Despite the Virginia Cavalier's
fantastic showing in the Atlantic
Coast Conference tournament, one
can not help being appalled at the
injustice of the tournament's design.
The ACC's aim in this three
day Classic is to find the best
basketball team at the end of the
season to represent the conference
in the regional playoff.
The tournament allows a young
team such as Virginia to develop
and mature during the season and
then show its true ability as the
conference champion is chosen. Yet
these back-to-back games offer very
little to a team such as South
Carolina which has demonstrated
its superiority in the ACC during all
its previous games. The rightful
victor on the basis of a 14 league
game season was given merely the
best seating in the three day
spectacle and "a pat on the back"
for its three months of toll.
This arrangement cries of injustice
and folly. Should a team
which is unquestionably the best in
the conference be denied its crown
because of one bad night or a
temporarily injured starter? Should
a season of over three months be
decided in three days? Certainly
not. Basketball is a team sport - a
team champion in basketball should
not be determined in the same
manner as individual-oriented
sports such as wrestling, cross
country, and track. Besides this
basic flaw in conception, the ACC
tournament is harmful to the
eventual winner because of the
tremendous emotional and physical
drain in three days of intensive
play. Although obviously uplifted
by its two days of hard work and
good luck, N.C. State has only four
days to rest and prepare for its next
opponent.
The ACC tournament suffers
from major injustices and faults. As
a University student who enjoyed
seeing my team play so well, I
would not favor a total dissolution
of the tournament. But there is a
glaring need to change both the
scheduling and the importance of
this event in determining the
rightful team representative of the
ACC.
Stuart F. Lewis
College 1
