2026 ACC Tournament:

DG’s Historical Fun Facts
Plus “How Stuff Works”

By David Glenn
North Carolina Sports Network
(last updated March 11, 2026)

As the Atlantic Coast Conference men’s basketball tournament unfolds with plenty of juicy storylines this week (Tuesday-Saturday) in Charlotte, and with the North Carolina Sports Network once again well-represented on media row, here is a blend of “historical fun facts” and “how stuff works” tidbits related to the league’s crown jewel event:

Cinderella Rarely Wins

Everyone loves a good Cinderella story, in college basketball or otherwise.

However, the ACC Tournament, much like the NCAA Tournament, rarely requires grabbing the proverbial glass slipper from that dusty old box in the attic.

Top-four seeds captured 63 of the first 71 ACC Tournaments (approximately 89 percent). Similarly, in the 46 years the NCAA Tournament has had a seeded field, 42 national champions (approximately 91 percent) were top-four seeds.

The Big Dance’s four exceptions remain famous decades later. Villanova (a #8 seed in 1985) remains the lowest-seeded team ever to win the NCAA title. NC State’s famous “Cardiac Pack” (1983) and Kansas’ “Danny (Manning) and the Miracles” (1988) were #6 seeds. The only relatively recent example is Connecticut, a #7 seed in 2014, although #8 seed North Carolina came oh-so-close under then-rookie head coach Hubert Davis in 2022.

Bucking those historical trends, the lowest-seeded teams ever to win the ACC Tournament both came in the last four years: #7 Virginia Tech in 2022, then #10 NC State in 2024.

Just four years ago, less than a decade into the league’s existence as a 15-team entity, coach Mike Young and the Hokies needed a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Darius Maddox in overtime just to survive #10 seed Clemson in the second round, but then they rattled off convincing back-to-back-to-back victories over the top three seeds: Notre Dame (#2), UNC (#3) and Duke (#1).

Then, just two years ago, NC State coach Kevin Keatts temporarily saved his job as the Wolfpack became the first ACC team ever to win five games in five days on its way to the ACC crown. The Pack barely survived #3 seed Virginia in the semifinals, needing a missed free throw from Isaac McKneely (an 85 percent shooter from the charity stripe that year) and a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from point guard Michael O’Connell just to push that game to overtime. After eliminating the Cavaliers in OT, State topped #1 seed UNC in the championship game, then went on to a stunning run to the Final Four.

For the previous 45 years, the correct answer to the question about the lowest-seeded ACC Tournament champion hadn’t changed: a #6 seed. That has been done five times, by five different schools, most recently in 2004. Here’s the list, including each winning team’s head coach at the time: 1976 Virginia (Terry Holland), 1980 Duke (Bill Foster), 1987 NC State (Jim Valvano), 1993 Georgia Tech (Bobby Cremins) and 2004 Maryland (Gary Williams).

Only four teams, 1976 UVa (4-8), 1987 NCSU (6-8), 2004 Maryland (7-9) and 2024 NC State (9-11), catapulted themselves all the way from a sub-.500 league record during the regular season to cutting down the nets at the ACC Tournament.

No Public Sale Of Tickets (1967-2008)

In the early years of the ACC Tournament, it was very cheap and very easy to get a ticket. In Charlotte this week, at least for the early rounds, that same description applied.

For four-plus decades in between, though, fans’ demand far exceeded the ticket supply for what gradually became an extremely popular three-, four- and now five-day celebration of ACC hoops and the league’s signature event.

The inaugural ACC championship game, in 1954, was not even a sellout, despite ticket packages costing only $6 and $9. (That’s roughly $75 and $110 in today’s money, after adjusting for inflation.) The title tilt matched the host team, NC State, against in-state rival Wake Forest at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh. The same schools had met on the same court in the 1953 Southern Conference championship game, as each was earning a national top-20 ranking.

By the mid-1960s, the sports and entertainment worlds had changed dramatically, and the ACC took advantage. When the ACC was born, in 1953, only about 45 percent of American households had televisions. By 1962, that number had surpassed 90 percent, and it continued to rise.

Meanwhile, the Big Four schools (Duke, UNC, NC State and Wake Forest) rose to the growing intensity of the TV spotlight, regularly producing teams that were nationally ranked and NCAA Tournament participants. Carolina won the NCAA title in 1957 and returned to the Final Four in 1967, 1968 and 1969. Duke (1963, 1964, 1966), State (1950) and Wake (1962) also made trips to the Final Four as the popularity of college hoops continued to grow.

Starting in 1967, and all the way into the severe economic downturn of 2008-09, the ACC Tournament had become so popular that there was no public sale of tickets.

For 42 consecutive years, the only way to purchase ACC Tournament tickets directly (there’s always been a resale market, from on-site scalpers to the various modern websites) was to do so through the league’s member schools. The scenario was an athletic fundraiser’s dream; boosters had to rank high enough with their annual and/or lifetime contributions to guarantee themselves various benefits, including the option to purchase tournament tickets.

