1. ACC Sports Journal: Mike Lananna sat down with Wake Forest star Travis McKie to talk about the upcoming season. McKie is only a sophomore, but he’s already one of the veterans on the team because of the frequent and numerous departures out of Winston-Salem. Last year, the 6’7″ wing averaged 13 points and 7.7 rebounds a game as a freshman, but this year he hopes to move his game more to the perimeter. I don’t want to read too much into the interview, but McKie sounds very excited about playing for Wake Forest and understands that rebuilding takes time. Assuming the Demon Deacons get more solid recruiting classes, McKie could see the Big Dance by his senior year.
2. Sports Illustrated: I know they’ve already been linked everywhere, but Luke Winn’s Power Rankings are back! Winn’s in-depth, original analysis makes for a must-read article every week. This week three ACC teams make the cut: (1) North Carolina, (4) Duke and (20) Florida State. He looks at Kendall Marshall‘s “pass first” mentality, finding that Marshall was the only point guard from the Power Rankings to average more assists last season than field goal attempts. Duke’s analysis makes up for its lack of statistics with a great anecdote about Austin Rivers choosing his number (“0” was actually his fourth choice).
3. Slam Online: Is Harrison Barnes actually underrated? Slam‘s Matt Domino looks at Barnes’ transition from being overrated as a freshman to underrated as a sophomore. Domino also addresses the logical fallacy that “Barnes needs [Kendall] Marshall,” which makes him less valuable. I totally agree. Just because Barnes needs Marshall to run the point, doesn’t mean that North Carolina isn’t relying on Barnes to be its most productive offensive player in most games.
4. Gaston Gazette: Mike Krzyzewski doesn’t sound thrilled with his team’s performance against Bellarmine this week, as many players are still finding their new roles. The Blue Devils ended up winning the game against the D-II national champions by 25, but the game was much closer than expected. The tough love is already flowing liberally: “’I wanted to see if they could figure it out,’ [Coach K] said, ‘and they didn’t.'”
5. Cavalier Daily: Virginia’s student newspaper takes a look at the early season expectations for Tony Bennett‘s squad. I was shocked when the Cavaliers received votes in the Coaches’ Poll released last week. Bennett cited Mike Scott as a big part of improving Virginia’s woeful field goal percentage both by taking higher-accuracy looks and by forcing defenses to pay attention to the interior. He also said that this team is their best chance to make the NCAA Tournament since he arrived in Charlottesville in 2009.

1. Yahoo (Contributors): The biggest news out of the largest sports website in the world is that ESPN college sports star writer Pat Forde just joined the ranks at Yahoo (as of midnight), but this article on the average attendance of conferences caught my eye. Somewhat surprisingly the ACC ranks an abysmal fifth with just over 10,000 fans per game, only ahead of the Pac-12 (which should really be ashamed for being behind the Mountain West). It definitely hurts that Duke is limited by the intimate atmosphere of Cameron Indoor Stadium and that the conference is experiencing a relative slump. The full list is pretty interesting too. Apparently all of D-I was seen live by 27,626,125 people last season.
2. ESPN – North Carolina: We mentioned ESPN’s new North Carolina Basketball blog, authored by Robbi Pickeral, yesterday. Probably the most interesting content she wrote in the first day were her five anticipatory thoughts on the Tar Heels for this year. The North Carolina game at Kentucky tops the list, as it should. But a couple of her choices are more suspect. Namely, “Will Harrison Barnes score 40 (again)?” and “Freshman impact.” Really, I could care less whether Barnes scores 40; I’m far more interested to see if he manages to build on his stellar end to last season. And freshmen could be interesting, but certainly not in my top five considerations about this Tar Heel team; how about a look at John Henson‘s offensive growth instead?
3. Atlanta Journal-Constitution – College Recruiting: “Could Duke make an all-out effort to recruit a Georgia basketball star and not succeed?” The question references the talented power forward Tony Parker, a player whom Mike Krzyzewski has doggedly pursued throughout the recruiting season. Parker fits the recent Coach K big man mold perfectly, sizing up well with former Blue Devil interior stars Elton Brand, Carlos Boozer and Shelden Williams. With Miles Plumlee graduating and Mason Plumlee likely moving onto greener pastures, Duke could really use Parker.
4. The Mikan Drill: The trio of Harrison Barnes, John Henson and Kendall Marshall are stealing most of the limelight in excitement for North Carolina’s top-ranked team heading into the season. Somewhat lost in the shuffle is the man who kept that team alive during its growing pains early last season, Tyler Zeller. This is a good look at Zeller’s strengths (passing and running the floor) and weaknesses (defensive rebounding). My only addition to each category would be his beautiful baby-hook shot and unfortunate tendency toward injuries.
5. Mercury News: Interested in a summary of conference realignment to date? Dave Skretta takes a look at the winners and losers. Conference realignment has been a mess, especially in this age of Twitter bringing news faster than final decisions can be reached (or, for the more cynical, worse sources). This is a good recap of what has actually happened, though I disagree that the Big Ten and Pac-12 were really losers in conference realignment. Both chose to stay put with incredibly lucrative media contracts, instead of taking back-up plans that might actually serve to lower their revenue cuts.

