Some random thoughts/observations/opinions from the ACC Tournament:
- I did not get a thorough look, but Louisville is a pretty cool town. Especially if you like food and drink (particularly bourbon). I'm not a bourbon guy myself.
- I like the tournament in NC (Durham) and I'm glad it is headed back there next year... but that is probably because NC is familiar (grew up there). You just see noticeably bigger crowds, in general, in Durham. Granted... weather was a factor this year; but Durham's proximity to more ACC fans makes a difference.
- Watching all 12 ACC teams play in person, I came away realizing the margins between the top teams and the bottom is really not that big. I come at this with a Ga Tech-centric (therefore skewed) view; but pitching really does seem to be the X-factor. Nearly every team (except Miami) has 4-7 offensive players with BA's over .300 (Miami has NONE... btw). The offenses look a lot alike. The teams with decent pitching bubbled up to top of league. Decent = 2-3 good starting pitchers and 2-3 decent relievers who can throw 1st pitch strikes, generally stay ahead in the count, and avoid getting rattled by things not going their way behind them....are "money".
- Using Ga Tech's struggles as an example... I saw every team do those "frustrating" things we all lost hair over in 2017:
- poor bunting (decision to do it AND failure to execute)
- senseless errors (including mental)
- coaches stretching pitchers out too long/not getting bullpen up early (see UNC in championship game)
- questionable coaching decisions, in general
- One specific thing my father and I noticed about Louisville's team/fans. When Brendan McKay (a true two-way stud) even gets on deck, there is a buzz in the crowd. It's the feeling of a MLB superstar coming to bat with most fans fully expecting something great to happen. ...and it did in a couple of cases with him last week. He's very good. However, it got me to thinking that our roster has nothing approaching that kind of talent and/or our fans don't have an affinity like that to the personalities on our team. Perhaps that's an unfair comparison since there are maybe 4 players in all of college baseball like McKay... and I'm sure I'm not articulating my point perfectly. I just know when he was involved in the action, I kept thinking ... Ga Tech does NOT have anything like this going on in Atlanta right now. When was the last time we did? ...is having that critical to anything related to the program's success? ...can you control things (recruiting?) enough to make something like that happen?
- I'm beginning to develop a theory that I won't be able to prove. I think ACC teams/coaches who are pretty much locked into a national seed or hosting a regional approach the ACC Tournament with an eye toward "prepping" the team for the NCAA tournament MORE than winning the ACC Tournament. In some ways those things go hand-in-hand. Louisville (as an example) played their meaningless game 1st (on Thursday night). There was no tweaking of the pitching rotation. They decided to play their #1 in game 1. I cannot fault them for that; but that meant their #2 started against FSU on Friday and FSU ended up winning. Frankly, not a big loss for Louisville who could take the rest of the weekend off and prepare for this weekend's games. The teams (this year) like Miami, FSU, NCST... and all those who knew they HAD to win to advance to the NCAA tournament just seemed to approach things with more a sense of urgency. Just a theory... based on a "feeling".... while observing from a distance (Sec 121 Row T to be exact).
- Fixing the format is probably a good idea. I like baseball; but those games that did not factor into who moved onto Sat's semifinals... were less appealing. (I watched anyway
) Perhaps I'll remember to pose the question next year on ideas for "better" formats for a 12-team baseball tournament constrained to 15-17 games over 6 days. I looked at the SEC's format which is probably "better" ... but still not perfect IMO.