The streak ended with the ACC Tournament held in March 2009, as America still was in recovery mode after more than a year of difficult economic circumstances. In late February of that year, about two weeks before the event, the ACC opened ticket sales to the general public, with only upper-deck options available. The 11-game tournament booklets were priced at $363 each.

23-Year Duke/UNC Run (1997-2019)

Since Duke and North Carolina are this year’s #1 and #4 ACC Tournament seeds, respectively, let’s begin with perhaps the most stunning tidbit in the 73-year history of the event.

From 1997 through 2019, a 23-year stretch that ended not too long ago, if you witnessed an ACC championship game, there was a 100 PERCENT CHANCE that you were watching UNC, Duke or both teams.

Amazingly, the majority of that streak occurred while the conference had 12 or 15 members, rather than when it was a seven- or eight-team league, when it theoretically may have been less difficult to dominate.

In 1996, Wake Forest beat Georgia Tech for the ACC championship. In 2021, Georgia Tech defeated Florida State and cut down the nets. In between, for almost a quarter-century, every title tilt was colored by some version of Carolina blue and/or royal blue. Amazing.

Included in this streak was the most dominant stretch by any program in ACC history. Under legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski, Duke captured 10 of the 13 ACC Tournaments (77 percent) from 1999-2011.

While it was not part of this particular version of Duke-Carolina magic, the second-most dominant stretch in ACC history was orchestrated by legendary UNC coach Dean Smith, whose teams won nine of the 16 ACC Tournaments (56 percent) from 1967-82.

Expanding on these themes just a bit, 29 straight ACC championship games (1991-2019) included at least one North Carolina-based team. The bookends surrounding that streak were Georgia Tech titles, with the Yellow Jackets beating Virginia in 1990 and FSU in 2021 (COVID prevented the completion of the 2020 event) in the finals.

Overall, through 71 ACC Tournaments, Carolina and Duke have met in the championship game 11 times, with the Tar Heels winning six: 1967 (UNC), 1969 (UNC), 1979 (UNC), 1988 (Duke), 1989 (UNC), 1991 (UNC), 1992 (Duke), 1998 (UNC), 1999 (Duke), 2001 (Duke) and 2011 (Duke).

Referee Merit System

Given many fans’ unpleasant views toward the officials, this headline may invite its own punch lines, but there is a method to this part of March Madness, too. The men in stripes actually increase or decrease their chances of working the ACC championship game, for example, based in part on their performances in the quarterfinals, semifinals, etc.

Bryan Kersey, the ACC’s supervisor of officials for men’s basketball, worked seven ACC championship games as a referee himself, so he knows how this stuff works. Now he observes ACC Tournament games from press row, with a keen eye toward the effectiveness and game management of the men in stripes who work for him. Those who thrive likely will advance.

Because officials are independent contractors, rather than conference employees, they have a significant amount of autonomy. Veteran ACC refs Lee Cassell, Bill Covington Jr. and Tommy Morrissey, for example, worked the Big South championship game on Sunday before working in Charlotte two days later on the opening day of the ACC Tournament.

Cassell, Covington, Morrissey and virtually all of the ACC’s other top officials are working in Charlotte this week. Like coaches and players, they’ll have to perform well, relatively speaking, to make it all the way to Saturday night.

Cheerleaders, Dance Teams, Mascots

Yes, there are NCAA rules about virtually anything and everything you can imagine, and this fun-filled category is no exception.

Just as there are only so many tickets to sell at the ACC Tournament, only so many media credentials and seats on press row, etc., there’s only so much room on the baseline, too. That’s where cheerleaders and dance team members end up competing for space with television cables, security guards, towel boys/girls, band members, cameramen, videographers, photographers and sometimes even journalists, depending on the arena’s floor layout.

(Side note: Notre Dame point guard Matt Farrell knocked a nearby colleague’s entire cup full of tea onto my $2,000 laptop computer, #RIP, when I was in a baseline seat years ago. For the record, he was on the receiving end of a hard foul, so it definitely wasn’t his fault. Nevertheless, that became one of the more complicated expense reports of my 39-year career. There are no media seats on the baseline in Charlotte this week.)

Anyway, the NCAA rules boil down to a baker’s dozen-style approach. Each school is permitted to bring only 12 performers and one mascot to the ACC Tournament (and other postseason events). The dozen can be any combination of cheerleaders and/or dance team members, and any combination of females/males, at the discretion of each university.

At some schools, there may be as many as 50 cheerleaders and dance team members who perform at home games during the regular season. Miami, for example, has a coed cheerleading team with 12-15 members, a female-only cheerleading squad with 15-18 members, and a dance team (the “Sunsations”) with 18-20 participants.

How do they possibly decide which of those 50 talented young people get those 12 slots?

March Madness, indeed.

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