The Sweaty One Whines

[SSHoya]

Laughable.

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/29/AR2011012904088.html

[SFHoya99]

Is Gary Williams going senile? He basically makes the argument that the ACC should lie deliberately. Way to go, Gary.

But North Carolina lost four non-conference games (against a tough schedule) and Florida State did as well.

Including a loss to Auburn. Auburn. The worst major conference team in decades.

[TrueHoyaBlue]

Williams said he would put the ACC's top three teams - by his count, that's Duke, North Carolina and Florida State - up against the top three teams of just about any conference in the country.

I wonder how Gary feels about that comment today, as the ACC's number 1 team is being taken to the woodshed in the first half by the BIG EAST's #11 (Go Johnnies!)

[jgalt]

His argument will be even worse if the Johnnies keep up this defense and beat Duke.

Its not just Gary or the Post, its the Terp fans too: read the few comments on that story, they are unbelievable. There is no logic to his argument but youll never get him or them to see it. Terps fans do it with Football too, believing that they are a premier program that just hasnt been winning recently. There must be something in the water up there in College Park because their delusional behavior leads them to believe that that hell hole is a beautiful college town (remember as the sign says, its a "livable community"). Its a shame because they have a number of very good academic programs that get lost amongst the stupidity.

[DanMcQ]

Yup - Duke certainly making a bold new campaign statement for the greatness that is the ACC.

[SFHoya99]

Yeah, um, er, well...

[SSHoya]

Liz Clarke should call up the Sweaty One now for further comment . . .

[RusskyHoya]

The Terps will find it ever harder to continue leveraging their national title last decade to argue that the ACC is the conference of champions. Memories and attention spans are too short for that. The ACC is, for all intents and purposes, a two-contender league. Maryland, Florida State, Clemson, and the like have about as much of a shot at winning the national title as Notre Dame does.

[gastonhall]

I thought his comment was laughable before the Duke game at MSG. Now....what is Big East vs. ACC record this year. G'town beat NC State. Any other games this year come to mind?

[CTHoya08]

Even if Duke came out and handled St. John's today, it would have been a terrible argument. Having one team win the title does not make a conference a strong conference. If Butler makes that shot at the buzzer last year, does Gary argue that the Horizon was a better league than the ACC? Of course not.

Of course, five in ten years is more indicative of strength, but I think something like total Sweet Sixteen teams would be a better measure.* Past that round, there won't be a lot of leagues with more than two participants in any given year. It seems like a stretch to say that a conference is really good because they have one really good team each year. Especially when that team is almost always one of two teams.

In any case, Gary is trying to use the results of a ten year span to suggest the ACC is good in this individual year. In a sport where players have only four years of eligibility.

*The ACC may be leading in these too--I don't feel like checking--but I still think it would be a better way to evaluate a league than looking at champions only.

[theexorcist]

Eh. I don't think he's telling people to lie. PR can, believe it or not, be about the truth.

As for "best conference" - what does it mean? If the goal is win national championships, then the ACC was the best last year (though the Big West would have been the best the year UNLV won it).

The larger concern is number of teams in the tourney and seeding. Here is where "best" comes into more play. Is GU at 4-4 in conference better than an ACC team at 4-4 in conference? Should GU get a better seed than the ACC team? Should either a Big East team or ACC team, both of which are on the bubble, get more consideration based on their conference?

Here, to met, is where Sweaty's argument falls apart. Having a team win the title last year doesn't affect some team this year getting a better seed or even getting in at all. It seems more classic misdirection - the ACC may have half of the past ten national championships, but they don't seem like good candidates to get many teams in or have them seeded highly.

[SFHoya99]

His comment was that the ACC should just say they are the best -- even if they don't have anything to back it up.

I have no problem with PR. But basically, he's saying, we should just be saying we're the best and then people will believe it.

Try winning games, McSweaty.

[SSHoya]

But if the contention was that a middling team in the Big East, the grueling conference in which the Red Storm currently stands at 4-5, had embarrassed the A.C.C., Krzyzewski was not buying that, either.

“We’re not necessarily the best team in the A.C.C.,” he said. “What I would say is that it had no reflection on the conference.”

www.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/sports/ncaabasketball/31stjohns.html?ref=sports

[TrueHoyaBlue]

As far as Sweet Sixteen bids, if you take the last four tournaments, here's how it breaks down:

Big East: 12 Sweet Sixteen appearances (7 different schools)
Big 12: 9 appearances
Big 10: 8 appearances
Pac-10: 8 appearances
SEC: 6 appearances
ACC: 5 appearances (all by Duke or UNC)

So what one can learn is that the ACC is the weakest of the 6 power conferences, and outside of the two Tobacco Road powerhouses, there's not much there there.

[Coast2CoastHoya]

Nice compilation, THB.

[jgalt]

The bottom line is that more than half of the Big East may be ranked in the top 25 this week (shouldnt be fewer than 8 teams), while Garys team will be considered a borderline bad loss for duke should the Terps win on Wednesday.

[RDF]

Know it's getting closer to March when the annual ACC "whining" starts---I fully expect Mike Patrick, Len Elmore, Bilas (sneaky but often hypes ACC this time of year) to start saying how the league is much better then what people are saying......etc....

It's simple--if Duke or UNC were in Big East-they'd not be as dominant/on a pedastal. They are elite programs--but teams in Big East are too--but it's how life goes in the conference that has depth. The ACC lovers will say "they should be good--they have 16 teams....." but that is dismissing the point that ACC is comprised of 2 elite programs who like to keep their status on the pedastal and rest of league is hampered by fact it's a league that caters to 2 programs. Some don't care due to FB (FSU, Miami, Tech, Clemson) others don't care because they reap benefits from the money those schools make them for basketball/television contract.

Just mark this down as the first scent of Spring--along with Mcdonough's annual "Boeheim has finger on pulse of CBB more then any coach", numerous Philly cheesesteak, Liberty Bell, and Rocky Statue shots during any game/any event in the city, nobody is better out of a timeout then Tom Izzo, etc.......

[EasyEd]

My prediction: Terps will handle Duke Wednesday......to be followed by "civil unrest" in College Park.

[SSHoya]

Police and University Administration preparing for next Twerp riot . . .

gazette.net/stories/01282011/prinnew155223_32557.php

[HometownHoya]

"At Tuesday's College Park City Council meeting, Danita Nias, the university's assistant vice president of alumni relations and development, said the activities, which include a poster contest, university officials talking to students about civility, a 6 p.m. pep rally and a bonfire post-game — are "aimed at celebrating in traditional ways.""

Ah UMD and their traditional bonfires