Rant Time: Shaka Smart's Comments On the Mark

Eleven NCAA tournament bids, three Sweet 16 appearances, and two Final Four trips. 

Any guesses on what I’m talking about?

That’s the combined achievements of George Mason, Old Dominion, and Virginia Commonwealth in the NCAA tournament in the last ten years.  Just let that sink in- eleven, three, and two from three Mid- Majors in the same state.

Now let’s compare that to the two “Power Conference” teams from that same state.  Virginia Tech and Virginia have combined for two bids to the Big Dance in the last ten years.  That means that in the last decade, Virginia CAA schools have as many final four runs as Virginia ACC schools have NCAA bids.  That’s pretty telling.

So I can’t really blame VCU coach Shaka Smart for stepping up Monday and announcing to the world that he believes “the best programs in the state [of Virginia] are in the CAA, and it’s not even close.”  What?  Cue the media uproar.  How dare he blaspheme the ACC like that!  After all, the ACC is the media darling of Dick Vitale and sportscasters everywhere.  Does Smart think he can say whatever he wants just because he went to one measly little Final Four?

Well, yeah.  Especially when what he is saying has the advantage of being entirely true.  Last time I checked, North Carolina and Duke are the only ACC programs that have really been nationally relevant over the last six or eight years.  According to my globe, those schools aren’t in Virginia.

I like the program that Tony Bennett is building at UVA.  The Cavaliers are back in the national rankings, and they have been a more consistent #3 option in the ACC this year than Florida State.  I think Bennett will build a program that will remain relevant for some time.  However, if we’re talking about what programs have been doing in the past few years, then the boys in Charlottesville blue haven’t done much of anything recently.  The team in Blacksburg has probably done even less.  Don’t forget, eleven and two.

In an age where postseason results are all that seem to matter anymore, VCU, ODU, and Mason have entirely outperformed their supposed big brothers.  Some people might argue that a comparison between the two groups is unfair because of the level of competition each school must endure in conference play, but think about it.  ACC schools like UVA and Tech must play Duke, UNC, and each other.  After that, there have been about two more average teams and around six other below average teams, to put it nicely.  People think highly of the ACC because it is a storied conference, but look at their recent results.  In a twelve team conference, they have only averaged about five teams per year.  That’s 40% of the conference.  Compared to other power conferences like the Big 12 and Big East who regularly get close to 75% of their conference in, the ACC is not nearly as deep.  Even the CAA—a mid-major conference!—managed three bids (25% of the conference) in last year’s NCAA tourney.  Who were those teams, I wonder?  It was George Mason, Virginia Commonwealth, and Old Dominion, and they combined for six wins.  Stop me when this is starting to sound like a broken record.

I really just don’t understand the outrage and controversy surrounding Smart’s statements though.  The “controversial comments” made headlines up and down the east coast and even trended regionally on twitter Monday afternoon.  CAA coaches have since come out and defended his statements, but other coaches like Bennett still seemed upset.  They seemed to think that the comments were unfair to the basketball programs at the University of Richmond, UVA, and Virginia Tech. 

The only injustice I see is the unfair playing field that recruiting takes place on.

Head coaches like Tony Bennett and Virginia Tech’s Seth Greenberg get to tell recruits to come play for them because people love the Atlantic Coast Conference.  They will be watched on TV.  ESPN exclusively pays millions and millions of dollars to conferences like the ACC because of the status quo that has been established.  The ACC is a “good conference,” even though results from the last decade might suggest that it’s overrated and full of bottom feeders.  The CAA, meanwhile, must fight and scrap for the most marginal of television rights.  Whereas the ACC has their own night carved out on ESPN (Sunday Night ACC basketball) in addition to countless other televised games, the CAA has virtually no bargaining power regarding their own television broadcasting schedule.  ESPN will choose three or four Colonial conference games that they would like to televise, and that’s really all the CAA will be awarded despite being arguably the most successful mid-major conference of the last five years.  The conference continues to succeed in spite of ESPN’s coverage, not because of it.  This plays right into the hands of the power conference teams, who continue to ride the success of their conferences instead of the strength of their own programs.

So if these power schools can ride the benefits of their conference for recruiting, why shouldn’t Shaka Smart?  Why shouldn’t Mason head coach Paul Hewitt or ODU coach Blaine Taylor?  By extension, why can’t Matt Brady?  The answer is that they can and should.  The CAA has outclassed the other Virginia programs of the last five years, and yeah—it’s not that close.  It’s time that people start recognizing that.