10 Things You (Probably) Don’t Know About The ACC Tournament, Part One
By David Glenn
As the 2022 ACC Tournament continues, with the top four seeds jumping into the action for the first time on Thursday, here are five things you (probably) didn’t know about the crown jewel event of ACC basketball:
- 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 Brooklyn 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 about $60 and $90 in today’s money, after adjusting for inflation.) The title tilt matched the host team, North Carolina 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% of American households had televisions. By 1962, that number had surpassed 90%, and it continued to rise.
Meanwhile, the Big Four schools (Duke, UNC, NC State and Wake Forest), in particular, 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), NC State (1950) and Wake Forest (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, 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.
- The Triangle Trifecta
Although they now make up only 20% of the ACC membership, Triangle neighbors Duke, UNC and NC State — all original members of the conference, of course, dating to that 1953-54 season — are responsible for a whopping 73% of ACC men’s basketball championships.
ACC Championships (1954-2021)
Duke 21
North Carolina 18
(All Other Schools Combined) 18
North Carolina State 10
Triangle Schools’ Total=49 of 67 (73%)
The North Carolina-centric theme actually continues with Wake Forest, which is tied with Georgia Tech for the fourth-most ACC titles (4 each). Next are Maryland and Virginia (3 each), then Florida State (2012), Miami (2013), Notre Dame (2015) and South Carolina (1971), which have captured one apiece. The Terrapins and Gamecocks were league members from 1953-2014 and 1953-71, respectively.
Boston College, Clemson (an original ACC member), Louisville, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Virginia Tech have never won the ACC Tournament.
- Mount Rushmore Coaches
Only four head coaches have managed to win more than one-third of their trips to the ACC Tournament: Duke’s Vic Bubas (40%; 4 of 10 trips from 1960-69), Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski (38%; 15 of 39 trips from 1981-2021), UNC’s Dean Smith (36%; 13 of 36 trips from 1962-97) and NC State’s Everett Case (36%; 4 of 11 trips from 1954-64).
Those four men also represent the Mount Rushmore of ACC Tournament champions: Krzyzewski (15), Smith (13), Bubas (4) and Case (4). Next on the list are Georgia Tech’s Bobby Cremins, NC State’s Norm Sloan and UNC’s Roy Williams, with three titles each.
Duke’s Bill Foster (2 of 6 from 1975-80) and UNC’s Bill Guthridge (1 of 3 from 1998-2000) won exactly one-third of their head coaching trips to the ACC Tournament. Guthridge, of course, also was a part of 13 additional conference championships, as Smith’s long-time assistant.
- Expansion = More Site Rotation
The modern expansion of the ACC perfectly corresponds with the dramatic acceleration of the in-state/out-of-state rotation of the ACC Tournament. This year’s event, held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn (which is located about 250 miles away from the closest league member, Syracuse), is perfectly symbolic of this seismic shift.
Prior to 2004, the ACC always was a seven-, eight- or nine-member league, with four of those universities (along with the league’s headquarters) based in North Carolina. Starting in 2004-05, the conference grew to have 11 members, then 12 in 2005-06, then the current 15 beginning in 2013-14. The number of North Carolina schools, of course, remained at four.
From 1954-2004, 44 of the 51 ACC Tournaments (86%) were held in North Carolina. The first 13 events were held at Reynolds Coliseum, NC State’s home court at the time, before the league switched to independent sites. Greensboro (the host a record 28 times overall) and Charlotte (tied for second-most with Raleigh at 13) then dominated the rotation for decades.
From 2005-24, “only” 10 of the 19 ACC Tournaments (53%) are being held in North Carolina, with the other nine in Brooklyn (3), D.C. (3), Atlanta (2) and Tampa (1). The event will return to Greensboro next year, in a make-up of sorts for the cancelled-midstream-by-COVID attempt in 2020, then D.C. again in 2024.
While league officials haven’t yet voted on the ACC Tournament’s location beyond 2024, expect this more balanced in-state/out-of-state rotation to continue. It will be especially interesting to see how the conference treats Greensboro, its home for the entirety of its 69-year existence, given its recent decision (https://chapelboro.com/town-square/holding-court-with-david-glenn-accs-expected-departure-from-greensboro) to relocate the league’s headquarters.
- 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 official Roger Ayers, for example, worked the Colonial Athletic Association championship game between UNC Wilmington and Delaware on Tuesday night, rather than a low-profile, first-round ACC Tournament matchup.
Ayers and the ACC’s other top officials also are working in Brooklyn this week. Like coaches and players, they’ll have to perform well, relatively speaking, to make it to Saturday night.
Next Time: 10 Things You (Probably) Didn’t Know About The ACC Basketball Tournament, Part Two
David Glenn (DavidGlennShow.com, @DavidGlennShow) is an award-winning author, broadcaster, editor, entrepreneur, publisher, speaker, writer and university lecturer (now at UNC Wilmington) who has covered sports in North Carolina since 1987.
The founding editor and long-time owner of the ACC Sports Journal and ACCSports.com, he also has contributed to the Durham Herald-Sun, ESPN Radio, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Raycom Sports, SiriusXM and most recently The Athletic. From 1999-2020, he also hosted the David Glenn Show, which became the largest sports radio program in the history of the Carolinas, syndicated in more than 300 North Carolina cities and towns, plus parts of South Carolina and Virginia.
