ACC Basketball: How Dominant Is the ACC During March Madness?

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When March Madness rolls around, the ACC is ready to rock!

Year after year, Atlantic Coast Conference teams win games, advance through the rounds and make deep runs in the NCAA Tournament.

How dominant are they? How do they compare to the other major conferences in college basketball?

Let's take a look how they've done over the last three decades...

 

Source: 2012-13 ACC Basketball Prospectus

Most Tournament Wins

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The ACC has the most NCAA Tournament wins of any power conference (265) since 1985.

The Big East is in second place with 252 March Madness victories.

The Big Ten is in third place with 226.

Coach K's March Madness résumé sets the standard among active coaches.

Just in terms of overall NCAA Tournament record, Krzyzewski's ledger says 79-23. Wow!

Sweet 16

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The ACC leads the power conferences in Sweet 16 appearances since 1985 (71).

The Big East is in second place with 68; The Big Ten pulls up in third with 58.

It's hard to beat Dean Smith's Sweet 16 run from 1980-1993.

He didn't just get UNC there some of the time or even most of the time during those 13 seasons.

Dean Smith took the Tar Heels to the Sweet 16 every single year for 13 seasons. That's gettin' it done!

Elite 8

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The ACC (38) holds a slight edge over the Big East (37) in Elite Eight appearances since 1985.

The SEC is not far behind with 30 Regional Finals showings.

North Carolina's Roy Williams is an Elite Eight machine.

Just since coming to Chapel Hill, Williams has taken the Tar Heels to the Elite Eight in six of nine seasons.

Ironically, that is the exact same number of times that Coach K and Coach Cal have taken their teams that far into the tournament (after Cal's Memphis team vacated their 2008 excursion to the Elite Eight) over the same time period.

Final Four

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The ACC is on top of the list again when it comes to Final Four appearances (24) since 1985.

The Big Ten "gets the silver" with 19.

The Big East and SEC share a place on the medal stand with 15 trips to the national semifinals.

The ACC has had at least one team in 19 of the last 25 Final Fours.

Christian Laettner (pictured) played in the Final Four in each of his four years at Duke.

Only three other players have achieved that rare feat.

He is the only player to be in the starting lineup in all four Final Fours. Impressive.

NCAA Championships

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Since 1981, the ACC has won more NCAA titles (10) than any other conference.

The Big East and the SEC are tied for second with six titles each.

Coach K's Duke squads have cut down the nets four times (1991, 1992, 2001, 2010).

Roy Williams' Tar Heel teams have won it all twice (2005, 2009).

Further back, Dean Smith's squads took home the Big Prize in 1982 and 1993.

Add Jim Valvano's Pack in 1983 and Gary Williams Terrapins in 2002, and you have the perfect 10.