Matt Patton is the RTC correspondent for the Atlantic Coast Conference and an ACC microsite staffer.

Question: Coach K will become the all-time winningest coach soon. Is he the greatest coach in NCAA basketball history? If not, where does he rank?

Yes, but with a disclaimer. Mike Krzyzewski is the greatest coach of the modern era. You can define that era in many ways: the expansion of the NCAA Tournament (either when in 1975 it expanded to 32 teams, or when in 1985 it expanded to the truly modern 64 teams); the adoption of the shot clock (1985-86); the addition of the three-point line (nationally in 1986-87); or the advent of ESPN (1979 NCAA Tournament).

Truthfully, the best interpretation is somewhere in between, for all four of these events led to the game we know and love today. The expansion of the Big Dance made the NCAA Tournament more difficult both because more games separated teams from the championship and because at-larges increased the overall talent of the field. The shot clock redefined offenses and frankly made the game more exciting. The three-point field goal introduced statistical “noise” that created large swings in performance and allowed for more upsets (basically, a 40-minute game is a small enough sample size that even a horrendous shooting team like Florida State to go 9-19 from three and a good shooting Notre Dame team to go 7-30 from downtown). Finally, ESPN’s consistent coverage of college basketball symbiotically raised the popularity of both ESPN and men’s hoops.

Krzyzewski Will Pass Bob Knight for the Most Wins in Men's Division I History Early this Season

But to suggest that Coach K is a better coach than John Wooden would be too presumptive. There are plenty of arguments, but no sound logic can definitively put Krzyzewski over the Wizard of Westwood: Wooden won ten national championships in 12 years including an 88-game winning streak that is without a doubt the most dominant stretch of college basketball ever. If you still want to try to argue Coach K over John Wooden, read that one more time. I am not saying that Wooden would see that success now, but it is not like we are dealing with similar resumes. Wooden has as many titles as Coach K, Jim Calhoun, Roy Williams, and Tom Izzo (or Bill Self) combined.

Read the rest of this entry »

