Joe Lunardi shreds ACC for having 'a basketball problem'

The ACC is looking at a disappointing season when it comes to the number of teams it has making the NCAA Tournament. This has come with some thought among fans that the issue the conference has is one of perception. However, ESPN analyst Joe Lunardi disagrees. He believes it’s a basketball problem.

Lunardi shared his thoughts on the ACC in a teleconference in the middle of conference championship week. There, he shredded the conference for its basketball issue, which he pointed out comes from a change in the economics of the sport itself.

“I got in a lot of trouble this time last year in reacting to the drumbeat from the ACC that there was a perception problem,” Joe Lunardi said. “The ACC does not have a perception problem. The ACC is the greatest basketball conference college basketball has ever seen historically. The ACC has a basketball problem.”

The main issue for the ACC that Lunardi pointed out was the macroeconomics of college athletics. In other words, NIL and how much ACC schools can afford to offer players compared to schools in other conferences. As long as it’s less money being offered, they’re likely going to continue to be a step behind other conferences.

“I’m comfortable saying that publicly because they were either nice or stupid enough to invite me last year to speak to the coaches,” Lunardi said. “And I said it in a private room to 18 of them and put up enough numbers to choke on to try and prove it. Having grown up watching the ACC on the East Coast, that’s all we got when I was growing up… It pains me to say that, but whatever it is that’s driving the macroeconomics of the college athletics industry, and let’s be blunt and call it what it is, okay, is not favoring the ACC right now. So, this has to do with the players on your roster, and at the end of the day what are you willing to do in terms of compensating that?”

NIL and the Transfer Portal have combined to be a major shift in college athletics. It’s allowed more player movement and often to schools with more money to offer. However, it’s a difficult aspect of roster building to quantify, even if it is massively important.

“I can 1-68 colleges and universities with the best of them, but on any of our datasheets, there’s not a column for NIL. At least, not yet. So, we’re not privy to what they’re spending at Auburn vs. what they’re spending at Pitt, let’s say. Something has changed in the macroeconomics that is causing, like three out of 18 [teams making the NCAA Tournament] is almost unthinkable to me. There’s still a chance for four or five,” Lunardi said. “But even five out of 18 is not going to be considered a win in Charlotte at ACC headquarters. So, I’ll simply say that they have work to do to catch the other power leagues both on and off the court.”

In the latest bracketology from ESPN, three ACC teams are currently in the NCAA Tournament. That’s Duke, Clemson, and Louisville. North Carolina and Wake Forest are on the bubble, but on the outside looking in of the bubble. That would be down from five teams in the last three seasons. The decrease in bids goes beyond anything like coaching turnover, as some have suggested, though. According to Lunardi, it has to do with the players.

“The most common factor sighted has been the departure, retirement, what have you of all of the great longstanding Hall of Fame coaches, etc,” Lunardi said. “I would say that if all of those guys were on this call, Roy [Williams], and Coach K, and [Jim] Boeheim, and Tony [Bennett], and Leonard [Hamilton], and Jim Larrañaga, and whomever, they would say we need better players because they didn’t become Hall of Fame coaches by not having the best players. Okay? Something has changed in that realm. Until it changes back, it’s going to be a basketball problem, not a perception problem.”

Joe Lunardi is impressed with some moves the ACC has made. That includes doing the things they can as a conference to improve. That includes scheduling a tough non-conference schedule. Still, they’re a step back from where they want to be.

“They have done and begun to move very smartly in terms of scheduling. Like, last year Pitt didn’t get in because of its schedule. Wake Forest didn’t get in because of its schedule. Those controllables are beginning to be addressed,” Lunardi said. “But no Joe Lunardi April metrics come next year is going to put the ball in the basket. That’s what it comes down to.”

As the ACC Tournament is underway, there is a chance for a Cinderella school to steal a bid into the NCAA Tournament. However, if three teams is all the ACC gets in, it will be their lowest number of schools since 2000.