The Charlotte Observer's Ken Tysiac asserts that North Carolina's poor showing in this year's Final Four is just another piece of evidence which supports the thesis that Atlantic Coast Conference basketball is in a "historic downturn."
Tysiac alleges that although the ACC had the highest RPI of any conference during the 2008 regular season, the relative poor showing by ACC teams in this year's NCAA Tournament is part of a larger trend:
"• The ACC's 19 NCAA tournament wins from 2006 through '08 are its lowest for a three-year period since 1979-81, which was before the tournament expanded to 64 teams.
• At least two ACC teams reached the NCAA's Sweet 16 in each year from 1980 to 2006. In '07 and '08, North Carolina was the only team representing the ACC in the Sweet 16."
And although Tysiac expects North Carolina and Duke to be strong again next year, he doesn't seem to think that they'll be serious Final Four contenders:
"Unless Tyler Hansbrough returns at North Carolina, it's difficult to imagine the ACC having a serious Final Four contender next season."
North Carolina and Duke will be fine next year. And Drive and Dish expects Tyler Hansbrough to return to Chapel Hill, NC, for his senior season.
So the Drive and Dish editorial board finds the Charlotte Observer writer's prediction of a bleak future for the ACC to be overly pessimistic.
But that's O.K.-- it's not first time that a Charlotte Observer sports writer has been a tad dramatic this week. Maybe being a drama queen is a prerequsite for attaining employment in the Observer's sports department.
Posts
