It was halfway through March when the ACC went from a punching bag to delivering punch lines.
Miami’s Jim Larrañaga, fresh off a win over Iowa State in Chicago that propelled his underdog Hurricanes into the NCAA tournament’s Elite 8 for the first time, took the occasion to set up his own joke after the league had been pilloried all season for its lack of top teams.
When the NCAA tournament played out, No. 2-seed Duke and No. 8 North Carolina joined No. 10 Miami giving the ACC three of the final eight teams.