CHARLOTTE — A year ago at the ACC men’s basketball tournament, there was a bit of a crisis of confidence surrounding the sport which has underpinned the league since the beginning.
Only four teams from the 18-strong conference that spans both coasts made the NCAA tournament and just one, Duke, was better than a five-seed in the bracket. It was a historic nadir compounded by the futility of only the Blue Devils advancing out of the first round in the Big Dance.
