ACC Commissioner JOHN SWOFFORD has attended each of the conference’s mens hoops tournaments since ’73, and this week he is on hand to watch its very first tourney at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. While the new venue is certainly a change of pace for the ACC, Swofford entered the week confident the tournament would, as always, live up to expectations. He said, “We’ve made sure the event is extraordinarily well-branded. There isn’t anyone in New York who doesn’t know the ACC is in town. Anytime you go into a new venue for the first time, it’s different, but it’s also stimulating. You’re always more comfortable once you’ve been there, but the tournament’s always been successful and the same will be true here.”
HIT THE GROUND RUNNING: I came into Brooklyn on Monday and spent some time with the arena’s staff. Schools started practicing as well so I was able to connect with a few coaches and we were able to get all of our 15 mascots on the “TODAY” show that morning. I’m in the arena for most if not all of the games. There isn’t time to do a whole lot of other things during the week. Sometimes I do have private meetings with various business partners in the arena that take place pre-game or at halftime. Any arena we’ve had the tournament in, I ending up getting to know it very well. By the end of the week I’ll know just about every nook and cranny.
BIG APPLE DREAMS: I’ve never been to an ACC basketball tournament that wasn’t successful. There are different degrees of success, but every place has its own unique atmosphere. Obviously much of the history of the tournament was built in North Carolina. We’re now in a venue rotation that still favors North Carolina, but with the growth of our league our schools felt we needed to expand the rotation. New York brings us some unique opportunities because with the joining of Syracuse, they are now part of our footprint. It’s a great opportunity for us in terms of basketball, marketing and promotion. There’s no city like New York.
KNOW YOUR HISTORY: The vote to come here was unanimous among our schools and you could tell on Monday how excited the players were to come here. People forget how many people who have been a part of our conference’s tradition and history have ties to the New York. FRANK MCGUIRE, BOBBY CREMINS, JIM VALVANO, and too many players to even list. Three of our first four basketball national championships were determined by one basket and the winning basket in three of those games was scored by a Brooklyn native. JOE QUIGG on the ’57 team, MICHAEL JORDAN in ’82 and LORENZO CHARLES with the ’83 N.C. State team.
FAMILY SUPPORT: My favorite thing about this week is having all of our schools here competitively in one place. Each school is here, our presidents are here, our ADs are here, faculty reps, our fans and then obviously our teams. This year has been extraordinarily competitive but we also have a sense of family among the league and this week always adds to that. On a personal front my entire family is here. My wife NORA is a big part of this with me, my daughters AUTUMN and AMIE, and my son CHAD are also here along with my four grandchildren as well.
IN THE MEANTIME: My weekends completely depend on the time of year. I love to have some pool time, play a little golf, maybe head to the North Carolina coast with the family. I’m also a big reader. I just wrapped up TOMMY HILFIGER’s autobiography and on deck is the BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN biography. It’s a little bit away from the sports world but I enjoy reading about what people have overcome in their lives to be successful and, more importantly, what’s made them successful.
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