By: MIKE McCURRY
NEW YORK—Greensboro is only the third largest city in the state of North Carolina, but on Wednesday it has effectively relocated to the center of the college basketball universe.
Hours after Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim strongly voiced his displeasure with the fact that Greensboro has served as the ACC Tournament’s most common site—he prefers large metropolises like Brooklyn, where the event is currently being held—Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski vouched for the Greensboro Coliseum on the same podium.
“Well, obviously there’s been great value having it in Greensboro because this is the tournament that everyone copied, and if we didn’t have the support of an entire city to support us and keep adding to their beautiful coliseum, this tournament and this league would not be where it’s at,” said Coach K, fresh off of a 79-72 win over Clemson.
“I think coming to New York is a huge thing just because we’ve added—we have 15 teams,” Krzyzewski said. “So a number of those teams played their tournament in New York. So their fan base was accustomed to that. So the ACC schools and then the Big East schools that went, their fan bases were accustomed to two different things.”
It’s no surprise that Coach K would endorse Greensboro, which has hosted 28 ACC Tournaments and is scheduled to do so again in 2020. (For those wondering, this event will remain at the Barclays Center next year.) Duke has posted a 39-18 record in ACC Tournament games in Greensboro under Krzyzewski’s tutelage.
Thursday’s victory was Coach K’s 58th in the ACC Tournament, matching the legendary Dean Smith for the most all-time. Over two-thirds of those triumphs have come in Greensboro.
As for Boeheim—a buddy of Krzyzewski’s from their time coaching Team USA together and a fellow Hall of Famer—his lone ACC Tournament affair in Greensboro was an upset loss to NC State in the 2014 quarterfinals. Remember, Syracuse’s self-imposed postseason ban deprived the Orange of participating in the 2015 event.
Photo: @DukeMBB
Follow Mike on Twitter
Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter
And like ZAGS on Facebook