1. ESPN (Insider): I normally avoid Insider posts, but North Carolina resident Dave Telep gives us a peek under the bleachers at the uglier side of high major recruiting in college basketball that’s really a must-read for college basketball fans. Telep cites Lebron James as the first player who really took advantage of his worth and marketed himself during high school. Without giving too much away, Telep names three types of elite prospects: the clean, the agent/runner-influenced, and the bold, who just directly asks for money. The rest of the post almost reads like a how-to guide for cheating, but the one thing I wish Telep had offered was a solution. It’s no secret that there’s plenty of dirt behind high major basketball recruiting, but informed solutions are hard to come by.
2. Atlanta Journal-Constitution: In case you haven’t noticed, there’s been quite a bit of turnover as far as ACC basketball coaches go. So much that Georgia Tech junior Mfon Udofia only managed to name five and a half (he knew Mark Gottfried was “the guy from Alabama”) conference coaches, not counting his own. Four ACC coaches are entering their first years and three are on their second. Mike Krzyzewski compared the recent influx of coaches to the early 1980s when he, Bobby Cremins and Jim Valvano joined over the course of two years. Those shoes are pretty big ones to fill (six NCAA Championships, myriad Final Fours and countless ACC titles clutter the three resumes).
3. Huffington Post: Syracuse professor Boyce Watkins takes on the NCAA’s “funny math.” Watkins points out that while 96% of NCAA revenue does go back to the schools, the NCAA fails to calculate the incredibly high salaries of coaches. Watkins also points out the hypocrisy of paying college basketball players the same as their soccer brethren without factoring in the huge discrepancy between the coaches’ respective salaries. He also lays out policies that would more fairly represent the current NCAA system: for example, no games on school nights (ironic side note: the Ivy League actually adheres to this in conference play for basketball but not for Olympic sports), and coaches shouldn’t be able to sign endorsement deals. The anti-NCAA side of things has really gained momentum over the last six months, and I don’t think this trend will stop at partial cost of attendance stipends.
4. Searching for Billy Edelin: Nick Fasulo got credentialed to see ESPN Film’s newest documentary, Unguardable. The movie covers Boston College (and later Fresno State) guard Chris Herren, who fell from the top of recruiting rankings to truly rock bottom. If this is anywhere near as good as Without Bias, it’ll be must-see TV. And from Fasulo’s review, it might be even better. Hennen managed to survive his bout with drugs and serves as the storyteller, leaving no middleman narration to distance the audience from the subject. Unguarded airs next Tuesday at 8PM on ESPN.
5. CBSSports.com: Kyrie Irving is using his NBA lockout time off to help keep a promise to his family and get a degree. The first pick in last year’s NBA Draft is apparently back on Duke’s campus taking courses. This isn’t to say Irving is the only one: According to CBS, 52 current locked-out players (15% of players without college degrees) are using this time to pursue degrees they left for the greener pastures (and paychecks) of the NBA.

EXTRA: This story isn’t basketball related, but Sports Illustrated‘s Andy Staples hits the ball out of the park with his interview with former North Carolina assistant football coach John Blake. Blake’s side of the story has remained largely offstage, so it’s interesting to hear it from the man himself. The Tar Heels’ date with the NCAA Committee of Infractions is scheduled for this Friday. This just goes to show, not all stories are as black and white as they seem.

1. ClemsonTigers.com: In celebration of 100 years of Clemson basketball, the athletic department nominated 72 Tiger alumni of whom 25 were chosen based on most fan votes. The roster is a little heavy with recent graduates, which comes as no surprise: Clemson was mostly irrelevant in basketball until the last couple of decades; and fans most likely voted for players they saw play. Trevor Booker, Horace Grant (Clemson’s lone ACC Player of the Year), KC Rivers and last year’s star Demontez Stitt headline the list.
2. CBSSports.com: Jeff Goodman checks in after watching Duke practice with ten thoughts that include some doubts about the Blue Devils’ chemistry. Notably, Goodman agrees with Mike Krzyzewski‘s statement that Austin Rivers has a lot of maturing to do before living up to his high expectations; he also notes that despite his demonstrated success in China, Ryan Kelly can’t be expected to be this team’s star because of problems with inconsistency and defensive liabilities. The bottom line is that this Duke team is talented, but there are far more questions with it than with Duke teams of the past. It could be one of Coach K’s toughest coaching challenges, especially with the talent residing down the road in Chapel Hill.
3. Washington Post: Duke might have questions, but Georgia Tech has legitimate rebuilding to do (both literally and on the court). The Yellow Jackets are looking at a depleted roster, a new coach and an under-renovation stadium. However, Brian Gregory is trying to look at the silver lining of splitting time at two arenas: “My hope is that, even for home games, we’ll start to build some of that chemistry that only develops in hotel rooms and on bus trips and in locker rooms, sitting on bad chairs, those type of things.” It’s an interesting point, though the lack of talent and experience will probably hurt the team more than its chemistry. Still this season is important for Gregory’s program to take that first step towards a better future.
4. Yahoo: Marc Spears caught up with Harrison Barnes to talk about his decision to return to Chapel Hill this season. In many ways the lockout gives Barnes’ decision a “hindsight is 20/20” look, but the quotes from Barnes definitely point to someone who really wanted to return to school. Spears also talked to Barnes about Kyrie Irving and his decision to turn pro: “We talked a lot about what it would mean if we left, what it would mean if we stayed. He played in 11 games and they had him slotted so high that it was kind of hard to turn it down. I felt like I had to make up a lot of ground. I don’t think another year would hurt me [sic].” It’s certainly better for college basketball that a guy as talented as Barnes is coming back, but you definitely can’t fault Irving for recognizing his moment and realizing a lifelong dream.
5. Boston.com: Wake Forest coach Jeff Bzdelik is looking to improve on last season, which seems like an attainable goal. He stresses his team’s maturity, both physically and mentally, compared to last season: “We have a team that works hard, a team that is together, a team that is hungry and humble and a team that is feeling the pain from last year, as I am,” Bzdelik said. I still think the Demon Deacons are a year or two away from truly turning things around, but I definitely agree that they should be better (I mean, they can’t get much worse).

1. The Mikan Drill: Florida State‘s defense last season was excellent, but its offense nearly tipped the scales back the other way with its ineptitude. The Mikan Drill
   takes a look at the Seminoles’ offense with short video clips and diagrams to back up their analysis. Essentially, the ‘Noles did well in the post but very poorly on pick and rolls. Another key in the dysfunctional cog was the team’s inability to take care of the ball. Overall, a very informative piece on one of the most under-the-radar teams in the country coming into the 2011-12 season.
2. Duke Basketball Report: First, let me give a shout-out to the high-quality pieces Duke Basketball Report has been putting out this offseason (unfortunately, it’s because its Blue Devil Tip-Off magazine didn’t raise the funds to get published, leaving lots of great articles looking for a home). Second, here’s a roundtable article looking at Duke basketball legend Bill Brill. Brill was a distinguished sportswriter who covered the Blue Devils for over 35 years. The interviews are with many ACC journalists who tell personal stories from Brill’s respected career. One of the more interesting anecdotes was that Brill unintentionally co-founded bracketology long before it was a staple in college basketball’s coverage — it’s worth a look.
3. Testudo Times: Speaking of roundtables, Testudo Times has a great preview of Maryland‘s basketball season. Topics cover everything from predicted offensive style to conference realignment and everything in-between. The Terrapins are one of the more interesting teams in the ACC this season, as they lost quite a bit of size and production from last year’s squad (in addition to a certain hall of fame coach).
4. Syracuse.com: In a talk with ESPN‘s Andy Katz last week, ACC coaches weighed in on conference realignment. The general consensus was that the conference should expand to 16 teams provided the two new teams fit well. NC State’s Mark Gottfried was the most adamant that the conference will expand, though Mike Krzyzewski has made it clear in the past that he supports going to a 16-team format with divisions. Not surprisingly, commissioner John Swofford evaded the question like the adept politician that he is.
5. Kentucky Sports Radio: Duke legend Christian Laettner laced up his coaching shoes in Kentucky’s Rupp Arena last night for a Jimmy V fundraiser. Unfortunately, a recent number of Kentucky-related scrimmages led to a meager crowd. But the game was good enough to go to overtime, where Laettner’s “Villains” won the game despite pregame chemistry concerns about Duke’s Nolan Smith and North Carolina’s Tyler Hansborough playing for the same team. Laettner embraced the moment, perhaps his only in Rupp Arena, by wiping down the UK hardwood (see video below) and getting ejected late in the second half.

