It wasn’t too long ago that the ACC was seen annually as the best and deepest conference in men’s college basketball. Heck, only a year ago North Carolina ended Coach K’s career as they eliminated Duke in the Final Four. This year has left a bit to be desired for the conference however and the latest NCAA Tournament projections from USA TODAY Sports reflect that.
Notre Dame certainly won’t be dancing as Irish fans know, but what about the rest of the ACC?
After North Carolina fell to North Carolina State this past weekend, the conference sees two fewer teams in the field of 68 than they did a week ago in USA TODAY Sports projection. Below are where they have each ACC team projected to play in the latest bracketology as well as how the biggest bubble teams appear as well as who gets the tournament’s number one seeds.
La legendaria carrera como entrenador de Mike Krzyzewski llegó a su fin cuando sus Duke Blue Devils perdieron ante los North Carolina Tar Heels, 81-77, en la Final Four en New Orleans. El juego final del Coach K fue uno genial con los dos programas …
La legendaria carrera como entrenador de Mike Krzyzewski llegó a su fin cuando sus Duke Blue Devils perdieron ante los North Carolina Tar Heels, 81-77, en la Final Four en New Orleans.
El juego final del Coach K fue uno genial con los dos programas históricos nivelados toda la noche hasta que North Carolina se logró alejar de Duke en los últimos momentos.
Cuando terminó el partido, los fans hicieron muchas bromas y memes de Coach K, lo que fue bastante divertido.
Pero llegó Nike, quienes pusieron un tuit/tributo muy extraño a Coach K que no fue el hit que Nike esperaba.
One of college basketball’s legendary figures closed out the final chapter of his career on Saturday night. After 42 seasons, coach Mike Krzyzewski’s run at Duke came to a close with an 81-77 loss to bitter rival North Carolina.
It was a disappointing end for a career that is practically unparalleled in the sport. In his time in Durham, Krzyzewski won five national championships, 15 ACC Tournaments and appeared in 13 Final Fours.
Naturally, social media was ablaze with Blue Devils fans and outsiders paying their respects to Krzyzewski after the end of his fantastic career. But one tweet from Nike Basketball… well, you could say it drew some attention.
Now, the folks at Nike make an interesting claim here. It’s quite the intriguing hypothesis.
However, after some consultation and intense deliberation with our fact-checkers at For The Win, we have determined that there is, in fact, no way to spell the word “championship” that includes the letter K.
Some sleuthy Twitter detectives seem to have arrived at the same conclusion.
Obviously, Nike knows how to spell the word “championship.” At least, I sure hope so. Regardless, judging by the ratio, this strange approach didn’t quite land. Maybe best to have left that one in the drafts.
On the other hand, the tweet got a lot of engagement, and I’m blogging about it right now. Hmm…
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The Tip-Off
Highlighting some NBA goodness from around the USA TODAY Sports network.
Since we last spoke, the Duke Blue Devils earned a place in the Final Four. Coach K’s accomplishments are outstanding, and in celebrating his recent victory, star freshman Paolo Banchero actually made him blush.
Our own Andy Nesbitt has more on why Banchero called him the GOAT:
“Coach K has now gone to the Final Four in five different decades, which is just insane, and this will be the 13th time he’s made it to the Final Four.
Right after the game he was being interviewed by Tracy Wolfson when two of his best players – Paolo Banchero and Wendell Moore – jumped in and shared a special moment with their coach.”
Banchero is projected at No. 3 overall in my latest NBA mock draft.
Hornets (+135) vs. Nuggets (-3.5, -170), O/U 223.5, 7 PM ET
(AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
Look at Nikola Jokic’s face. That’s the kind of face that I make when I watch both him and LaMelo Ball play basketball.
Call me crazy, but I’m going to jump at any opportunity I can to watch a former NBA MVP (who deserves a second trophy!) in Jokic face off against a potential future MVP in Ball. Is there any assurance that Ball will win an MVP award? There is no assurance of anything in this world! However, I’m confident Ball has as good of a chance to win the award one day as anyone.
This game can have a lot of scoring in it and I want to hammer the over!
Who’s in and out?
—Almost the entire Portland Trail Blazers and Oklahoma City Thunder rosters were listed on the injury report, which is longer than a CVS receipt.
— Boston’s Robert Williams III suffered a meniscus tear in his left knee and is out for several weeks.
— Celtics Wire’s Justin Quinn provides an update on stashed Boston guards Yam Madar and Yuhan Begarin.
So long, folks!
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Coach K’s final dance begins against Cal St. Fullerton.
It’s a matchup of 2-seed Duke versus 15-seed CSU Fullerton. With a big spread, is there any chance you should go with Fullerton over Duke? We break it all down.
All odds via Tipico.
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Duke staffers may not have been happy about Coach K’s Chapel Hill sendoff.
Mike Krzyzewski’s final season has played out mostly as expected. The 42-year Duke men’s basketball head coach has collected his flowers at stops across the country as the Blue Devils once again churn toward an NCAA Tournament where they have legitimate Final Four hopes. The one visible wrinkle came when Coach K, in his final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium, lost his home finale to rival North Carolina in a surprising 13-point loss.
That, apparently, wasn’t the only thing UNC did to annoy Duke this year.
Per ESPN’s Wright Thompson, staffers and players may not have been happy the Tar Heels didn’t roll out the red carpet for the coach that’s been the biggest thorn in their side for more than four decades:
“Duke won that first game against Carolina—folks inside the program bristled that the Tar Heels didn’t honor Krzyzewski during the game—and then turned around and lost to Virginia, a well-coached team that gives Duke fits.”
