YES - ACC Teams have won nine National Championships, one fewer than the collective membership of the Big 10. The ACC has dispatched nine teams to the past eight Final Fours; the Big Ten has sent seven. Over the past five NCAA tournaments, the ACC leads the Big Ten only 4-3 in head-to-head games.
North Carolina and Wake Forest probably will be No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament, but each has won only one game on a ranked opponent's home court. (Neither victory was a league game. Wake won at Cincinnati, Carolina at UConn.) Illinois won at Michigan State, ranked No. 14, and at Wisconsin, ranked No. 23. Illinois beat 12th ranked Gonzaga on a neutral floor, which is more than Georgia Tech, rated ahead of the Illini in pre-season, could manage.
Wake Forest has good guards; the Illini have better. Illinois defends harder than North Carolina and runs deeper than Duke. The Illini might not have stayed unbeaten so long in the ACC, but they would have won it.
NO - Illinois win the ACC? Lets not get carried away. The mistake most people make in this kind of analysis is they look at Illinois and say: Could they beat any of the ACC's big three (North Carolina, Wake Forest, Duke) on a given night? If the answer is yes, then the (incorrect) assumption is that Illinois could win the leaugue. Sorry - Doesn't work that way.
What makes playing in the ACC so tough is the cumulative affect of the season and the fact that there are NO nights off, especially on the road. This season, Duke lost at Virginia Tech, Wake Forest fell at Florida State and Maryland, which beat Duke twice, but tripped twice against Clemson.
Illinois played eight Big Ten road games. Only three of the teams they visited (Wisconsin, Michigan State, Ohio State) have seven or more conference wins. Eight of 11 ACC teams finished with seven or more league wins.
The Big Ten's top three teams (Illinois, Michigan State, Wisconsin) are in the RPI's top 18. The ACC's top three (Wake, Carolina, Duke) are in the top seven. The closest thing Illinois has had to to a difficult stretch was consecutive games against Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan State.
Duke began February with a stretch that included, at Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, at Maryland, at Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest again. That kind of schedule makes it impossible to bring your "A" game to the court every night. And in the ACC, if you don't bring your "A" game on the road, you'll get beat. Thats what Illinois would learn.
Compiled from material provided by Mark Bradley and Tony Barnhart of the Atlanta-Journal Constitution March, 7, 2005.
Glaken
North Carolina and Wake Forest probably will be No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament, but each has won only one game on a ranked opponent's home court. (Neither victory was a league game. Wake won at Cincinnati, Carolina at UConn.) Illinois won at Michigan State, ranked No. 14, and at Wisconsin, ranked No. 23. Illinois beat 12th ranked Gonzaga on a neutral floor, which is more than Georgia Tech, rated ahead of the Illini in pre-season, could manage.
Wake Forest has good guards; the Illini have better. Illinois defends harder than North Carolina and runs deeper than Duke. The Illini might not have stayed unbeaten so long in the ACC, but they would have won it.
NO - Illinois win the ACC? Lets not get carried away. The mistake most people make in this kind of analysis is they look at Illinois and say: Could they beat any of the ACC's big three (North Carolina, Wake Forest, Duke) on a given night? If the answer is yes, then the (incorrect) assumption is that Illinois could win the leaugue. Sorry - Doesn't work that way.
What makes playing in the ACC so tough is the cumulative affect of the season and the fact that there are NO nights off, especially on the road. This season, Duke lost at Virginia Tech, Wake Forest fell at Florida State and Maryland, which beat Duke twice, but tripped twice against Clemson.
Illinois played eight Big Ten road games. Only three of the teams they visited (Wisconsin, Michigan State, Ohio State) have seven or more conference wins. Eight of 11 ACC teams finished with seven or more league wins.
The Big Ten's top three teams (Illinois, Michigan State, Wisconsin) are in the RPI's top 18. The ACC's top three (Wake, Carolina, Duke) are in the top seven. The closest thing Illinois has had to to a difficult stretch was consecutive games against Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan State.
Duke began February with a stretch that included, at Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, at Maryland, at Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest again. That kind of schedule makes it impossible to bring your "A" game to the court every night. And in the ACC, if you don't bring your "A" game on the road, you'll get beat. Thats what Illinois would learn.
Compiled from material provided by Mark Bradley and Tony Barnhart of the Atlanta-Journal Constitution March, 7, 2005.
Glaken
