Tobacco Road Report

Welcome to the Tobacco Road Report, your latest source for developments in ACC men’s college basketball! The ACC college basketball season begins on November 7, with Hampton taking on Maryland in the 2K Sports College Hoops Classic in College Park. The regular season will conclude on March 11 of next year at the finals of the 54th Annual ACC Tournament in Tampa. It’s time to get prepared for another exciting season of ACC college basketball.

Why Tobacco Road Report? For those of you who are unfamiliar with the use of the phrase “Tobacco Road”, perhaps a bit of background is in order. Tobacco Road is used in reference to the tobacco producing region of the United States, mainly Virginia and North Carolina, in the 17th and 18th century. The term is normally used in conjunction with college basketball and the four historical basketball powerhouses in North Carolina: Duke, North Carolina, N.C. State, and Wake Forest. The close proximity of this group has led to fierce rivalries between the programs and contributed to the high level of play in the Athletic Coast Conference (ACC). While many people still use “Tobacco Road” soley in reference to these four schools in North Carolina, we use it as a moniker for the rabid spirit that pervades the entire fan base of the ACC when the subject turns to college basketball. Thus, the Tobacco Road Report was born.

Our Purpose. Our intention is to fill these pages with solid basketball analysis and to tell it as we see it. Our goal is to go beyond the traditional platitudes and statistics offered by the existing menu of sports content and provide quality insight into game developments that determine the final outcome. This is not to say that we will ignore statistics, but we strive to use statistics in a meaningful way, namely when they can be used to illustrate a point as opposed to statistics for statistics sake. As is obvious by our title, the main focus of the Tobacco Road Report will be on the ACC, the traditional powerhouse conference in men’s college basketball. However, when appropriate, we will attempt to reach beyond the happenings of the ACC to report important developments in college basketall at large. We hope that you enjoy the Tobacco Road Report and we urge you contact us with your comments.