It’s a strange windmill to tilt at, especially when that perceived slight may have been a motivating factor in a 87-67 Blue Devil win. But while other ACC foes like Virginia and Pitt gave the departing head coach special honors, UNC pretty much gave him a brief nod before the well-earned scorn the Tobacco Road rivalry demands.
It’s not as though North Carolina’s basketball program didn’t step up to praise Krzyzewski when he announced his final season on the sideline, either:
Nothing but respect to Coach K for his famed career in college hoops. Thanks for pushing us to always bring our "A" game and helping make our rivalry the best in sports.
— Carolina Basketball (@UNC_Basketball) June 3, 2021
And here’s how Duke honored Roy Williams after he announced his retirement from the game after 18 seasons and three national championships with the Tar Heels.
Salute to UNC Head Coach Roy Williams on a legendary 48-year career. All respect. Thank you for all you have done for the game, our league and the greatest rivalry in sports. 🤝
Williams’ situation was different — he retired in the offseason rather than announcing his departure beforehand — but the two sides seemed to handle the situation gracefully and respectfully.
Coach K seemed to get a fitting goodbye from the UNC faithful, especially when an outpouring of anything more than begrudging respect would have felt manufactured. But still, it may have rubbed Duke basketball the wrong way. Of course, you wouldn’t know it from the way the Blue Devils played in Krzyzewski’s final game in Durham.
Forty-two seasons, 1,430 games, five national championships and 12 Final Four appearances.
Legendary Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski’s resume speaks for itself. Of all the coaches who shaped this game, perhaps only UCLA’s John Wooden can claim more success and a greater impact on the sport as a whole.
We’ve known this was Coach K’s last year in Durham since the offseason, but on Saturday, it got very real as he took the court — which bears his name — at Cameron Indoor Stadium for the final time.
He did so surrounded by a tunnel of former Duke stars, a perfectly fitting sendoff for a man who has been the face of college basketball for the better part of four decades. It’s also perfectly fitting that his last game at the Blue Devils’ home arena came against their most bitter rival in North Carolina.
It was a special scene, to say the least.
Coach K is welcomed by his former players and a big roar from the Cameron Indoor crowd 🙌
It will certainly be bizarre when current assistant coach Jon Scheyer takes the reigns next season and leads this team into Cameron Indoor, instead. But the book hasn’t closed on Coach K’s tenure just yet.
His Blue Devils squad entered the regular-season finale at 26-4 with the best record in the ACC at 16-3. Duke is all but guaranteed a top-two seed in the NCAA Tournament, which begins in two weeks, and Coach K will look to add one last piece of hardware as a parting gift to the Cameron Crazies.
Coach K has impacted basketball in an immeasurable way.
Mike Krzyzewski is so influential in basketball as a sport. It’s not limited to just one section.
It isn’t just the players he’s coached through the years — though, they’re showing up to his final game in droves. It’s not just the NBA players he’s coached through Team USA or the ones that have watched him from afar through the years. It’s not even just the coaches he’s gone up against.
It’s all of them. All of them combined.
He’s touched so many people through this sport of basketball that we all love. And for his final game, so many of them paid tribute to him in one way or another.
Here’s a look at some of the kind words from folks that have shown up through social media.
Mike Krzyzewski is preparing to coach his final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium and, of course, it’ll be against UNC.
This is a special occasion. It marks the end of four decades of straight success from one of the greatest coaches the college basketball world has ever seen.
Through the years, Coach K has touched a number of players both on and off the court. They’ve come through his program, had success, won championships and then some. Some of them have even gone on to become NBA legends.
It’s pretty clear that he’s had a monumental impact on so many of them. There’s proof, too. There are a bunch of them coming back to celebrate him on his final night at home.
Elton Brad, Jay Bilas, Carlos Boozer, Shane Battier, Ryan Kelly, Amile Jefferson, Grant Hill, David and Gerald Henderson. There are so many names here. So many generations of players. So many moments. So much success.
Seeing this list and seeing the love Coach K is still getting from these players is a really cool thing. This is an amazing way to send him off.
It’ll run you at least $3,250 to say goodbye to Mike Krzyzewski in person.
After 42 years, 12 Final Four appearances, and five national championships, Mike Krzyzewski is finally retiring as head coach of Duke men’s basketball. His finale at Cameron Indoor Stadium — an arena in which he’s won 474 games — will fittingly be against arch rival North Carolina.
And if you want to say goodbye to a coaching legend in person, it will cost you more to get in the building than the cheapest tickets to Super Bowl 56.
The ticket prices for Krzyzewski’s farewell have risen steadily throughout the final week of the regular season. As of March 3, two days before tipoff, the cheapest available seat had climbed to $3,231 at Vivid Seats, $3,250 at StubHub, and $3,300 at SeatGeek.
That’s officially a higher get-in price than Super Bowl 56 had less than three weeks earlier. Per StubHub’s Maya Penland, the cheapest seats listed for the world championship tilt between the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams at Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium bottomed out at $3,000 on February 11. That means it was easier to get into the biggest football game of the year than it is a regular season tilt between fourth-ranked Duke and a 22-8 North Carolina team not yet assured an at-large bid to the 2022 NCAA Tournament.
Of course, the Super Bowl happens every year. Coach K only coaches his final game at home, against his most bitter rival, once. Add in Cameron Indoor Stadium’s intimate confines — the venue can only reach its 9,314-person capacity thanks to a middle finger to the concept of personal space — and you’ve got a perfect storm of rising prices. Amazingly, a game that won’t affect the final ACC standings or end either team’s season is now the most exclusive ticket of the year.
