Sweet 16 Wouldn’t Seem Right Without UNC, Other ACC Teams, and What Might Elite Eight Bring?
By David Glenn
Here are five ACC- and/or UNC-related fun facts heading into the Sweet 16/Elite Eight extended weekend of the 2024 NCAA Tournament:
- Since the elimination of NCAA Tournament bids-per-conference restrictions in the 1970s, EVERY Sweet 16 — that means 44 in a row and counting — has included at least one ACC team, and most have included several.
Lately, ACC teams have been winning the national championship almost half the time. That’s a stunning accomplishment.
There are 32 conferences in Division I men’s basketball, yet over the last 15 years, for example, the count reads this way: Current ACC Members-6, The Other 31 Leagues Combined-8. (COVID led to the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA Tournament.) That ACC total includes Louisville’s title in 2013, one year before the Cardinals’ official entry into the league.
Thanks to Duke (2010, 2015), Louisville (2013), North Carolina (2009, 2017) and Virginia (2019), “current ACC members” have won three of the last eight NCAA championships, four of the last 10, and six of the last 14. Again, that’s almost half the time.
Even when you stretch the timetable, the numbers remain amazing. Going all the way back to 1980, for example, current ACC members have won 16 of 43 NCAA titles; that more than 37%, from a single league’s current membership, over more than four decades. As legendary broadcaster Dick Vitale might say, that’s awesome, baby, with a capital “A.”
The backdrop to the ACC’s cut-down-the-nets success includes consistency and variety leading up to the Final Four. (Please see the accompanying Sweet 16 chart, which includes only teams that were ACC members at the time.)
Fourteen of the ACC’s 15 current members, for example, have represented the league in the Sweet 16, even though six of those schools were added only within the last two decades. The lone exception, Pitt, also has been to the Sweet 16 during that span — three times, in fact — just not yet as an ACC member.
The ACC’s postseason consistency is reflected in the chart, too. Since the elimination of NCAA Tournament bids-per-conference restrictions in the 1970s, there has NEVER been a Sweet 16 held without at least one ACC member as a part of it. Most have included several ACC teams.
- After another much-maligned regular season, and despite receiving only five NCAA Tournament bids, the ACC managed to exceed its long-time average of (roughly) three Sweet 16 entries, with UNC, Duke, Clemson and NC State giving the league a quartet of such participants this year.
The ACC’s high-water mark in Sweet 16 representation came in 2016.
In just its third season with 15 members, the league gobbled up six of those 16 spots by itself, with Duke, Miami, UNC, Notre Dame, Syracuse and Virginia all still standing. Although the Tar Heels and the Orange both advanced to the Final Four, the league’s stunning depth didn’t translate into another title, as Villanova edged the Tar Heels with a buzzer-beater in the championship game.
At the other end of the spectrum, since the elimination of NCAA Tournament bids-per-conference restrictions in the 1970s, there have been only six years when the ACC had only one representative in the Sweet 16: 2007 (UNC), 2008 (UNC), 2010 (Duke), 2014 (Virginia), 2017 (UNC) and 2023 (Miami). The 2010 Blue Devils and 2017 Tar Heels, of course, squashed any “ACC is down” talk during March Madness in those years by going on to win the NCAA title.
Over these last four decades or so, the ACC’s average number of Sweet 16 participants has been roughly three per year, so UNC, Duke, Clemson and NC State managed to keep that tradition going.
- From 1980-2024, a stretch of 44 NCAA Tournaments, the Sweet 16 has included some combination of Carolina and/or Duke 40 times, and both schools have made it there (in the same season) 17 times, including this year.
Duke and UNC clearly have played the starring roles in making the state of North Carolina the unofficial Center of the College Basketball Universe over the last four decades.
The starting point for that argument is, as usual, national championships. During the “open era” of the NCAA Tournament, meaning starting in 1980, Duke, UNC and UConn (with five each) have the most NCAA titles. Only three other programs are even close in that stretch.
