Atlantic Coast Change

ACC hoops isn't what is used to be. And by adding three football schools, it may never be that again. Plus, Marcus Adams heads to BYU and Kentucky's big issue.

Author

Mike Miller
September 05, 2023

You know who had a good weekend? Cal, Stanford and SMU. Nothing like finding a new home to ensure you can enjoy a holiday weekend.

But you know who had a better weekend? Our own John Fanta, who tied the knot on Friday night, and is now off enjoying his honeymoon. Congrats, Fanta!

Let’s see what happened in college hoops.

1. So. Where does ACC hoops go from here?

After weeks of back-and-forth, cajoling, bargaining, and numerous phone calls, it became official.

The ACC fully conceded its basketball stature for football. And money.

In a way, this was inevitable. Football revenue, coupled with the desire to keep pace with the SEC, Big Ten, and to a lesser degree, the Big 12, ensured the ACC — long the historically dominant basketball conference in college sports — would never again be what it was.

Some would argue that already changed circa 2004 & 2005 when Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College joined. After all, the eight-team conference of the 80s was perhaps the best college basketball’s ever been. And it certainly wasn’t far behind in the 90s.

Even when it expanded with Notre Dame, Pitt, Syracuse and Louisville in the mid-2010s, that was a defensible move with basketball-heavy schools. Including the Irish.

But now? This is just … ugh.

As Brendan Marks from The Athletic wrote over the weekend, one understands why the ACC made the move. But it just hurts every part of its basketball soul:

The only certainty is that in the ACC’s last-ditch effort for long-term stability, it is openly welcoming more mediocrity to the sport the league was founded on. Basketball may not rake in the same piles of cash as football, but it’s still the league’s identity, the thing its fans care about the most. That’s true even outside Tobacco Road, where the likes of Virginia and Miami have built their own basketball followings. How many times, during the course of an ACC basketball broadcast, have you heard stories of televisions being wheeled into elementary schools so kids can watch the conference hoops tournament?

That isn’t just folklore. That is how much the ACC cares about basketball — or at least how much it cared. Past tense.

Sometimes it’s better to be the best in your lane, rather than pivoting to something you’re not. Just ask the Big East.

The ACC clearly doesn’t feel the same way. At this point, all that’s left of the league that we loved — of a basketball-centric conference, for college hoops diehards — is that now-outdated acronym.

The ACC’s lack of depth has hurt its overall basketball standing the last few years. Duke, UNC and Virginia have all won national titles since 2015. Those also were the last seasons when the league finished among the top three conference, as per kenpom.com rankings.

That’s only going to get worse.

Cal and Stanford could be better in hoops, but the past few years have been miserable for the Bears and Cardinal. Even if they become middle-of-the-pack ACC teams, that’s still not going to help its basketball bona fides. SMU? It won 30 games during a tremendous 2016-17 season. And lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Beyond the potential of non-basketball schools joining, the logistics also become a nightmare. Will the league stick with 20 conference games? That severely limits the number of home-and-home games. And going cross-country for the games against the Bay Area teams? I’m sure that’ll help performances.

If it expands the number of conference games to maintain rivalry games, that only exacerbates the issues it faced this season when teams were playing Quad 3 and 4 games and unable to boost NCAA Tournament profiles.

Perhaps the best hope for the league is to hope more change to college sports is coming, and this self-created mess goes away because a bigger one follows.

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2. Maybe the third time’s the charm

Guess we’ll get to see Marcus Adams play in the Big 12 after all.

The incoming freshman was a one-time Kansas recruit but left campus after a week when he decided it wasn’t his vibe. He reportedly never even enrolled at Gonzaga after he committed there, which was probably a smart thing.

Because now that he’s at BYU, he won’t have to sit out a season.

Probably. Since Adams entered the transfer portal after the 60-day window closed earlier this summer, he still may need a waiver.

If the NCAA grants it, it’ll be a boon for Adams and BYU.

The 6-8 wing, a 4-star recruit who reclassified to the class of 2023, would be an immediate asset for the Cougars, who join the Big 12 this season.

They’ve missed the last two NCAA Tournaments but return three starters — Fousseyni Traore, Jaxson Robinson and Spencer Johnson — along with key reserves Dallin Hall and Noah Waterman. Transfers Dawson Baker and Aly Khalifa figure to vie for starting roles, giving coach Mark Pope eight options with Adams’ addition. Adams would be among their top perimeter threats, along with Hall and Baker.

3. A big question for Kentucky

When Kentucky signed center Zvonimir Ivisic last month, it gave the ‘Cats a little relief up front with big men Aaron Bradshaw and Ugonna Onyenso dealing with injuries, and their status for the start of the season in question.

Except now, that breathing room isn’t so comfortable.

The sticking point is Kentucky’s admissions, which has reportedly not accepted the English equivalency exam Ivisic took and passed.

He was supposed to arrive on campus last week, which eventually became today, the final drop/add day of the semester. If he doesn’t get this sorted this week, there’s a good chance he won’t be eligible this semester. And if that happens, he could decide to enroll elsewhere.

It’s not a season-killer for Kentucky without Ivisic, but losing a quality big when your other bigs are hurting isn’t a small thing. If nothing else, this would cement the Wildcats as the 3-point heavy team that played at GLOBL Jam.

‘I don’t hate what they did this offseason’

That may sound like faint praise from Rob Dauster, but it’s not. He’s all-in on what North Carolina coach Hubert Davis did over the past few months to revamp and reshape the Tar Heels without having to completely blow up its roster. We’ll let him explain.

Links as you ease your way into work after a long weekend.

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