Stanford coach proposes relegation system to boost ACC basketball

Stanford men’s basketball coach Kyle Smith wants the ACC to “adopt an English soccer-style relegation system” for men’s basketball, thinking it “could help the conference avoid what happened this season,” when it had only four teams in the NCAA tournament and only one that made it past the first round, according to Jesse Dougherty of the WASHINGTON POST. The initial specs of 18 teams in the ACC “could mean two divisions of nine -- Smith’s ideal version” -- or three divisions of six. With two divisions, the “bottom two teams of the top tier would move down every year,” and the “top two of the second tier would move up.” With three divisions, one program would “get relegated from each of the top two tiers, meaning two programs would get promoted.” Smith said, “The ACC, we’re struggling for a place in the marketplace. We need to be the first ones to do something like this.” He added, “Put some pressure on them and the Big 12, too. … So you come out and say: ‘We’re going to relegate teams to raise excitement and get back on top’” (WASHINGTON POST, 4/18).