r/CollegeBasketball • u/astall58 Kansas Jayhawks • 1d ago
Discussion What happened to the ACC?
What happened to the ACC? They got absolutely walloped in the ACC-SEC challenge last year (granted the SEC was really good). Some of their programs like GT and BC are scheduling some of the worst non-conference schedules I've ever seen. They're probably about to lose some of their flagship programs (UNC, UVA, FSU) to conference realignment once the grant of rights situation gets resolved in the courts. They used to be known as one of the best basketball conferences. Are they the worst power conference now?
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u/Spidaaman NC State Wolfpack • Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors 1d ago
With NIL, the Big Ten and SEC were suddenly able to spend their millions in football revenue on basketball talent. Combine that with several legendary coaches retiring in a very short period of time.
That said, the ACC has still had five different teams in the Final Four since 2019 and have had at least one team in every Final Four since 2019.
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u/porterbrown St. John's Red Storm • Big East 1d ago
had at least one team in every Final Four since 2019.
I think this is most impressive, regardless of the size of the acc.
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u/Utterlybored Duke Blue Devils 1d ago
Only a few ACC schools have successfully adapted to the new realities of college ball in 2025. Most others are struggling.
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u/Baseball_fan812 Louisville Cardinals 1d ago
Don't write it off yet. A run of coaching vacancies and/or bad hires hit the league hard, but I think the league is going to be better this year. There's too much investment in men's basketball at these schools for sustained mediocrity like last year.
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u/Utterlybored Duke Blue Devils 1d ago
Your Cardinals are supposed to be highly competitive this coming season!
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u/Baseball_fan812 Louisville Cardinals 1d ago
Yes, for sure. Looking forward to some great battles with Duke!
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u/LetsGetPenisy69 Marquette Golden Eagles 1d ago edited 1d ago
It’s going to be better this year but it’s a highly watered down league after all of the expansion and coaches retiring.
The future of the ACC is going to be a bloated league with a couple top tier teams, a bunch of mediocrity in the middle, and Boston College really dragging their full ass on the ground.
Unless they find a bunch of Pat Kelsey’s who can turn these programs around, the conference will consistently #5 behind the SEC, Big 12, Big East and B1G.
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u/Spidaaman NC State Wolfpack • Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors 1d ago
Hope you guys don’t get smoked in the tourney by one of those mediocre programs. That would suck.
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u/mrbobbyrick Kentucky Wildcats 1d ago
Pat Kelsey isn’t doing what he’s doing without Louisville’s money for basketball
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u/gland87 Louisville Cardinals 1d ago
Would Pope be doing what he is without UKs money? Thats always been the case even before NIL.
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u/mrbobbyrick Kentucky Wildcats 1d ago
No. That’s my whole point. I’m not meaning to single out Kelsey.
Edit: To add to this: Kelsey and Pope are both really good coaches. Neither would have top teams in the country at Florida State.
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u/rogozh1n Duke Blue Devils • Syracuse Orange 1d ago
They are an exception because of the revenue their stadium generates, right?
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u/LetsGetPenisy69 Marquette Golden Eagles 1d ago
The same could be said about almost every other top 25 college team. What team ISN'T spending big to get top talent and still finishing top 4 in their conference and making deep tourney runs?
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u/mrbobbyrick Kentucky Wildcats 1d ago
Yeah, I agree. My point is the other ACC basketball teams aren’t spending enough money on basketball. Louisville spends a lot.
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u/UncleMalcolm Virginia Cavaliers 1d ago
Literally the only difference between the ACC and Big East now is that your league isn’t big enough for someone to finish 13th-18th. Which kills recruiting for those programs and makes the league schedule look worse than it actually is, beating BC and GT rather than splitting with Marquette and Creighton who like to pretend that their ceiling is any higher than the Sweet 16.
The Big East has literally not had a single year with multiple legit national title threats since the Catholic 7 split off. Not one.
So relax.
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u/LetsGetPenisy69 Marquette Golden Eagles 1d ago
I mean, the results of conference play speak for themselves. The top of the ACC wants to play less of its own conference.
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u/wallyopd Arizona Wildcats 1d ago
Just a couple years ago they had a team win the title, another make the Elite 8, and a third get a 2-seed and finish top 10 in the AP and at KenPom. You're going with pretty narrow criteria if that's not multiple national title threats.
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u/lonespiderfish Florida Gators 1d ago
The SEC happens to be one of two big powerhouses in football. All that extra revenue from football went into basketball. The programs that steadily grew over the years were results because of that. The Tennessee, Alabama, Auburns of the program. We also happen to benefit from it slightly after being in a downturn. The ACC isn’t a big football dominant conference either.
TLDR: Programs got more funding/better coaching = results
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u/astall58 Kansas Jayhawks 1d ago
True. That football money means better facilities and recruits for basketball too.
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u/Mtndrums Louisville Cardinals • Purdue Boilermakers 1d ago
They already spent so much money on football, it didn't need major projects, so most of those schools put it into hoops.
Of course, if the B1G keeps winning football titles, I'd imagine where the money goes will shift back to football.
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u/Knicks94 North Carolina Tar Heels 1d ago
SEC wins one championship and all of a sudden ACC is the worst power conference
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u/stormstopper Duke Blue Devils • Castleton Spartans 1d ago
It's been pretty bad for the last few years, this year just laid it bare more clearly than others. Doubt it'll stay that way since the schools we most need to do something about it are doing something about it, though.
