Tag Archives: acc tournament 2016

ACC

ACC Tournament’s DC Tour is a success for the league, but not so much for the city

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If you didn’t catch David Teel’s piece on why Washington, DC makes perfect sense for the ACC Tournament, you need to fix that immediately. In summary, the tournament is going to move around, because if it doesn’t, it’s going to die. Understanding that, the ACC might as well pick the best spots during that rotation, and DC is pretty freaking cool.

As a city, Washington, DC isn’t just a good fit for the league geographically, it’s a perfect fit because it matches the diversity of the league’s membership. You can close your eyes and picture an “SEC fan” or a “Big Ten fan”, but you can’t do the same with the ACC because of the mix of north and south, state school and private, urban and suburban. The league used to be culturally defined, but the gentrification of the southern, mostly-suburban, basketball-crazed league due to the introduction of “different” schools like Miami, Pitt, and Boston College is analogous to the evolution of neighborhoods in DC, with the Verizon Center’s Chinatown as a perfect example of those changes.

Greensboro fits the old ACC like a glove, but sadly (to some), the old ACC is gone. DC has been a very comfortable spot for the new ACC, but the “field trip” has not gone off without strong criticism from the people who rely on events at the Verizon Center for their livelihood.

A group of scalpers out in front of the Verizon Center on Thursday night grew frustrated with fans who either weren’t interested in tickets, or wouldn’t buy tickets at prices that would be financially advantageous for the sellers. “This is the worst tournament,” he told us. “The problem is, this isn’t an ACC city. And nobody travels. Kentucky. Indiana. Kansas. Those [fans] travel anywhere.”

Our Uber driver on Friday night backed up the scalper’s sentiments. “I don’t know why the tournament came up here,” said the driver, a long-time fan of ACC basketball dating back to Ralph Sampson. “You should have just stayed in North Carolina.”

From pure perception alone, the crowds have felt great at the Verizon Center, but it has certainly not been the type of event with a sellout crowd inside with more on the outside just enjoying the surrounding environment. Walking around the building before tipoff of UNC/Notre Dame, there was a great atmosphere on the sidewalk outside of the tournament, but one block over at a packed sports bar, there was an equal number of people inside with absolutely zero interest in the tournament.

To us, the visitors, the city has been outstanding. But to the city, the tournament hasn’t seemed to move the needle much. Then again, there may not be a spot outside of Greensboro where the tournament feels larger than its surroundings.

 

 

ACC, College Basketball

ACC Tournament: Pitt Band Member Goes Full Daft Punk

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Pitt may be undermanned against a talented UNC squad today, but there’s definitely nobody stronger than Pitt’s trumpet section when it comes to bad-ass pep band accessories. Sunglasses indoors? Okay. Crazy hats? Meh. A $500 homemade Daft Punk helmet with dynamic LED graphics controlled by an iPhone? Yeah, that thing’s going undefeated.

Oh by the way, yes he can play the trumpet while wearing it.

 

Well done @Trumpitts.

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ACC, College Basketball

ACC Tournament: What Does Luke Kennard have to do to be hated too?

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Day two of the ACC tournament started with an absolute bang as Pitt held off a Syracuse comeback to advance to play the Tar Heels tomorrow at noon, and NC State and Duke torched the nets for a 92-89 barnburner in the day’s 2nd game. Clemson and Georgia Tech are playing now, but let’s get back to the real story of the day … what in the hell does Luke Kennard have to do to be hated too?

Grayson Allen stole the show today (again) with a Flagrant I with under four minutes to play that nearly sparked an NC State comeback, and of course the internet handled that well.   *Twitter searches “Grayson Allen*   *laptop immediately bursts into flames*

But seriously, let’s not forget about Luke Kennard. Why is this kid getting a pass?

Reason #1 – He’s white. Come on, this is obvious. He does have a bit of a tan, but he’s DEFINITELY white.

Reason #2 – He’s a total punk. Did you see what he did to Shaun Kirk? Far more disrespectful than anything Allen has done this year. All Kirk was trying to do was play defense and it’s like Kennard didn’t even notice him on the way to the rim. What’s more rude than completely ignoring someone?

Look, Allen is still going to be AT WORST Duke’s 2nd scoring option behind Brandon Ingram, but I’m just saying … keep an eye on Kennard. Oh, by the way, he dropped 30 on Notre Dame the last time they played and almost ended Irish guard Rex Pflueger’s career with this, dare I say, dirty play.

What’s a guy gotta do to get reprimanded around here?

 

It suuuuuucked that NC State had to lose that game. Four players in double figures. One more with 8. 89 points on 65 shots. Just a fun, fun performance from a losing team in a tournament where we’ll surely see winning teams struggle to break 65. It also could be the last time we see superstar guard Cat Barber on an ACC court if he decides that he’s ready to go score a ton of points in the NBA. Cat had 29 points to go with the 22 he scored yesterday, which may earn him a spot on an All-Tournament team with only two games to do it.

NC State continued the trend of playing well against Duke while losing.

One more note from today …

Marshall Plumlee is an absolute hero.