What's more depressing: losing the ACC-Big 10 challenge for the third year in a row; or the realization that Leonard Hamilton is the third longest tenured coach in the conference?
The ACC became the best conference in the country thanks - in part - to coaching giants such as Dean Smith, Everett Case, Norm Sloan, Lefty Dreisell, Gary Williams, Terry Holland, Bobby Cremins, Jim Valvano, Vic Bubas, Frank Maguire, Bones McKinney, etc. etc.
Now we have ol' Roy and Mike Krzyzewski . . . and that's it. Leonard Hamilton is not only the third longest tenured coach, but a guy who has no earthly idea how to coach offense is arguably the third best coach in the ACC by virtue of going to three straight NCAA tournaments.
That's how far the ACC has fallen.
And it's not only Hamilton. I think Tony Bennett is the fourth longest tenured, and he hasn't been in Charlottesville long enough to have a Virginia drivers license yet.
Things may improve. After all, Jamie Dixon and Jim Boeheim are coming, and only one of them had to fire an alleged child molester this season. And Mark Turgeon at Maryland is a Roy Williams disciple, Mark Gottfried may be able to jump start things at NC State, and the new coaches at Clemson and Georgia Tech have won at lesser schools.
The football-powered expansion is one reason ACC basketball has suffered. But the main culprit is a lackluster series of head coaches on the bench of storied programs in Raleigh and Atlanta.
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