ACC Off-Season

[triaddukefan]

Lets talk, post up things about the ACC Off-Season. Cal, Stanford, and SMU fans welcome to our humble abode.

 

[triaddukefan]

For those unfamiliar. The Carolina Hurricanes have a celebrity siren starter before each of the 3 periods. Today was the first Playoff game and its cool to see the Pack Women get some love.



@LETTERL @FanInNC

 

[CalWBBfan]

Looking forward. It's a whole new world.

 

[triaddukefan]

Looking forward. It's a whole new world.

We are nice bunch of fans generally speaking. I can get irritable after Duke losses and when I'm hungry, but my crankiness fades away quickly (usually)

 

[packwrap]

Looking forward. It's a whole new world.

Your first welcome to the acc road trip will be Thursday Miami, Saturday Syracuse.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I can get irritable after Duke losses and when I'm hungry

Have you been in any Snickers commercials? You know, the "you're not you when you're hungry" thing.

 

[FanInNC]

For those unfamiliar. The Carolina Hurricanes have a celebrity siren starter before each of the 3 periods. Today was the first Playoff game and its cool to see the Pack Women get some love.



@LETTERL @FanInNC

Pretty cool!

 

[CalWBBfan]

Your first welcome to the acc road trip will be Thursday Miami, Saturday Syracuse.

Just a short jaunt (not)....makes Seattle to Pullman seem like a stroll in the park.

 

[FanInNC]

From the resident Cal and Stanford fans (and SMU if they exist), how about a quick overall view of your programs, history, trajectory and projections as y’all get set to join the natural fit of the ACC?

I’m way more familiar with Stanford with their national exposure - however it’s the beginning of a new era. New coach. New conference. Brink is in the WNBA and transfers are occurring - what’s the outlook as of now?

Cal … I know they weren’t great this year, what’s the roster look like moving forward? Reason for optimism?

I’m also curious about y’all’s perception of the conference and its members. Any team you can’t wait to beat? Anyone seem like a budding rival? As fans of schools on the opposite side of the country, are there any ACC schools you generally root for or against?

 

[WBBTakeover]

The portal is still portaling, so it's hard to say too much right now. But I do think that Notre Dame, NC State, and Duke have to be the favorites in the conference going in 2024-25 based on what we know so far--and even those teams could use some help in the portal (i.e., at least one starting-caliber post player each).

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

From the resident Cal and Stanford fans (and SMU if they exist), how about a quick overall view of your programs, history, trajectory and projections as y’all get set to join the natural fit of the ACC?

I’m way more familiar with Stanford with their national exposure - however it’s the beginning of a new era. New coach. New conference. Brink is in the WNBA and transfers are occurring - what’s the outlook as of now?

Cal … I know they weren’t great this year, what’s the roster look like moving forward? Reason for optimism?

I’m also curious about y’all’s perception of the conference and its members. Any team you can’t wait to beat? Anyone seem like a budding rival? As fans of schools on the opposite side of the country, are there any ACC schools you generally root for or against?

I'm really interested to hear from involved folks, as well.

I was reflecting yesterday on the P5 impacts in the sports I follow - football, women's volleyball, softball and WBB - next year by the changes. Stanford brings quality in WBB (probably near the top of the ACC) and volleyball and softball should also be good additions. That said, football not so much.

In spite of its great volleyball reputation, with the improvements of the SEC and especially B1G in volleyball over the years - and with Texas going to the SEC, I don't see much landscape changing in that sport. Not sure the PAC teams in the Big12 make up for the loss of Texas.

In softball, again, the loss of Texas and OK from the Big12 is not going to be made up for by Arizona and Utah. ASU isn't very good right now and I don't believe Colorado plays. The B1G will see their softball upgraded with UCLA, Washington and Oregon (USC doesn't play).

I agree that - until the portal settles - it is hard to be definitive about Women's Basketball. At a base level, I see the SEC improved (like they need to be, hah), the B1G improved, the Big 12 about status quo and the ACC slightly improved. But that's just in general.

