America’s Best Basketball Conference? The Struggle Is Real

America's

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Jim Quist @ACCTheQ –

You’ve heard it more than once. The ACC is America’s best basketball conference but the struggle has been real for some of the top tier teams the last few seasons. We’ve seen the re-emergence of Virginia under Tony Bennett. To the south, Leonard Hamilton is shepherding the Seminoles toward what feels like an eventual shot at a national title. But what about proverbial powerhouses Duke and North Carolina? It’s been a stormy ride made all that more uncertain with the retirement of Roy Williams and only one more year of Coach K at the helm in Durham. The rise and fall of a conference’s dominance in any given sport is a given. But, is this the year that the tide turns in favor of the ACC?

Looking at the latest Top 25 and 1 from CBS Sports you wouldn’t think so. The list of players that opted to go into the NBA Draft has also cast a gloomy shadow over a number of teams. But, look closer. Yes, there are a number of key players scooting along toward (they hope) a payday as a pro. However, there are number who have dipped their toes in the waters and found more sharks than they’re comfortable with and are returning for another year of college hoops. One of the latest is Isaiah Wong who will return to Miami this season. His return is but one good reason to keep a close eye on the Canes. If Jim Larrañaga can brush off the injury bug this season he should have a top 5 conference team.

Football And Basketball Is Almost Here – ACC Nation Radio

How will the NBA Draft impact the ACC? The latest Big Board from CBS has 14 players from 7 ACC teams going in the draft on July 29. The projected top pick out of the conference is Florida State’s Scottie Barnes who is the only player in the top 10. Who are the players that have declared? The final date to withdraw is Monday, July 19 and we’ll see if any additional rosters are bolstered by the return of players in the same manner that Miami will be with Wong.

America’s Best Basketball

Who are the top 5 teams in the CBS Sports Top 25 and 1? Let’s take a look.

  • #1 Gonzaga
  • #2 UCLA
  • #3 Kansas
  • #4 Villanova
  • #5 Michigan

We don’t have to go far to find the first ACC team and has been the rule of thumb for most pre-season Top 25’s, Duke is the top team from the conference coming in at No. 6. Over the last few years it seems that the Blue Devils were almost a default for that honor. As the season wore on it became clear that the team was given a bit too much credit. The saying goes, even a blind pig finds an acorn once in a while and this is the year that picking Duke as the top dog seems just about right. After all, they’re one of the reasons the ACC is known America’s best basketball conference.

Mike Krzyzewski will hang it up after this year and no one should expect him to go out with anything less than a bang. We’ve heard the five-star talk in the past and once again, in comes three high caliber one and done players. Trevor Keels, Paolo Banchero, AJ Griffin have Top 10 NBA Draft picks written all over them.

Subscribe To ACC Nation Podcast

Next in line is Florida State who despite losing 4 of their 5 top scorers, including Barnes, there is more than enough in an instant reload by Leonard Hamilton to keep the Noles rolling. Anthony Polite and Malik Osborne (video) are joined by a Top 5 recruiting class which includes five-star Matthew Cleveland plus former Houston standout Caleb Mills.

If you’re looking for fire power you’ve just found it. The tell, as always will be how quickly Hamilton can get his team to gel and warm up the boards.

Men’s Basketball

Over (to the Chapel) hill and through the woods (from Durham) we go to find No. 19 North Carolina with new first year head coach Hubert Davis. With Armando Bacot and Caleb Love back along with Oklahoma transfer Brady Manek, Davis should get off to a good start at the helm for the Tar Heels. lf North Carolina manages to keep things interesting with a squad that keeps them in the Top 20 throughout the year, Davis’ recruiting efforts will go much easier.

At No. 24 and No. 26 (the, and1) we find two teams out of the Old Dominion who are big contributors to the reputation of being America’s best basketball conference. Virginia loses three of their top scorers including Trey Murphy who took off for the NBA Draft. Murphy is ranked at No. 26 on CBS’s Big Board 100 where he’s joined by Sam Hauser and Jay Huff. A critical piece to the puzzle for Tony Bennett is Kihei Clark who will spearhead the Cavaliers efforts on both ends of the court. Where will some of the missing offense come from? ECU transfer Jaylen Gardner, who cranked out 21 points and 15 rebounds against then No. 5 Houston. In the previous year, Gardner delivered 29 points and 19 rebounds against Houston. No small feat.

Virginia Tech coming in at No. 26 might surprise some observers but let’s get this out of the way up front so everyone understands why. The Hokies have 3 of their top 4 scorers returning and that includes Keve Aluma. Also joining the roster is Wofford transfer Storm Murphy. What kind of line up might Mike Young put on the floor this season?

  • G Storm Murphy
  • F Keve Aluma
  • G Nahiem Alleyne
  • F Justyn Mutts
  • G Tyrece Radford

Two words may best describe this team, hungry and volatile.