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The Clemson Tigers are headed to the Elite Eight for just the second time in school history after taking down Arizona on Thursday night. After that win, fans in the stands chanted, “A-C-C” while flexing their conference pride.
You would’ve never known that the university has an active lawsuit against the league as it looks for a way out of its deal. Wild times in college sports!
Clemson is one of two ACC members currently suing the conference, joining Florida State in hopes of breaking a Grant of Rights agreement and finding a way to avoid paying a massive exit fee.
The school’s unhappiness with its standing in the league stems from a television contract with ESPN that runs through 2036. While other notable conferences bank boatloads in revenue with major networks, the ACC is stuck without the option to renegotiate.
Most of this revolves around the sport of football, where Clemson and FSU don’t believe they’re being rightfully compensated given the exposure and success they produce for the league. So, they want out!
But we’re now in basketball season, and those lawsuits have created an interesting dynamic at the NCAA Tournament.
Clemson embraced its ACC affiliation during March Madness!
And a … “ACC! ACC! ACC!” chant breaks out among Clemson fans. I didn’t know you could do that when your school is suing to get out of the conference, but hey. ACC Pride! Tigers are back in it!
— Andrew Carter (@_andrewcarter) March 29, 2024
After picking up a Sweet 16 win over Arizona, Tiger fans in attendance chanted “A-C-C” as one of four conference members still remaining in the field.
Why the league pride?
Likely because the ACC has been disrespected to an extent thus far by the national media. Many believed the conference to be top-heavy during the regular season, leading to just five Big Dance bids – one of whom was one of the last four teams in.
Below is some of the rhetoric spewed earlier this year as ACC members beat one another up on conference play.
Another unintended consequence of today’s ending between Duke and Clemson?
The possibility of the ACC only getting two teams in the NCAA Tournament on Selection Sunday just increased.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) January 27, 2024
Virginia did little to change that outside perception with a blowout loss in the play-in game, but since, the ACC is undefeated!
That includes six-seed Clemson and 11-seed NC State, as well as Duke and UNC.
That’s 9-1 as a league in tournament play following the Tigers’ latest win, success that’s somehow brought teams around the conference together despite the legal battles that are actively ongoing.
Even the coaches are getting in on it!
A Clemson coach making his way off the court just walked by North Carolina’s team in the hallway and said “A-C-C mother****ers”
— Taylor Vippolis (@tvippolis) March 29, 2024
Can the ACC keep it going? UNC will have the next opportunity. As mentioned before, we’re in the middle of a very strange time in college sports!