The ACC Tournament at Barclays Center "has not exactly taken over" N.Y., but "tickets are sold out, the basketball has been good and North Carolina will play Duke on Friday night so things are going just fine," according to Ralph Russo of the AP. The ACC's attempt to "plant a flag in the largest media market in the country and expose its schools to new audiences also has sparked a debate within the conference about how best to balance broadening its reach with sticking to traditions." This week has "ranged from a nice change of pace to a tolerable inconvenience." For ACC Commissioner John Swofford, though, this is "no experiment." North Carolina coach Roy Williams said, "I love moving the tournament around. I think it's good. But the Masters was played at Augusta National. Augusta's not a very big town. We keep taking the tournament back there." Louisville coach Rick Pitino said, "New York is great for the fans. DC is great for the fans and so on. Greensboro was great for an eight-team league on Tobacco Road where all the teams are from, they gather together, and it's one big happy fraternity. But now we've got them out of the fraternity, it needs to be a good environment, and this certainly is a good environment" (AP, 3/10).
TOBACCO ROAD RIVALRY: In Greensboro, Brent Wilkerson-New writes, "Perhaps greatest for New York is the matchup it will get Friday night, with Duke and Carolina bringing an edition of college basketball’s biggest rivalry to the Big Apple." Greensboro and Charlotte "offer a raucous crowd when the rivals get together just a few miles down the road, but it’s hard to tell what Big East country will hold" (Greensboro NEWS & RECORD, 3/10). In Raleigh, Luke DeCock writes the the atmosphere for Friday's semifinal "has to be Greensboro on the East River." DeCock: "Anything less would be a tremendous disappointment. As the ACC tournament goes, you can’t ask the basketball gods for more than this" (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 3/10). In N.Y., Mike Vaccaro writes under the header, "Brooklyn Lucky To See This Legendary Rivalry Up Close." Vaccaro: "This is what we needed in this first ACC Tournament in New York City" (N.Y. POST, 3/10).
BIG APPLE OF THEIR EYES: The NEWS & RECORD's Wilkerson-New writes the ACC will "never be the king of New York -- not so long as the Big East owns the second weekend of March at Madison Square Garden." The Big East Tournament "isn’t just a long weekend in the big city," it is the "city’s tournament -- and it has been for 35 years." Thursday's early session included a Villanova-St. John's matchup, so the crowd was "perhaps buoyed by the defending national champs and hometown Red Storm." MSG continued to "fill in through the first half, with only a few swaths of empty seats in the rafters." Just a few miles south in Brooklyn, UNC was pulling away from Miami in front of a "growing but quiet crowd" (Greensboro NEWS & RECORD, 3/10). In DC, Barry Svrluga writes under the header, "Start Spreading The News: College Basketball's Battle For New York Is On" (WASHINGTON POST, 3/10).
NO HARD FEELINGS? Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said that his comments this week on preferring the ACC Tournament be played in bigger cities were about what is "best for the league, not a commentary about Greensboro nor its hospitality." Boeheim appeared on a Winston-Salem-based radio show on Thursday and said, "It's about what is the best place in terms of getting exposure and getting near recruits." He added, "I love Greensboro. I think it's a great place, and I thought they did a great job with the tournament. We had the best hosts and treatment of any tournament that I've been at" (Greensboro NEWS & RECORD, 3/10). The Boston Globe’s Bob Ryan said the ACC Tournament “belongs in Greensboro every other year, at least." Ryan: "It’s the heart of ACC Country, not New York City.” The Colorado Springs Gazette’s Woody Paige said if Boeheim “didn’t want to play in Greensboro, he should have stayed in the Big East" ("Around The Horn," ESPN2, 3/9).