1. Sports Illustrated: Luke Winn hits another home run with his analysis of Duke‘s team this year. The more stories I read about this Blue Devils’ team, the more excited I am to see Miles Plumlee suit up this season. Coach K is really hyping his front court, which will certainly play a crucial role if the Blue Devils hope to keep up with Tobacco Road rival North Carolina. Winn also spends time discussing Duke’s back court and the maturation that will be needed from freshman guard Austin Rivers.
2. ESPN: The Worldwide Leader’s college basketball coverage continued Thursday with interesting posts from Dana O’Neil and Andy Katz. O’Neil highlighted five things she’s looking forward to from the ACC this season. Possibly the most interesting of her questions is whether or not NC State can get its “verve” back. It’s certainly possible with a relatively down conference and a team that is full of sneaky talent, but after last season’s relative mediocrity it’s tough to find a Wolfpack bandwagon to jump on. Katz gives some quick, lesser-reported facts from the conference media day, with a tidbit from each team (and two from Duke and North Carolina). My personal favorite part of the article is when Katz goes off on a tangent about Tony Bennett‘s and his shared love for network comedy Modern Family.
3. Washington Post – Terrapins Insider: One under-reported part of Operation Basketball were the discussions on Gary Williams and his sudden retirement. Mike Krzyzewski nostalgically spoke about Williams’ career, praising both the great Duke-Maryland games over the past ten years and Williams’ legacy as a “lifer” of the same generation as Coach K, Jim Boeheim and Jim Calhoun: “People don’t approach — I’m not saying they don’t approach the game well — but they don’t approach it the same way we did. So you lose some of that.”
4. Chicago Tribune: Former Miami coach Frank Haith still faces questions regarding his tenure in South Beach (excuse me, Coral Gables) thanks to Charles Robinson’s jaw-dropping exposé of Hurricane booster Nevin Shapiro’s utter disregard for the NCAA rulebook. For those who may not remember, Haith reportedly accompanied recruits to a strip club and knew about a $10,000 dollar gift to help land a recruit (for the record, Haith has denied both allegations). But according to Haith the questions are coming from the media, not his team at Missouri.
5. Shakin’ the Southland: In the second part of their Clemson basketball preview, Shakin’ the Southland looks at the Tigers’ very youthful roster, which reflects a late coaching change that kept Brad Brownell from recruiting a strong sophomore class. One freshman to keep an eye on is TJ Sapp, who draws comparison to Clemson star Demontez Stitt. The opening part of their basketball preview analyzed Clemson’s schedule.

BONUS: SpartanJerseys.com noticed a Michigan State uniform in a clip about the patches being sewed on the Cardinals’ World Series jerseys. The interesting thing about the Spartan uniform: it’s camouflaged. A little deductive reasoning led the site to guess that the camo jerseys will be for the Carrier Classic game this November. The Michigan State jersey is white, which means North Carolina will probably be wearing its road blues (with camouflage of course). First, I’m confused why the uniform made the video in the first place. Second, I’m incredibly impressed someone noticed it. And third, could that be North Carolina’s jersey just off screen (top right corner)? It’s a cool idea (even if it’s a little gimmicky) to emphasize the special nature of the game with a shout-out to the US Armed Forces.

One Observant Viewer Noticed a Camouflaged Michigan State Uniform in This Video (h/t SpartanJerseys.com and Uni Watch)

