NEW YORK (AP) – If it were up to Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, the Atlantic Coast Conference would be in no rush to return its men’s basketball tournament to Greensboro, North Carolina.
The city that has hosted the ACC tournament more than any other was quick to jab back at the Hall of Fame coach, and Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski also came to Greensboro’s defense.
The ACC is holding its tournament in New York city for the first time, a nod to the conference’s relative new eastern block of schools that includes former Big East members Syracuse, Boston College and Pittsburgh. It’s the first year of a two-year deal to play college basketball’s premiere conference tournament at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, home of the NBA’s Nets and NHL’s Islanders.
Speaking after his team’s 62-57 second-round loss to Miami on Wednesday, Boeheim said “there’s no value” in holding the tournament in Greensboro – which has hosted the tournament 26 times – as opposed to major cities like New York, Washington and Atlanta.
“I’m not going to be around much longer to care about it, but I think that’s where the value is,” the 72-year-old Boeheim said. “I think there’s a huge value in playing the tournament in those places. There’s no value in playing Greensboro, none. It’s there because the league’s been there and the office is there, and they have 150 people that the ACC needs. That’s why it’s there. It should not be there.”