Best ACC Basketball Teams Of The Last Decade

When is Knuckathubuck gonna get inducted into the ACC Sports Hall of Fame? Honest question, because at North Carolina basketball games there's always a point in which the crime mob is played and it's always a key part of the game that they choose to play that song, and this is always the song that if I'm going to act a fool and just get into a fist fight with a random stranger, it's this song. Have you ever gotten into a fist fight with a random stranger? I have not. I was at a wedding with Sarah Bradford and I introduced her to this song and then I realized, hey one of Sarah Bradford's friends who just turns out to be a bridesmaid, not a fan of the guy she's with, maybe that's the person.

I can christen the Knuckathubuck fist fight. She went to a wedding with a guy she wasn't fond of? Oh no no no no no. We were at a wedding and then one of her friends is a bridesmaid. The guy she was with was kind of a jerk.

Yeah that's what I was saying. So that girl went to a wedding with a guy she was not a fan of. Is there a worse play in wedding history than going there with someone you're not a fan of?

No no no. She was cool with the guy she went with. Me and Sarah Bradford. Sarah Bradford weren't cool with that guy. Ah you thought he was a jerk.

Actually I think Sarah Bradford had no issue with him. It was just you. I just internalized it. Yeah. I don't even know the guy's name. This is going to be a conversation later. Jerk McJerkface. I don't know why I brought this up. I'm glad you did. Like I'm trying to think.

I love hearing wedding horror stories. Is anybody in the crime mob from an ACC school? Like I think it's an Atlanta group so I guess Georgia Tech can maybe claim them.

Like you can't tell me that crime mob is any less ACC than Carmelo Anthony is. At this point what are we doing? And while we're getting nostalgic every single day this week and I think we're going to do it next week. I'm doing list decade in list for college basketball, college football, the Panthers, maybe some NFL, NBA. And since we spend a lot of time talking about Coach K and Roy Williams and I have a really interesting stat to pass along in just a bit. I figured we do top 10 ACC teams, ACC basketball teams of the last decade.

So let's go ahead and get to this list. Number 10 ACC basketball team of the decade. I'm going to count by the way teams that might not have joined the ACC until later in the decade. If you're an ACC team you qualify for whatever this decade. 2013 Syracuse is one of those teams.

This squad man. The lineup you're talking about CJ Fair who I believe at one point was first team all ACC. Or first team all American I should say. They weren't in the ACC at that point.

Raquem Christmas, Brandon Trish. I think Dion Waiters and Michael Carter Williams were coming off the bench. Like just a really strong team that they had then.

Waiters might have been gone by a year. But really strong squad and they made it to the final four. 30 win team. One of two Syracuse teams to make it to the final four this decade. Number 9 top 10 ACC basketball teams of the last decade.

Now that we're moving on to the 2020s. 2012 North Carolina. This team many believe in terms of sheer talent this might be the best Tar Heel team to never win a national title. 2012s in that conversation.

2016 in that conversation. 2012 you could also argue 2008 if we're just talking Roy Williams teams. If Kendall Marshall doesn't hurt his wrist. This team is going to coast I believe past Kansas. And they're probably going to end up in the final four but they likely would run into that Kentucky Anthony Davis team that's just an absolute buzzsaw. So I don't know if they win the title but we didn't really see what this team was at its full capacity when Kendall got hurt. You had I think PJ Harrison coming off the bench on that team.

Harrison Barnes, John Henson, Tyler Zeller. It was a loaded 2012 Tar Heel team. Number 9 top 10 ACC teams of the decade. Number 8 2013 Miami. This team is going to be a trivia question forever I believe.

But even if the dudes I'm about to remind you of. Even if they don't resonate just trust me when I say that this team was dominant. 2013 Miami won 29 games and Shane Larkin, Barry Larkin's son was probably the best player running the point. Duran Scott. I remember Julian Gamble who was the center on this team just loves sports talk radio and he was around so he came in to hang out on the show for an hour just because he wanted to. He's from Durham. Reggie Johnson, big man from Winston. Kenny Kaji. Just a lot of really solid dudes.

Trey McKinney-Jones. They won the ACC championship and I really believe that they're one of the best teams in the decade. They beat North Carolina in that championship game in Greensboro. Number 7 top 10 ACC basketball teams of the 2010s. 2010 Duke. National title win but this team was just struggling heading into February.

Looked like they had no direction and a guy named Brian Zubek provided the charge that the Blue Devils needed to make a run through the tournament. You had the intentional missed free throw at the end of the game. Coach K not thinking that Butler was going to get a good look. A strong pick got Gordon Hayward a look from half court and it lipped out.

