The ACC Tournament
As the 2022 Atlantic Coast Conference men's basketball tournament approaches, there are three years in which winning the tournament was important for the ACC's place on the national stage
NC State’s Reynolds Coliseum during a 1958 Atlantic Coast Conference tournament game
The ACC Tournament
If you follow Atlantic Coast Conference basketball, even if your preference is to engage with just one team and hope all the others lose, and if you know anything about the ACC men’s basketball tournament and its importance from the very beginning of the league in the early 1950s, you might understand there are three of the league’s post-season tournaments that have meant more to the conference nationally than all the others. The first ACC Tournament was in 1954; the 69th annual event in mid-March will crown the official 2022 ACC Champion—the team with the best record in the regular season is just that, the season leader and not the official league champion—and send the winner to the NCAA’s March Madness.
You can argue that the team with the best league record during the regular season should be the ACC title holder, but that’s not the case. But this is not about that discussion. We’re here to talk about the three ACC tournaments with the most and eventual national significance. Three talked about as much for their NCAA results as they are for their ACC Championship, winning the ACC tournament.
When the Atlantic Coast Conference was born in the early 1950s, Everett Case, N.C. State University’s legendary coach, lobbied for and got his way. The conference champion and the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament went to the winner of the ACC tournament. There have been some heartbreak tournaments for teams atop the regular season standings because of this, but the league’s popularity and basketball reputation grew due to two things: this tournament and, eventually, television. The two—the tournament and TV—have been joined at the hip nearly the entire life of the conference. Now more than ever there’s a better direct link because of the ESPN series, The Tournament: A History of ACC Men’s Basketball, which chronicles the event and the growth of the ACC.
The 10-part, 10-hour series started on February 7th on ACCN, the Atlantic Coast Conference Network, and concludes March 7th, the day before the 2022 tournament begins. For those of us who have lived it much of the time, watching the documentary has been entertaining and educational. For sports fans who prefer other leagues, you really should watch this show and get to know college basketball in the hotbed of college basketball. When you live in the ACC, you should understand the ACC and it’s rightful place among basketball elite, as a league. Watching The Tournament: A History of ACC Men’s Basketball will help you. The series is being replayed constantly on ACCN (tape it so you can race through the commercials), and it can also be found on the ESPN App.
When the ACC was formed, there were originally eight members, actually seven to get started—Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, NC State, South Carolina and Wake Forest—and soon after, Virginia joined. The proximity and coziness of having eight teams is what made ACC basketball so exciting, especially the tournament, three days of single elimination basketball in one arena with the winner as the official league champion and the automatic entry to the NCAA tournament. From the first tournament in 1954 through the 1974 ACC tournament, no league could send more than one team to the NCAA tournament. So, after playing 14 conference games, the standings were used to seed the ACC tournament, the winner of which advanced, the regular season leader be damned if the two were different schools.
Duke in 1954, led the regular season at 9-1, when NC State, 7-3 in the league, won the tournament and the NCAA berth.
In 1956, the Wolfpack and North Carolina each were 11-3 in the league; NC State won the tournament and the NCAA berth. The two played two regular season games that year plus a game in the Dixie Classic with NC State winning two of the three games.
In 1958, Maryland, 9-5 in the ACC, won the tournament and the title; Duke, 11-3, was the regular season leader.
In 1959, UNC and NCSU tied with 12-2 season records and the Wolfpack won the ACC Tournament. The Tar Heels, because the Wolfpack was on probation, went to the NCAA tournament, losing to Navy in the first round.
In 1960, North Carolina and Wake Forest entered the ACC event with 12-2 records but Duke, 7-7, won the tournament and the NCAA bid.
In 1961, UNC was 12-2, but Wake Forest, 11-3, won the tournament and the title and the NCAA bid.
In 1965, Duke was 11-3 in the regular season and the Wolfpack, 10-4, won the ACC Tournament.
In 1970, South Carolina was 14-0 in league play but lost to NC State, 9-5 in the regular season, in the ACC finals.
In 1971, North Carolina, a league leading 11-3, lost to South Carolina (10-4 record) in the ACC tournament finals.
The 1973 tournament of the 19722-73 season was interesting. NC State was serving a one-year probation from the NCAA tournament and was 14-0 in the regular season and not banned from the ACC tournament. North Carolina was 8-4 and Maryland was 7-5. The conference decreed that the NCAA bid, if NC State won the tournament, would go to the team losing to the Wolfpack in the finals. UNC lost to Wake Forest in the opening round; Maryland lost to NC State in the finals and received the NCAA nod.
After the 1973-74 season, multiple conference teams could be selected for the NCAA Tournament which removed some of the pressure—except for the pride factor—on the regular season leader to win the ACC tournament. The automatic bid still went to the league’s champion, the winner of the ACC tournament, the team that played the best for three days. In the 1976 ACC tournament, held just outside of Washington DC, Virginia came in with a 15-11 overall record and a 4-8 ACC record; North Carolina was 11-1 in the then seven-team league. The Cavaliers, sixth in the league, won the ACC tournament, defeating UNC 67-62 in the finals and gaining the automatic bid.
Since 1976, only four times have teams with a .500 record or less and fifth or less in the league won the ACC tournament and gained the automatic NCAA bid:
1980: Duke, 7-7 regular season record, tied for fifth;
1987: NC State, 6-8 regular season record, sixth;
1994: Georgia Tech, 8-8 regular season record, sixth; and,
2005: Maryland, 7-9 regular season record, sixth.
