I hate to say this, but poor officiating might cost us a bid. Put Warren on the line at Syracuse for an and-one, and give UNC the foul against Warren in Raleigh, we’re probably dancing.
Yes, we could conceivably have pulled out both of those games, but damn, it’s been heartbreaking to see a team with lesser talent play its heart out against heavily favored opponents and be in a position to win only to have the curse that is ACC officiating cost the team chances to close out those wins.
The worst part of it is that the conference will never, ever admit they’ve got a problem. People say that expansion hurt the conference, but I think that in reality, the blatant favoritism hurts even more. Gone is the ACC identity of “anyone can beat anyone” — it’s nigh on impossible to pull out close wins when the officials are favoring the top teams when it matters the most.
