ACC basketball has lived a charmed life for many decades, so what happened this season and specifically on Thursday was a shock to the college basketball world.
The ACC already struggled to get its typical allotment of teams into the NCAA Tournament. A measly 4 teams found their way into the field on Selection Sunday, and it easily could’ve been 3 had North Carolina not squeezed in as one of the First Four teams.
Four days later, on the first full day of the tournament, things managed to get worse for a league that was bashed all season for being Duke and everybody else. First, it was Louisville getting bounced by Creighton, as the many who criticized the selection committee for giving the Cardinals an 8-seed were quieted. Suddenly, the ACC was down to 3 teams in the tournament after Louisville’s loss, and then, well, it got worse later Thursday afternoon.
That’s when Clemson didn’t act like the 5-seed it was. The Tigers put up a paltry 13 points and trailed 12-seed McNeese 31-13 at halftime. No, it wasn’t a football score involving Dabo Swinney’s team. It was basketball, and even worse, an NCAA Tournament game that Clemson was failing miserably in. According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, it was the worst performance by an ACC team in the first half of an NCAA Tournament game in a generation, slightly better than Wake Forest’s 10 points against Butler in the 2001 tournament.
Thamel’s source was ESPNStatsInfo.
Clemson made a furious rally late to try to avoid the upset, but it came up short in a 69-67 loss that bumped the ACC’s NCAA list down to 2 — Duke and North Carolina, the standard bearers for a conference rich in basketball tradition.
But not this season.
How bad has it been for Clemson? They put forth the worst performance by an ACC team in the first half of an NCAA tournament team in a generation (Wake Forest scored 10 vs. Butler in 2001), per @ESPNStatsInfo
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) March 20, 2025Naturally, there was intense reaction on social media, as fans took shots at an ACC that right now is a shell of its former self. Here is a sampling:
ACC!!! Feels like football season
— ZEZ (@ZezzaCane) March 20, 2025Tale as old as time for the ACC. Duke and UNC always has to carry the weight and I guess NC State once every 40 years
— Brad Jacobson (@bradballer1212) March 20, 2025ACC should be an AQ bid conference only. No one outside of Duke should’ve made this tourney.
— Cyclone Dad (@CycloneDad123) March 20, 2025Tha ACC is garbage ???
— Kevin Knoop (@KnoopKevin) March 20, 2025The ACC sucks are all sports…
— Allen C Weird (@allenweird2) March 20, 2025The ACC can’t hang t.co/lFuycZsNj0
— Josh (@JoshuaOgundu) March 20, 2025THE ACC SHOWING IT WAS A TRASH CONFERENCE ALL YEAR!!!
— Sherwood Leigh Avery (@CoachAvery17U) March 20, 2025Defund the ACC
— William (@SelfHighFive181) March 20, 2025I guess the ACC didn’t deserve 3 spots after all
— Unacceptable Vern (@Vknopp40) March 20, 2025These two teams went 36-4 in the ACC this year pic.twitter.com/ygrHtBwo7o
— Greg Waddell (@gwizzy12) March 20, 2025ACC ripped on social media as Clemson loses to 12-seed McNeese Saturday Down South.
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