Syracuse Basketball: All those so-called experts bashing the ACC can eat crow now

Syracuse basketball, unfortunately, isn't dancing this spring, but fellow Atlantic Coast Conference members have certainly made their mark thus far on the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

The first two rounds of March Madness wrapped up on Sunday evening, and I'm pleased to say that the ACC has four teams in the Sweet 16, the most of any conference. Just love it.

During the 2023-24 season, and in other recent years, national experts and commentators have often suggested that the ACC isn't one of the sport's premier leagues. They say that the ACC has been "down."

I couldn't care less about the NCAA NET rankings of ACC members this term. That rating system is flawed. As the Hall of Famer and former long-time Orange head coach Jim Boeheim has said, what matters the most is how teams do in March. And the ACC is killing it.

ACC peers of Syracuse basketball are faring quite well in the NCAA Tournament.

The ACC got five teams in the Big Dance (side note: Pittsburgh also should have received a bid). No. 10 seed Virginia fell in the First Four.

Otherwise, the ACC is undefeated entering the Sweet 16. Those still dancing are No. 1 seed North Carolina, No. 4 seed Duke, No. 6 seed Clemson and No. 11 seed N.C. State, which won five games in five days to win the 2024 ACC Tournament and land the conference's automatic berth to March Madness.

In the round of 32, UNC handled No. 9 seed Michigan State. Duke took care of No. 12 seed James Madison. Clemson upset No. 3 seed Baylor in a thrilling game. And N.C. State got by No. 14 seed Oakland in another entertaining affair.

In late February, Syracuse University athletics director John Wildhack said in an interview that the ACC, at that point in the 2023-24 season, was "vastly underrated. … I don’t think we’re getting the respect nationally that we deserve.”

John is right. It's undeniable that throughout this term, the ACC had far fewer teams ranked in the major top-25 polls, and multiple other leagues saw more of their members invited to the Big Dance.

But as we look to the regional semifinals later this week, the ACC has four schools still in the field. To reiterate, that's the most of any conference at this juncture.

When Wildhack made his comments on the ACC last month, I noted in a column that regardless of the league's "stature" in recent regular seasons, look at what the ACC has done in the NCAA Tournament of late:
2023, Miami went to the Final Four
2022, Duke went to the Final Four and UNC was the runner-up
2019, Virginia won the national championship
2017, North Carolina won the national championship
2016, Syracuse went to the Final Four and UNC was the runner-up
2015, Duke won the national championship

On Sunday, as Duke and Clemson were prevailing to get four ACC teams into the Sweet 16, there were a flood of posts on social media about the league's success in March Madness.

Even Syracuse basketball assistant coach Brenden Straughn got in on the action, tweeting out, "ACC. 25% of the Sweet 16. Guess the conference wasn’t that strong this year."

Well said, Coach Straughn. And here are some interesting tidbits from college basketball insider Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports: "This league is now a combined 29-11 in the last three NCAA Tournaments, which is incredibly impressive considering the fact that the ACC has only had five of its 15 teams reach March Madness during each of the past three seasons."