Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Expect Duke, UNC to own ACC - again

So when will some team other than North Carolina or Duke win the ACC regular-season championship?

It does happen occasionally. It's easy to forget that the Tar Heels and Virginia tied (at 11-5) as recently as 2007.

But the general trend always seems to point to the Big Two. Since the league began in 1953-54, North Carolina has 26 regular-season first-place finishes and Duke has 18. No other school has more than seven (that would be N.C. State Wolfpack). Over the past 12 seasons, the Blue Devils or Tar Heels have either won or tied for first 10 times.

The ACC tournament champion, of course, gets the league's automatic bid and is considered the official title-holder. North Carolina has 17 of those crowns, Duke 16 and N.C. State 10. But the regular season is won with a winter-long body of work, not by simply getting hot for a weekend.

Will anyone offer a regular ACC season better than North Carolina or possibly Duke this year?

Ain't happening.

- Stan Olson

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Big Rod says GO DUKE!

Did you hear that boys???

Tarheel Losers: Randy Morrow, Jap, Pete, Cockerham, Ricky Wilkerson, Buddah, Big Al, and all the rest of you infamous cry babies).

GO DUKE! GO DUKE! GO DUKE!

Anonymous said...

I am so glad you've written another article writing every other team off before they even start conference play. That's so responsible.

stanolson said...

Uh, it's not an article, it's a blog, and therefor an opinion piece...