By a quarter inch that shot was off. Nearly the greatest shot in college basketball history but Duke survived by a deuce against that Butler team in 2010. They won a title so I can't really knock them too much but probably the worst of the title teams in the ACC over the last decade. Number 6 2013 National Champion Louisville Cardinals.

Do we act like this exists? They took down the banner Robert. Does that mean I can't say on the radio that Louisville won the title that year? They won. So did Reggie Bush with the Heisman. I don't believe any of that stuff. Taking away banners. Taking away championships. I saw it.

It does not matter. They still won. Yeah I saw what happened on the floor. I remember Spike Albrecht hitting a ton of shots for Michigan in the first half and feeling so confident in himself. He hit up Kate Upton on Twitter and said hey yo thanks for coming to the game.

Felt pretty confident shooting his shot before she met Justin Verlander. But gosh that Louisville team. They didn't have any dudes that made it in the pros really. But Peyton Sevo was awesome. That injury that's going to be remember Kevin Ware in the Elite 8 against Duke. One of my friends' girlfriends anytime you would bring up the Kevin Ware's thing he would or she would vividly get up like I don't know what the word is violently get upset because she was at that game and saw his leg.

If you even bring it up she will throw up. Gorgie Jang and Montrose Harrell were on that team so I guess they were okay pros especially Harrell so I'll take that back. But Luke Hancock who's been on the show a handful of times. He was on that squad as well. Louisville that year it's last in the Big East. I can't even see what their record was because it's been vacated on all the websites. Oh they went 35-5 I finally figured out. 35-5 they're number 6 on the list.

Number 5! 2017 National Champion North Carolina. I don't think this was the best North Carolina team of the decade.

I don't. Only national title winner of the decade. You had returning players in Joel Berry. Luke May wasn't Luke May to that point even though he had the shot against Kentucky. Justin Jackson his 3 point percentage in the championship game kind of lifted them where they needed to be but not really great performances in the final 4 game against Oregon or even the championship game shooting against Gonzaga. But just enough to get through because they had a really strong frontcourt. The 17 Tar Heels are in the top 5.

Number 4! 2019 Duke. RJ Zion. Cam Reddish.

Trey Jones. I mean this team was the closest thing we had to the Beatles in college basketball. It lifted the sport.

It was a show night in and night out. They won the ACC tournament championship. I believe they would have won the regular season championship if Zion had not gotten hurt. They were one bucket away from the final 4 losing to Michigan State in the Elite 8. 2019 Duke I have there over the national champion Tar Heel team in 17. Number 3 though.

Number 3 on the list. 2016 North Carolina. I think this is the best UNC team of the decade. They just got beat by a really good Villanova team.

It got beat at the buzzer. 17 didn't have Bryce Johnson or Marcus Page. And I still feel like a lot of the parts that were important in 17 were also very important in 16. Barry, Jackson, Meeks. I just think it was the best complete Tar Heel team. They also were without JP Tokido in 2016 as well.

Number 2. Number 2 title team of the last decade. 2019 Virginia. Coming back from the loss to the 16th seeded UMBC Terriers. UVA had a number of draft picks. DeAndre Hunter top 10 pick. Kyle Guy first round draft pick. Ty Jerome picked up by the Boston Celtics.

Just a ton of dudes all over this roster. Mamadi Diakite with the Elite 8 shot with the assist from Kihei Clark. This is the culmination of a really strong decade for Virginia where at that point they won 4 of 6 ACC regular season titles.

It validated the style that Tony Bennett played and still does play. Virginia, number 2 on the list. And number 1, the number 1 ACC basketball team of the decade. 2015 Duke. It's just this team and 2012 Kentucky.

The perfect blend of freshmen, strong recruiting classes, the one and dones, and experienced players on the roster. It's funny because in February Duke dismissed Rashid Suleiman. It was the first player that Coach K ever had to dismiss from the roster. And it happened so late in the year you thought that might really affect the team. But what happened when he was dismissed it allowed for a guy named Grayson Allen to get some playing time. And he had the biggest shots of the year to get Duke back in that game against Wisconsin in the championship game.

But that freshman class. It's Jaleel Local 4. It's Tyus Jones. It's Justice Winslow. It's Grayson Allen.

And you had a bunch of experienced guys surrounding them. Quinn Cook a senior. Amiel Jefferson a junior. Matt Jones was a sophomore.

So I just really like the makeup. Marshall Plumlee a junior. It just made so much sense and you don't see many teams of college basketball that have a blend like the blend that that team had. So they're the number one team of the decade. Top 10 ACC basketball teams of the decade.