ACC exposed in league's loss to the Big Ten in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge

The ACC lost for the first time ever to the Big Ten in the ACC/Big Ten men's basketball challenge that concluded on Wednesday night. Ohio State put the final nail in the ACC's coffin with a convincing 77-64 win over Florida State to conclude the 11th annual series. The Big Ten, winless in the previous ten tries, won six games over the three-night challenge to the ACC's five.

Although the series was close this year, it proved to be quite damning to the ACC. The Challenge is typically a good measuring stick over two of the country's premier basketball leagues. By the time the NCAA tournament committee meets in March to determine its participants, wins in this series could make or break a team's resume if they are sitting "on the bubble".

What was learned is that the ACC is no longer the dominant league in the country. It has a lot of very nice teams, but not national powers as in years past, like how North Carolina (7-1) was last year, going wire-to-wire to win the national championship. Even the Tar Heels' 89-82 win over then ninth-ranked Michigan State (5-2) was tainted by sloppy play in the second half that watched a 16-point halftime lead whittle down to just a 6-point advantage late in the game. Even though the Tar Heels put together perhaps their best half of basketball of their young season, the Spartans contributed with poor interior defense and bad shooting in the first half. The Michigan State that most expected this season showed up in the second half and almost rallied for a win. The Tar Heels' complacency wasn't the only weakness that the ACC showed. Look below for some other telling signs:

• 19th-ranked Clemson (6-2) has to be the goat of the league, blowing a 23-point second half lead to lose at home to Illinois (5-2). If any victory was assured, it was this one, especially for a team who was playing at home after beating Butler on Sunday. This shows that right now, this Clemson team doesn't have quite the mental toughness to put teams away that recent Tiger teams have had in being in the upper echelon in the ACC. This was a meltdown of epic proportions.
• Fifth-ranked Duke (6-1) losing to Wisconsin (5-1) 73-69 may not look so bad at the surface, but the way the Blue Devils lost is frightening for their national title hopes. Wisconsin's frontcourt repeatedly beat Duke's big men to the basket, showing that outside of guard Nolan Smith, the Blue Devils are once again not very athletic and will run into some big trouble when facing a quick backcourt.
• Wake Forest (4-2), once considered one of the top teams in the ACC, is no longer. Fortunately, the Demon Deacons gave sixth-ranked Purdue (6-0) a fairly good game on Tuesday night, losing 69-58. However, the Deacs lost to William & Mary as well and have beat up some weaker opponents to get to where they are. Competition other than Purdue will cost the Deacons dearly come the top of the ACC round-robin.
• Previously unbeaten N.C. State (5-1) proved that their competition has been less than stellar as well, losing to a weak Northwestern (5-1) team whose only loss was to Butler and their wins might as well have been against high school competition.

Although the season is young, the ACC has a lot of improvement ahead of them if they expect to stay in world of the top conferences. Even the top half of the ACC (Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Duke) will find struggles along the way as their schedules toughen. Perhaps these schedules will get them ready for March and make deep runs in the NCAA tournament. At this point in the season, it's all speculation, but it's all we've got and it doesn't look good.

Stay tuned for more of the Tar Heel sports experience in later articles. Until then, go Heels!

Don't forget to check out Keith Cooke's other column, the Charlotte Cruise Ships Examiner, a great resource for taking that vacation before, during and after you follow the Heels!

And one other thing - Keith Cooke has another column, the Charlotte High School Sports Examiner, a great look at Charlotte's high school sports scene.

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