With top rankings and more TV time, ACC women’s basketball has never been more visible
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From the Old Barn to Brooklyn
The ACC men’s basketball tournament once was the jewel of North Carolina’s favorite pastime. What is its place now in the rapidly evolving, football-first world of college athletics? And how did the tournament become a shadow of what it once was? This is the N&O’s special report.
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Women’s college basketball is more visible than it’s ever been, especially in the ACC. Six teams are ranked in the AP Top 25; two in the top five.
The teams play on TV multiple nights of the week, with an in-studio show committed to the sport. Arenas have also been selling out.
“I’ve been saying all year the product is the narrative,” Debbie Antonelli said. “The product is outstanding. If you enjoy good basketball, you’re going to see it in the ACC, especially at the top level.”
Antonelli is more than qualified to make that assessment. The women’s basketball hall of famer played at N.C. State, and has spent the past 34 years calling college basketball games, most recently for ESPN and the ACC Network.
She calls games featuring men’s and women’s teams, and has seen a recent rise in popularity of the women’s game. Antonelli views the increase in TV games and bump in ticket sales as a direct result of good basketball.
“When I say the product is the narrative, the product is what has to be good,” Antonelli told The News & Observer. “If the product isn’t any good, none of the other stuff is going to matter.”
Two of the best teams in the league are N.C. State and Louisville. As of Thursday, before either team played in the ACC tournament, the Wolfpack (26-3) was No. 3 in the AP Top 25 Poll, and the Cardinals (25-3) were No. 4. The two teams faced off in a classic on Jan. 20, when N.C. State mounted an epic comeback, winning 68-59. They could also both end up in Minneapolis next month for the Final Four.
“We are talented enough or good enough to get to a Final Four,” Louisville coach Jeff Walz said. “We could make a run at things. But we could get beat in the second round if we don’t come out focused. Once you get to the second round, everyone is good and that’s what makes it fun.”
ACC expansion adds depth
In 2014, Maryland left the ACC to join the Big Ten.
Sounds like “contraction,” though, right? And pretty serious contraction, considering Maryland’s pedigree: The Terrapins won 10 ACC conference tournament championships during their time in the league.
At the time, Maryland’s departure felt like a big blow to the ACC, with Duke and North Carolina expected to carry the weight of the conference.
But the league hit a home run when it added Notre Dame, Louisville and Syracuse. The ACC replaced one perennial national power (Maryland), with two Final Four regulars (Notre Dame and Louisville) and a Syracuse team that made it to the NCAA tournament on a regular basis.
“I think it’s taken this league to a different level,” Kelly Gramlich of the ACC Network and ESPN told The News & Observer. “You could argue that of any sport, probably women’s basketball has benefited the most from the expansion the ACC has done.”
Syracuse made it to the title game in 2016. Louisville was in the Final Four two years later, in 2018, the same year Notre Dame won it all. The Fighting Irish were runners-up in 2014, 2015 and 2019.
“We have a big brand, it’s a national brand,” Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey said. “I just feel like the ACC is such a powerful conference. Just to get in a different market, a little bit south, it was just great to get into that market. It was great to be able to connect with a different region.”
While Louisville and Notre Dame carried the flag in the early years of the expansion era, the rest of the league has caught up. N.C. State has been ranked in the top five all season, and has been a constant in the Top 25 under Wes Moore. Last year, the Pack knocked off two No. 1 teams on the road and was a No. 1 seed in the tournament. N.C. State has gone from the hunters to the hunted.
“I kind of like being low in the weeds and trying to sneak up on people,” Moore said. “That’s hard to do right now. It’s been different, no doubt. I probably felt more pressure because the expectations have gone really, really high. I kind of enjoyed hunting and trying to go for the upset, but at the same time I wouldn’t want to trade. I like where we’re at and the team we have.”
This year, Georgia Tech beat mighty UConn. And North Carolina defeated Louisville at home.
“I feel like the middle of the pack had not caught up,” Gramlich said. “With some of these (coaching) hires and some of these players, the middle has caught up.”
Antonelli said she felt the best year for the conference was 2006, when Maryland, North Carolina and Duke made it to the Final Four. But she likes the parity this season.
