ACC Tournament History

The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is one of the premier men's conferences in all of college basketball. The ACC Tournament is a single elimination format competition held at the end of the regular season which determines the ACC's automatic bid to the NCAA basketball tournament. It has been dominated by three schools from the state of North Carolina and has been instrumental in the past as a starting point for national championship runs.

  1. Beginnings

    • The ACC Tournament began in 1954, just one year after the formation of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The ACC was formed when Duke, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Clemson, Wake Forest, South Carolina and Maryland all bolted from the Southern Conference in May of 1953. That December Virginia was admitted to bring the number of ACC colleges to eight. The initial men's basketball tournament in 1954 was won by NC State over Wake Forest by an 82 to 80 score. NC State went on to win the next two as well, over Duke in 1955 and then beating Wake again in 1956.

    1957 through 1969

    • From 1957 through 1969 Duke and North Carolina won the ACC men's basketball tournament four times each. North Carolina won in 1957 and then went on to defeat Wilt Chamberlain's Kansas team in the NCAA title game. Duke would take the ACC crown in 1960 for the first time and again in 1963, 1964 and 1966. North Carolina was in control from 1967 through 1969, led by standouts such as Charlie Scott and Larry Miller, who would go on to set the American Basketball Association record of 67 points in a single contest.

    1970 through 1989

    • South Carolina won its lone ACC title in basketball in 1970 before leaving the conference in 1971 to join the Southeastern Conference. NC State returned to the top for the 1973 and 1974 seasons, led by forward David Thompson and center Tom Burleson. State outscored Maryland in the 1974 ACC Tournament title game 103-100 and then went on to upset UCLA and Bill Walton in the Final Four before winning the national title. North Carolina won the ACC Tournament seven times between 1970 and 1989, with players such as Phil Ford, Bob McAdoo, Sam Perkins, James Worthy, and J. R. Reid all being named the Most Valuable Player of the event. Georgia tech, which became a member of the ACC in 1978, won the title in 1985 behind guard Mark price while Virginia took its only top spot in the proceedings in 1976, edging North Carolina by five points with Wally Walker leading the way. In 1983 NC State and coach Jim Valvano won the tournament over Virgina by three points and gained access to the NCAA tourney with the accompanying automatic bid. The team then went on a miracle run through that format, culminating with a shocking triumph over heavily favored Houston in the title game.

    1990 through 2009

    • In 1991 Florida State came to the ACC, with Boston College following in 2003 as did the University of Miami in 2004 along with Virginia Tech. But from 1990 through 2009 Duke was the most dominant ACC force, winning nine tournaments in basketball, including a string of five straight from 1999 through 2003. North Carolina did win it six times while Wake Forest, behind athletes like Tim Duncan and Randolph Childress, won back-to-back ACC Tournaments in 1995 and 1996. Duke's MVPs from these years were men like Christian Laettner, J. J. Redick, Elton Brand, Jason Williams and Shane Battier.

    Overall wins

    • Of the original ACC members only Clemson has failed to win the ACC men's basketball tournament. In fact the Tigers have been to just a pair of title contests, losing to Wake in 1962 and North Carolina in 2008. As of 2009 Duke and North Carolina had won the event 17 times each, followed by NC State with ten and Wake Forest with four. Maryland won the tournament in 1958, 1984, and again in 2004. Virginia has the longest drought of the charter schools, with its lone win in 1976.