Duke Basketball: Is Coach K Really Delighted About Syracuse, Pitt Joining ACC?

The prospect of Syracuse and Pitt joining the ACC has brought plenty of doomsayers out of the woodwork. Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski, however, is firmly on the other side of the debate.

According to ESPN, Krzyzewski calls the new additions “two outstanding basketball programs” and says landing them is “a coup for basketball” in the conference. Given Duke’s position in the college basketball landscape, it’s not hard to imagine that Coach K really is in favor of bringing in two more power teams to compete with the Blue Devils.

The move is unlikely to have any impact on Duke’s recruiting, because as long as Krzyzewski is there, Duke will have as big a recruiting edge as any school in the country.

Indeed, about the only thing that can hurt Duke as a program is a downturn in the ACC, like the one the conference has been suffering the last few seasons. When the Blue Devils and that team from Chapel Hill are the only top-tier squads in the conference, it makes both schools look less impressive than if they were jousting for the top spot in a deeper league.

That problem is one Pitt and Syracuse are brilliantly suited to solving. By adding two more perennial contenders, the ACC ensures that it will have a higher overall level of play every season.

Even if Duke occasionally loses out on a conference title to the Orange or Panthers, that’s a small price to pay for the benefits of playing in what looks like it will once again, after years of losing the title to the Big East, become the strongest conference in the country.

As a side bonus, the Blue Devils will also be better equipped to thrive in the tournament because they’ll be facing more varied league competition. The Panthers’ physical man-to-man defense and the Orange’s 2-3 zone are both schemes in short supply in the current ACC, and having regular conference games against those teams will help Duke prepare for facing such opposition in March.

Duke’s road to the ACC title will get a little tougher, but Coach K has good reason to embrace the change.