 

[WBBTakeover]

Speaking of ACC softball (present-day and future), my girls managed to let me down with a series loss to UVA.

It was a little odd seeing Stanford get swept at home by UCLA with NiJaree Canady giving up a late-inning HR in the final game of that series.

 

[CalWBBfan]

I've been a true Cal fan since the Joanne Boyle days....prior to that I generally followed Stanford as a fan, but living in the East Bay and having gone to graduate school at Cal, I knew that if the program got serious, I'd follow. That said, we've had our ups and downs. Boyle really did change the culture at Cal, though she benefited greatly from a fantastic recruiting class that the previous coach, Caryn Horstmeyer signed a top recruiting class (#1 in the Pac) that included Devanei Hampton and Alexis-Gray-Lawson Shantrell Sneed, Jene Morris and Ashley Walker. Boyle quickly turned things around finishing 18-12 her first season and an NCAA bid, then 3 20+ win season, three more NCAA bids including a Sweet 16, a Pac-12 champtionship, then an WNIT championship....I was sad to see her go, but she had family ties in the East so going to Virginia made sense....

Then came Lindsay Gottlieb. Again, she benefited from the recruiting largess of her successor (though she was the assistant coach at Cal). She did get Cal to a final four, and made the first round of the tourney in subsequent years (except 2015-16 when the team went 15-17, and 4-14 in Pac-12....if you look at the season records, Cal didn't do well in the Pac-12 after that....Lindsay bailed on the team in mid-June in 2019 which I'm still bitter about....seemed like some good players were transferring, etc. so she left to take the Cleveland NBA job....We were fortunate that Charmin Smith, who'd left at the end of the season for a WNBA job with the Liberty, agreed to come back and be head coach.

Now Charmin hasn't had an easy time of it. Lindsay left town and a pretty bare cupboard ....and then came Covid, etc. UC Berkeley isn't an easy place to recruit to....it's a challenging school academically (top public university in the country) and while the campus is beautiful not far from SF Bay, it is urban (Berkeley)...not everyone's cup of tea. That said, Charmin has been building something good at Cal and most fans (me included) were happy to see her contract extended. She's rebuilt the Bears into a good team through a combination of recruited players and some good portal gets. Marta Suárez from Tennessee (Spanish player) and Ionna Krimili (Greek sharpshooter 3x all WCC) who graduated from USF were two of the top portal recruits that transferred in this season. Both were starters and will be returning (Krimili had an injury so gained another year). Cal also has a number of other foreign players on the roster and next year's recruiting class is solid too: Cal Adds Four Signees To 2024 Class - California Golden Bears Athletics

We have a good core returning and I'm particularly excited that Michelle Onyiah will be back for a 5th year. She's a really dynamic post player who I think will be be happy to be in the ACC, away from the Pac-12 refs....

I'm excited about the ACC. It will be a challenging conference for sure, but we're used to that. I hope that the travel won't prove daunting, but such is life these days. I'm also happy that Cal and Stanford are in the same conference. It's an important rivalry....after all the first women's intercollegiate basketball game ever was between Cal and Stanford! . The first game - Stanford 125

I'm also curious to see whether being in the ACC opens the door to more recruits from the East coast....good things await. Interested to see who joins the team from the portal too....

I'll edit to add a bit about other sports: Cal women's gymanastics just finished number 2 behind LSU, women's swimming is always very strong (top 5 currently), softball is top 20, volleyball is improving after a few down years....lacrosse and field hockey should do well and actually be happy to be playing in the ACC since they play a lot of East coast teams anyway.....I don't care about football or men's basketball but think the Bears will be middle of the road in that department...

 

[triaddukefan]

I’m also curious about y’all’s perception of the conference and its members. Any team you can’t wait to beat? Anyone seem like a budding rival? As fans of schools on the opposite side of the country, are there any ACC schools you generally root for or against?

