Fast Starts For ACC Teams Recently
Barry looks at conference teams that have gotten off to a quick start
Clemson’s ACC-best nine victories to open the 2023-24 season, a streak narrowly arrested by Memphis at mid-December, rekindled memories of the Tigers as a force in the ACC preseason.
In fact there was a seven-year span as this century unfolded when Clemson was noted for getting off to quick and very good starts. This occurred while Oliver Purnell was head coach; he took the Tigers to six straight postseason tournaments, three each the NIT and the NCAA.
Granted, Purnell’s teams infrequently vanquished college powerhouses. But they did win with regularity in the conference preseason, something not every big-time bully can boast, posting 4 consecutive starts with 10 or more wins from 2006 through 2009. The ’08 team won twice in the ACC Tournament for only the second time in school history.
Purnell’s squads never did win in the NCAAs, much to the increasingly vocal displeasure of Clemson fans. He left after the 2010 season, tired of short-sighted criticism, slights in national regard, and racial undertones he had to personally endure.
Brad Brownell took Purnell’s place in 2011, got another NCAA bid and saw his Tigers split two games in the tournament. Since then they’ve reached the NCAAs just two more times (2018, 2021) and failed to open a regular season with more than five straight wins until this year. Nevertheless it’s worth noting that over the past five seasons no other ACC program surpassed this season’s opening streak by the Tigers.
A recent, impressive run of 25 wins to start a season, by Syracuse in 2014, its debut ACC campaign, gave the false impression Jim Boeheim’s Orange remained a power rather than a fading giant. Since 2016 they didn’t open a season with more than six wins despite schedules notable for keeping Syracuse close to home.
Seven of 15 ACC schools failed since 2014 to reach or surpass Clemson’s run of 9 victories to open a season, including BC, Georgia Tech, Miami, UNC, NC State, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest.
| FAST OUT OF THE GATE Wins to Start Season Since Last 4 ACC Expansion Members Added |
||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | |
| BC | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | |
| C | 9 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5 | |
| D | 1 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 14 | 1 | |
| FS | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 4 | |
| GT | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |
| UL | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 11 | X | |
| UM | 5 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 0 | |
| NC | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 2 | |
| NS | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 1 | |
| ND | 1 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 2 | |
| UP | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 10 | |
| SU | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 25 | |
| V | 4 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 16 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 19 | 1 | |
| VT | 1 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| WF | 1 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | |