GoDuke Weekly l www.GoDuke.com/gdw


By Barry Jacobs Talk of tinkering with the ACC Tournament,


not so much as a competitive event but rather as a commercial and popular enterprise, was all the rage this past weekend. Two straight years of lag- ging attendance had folks discussing everything from restructuring ticket prices to adding peripheral entertainment to generate excitement. Some even had the audacity to suggest leav-


ing the tournament in Greensboro instead of shuf- fling it up and down the east coast like just another commodity. The ACC appears eager to settle its football


title game in Charlotte, where a fan base seems as- sured. Why afford anything less to basketball? Ultimately, though, what makes the tourna- ment work is simply the enjoyment of superior basketball over a concentrated period among long- time rivals. We got that, too, with a pair of overtime contests, several stunning rallies, great individual performances and a bracing championship contest involving archrivals. There’s always been a divide in ACC thinking


regarding the league tournament, a vestige of the sprawling 23-member Southern Conference. The ACC’s original seven members broke away from


Feature of the Week ACC Tournament: A Celebration of Excellence and Tradition


the Southern for the 1953-54 academic year in part to create a level playing field, embodied by a round robin in basketball.


The postseason tournament was embraced as


a moneymaker, although until 1975 it also served as a testing ground from which emerged the league’s sole NCAA entrant. While the one-and-done format was unpopular with many league coaches, it was vocally cham- pioned by Everett Case, N.C. State’s coach from 1947-64. Case, a born publicist, grew up with high school tournaments in Indiana. At Raleigh, the Hall of Famer won consistently and, knowing it would generate interest in basketball, promoted tourna- ment play. N.C. State’s Reynolds Coliseum, mod- eled after Duke’s arena, was home to both the Dixie Classic, a major Christmas tournament from 1950- 61, and the ACC Tournament from 1954-66. Now, an even more accomplished advocate has stepped forward to laud the ACC Tournament and to promote the conference it anchors. “I’ve been in this league for 31 years,” Duke’s


Mike Krzyzewski said after winning the 58th ACC Tournament. “I feel like when you’re a part of some- thing that’s bigger than you, and when you’re at a tournament representing that conference, you should be trying to be at your best. That’s my at-


titude, and the guys know it’s important.” Certainly Krzyzewski has lived up to that stan-


dard.


On March 13 he won his 13th ACC Tourna- ment, tying UNC’s Dean Smith for the most ever. That was Duke’s 10th league title in the past 13 sea- sons, dominance almost as remarkable as its run of seven Final Four appearances in nine years under Krzyzewski from 1986 through 1994. Amazingly, the Blue Devils reached their 12th


finals in that 13-year span, their 30th appearance overall. The 2011 title was the school’s 19th, most in conference history. Continuing to tout the ACC Tournament,


Krzyzewski said of his players: “They don’t talk about the NCAA Tournament or anything like that. We just say we want to win this tournament, and you can tell how happy we are.”


There was good reason to be happy this year, on an individual as well as a collective basis. Nolan Smith was voted the Everett Case


Award winner emblematic of the tournament’s most valuable player. Smith joined 14 previous Blue Dev- ils in earning the honor, among them teammate Kyle Singler (2010) and former teammate Jon Scheyer (2009). Ten of the last 13 (that number again!) MVPs in


the ACC Tournament played for Duke. Smith, a notably versatile guard akin to Schey-


er, played ferocious defense in the championship game, particularly against freshman UNC point guard Kendall Marshall. The senior led all scorers with 20 points and shouldered a playmaker’s role to the tune of 10 assists. The assist total was one shy of the finals re- cord, held jointly by Duke’s Bobby Hurley in 1992 and matched by UNC’s Ed Cota in 1999. (Oddly, Roy Williams conjured Hurley after


Marshall was schooled by Smith. The North Caro- lina coach noted that, prior to Marshall’s birth, Hur- ley directed a Duke team that lost to UNLV by 30 points in the 1990 national championship contest. “He learned from it and became a big-time, big-time, big-time player,“ said Williams, whose Kansas team lost to Hurley and Duke in the ’91 title game. “I told Kendall that I expected him to do the same.”) Singler joined Smith on the all-tournament first team after playing shutdown defense on UNC fresh- man sensation Harrison Barnes in the final. The senior also made all 14 of his free throws in three games, giving him 45 conversions in 50 career at- tempts (.900 accuracy) in ACC Tournament play. That’s third-best ever behind Georgia Tech’s Mark Price (.920, 46-50) and Wake Forest’s Charlie Davis (.904, 47-52).


Singler and sophomore Seth Curry, a member of the all-tournament second team, scored in double figures in each of Duke’s games. Singler’s 29 points against Maryland were the high for anyone in the quarterfinals or opening round. Curry was 5-of-10 on 3-pointers over the weekend. Miles Plumlee had 26 points and 20 rebounds


playing a bit more than half of each game, and was voted to the all-tournament second team as Duke held its own inside. Brother Mason Plumlee aver- aged 31 minutes and had 22 points, 20 rebounds and an overlooked nine assists. Big man Ryan Kelly, who struggled with his jumper in a loss at Chapel Hill to end the regular season, made an impressive two-thirds of his 18 shots in the tournament. Guard Andre Dawkins hit crucial threes, making 6-of-14, capped by 3-for-4 in the final.


All in all, a strong team effort on the biggest stage the ACC has to offer.


“Again, we have to move on to the next thing here in a few hours, but it’s an honor,” Krzyzewski said in concluding his thoughts on the significance of the ACC Tournament. “It’s an honor, and I’ve said that for a long time, and we should all feel lucky to be in this conference.” Likewise, the conference should feel lucky to


have the Duke Hall of Famer as an advocate for its tournament and its basketball legacy.


Perhaps celebrating excellence and tradition would make a good marketing strategy, too.


GoDuke Weekly The official online magazine of Duke Athletics


Managing Editors Contributors


Jon Jackson Matt Plizga


Michael Tomko


Ben Blevins, Lindy Brown Art Chase, Chris Cook,


Ned McGraw, Kristina Morrison Meredith Rieder, Ashley Wolf


Staff Writers A.J. Carr


Al Featherston Barry Jacobs Jim Sumner


Digital Publishing YUDU


Letters to the editor and general feedback: letters@duaa.duke.edu


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