As the years passed, as the league has expanded to 15 teams for all sports except for football (shame on you, Notre Dame), the overall excitement of the league’s tournament has dwindled a little … okay, maybe a lot. Media, coaches and fans, all lovers of the ACC tournament, have placed more emphasis on the regular season and the quest for multiple conference bids to the NCAA tournament. For the ACC tournament, with all 15 teams participating, games are played over five days, from Tuesday through Saturday. This is not your Daddy’s ACC tournament, not the original four games on Thursday, two Friday, and the title game Saturday. Arena seating once divided among eight teams is now spread across 15 teams. It’s just not the same as originally intended: smoked filled Reynolds Coliseum on the NC State campus with every seat taken and standing room only for non-ticket holders who sneaked in.
The arenas were always full all day on opening day Thursday; the norm now is for empty seats those first few days which will be the case this year in Brooklyn, NY, not because of COVID but due to the dilution of league play. The worst six teams in the regular season play Tuesday. The winners are joined by the fifth through ninth seeded teams on Wednesday. It’s not until Thursday that the top four teams make an appearance. The excitement is not there until the Friday semifinals and Saturday finals. Conference expansion may have been good for television revenue (it’s always about the money) but not for the fans who have little consistency in scheduling. Example: NC State and Duke played each other in one basketball game this season (at Duke), and it’s hard to remember the last time the two schools played each other in football. Maybe the saving grace of the Wolfpack’s basketball schedule was not playing Duke in Raleigh, preventing another stop on the Coach K retirement tour. Yuck!
Straying so much from the intended subject of this post, those three ACC tournaments with the most national significance, was not, well, intended but it happens. So, those years are 1957, 1974, 1983; the first two years because only one team could advance to the NCAA tournament; the third because the fourth seeded team had to win the ACC Tournament to go to the NCAA event; and, in each year, the ACC team won the national title, something that could not have happened if they didn’t win the ACC Tournament. Let’s review:
1957: North Carolina
North Carolina was 14-0 in the ACC and 24-0 the regular season. The Tar Heels extended that overall mark by three games winning the ACC tournament. UNC won it’s first ACC tournament game and the championship game easily, by 20 points each, but the semifinals win against Wake Forest was by just two points. Had North Carolina lost that game a perfect season would have gone by the wayside. Instead, the Tar Heels won five NCAA tournament games including triple overtime wins against Michigan State (semifinals) and Kansas (finals) to claim the title. Maryland was 9-5 that season but lost in the semifinals. Wake Forest, which took UNC to the edge in the semis was 7-7 in the 1956-57 regular season.
1974: NC State
NC State faced a similar situation as UNC had 17 years prior. A Wolfpack loss in the ACC tournament would keep NC State out of the NCAAs. The Wolfpack was 12-0 in the league and 24-1 overall in the regular season. With just seven league teams (South Carolina had dropped out), the Wolfpack had a first round bye, easily defeated Virginia in the semis, and the fought tooth and nail against Maryland in the finals, winning 103-100 in overtime to advance to and win the NCAA title. Key game in the NCAA tournament was an 80-77 double overtime win against defending national champion UCLA. Maybe Maryland, with a nearly equally talented team as NC State, could have won the NCAA title but at this point it’s just conjecture. Maryland and North Carolina were both 9-3 that season, both losing to the Wolfpack and splitting their two-game series with each other.
1983: NC State
As the ACC tournament headed to Atlanta it was obvious that NC State had to win the conference tournament to get in the NCAA tournament as the automatic entry. Odds on favorites to win the tournament were North Carolina and Virginia, both 12-2 in the regular season. The Wolfpack was the fourth seed with an 8-6 league mark and a 17-10 overall record. Maryland, also 8-6 in the ACC regular season, the tournament third seed, and 20-9 overall, seemed a sure pick to the NCAAs. After an opening day win against Wake Forest, 71-70, the Wolfpack beat nationally fifth-ranked North Carolina, 91-84 in overtime, setting up a title game against Virginia, second in the national polls. The headline in the Atlanta Constitution on the day of the finals declared, It’s Virginia vs. the Other Carolina, or something like that. State prevailed, 81-78, against Cavaliers, denying Ralph Sampson a legitimate ACC title. The Wolfpack then went on a magical six-game winning streak in the NCAA tournament—including a West Regional final win against Virginia and the against top-ranked Houston in the NCAA finals—to claim the school’s second NCAA title, something that would not have happened if the Wolfpack had not won the 1983 ACC tournament.
You may argue for more than three ACC tournaments of consequence on the national stage, but due to the circumstances of advancing to the NCAA tournament, no other ACC tournament can be included. On the other hand, your comments are encouraged. Click the “comment” link below and proceed.
Interesting ACC Tournament notes
ACC teams have won 15 NCAA men’s basketball titles (tournaments):
North Carolina has won six NCAA titles (1957, 1982, 1993, 2005, 2009, 2017);
Duke has won five (1991, 1992, 2001, 2010, 2015);
NC State has won two (1974, 1983);
Maryland has won one (2002); and,
Virginia has won one (2019).
Of the 15 NCAA titles, only seven were won by the ACC Champion, the team that won the ACC tournament:
Duke in 1992, 2001, and 2010;
North Carolina in 1957 and 1982; and,
NC State in 1974 and 1983.
Enough already with stats and notes on the Atlantic Coast Conference men’s basketball tournament. It’s fun to look back and pick and choose tidbits here and there, to give it your own perspective.
If you’ve not watched The Tournament: A History of ACC Men’s Basketball get started. The ESPN series concentrates on the tournament so don’t be disappointed if you’re looking for more. Overall, it’s really good stuff! For more information about the series, click this link: