far—will have as many teams left as the Atlantic-10.