The new ACC schools are gonna learn to hate Chapel Hill very quickly. I'm not biased but they are the easily the most sanctimonious & arrogant fan base this side of Jupiter. And it rubs down on their athletes. One example they always say. (for as long as I've lived) "If God isn't a Tarheel, then why is the sky Carolina Blue? Makes you not want to even leave the house on a Sunny Day. Rant over

 

[triaddukefan]

 

[baggerbob]

The new ACC schools are gonna learn to hate Chapel Hill very quickly. I'm not biased but they are the easily the most sanctimonious & arrogant fan base this side of Jupiter. And it rubs down on their athletes. One example they always say. (for as long as I've lived) "If God isn't a Tarheel, then why is the sky Carolina Blue? Makes you not want to even leave the house on a Sunny Day. Rant over

You aren't the only one who doesn't like Carolina, Duke has a good coach which makes them one of my favorites.

 

[Zanzman]

The new ACC schools are gonna learn to hate Chapel Hill very quickly. I'm not biased but they are the easily the most sanctimonious & arrogant fan base this side of Jupiter. And it rubs down on their athletes. One example they always say. (for as long as I've lived) "If God isn't a Tarheel, then why is the sky Carolina Blue? Makes you not want to even leave the house on a Sunny Day. Rant over

Wow coming from a Duke fan just wow
At least Dukes mens fans

 

[FanInNC]

The new ACC schools are gonna learn to hate Chapel Hill very quickly. I'm not biased but they are the easily the most sanctimonious & arrogant fan base this side of Jupiter. And it rubs down on their athletes. One example they always say. (for as long as I've lived) "If God isn't a Tarheel, then why is the sky Carolina Blue? Makes you not want to even leave the house on a Sunny Day. Rant over

Preach.

 

[triaddukefan]

You aren't the only one who doesn't like Carolina, Duke has a good coach which makes them one of my favorites.

Nobody likes them... ask a State, UVA, or Wake Fan

Wow coming from a Duke fan just wow
At least Dukes mens fans

Tarheel fans are 10,000% worse than any Duke fan. You got to trust me. Its even worse if you happen to live in NC. Surrounded by them.... tired of them.

 

[FanInNC]

Nobody likes them... ask a State, UVA, or Wake Fan




Tarheel fans are 10,000% worse than any Duke fan. You got to trust me. Its even worse if you happen to live in NC. Surrounded by them.... tired of them.

Why stop at Duke Wake UVa and State? Ask any ACC schools fan.

Now for national folks who don’t live in NC - yes, Duke may get that title as most hated. But in NC? Chapel Hill fans are the worst. Not remotely close. Entitled, argyle wearing, pretentious chumps.

 

[visitingcock]

Why stop at Duke Wake UVa and State? Ask any ACC schools fan.

Now for national folks who don’t live in NC - yes, Duke may get that title as most hated. But in NC? Chapel Hill fans are the worst. Not remotely close. Entitled, argyle wearing, pretentious chumps.

Why stop there? Ask SCar and Maryland fans.

 

[LwrcasefaN]

Why stop at Duke Wake UVa and State? Ask any ACC schools fan.

Now for national folks who don’t live in NC - yes, Duke may get that title as most hated. But in NC? Chapel Hill fans are the worst. Not remotely close. Entitled, argyle wearing, pretentious chumps.

Tell us how you feel. Don't hold back.

 

[VA Huskie]

The new ACC schools are gonna learn to hate Chapel Hill very quickly. I'm not biased but they are the easily the most sanctimonious & arrogant fan base this side of Jupiter. And it rubs down on their athletes. One example they always say. (for as long as I've lived) "If God isn't a Tarheel, then why is the sky Carolina Blue? Makes you not want to even leave the house on a Sunny Day. Rant over

“I’m not biased”. I agree with your comments, but you might be a little bit biased.