Paul Finebaum explains what's behind recent struggles for ACC basketball teams

The ACC managed to get only five teams into the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year in 2023.

For comparison, the SEC and Big Ten each got eight teams into the Big Dance this past season.

The ACC has taken a step back in hoops recently, at least in national perception. The league was at one point considered to be the standard in college basketball, but that is no longer the case.

ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum appeared on the McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning show on Monday and offered his thoughts on why the conference has struggled recently in hoops.

“There was a time, and it wasn’t that long ago, that the two Duke-North Carolina games were the two most valuable games of the year in college basketball,” Finebaum said. “I mean you stopped and watched those games. I don’t even remember when they were this year. It’s not as if North Carolina and Duke have fallen off the face of the earth in basketball. They were both in the Final 4 a year ago. This year was a bust.”

Duke lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament this past season, while UNC didn’t even make the tournament after being ranked as the No. 1 team in the country in the preseason.

North Carolina’s most recent national title in basketball came in 2017, and it is the only national championship the Tar Heels have won since 2010.

Duke last won a national title in 2015. Both teams also recently had legends retire as their head coaches in Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams, which could be why there is less interest in the rivalry.

Finebaum also believes the ACC made a mistake expanding and adding several teams over the past 20 years, including Boston College.

“I also think the league made some mistakes years ago when it started going up and down the Eastern Seaboard. The ACC used to be the Tobacco Road schools, Clemson, you broaden it out a little bit into Virginia,” Finebaum said. “And now… every time Boston College pops up I have to think to myself, ‘What league are they in?’ Of course I know what league they’re in. But it just seems irregular to see them playing Florida State on a Saturday night.”

Report: Seven ACC schools met about future in conference

The ACC could have more issues than just basketball soon.

A handful of ACC schools reportedly met with each other over the past several months to determine how unbreakable their deal with the ACC is, according to Action Network’s Brett McMurphy.

Amid realignment in college football, the next wave could come soon with a vengeance. McMurphy revealed “The Magnificent Seven” schools that could look to break off from the conference.

The Big Ten recently added USC and UCLA while the SEC is set to bring in Oklahoma and Texas. Now, the ACC’s future could be murky.

“Clemson, FSU, Miami, UNC, NC State, Virginia & Virginia Tech are ‘The Magnificent 7’ ACC schools, sources told Action Network HQ,” McMurphy wrote on Twitter. “These schools, Ross Dellenger reported, have met in past several months, w/lawyers examining grant-of-rights to determine just how unbreakable it is. ACC deal runs thru 2036.”