As part of its 2024–25 men’s college basketball preseason coverage, Sports Illustrated is rolling out previews for the five high-major conferences, plus the top mid-majors nationally. First up is the ACC.
Each of the past three seasons, a similar trend has taken place. For much of the year, the ACC has been panned by both analysts and analytics as perhaps the worst high-major conference, and then in March, the ACC has gotten the last laugh by sending a team to the Final Four. ACC defenders will say these March results illustrate flaws in the analytics; detractors point to early-season losses like Pitt losing to Missouri (winless in the SEC) and Wake Forest dropping games to Utah, LSU and Georgia as reasons why the league’s bubble teams didn’t get the same respect.