“I think it’s the deepest the league has ever been,” Antonelli said. “N.C. State and Louisville, there’s some separation between them and Virginia Tech, Notre Dame and North Carolina. North Carolina beating Louisville closed that gap just a tad. I still think Louisville and N.C. State are still separate from everyone else, but it’s still deep in the middle.”
Charlie Creme’s early ESPN bracket had nine teams possibly in, with four of those on the bubble. Two of the teams — N.C. State and Louisville — were listed as No. 1 seeds.
“Outside of playing our opponents, when we go into the NCAA Tournament, I’m always like, ‘Go ACC,’” Ivey said. “The fact that we had eight last year go to the NCAA Tournament is something I talk about in recruiting all the time. It’s a level of pride. I’m just proud to be a part of such a strong league with amazing coaches and amazing players. I think it’s a recruiting advantage for recruits to want to play in a league like this.”
Impact of the league’s coaches
The coaches are a big reason the product has become so good.
Sylvia Hatchell was a big name at UNC, winning 751 games and one national championship for the Tar Heels. When Hatchell resigned in 2019, Courtney Banghart replaced her.
“It’s not an easy thing to do,” Georgia Tech coach Nell Fortner said about replacing a legend, “but I think (she’s) done very, very well.”
In 12 seasons at Princeton, Banghart led the Tigers to the NCAA tournament eight times. UNC has been a top 25 team most of the year, despite starting four sophomores.
“We’ve proven ourselves week after week,” Banghart said.
The Tar Heels’ home win over Louisville was one of the biggest, if not the biggest upset in ACC play this season.
“She (Banghart) won championships, she’s been to the NCAA tournament before,” Antonelli said. “That matters. She’s put a product out there that’s really competitive, it’s really good and it’s only going to get better.”
In 2020, the ACC welcomed two coaches coming directly from the NBA. Notre Dame hired Ivey, a former Irish assistant under Muffet McGraw. Ivey spent one season as an assistant with the Memphis Grizzlies. Duke hired Kara Lawson, who spent one season in the NBA with the Boston Celtics.
The Blue Devils cracked the top 25 earlier this year. Notre Dame had been trending up in the final month of the regular-season. The Irish knocked off N.C. State at home on Feb. 1.
“Niele sat next to a Hall of Famer,” Antonelli said. “It doesn’t always translate, but it has in her case; sitting next to Muffet, learning and listening to Muffet.”
Fortner has turned around the program at Georgia Tech (also ranked), taking the Yellow Jackets to the Sweet 16 in 2021. Boston College hasn’t been to the tournament since 2006. The Eagles hired Joanna Bernabei-McNamee in 2018, and Boston College has a shot at returning to the tournament this season.
“When you invest in your coaches the product is going to increase and the fans are going to come,” Gramlich said. “To me that’s the biggest thing. The level of coaches in this league is really high. I’m impressed with all of them.”
ACC on the air
Having played in the ACC, Gramlich and Antonelli now get the best seats in the house to cover the league. Gramlich is part of a studio show produced by the ACC Network that focuses solely on women’s hoops each Thursday night. The ACC Network airs two games each Thursday and a full slate of women’s games every Sunday.
“I think it’s been a tremendous opportunity for the whole country to be able to see what’s going on in our conference,” Clemson head coach Amanda Butler said. “I think that the network has made a great effort to continue to try and figure out how to maximize the stories and make sure some of these awesome head-to-head match ups are covered appropriately and the rest of the country knows how good our league is.”
Gramlich called it a “women’s hoops channel.” There is no doubt in Antonelli’s mind that it’s made a difference.
“I think that’s incredibly important for growing the game,” Antonelli said. “If a little girl is watching, or fans are watching, you turn the TV on, and you see Reynolds Coliseum on fire, you are kind of like, ‘Hey, I want to go and check that out.’ You see that on TV and it does bring people to the game.”
Gramlich added she’s seen an increase in fan engagement on social media the nights their teams play on TV.
“I see it on Twitter,” Gramlich said. “I see a lot of different fan bases that are into their teams.”
This story was originally published March 6, 2022 at 6:00 AM with the headline "With top rankings and more TV time, ACC women’s basketball has never been more visible."
