And just like that, the 2023-24 season is over. Time for some 20/20 hindsight. For the ACC, it was a pretty successful season. UNC kinda came out of nowhere to win the league, and made the Sweet Sixteen. Duke made the Elite Eight, and knocked out a one seed in the process. Clemson went from looking horrible at the end of the season to making the Elite Eight. NC State made a miraculous run to not only win the ACC Tournament, but get to the Final Four. But what about the upcoming season? Here’s three things we know, and three things we need to know going into the upcoming season:
–Duke will be the favorite to win the league. It wouldn’t be a preseason ranking without seeing Duke in the top five. I’ve even seen some having them as preseason number one. It’s a rite of passage nowadays. This is where hindsight is nearly perfect. A lot of it has to do with Cooper Flagg, the incoming freshman who is the most hyped freshman since Zion Williamson came in for the 2018-19 season. In total, Duke has five of the top 20 commits coming in for the upcoming season.
Hindsight
–Louisville will be significantly better. Gone are the days of Louisville being the laughing stock of the league. In steps a competent coach in Pat Kelsey. A lot of the roster is gone from the most recent season, and Kelsey basically has a blank canvas in which to work with. Let’s put it this way-the Cardinals won 12 games in two years under Kenny Payne. I’m pretty confident they will win at least 13 games this season, which will be more than the two years under Payne. Hindsight says this program won’t languish much longer.
–The bottom of the league will be better. Look at the bottom of the league from this year. Louisville was last place, but they should be significantly better. Miami finished above them, but they were banged up, and had no depth, so they should be better. Both Georgia Tech and Notre Dame had first year coaches who have good pieces to build around going forward, and they should be finishing closer to the middle of the pack this upcoming season, if not higher.
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The three things we need to know:
–Where does Virginia go now? This was a down year for the Hoos, yet they still won 23 games. But everyone still has that bad taste in their mouths from the end of the season. The only person in the month of March in a Virginia jersey with any sort of offensive success was the girl in the Geico commercial (sick burn, Caitlin, or Kaitlin, or whichever variation of the name it was supposed to be).
Reece Beekman and Ryan Dunn are turning pro. Jake Groves and Jordan Minor are out of eligibility. The only person coming back who was a consistent shooter was Isaac McKneely. To be blunt, the offense needs a major overhaul, and if the team can’t get more size or shooting in the portal, this could be a tough season ahead. No one wants to deal with that kind of hindsight.
–How does UNC follow up last season? For most of Hubert Davis’s coaching career, we wondered if he was the right person for the job. Now, he’s coming off a season in which he won the regular season title, sweeping Duke, and earning a one seed in the NCAA Tournament. Can he have the same success with Armando Bacot gone, and potentially R.J. Davis? Are the pieces there to keep things going? Hindsight should provide a clear answer to this question.
–Can NC State build off of March? That was one of the most unbelievable runs I’ve ever seen a team make. From going from being tied late with Louisville in the first round of the ACC Tournament to needing a miracle three just to get to overtime to beat Virginia, winning five games in five days to win the ACC Tournament, all the way to the Final Four. The star of March, D.J. Burns, is gone, along with some other key pieces. They already secured Brandon Huntley-Hatfield from Louisville out of the transfer portal, a player I like.
There are many more questions that we need answered as we head into the summer, but these are the three biggest questions, to me, involving ACC teams as we get deeper into the offseason.
