The ACC’s 24-25 failures have been on full display since the first month of the season. The SEC dominated the ACC in their annual challenge. North Carolina underperformed despite their surprise tournament selection. Louisville, Clemson, and Duke have been the sole bright spots in what has been an underwhelming season. Pittsburgh fell off after a strong non-conference season. Other teams failed in the non-conference, making their conference success a moot point. Continuous upsets on conference play brought down any hope of increasing their NCAA Tournament bids. Turns out, they probably didn’t even deserve four bids. Clemson fell in a stunner to McNeese, and Louisville couldn’t fight back against a strong Creighton squad. North Carolina started too slowly and couldn’t come through in the clutch against Ole Miss. Only Duke managed to avoid a loss.
What’s next for the ACC? Duke has a strong chance to win a national championship with a healthy Cooper Flagg back from injury. Other than that, what hope is there? Is there any sign that the 2024-25 season is not the new normal? Can the ACC turn this around?
Is There Any Hope After the ACC’s 24-25 Season Failures?
Many Coaching Changes: For Better, For Worse
This season’s ACC failures have one bright side: there will be many coaching changes coming up in the conference. Tony Bennett left Virginia before the season. Jim Larranaga and Leonard Hamilton left (or announced they were leaving) during the season. NC State fired Kevin Keatts only one year after a Cinderella Final Four run. Three of those coaches led their teams to the Final Four, and Bennett won a national championship. There is a lot of winning leaving the ACC. However, those wins came in the old style of college basketball. With the end of the 24-25 season, a new era of ACC basketball begins.
Will Wade, Jai Lucas, and Ryan Odom are all huge hires to bring winning back to the ACC. Luke Loucks can prove himself as a suitable candidate over time for FSU. A new era is coming as well. Most of the coaches are young and in their first few seasons. There is clear hope that these new hires can revive each of their programs. At this point, any revived program is a solid outcome for the floundering conference.
Big Brands Will Be Back
Louisville returned to their expected strong form under Pat Kelsey’s first season. Duke has been as good as any Blue Devil team in the recent past. Clemson continues to have a strong program, despite their early exit in the NCAA Tournament this season. North Carolina hired a general manager to better allocate funds and bring in the right players. All of those teams made the NCAA Tournament, but they will also be fine next season.
Jai Lucas should be able to bring Miami back to the forefront. Ryan Odom can put Virginia right back into the thick of things. Will Wade wins wherever he goes, so NC State will be a tough out. Syracuse and Notre Dame both have top-10 recruiting classes coming in 2025 along with newcomer SMU. The big brands that failed the ACC this year have clear signs of hope for next season. They will need to be better if the conference hopes to recover.
The Last Word on the ACC’s 24-25 Season
Duke can still win it all, but the focus for everybody else moves to next season. Teams tried to hold onto hope throughout the 24-25 season, but it was clear the ACC just wasn’t up to the task this year. The NCAA Tournament failures only highlighted what the whole country saw throughout the season. Last year, the ACC coaches met to change the perception of the conference. This year, they should meet to discuss how they can use NIL to bring in better talent. The ACC is dead. Maybe the newcomers can bring this once-powerful conference back to life.
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