1. Ballin’ Is A Habit: The gentlemen at BIAH do a great job previewing the ACC for the upcoming season. Nothing super surprising here, except they’ve got John Henson on the all-ACC second team. While it’s tough to distinguish Henson and Tyler Zeller (and I agree only one will make the first team, barring a truly phenomenal year from both), I think Henson’s defense merits first team consideration before Zeller’s offense. The other minor surprise I saw was that Malcolm Grant and Durand Scott make all-ACC teams, but Miami is ranked sixth. Assuming Reggie Johnson is back come January and the back court lives up to its potential, I think Miami could certainly challenge for a top four finish.
2. SCACCHoops.com: Want the predictions from ACC media day without all of the fluff interviews from coaches and players? Not surprisingly, North Carolina ran away with the team and individual voting thanks to Harrison Barnes (John Henson actually garnered the final two Player of the Year votes). Three players made the all-ACC team for the first time since Duke’s loaded 2001-02 squad that featured Jason Williams, Carlos Boozer and Mike Dunleavy. Austin Rivers nabbed preseason Rookie of the Year. We’ll certainly have some insight on the the more qualitative information from the day later.
3. Cavaliers Journal – Washington Post: Because of a mediocre season last year, Virginia has been flying under the radar for much of the offseason. But the Cavaliers are in a very good place to finish in the top half of the conference and grab an invitation to the NCAA Tournament. Sammy Zeglinski certainly sounds ready to take on the world: “We want to have success this year, but at the same time we need to go out and earn it. Nothing is gonna be given to us.” With Mike Scott back, this is looking like Tony Bennett’s year to make a leap within the league.
4. Sports Illustrated: Luke Winn has an early look at North Carolina‘s prospects for next season. Initial reaction from the post: Harrison Barnes is not only going to be a great player in college and the NBA, but he’s going to make a great coach one day. His discussion with Winn on his early season struggles last year shows a self-awareness that goes beyond the average “I need to play better” response reporters often accept. As for the Tar Heels’ outlook, Winn’s remarks are short: “I don’t see anyone stopping them.”
5. ESPN: The Worldwide Leader will be broadcasting more games than ever this season, broadcasting a total of 1,450 games across its many platforms. The best news for hoops junkies is that 1,100 of those broadcasts will be on ESPN3. This is also ESPN’s first year of the new ACC media deal that grants the network exclusive access to all men’s basketball games. And don’t worry Raycom fans, ESPN will be outsourcing many of the conference match-ups to your friendly neighborhood announcers.

BONUS: The Sporting News: [WARNING: NBA related] As you undoubtedly know, Mike Krzyzewski is more than just a college basketball coach. On the side he coaches the US Men’s Olympic team. Unfortunately, the NBA lockout is throwing a wrench into the normally straightforward process for selecting the national squad (watching games and inviting players). The biggest threat to the team is if the NBA decides to extend the 2011-12 season into next summer to account for the earlier missed games, but otherwise Coach K has a plan. If the season is cancelled there will be a training camp-tryout hybrid with 20 of the nation’s top players to assess who’s ready to go.

