ACC Basketball Facts

College basketball fans are familiar with the Atlantic Coast Conference. The ACC's men and women teams are consistently ranked in the Top 25 polls and contend for national championships. Its players regularly make Olympic teams and are drafted into the National Basketball Association and the Women’s National Basketball Association. The ACC has a storied basketball history with a hallowed tradition.

  1. Founding Members

    • The ACC formed on May 8, 1953, after seven schools left the Southern Conference. The charter members--all basketball-playing schools--were Clemson University, Duke University, the University of Maryland, North Carolina State University, the University of South Carolina and Wake Forest University. As of summer 2010, six of the seven are still part of the conference.

    Men’s First Season

    • Men’s basketball started play right away during the 1953-54 academic year. Duke captured the regular-season title with a 9-1 conference record. N.C. State beat Wake Forest 82-80 to win the first ACC Tournament championship in in Raleigh, N.C. Wake’s Dickie Hemric won the Player of Year award, and N.C. State’s Everett Case was the Coach of Year. Duke won the ACC Tournament for the 18th time in 2010, giving the Blue Devils an 18-17 edge over North Carolina for the most tournament titles.

    Women’s First Season

    • The ACC didn’t begin women’s play until the 1977-78 season. N.C. State finished 9-0 to win the regular-season title. In the ACC Tournament championship game, however, Maryland beat N.C. State 89-82 to win the title in Charlottesville, Va., Individual awards weren’t given out until the 1983-84 season.

      North Carolina received two individual accolades during the first season they were awarded. Tresa Brown was the 1983-84 ACC’s Player of Year and Dawn Royster was the Rookie of Year after helping lead North Carolina to the regular-season title. Virginia’s Debbie Ryan was Coach of Year after the Cavaliers won the conference tournament title.

    National Champions

    • North Carolina became the first ACC team to win the NCAA championship by beating Kansas in triple overtime in 1957, capping a perfect 32-0 season. The Tar Heels also won in 1982, 1993, 2005 and 2009; they're tops among ACC schools with five national championships. Three other ACC schools have gone all the way: Duke won the national title in 1991, 1992, 2001 and 2010; North Carolina State won in 1974 and 1983; and Maryland became the fourth ACC school to take home the title by winning in 2002.

      Through 2010, the 1994 North Carolina team was the only ACC squad to win the women's national championship, edging Louisiana Tech 60-59.

    Changing Lineup

    • The composition of the ACC has evolved throughout its history. On Dec. 4, 1963, the University of Virginia joined the league. On June 30, 1971, South Carolina left to join the Southeastern Conference. Georgia Tech replaced South Carolina as the conference’s eighth team on April 7, 1978. Florida State University joined the ACC on July 1, 1991. The league remained the same until Oct. 17, 2003, when Boston College joined for the 2005-06 academic year. On July 1, 2004, the ACC added the University of Miami and Virginia Tech.