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u/ipartytoomuch2 Virginia Cavaliers 13h ago
If only there was a way for the rest of college sports to gang up on the SEC by collectively beating them with soap in a sock
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u/p_r_w_4623 Maryland Terrapins 1d ago
Started the realignment wars and then got so mad that we left that they tied themselves to a terrible deal that’s crippled revenue for everyone.
Anyway, college sports suck now and I miss what it was.
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u/ipartytoomuch2 Virginia Cavaliers 13h ago
It wouldn't be terrible if a meteor wiped UMD off of the map
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u/p_r_w_4623 Maryland Terrapins 13h ago
A day late with a poor effort. I’m expecting better from you in a few months.
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u/Intrepid-Pooper-87 UConn Huskies 1d ago
I’d also say they added a ton of premier programs from the Big East that went downhill in part because they can’t be the premier program in the ACC since that’s always Duke or UNC. For example, Syracuse was arguably the face of the Big East in the 90s and 2000s (along with UConn and GTown), but Duke and UNC even in down years will always be the face of the ACC.
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u/Aurion7 North Carolina Tar Heels 1d ago edited 1d ago
The best way to explain things would probably be to tell you to go look up the ongoing contest about who can squeeze the greatest amount of cash out of broadcast rights for college sports.
Any conference that's sufficiently behind its direct competition is in danger of being, uh, realigned.
Then, add that to the wonders of the American sports ecosystem what you do in most sports simply doesn't really matter. Even men's basketball only brings in a portion of the bacon for a select few big-name programs nationwide- college football is the bloated king of this corner of sports and even the biggest basketball brands can't compare to the money their football programs bring in.
Even when that football program really isn't that good. Like ours- we're fortunate enough to have a basketball program that actually does generate meaningful revenue, but it just isn't anywhere close enough to control the conversation to any degree.
You could argue that the landscape of collegiate sports shouldn't be entirely dependent on who can squeeze that last dollar out, but the people with actual power and influence plainly disagree with this idea and want to grab all the money they concievably can right this second. In their view what happens in five or ten or twenty years, happens and the ideas of sustainability and stability can go fuck themselves.
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u/astall58 Kansas Jayhawks 17h ago
Lol lots of downvotes on this post. I guess the crumbling ACC still has a lot of fans...
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u/Sea_Barracuda_4598 North Carolina Tar Heels 8h ago
4 championship winning coaches retired in a short span (Roy, K, Bennett, and Boeheim). Three of those four (UNC, UVA, and Syracuse) have not recovered from those losses. Louisville also had a career worst two season stretch by winning 12 games in 2 years, which also coincided with recovering from the Pitino scandal a few years before.
So, out of the 5 powerhouses in the conference, 4 are doing really poorly right now. Add in that Notre Dame is recovering from losing their coach of 23 seasons, Leonard Hamilton clearly being on the tail end of his career at FSU, Miami needing to fire their coach of 13 years in Larrañaga (who was the best in team history), and NC State being the definition of good but not great (or mediocre but not good) with 8 seasons of Kevin Keatts, that’s what happened to the ACC.
4 of the 5 powerhouses being at all time lows, and 4 of the next tier/dark horses/top 25 contenders also being at all time lows. It shouldn’t actually be surprising at this point. Have NIL come out in 2015 and the ACC is dominant to this day. I think the coaching changes rather than NIL are more the issue with the ACC (yes I’ll fight on that)
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u/Spiritual-Map-76 7h ago
lost alot of coaching talent I know ppl bring up NIL and money which is crucial but to many ppl undersell how many of those coaching transitions have not done very well.......Will Wade and Ryan Odom will help at UVA and NC State.....will be curious how Syracuse and UNC do especially UNC them being unUNC like really hurts the ACC that is a school(which imo is the best job in the country) im should never be mid...jury is very much out on hubert...and if Red doesn't get it together and make the ncaa tournament I can't imagine he will get another year either...I don't hold Syracuse to quite the same standard as UNC but making the ncaa tournament year in and out should be the expectation...will be curious what wld be seen as acceptable for hubert to kepp his job..the standard should always be high in chapel hill hubert knows this.
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u/usernames_suck_ok Michigan Wolverines • Memphis Tigers 1d ago
Coaches and programs leaving, for one.
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u/RadagastTheWhite Western Carolina Catamounts 1d ago
Old fashioned programs not willing to quickly adapt to the NIL world and big time coaching turnover
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u/huskyferretguy1 UConn Huskies 20h ago
They thought stealing teams not named UConn from the Big East would help them...little did they know that it would lead to ruin.
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u/astall58 Kansas Jayhawks 17h ago
lol there might be some truth to this. If only UConn had a decent football program...
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u/CGGamer UConn Huskies 1d ago
They didn't invite UConn
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u/Aurion7 North Carolina Tar Heels 1d ago
UConn's football footprint ain't saving the ACC.
And it would have to be a football footprint, because in this game football is king.
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u/CGGamer UConn Huskies 1d ago edited 1d ago
Even UConn wouldn't have lost tonight to Hawaii lol
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u/Spidaaman NC State Wolfpack • Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors 1d ago
Kinda spicy for a team that’s only made like two bowl games in the last ten years
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u/Travbowman Purdue Boilermakers 1d ago edited 1d ago
Specific to men's basketball:
Boeheim, Bennett, K, and Roy all retired in a few year span. You don't just lose that kind of coaching prowess and quickly recover
Across all sports:
Football is king and brings in the most revenue by far. While there are some programs with decent history in the ACC (Clemson, FSU), there just isn't the volume to keep up with the ones in the B1G and SEC.