1. ESPN – Grantland: Grantland‘s “Why ____ Will Win the National Championship” series continues with Duke, the weakest team of the five profiles. But don’t let the title keep you from reading the post, which does a great job at assessing the outlook for this year’s team. To sum things up, no one really knows how good Duke can be this year (though he projects a Sweet Sixteen). The one point I disagree on is that Coach K should not have played Kyrie Irving during the NCAA Tournament. Yes, Nolan Smith carried Duke on his back for most of the season; and yes, Nolan Smith played terribly once Irving came back. But if you look at Smith’s progression (minus the ACC Tournament championship game), he began struggling in March. I think Krzyzewski knew that to win he had to put the best team on the floor, and Kyrie Irving was a part of the best team he had. Not to mention if Arizona plays that  second half against any college team, it wins by a lot. But read the article: it’s funny, informative and insightful.
2. Charlotte Observer: Mark Gottfried had his old boss, former UCLA coach Jim Harrick, at practice with him yesterday. Harrick is a somewhat controversial figure, as he’s seen NCAA trouble nearly everywhere he’s been. NC State athletic director Debbie Yow was quick to point out that Harrick is serving as a “mentor” and “personal adviser,” and not a “university employee” to avoid any rumor or innuendo. But Harrick’s presence was also a reminder of Gottfried’s former success: in addition to a solid head coaching career, Gottfried was an assistant on UCLA’s 1995 National Championship team.
3. Miami Herald: New Miami coach Jim Larranaga isn’t playing games. Durand Scott earned 20 minutes on a stationary bike after showing up to practice with his shoelaces untied in a motivational statement that appears to be along similar lines to Mark Gottfried referring to CJ Leslie as “Calvin.” While FrankHaith comes across as a player’s coach, Larranaga is decidedly old school: he’s stressing discipline and fundamentals. I for one am very interested to see how his system works, as he’s inherited a talented team from his predecessor. Look out for the Hurricanes come January with Reggie Johnson back in the line-up.
4. ESPN Boston: In case you haven’t seen Boston College‘s updated roster, they’ve added a lot of guys since Steve Donahue took over a little over a year ago. The team has nine freshmen slated for next year. His monster class is headlined by ESPNU Top 100 recruit Ryan Anderson, but a lot of the other players were more under the recruiting radar. In an interview with ESPN Boston, Donahue expressed his excitement at being able to offer scholarships for the first time, but also made things clear: “Down the road maybe we redshirt one or two of those guys, but we’ve got guys that are high-character, skilled and can play, and in a couple of years they’re gonna be really good.” This is raising a couple of red flags for me personally, as NCAA scholarships are renewable on a year-by-year basis. It makes sense that Donahue would seek to fill up his roster, but what happens if there’s another top 100 recruit up for grabs next season?
5. Winston-Salem Journal: Wake Forest recruit Devin Thomas wants to be an instant impact player when he suits up as a Demon Deacon next season. Thomas is joining a large 2012 class that looks to be Jeff Bzdelik’s best bid to right the ship. According to his coach Thomas has matured considerably over the last year, and should be a solid rebounder from the start. Based on Wake’s rebounding percentages last season (they ranked an absolutely abysmal #283 in defensive rebounding and #321 in offensive rebounding, according to Ken Pomeroy), and their increased off-the-court troubles, Bzdelik should be thrilled with both.

Awesome Image of Muggsy Bogues and the Wake Forest Basketball Team (credit: SI Vault)

Whether you are against ACC expansion or a fervent proponent of a wildly dominant Atlantic Coast Mega-Conference, there is one thing that we can agree on: Fourteen is a really awkward number.  Mike Krzyzewski, supposedly one of the driving forces behind expansion, spent a good deal of Duke’s media day explaining the problem with fourteen team conferences. Citing a distaste for pods, he discussed a two-division based strategy for scheduling that, while reasonable, would yield a nineteen-game conference schedule and an uneven number of home and away games. While Krzyzewski kind of brushes it off, this is the kind of schedule imbalance that can end up deciding which team wins the ACC regular season title. In Krzyzewski’s mind, however, the problem with his plan just bolsters the case for a sixteen-team league.

Coach K Isn't Shy to Voice His Opinion

Of course, the problems don’t stop with the regular season conference schedule: Fourteen teams would significantly complicate the ACC Tournament. Craig Littlepage, the athletic director at Virginia, has broken down a number of possibilities for the conference tournament, none that really seem particularly appealing. His concerns seem legitimate in that it’s hard to make a fair bracket with fourteen teams. Unless the conference were to resort to some form of multi-round byes, we’re looking at an extra day of competition or morning games. Considering the fact that Thursday is a pretty sparsely attended part of the conference tournament, adding  Wednesday games might be stretching things out far too much. When the Big East had fourteen teams, the conference solved the problem by simply excluding the last two teams. This approach seems like it would be despised in the ACC, but it’s hard to see many other effective approaches. Obviously, there could be an elegant solution to the fourteen-team problem, but at the moment, no one can seem to put their finger on it.

The expansion of the Atlantic Coast Conference seemed to reach a point of stability in the last few weeks, despite the uproar over Boston College’s role in denying Connecticut’s admittance. It seems, however, that true stability on the basketball side might be impossible with fourteen teams. Fourteen is an awkward, challenging number. With all of the accompanying challenges, complications, and troubles, it’s easy to see that sixteen is a more appealing configuration. Things may not be as stable and set as they seem.