It’s about more than titles, though. The consistency of both Duke and UNC has been off the charts, too. Over the 44 NCAA Tournaments held in the open era, for example, there have been only four years in which the Sweet 16 didn’t include the Blue Devils, the Tar Heels or both teams: 1996, 2014, 2021 and 2023.
The presence of the Heels and the Devils in this year’s Sweet 16 isn’t at all unusual. In fact, during the seven-year stretch from 1986-92, both teams made the Sweet 16 every year. Over the last 38 NCAA Tournaments, the Duke-Carolina Sweet 16 double has happened 17 times.
- This year’s NC State team, which made the Sweet 16 as a #11 seed, became just the 14th ACC squad ever to reach the regional semifinals as a #8 seed or lower. Only three of the previous 13 went on to reach the Final Four.
Bill Guthridge, Jim Boeheim and Hubert Davis. That’s the list. They are the only head coaches, at least for now, who have taken an ACC team seeded #8 or lower all the way to the Final Four.
Guthridge took #8 seed UNC to the national semifinals in 2000. The Tar Heels, who entered the NCAA Tournament with an 18-13 record, knocked off three nationally ranked opponents, including #1 seed Stanford in the second round, before falling to Florida at the Final Four.
Boeheim took #10 seed Syracuse to the national semifinals in 2016. The Orange, who entered the NCAA Tournament with a 19-13 record after a ninth-place tie in the ACC standings, upset #1 seed Virginia in the Elite Eight, then lost to UNC at the Final Four.
Davis took #8 seed UNC to the national semifinals in 2022. The Tar Heels, who entered the NCAA Tournament with a 24-9 record, upset three nationally ranked opponents — #1 seed Baylor (ranked #4 nationally) in the second round, #4 seed UCLA (ranked #11 nationally) in the Sweet 16, and #2 seed Duke (ranked #9 nationally) in the Final Four — before falling to #1 seed Kansas (ranked #3 nationally) in the national championship game.
If this year’s NC State team can beat #2 seed Marquette on Friday, then either #1 seed Houston or #4 seed Duke on Sunday, seventh-year Wolfpack coach Kevin Keatts would add his name to this prestigious list.
Davis, of course, is just getting started with this March Madness stuff, at least as a head coach. He was a UNC sophomore in 1990, when Dean Smith took a #8 seed, the lowest-seeded team of his entire career, on a surprising run to the Sweet 16. As a player, Davis participated in four consecutive NCAA Tournaments, then four straight NBA Playoffs to begin his pro career.
Regardless of where he may take the Tar Heels next, the 53-year-old Davis already has made some of the right kinds of history, even beyond that legendary Final Four triumph over Duke two years ago.
UNC’s second-round win over #1 seed Baylor in 2022, for example, marked the first time in Carolina’s illustrious history it had eliminated the defending national champion in the NCAA Tournament. Also, while UNC’s victory over the Bears was the Tar Heels’ ninth all-time over a #1 seed, it was only the third time it happened with the Heels as a #8 seed (meaning a heavy underdog), joining Smith’s 1990 team (#1 Oklahoma) and Guthridge’s 2000 squad (#1 Stanford).
- The Triangle trio of Carolina, Duke and NC State already has pulled off a rarity this season, and with just one more win (each) this week, the long-time rivals would enter truly unprecedented territory.
Duke, UNC and NC State lead the ACC in some very important categories, including conference championships. The Blue Devils have 22, the Tar Heels have 18, and the Wolfpack recently ended its 37-year drought by capturing the 2024 title, bringing its total to 11.
The same three programs are among only 15 nationally that have won multiple NCAA championships. The Tar Heels have six, the Blue Devils five and the Wolfpack two.
Although Carolina, Duke and NC State are no strangers to the second week of the NCAA Tournament, the presence of all three schools in the same Sweet 16 is a rarity.
It has happened only five times, in 1986 (Dean Smith-Mike Krzyzewski-Jim Valvano), 1989 (Dean Smith-Mike Krzyzewski-Jim Valvano), 2005 (Roy Williams-Mike Krzyzewski-Herb Sendek), 2015 (Roy Williams-Mike Krzyzewski-Mark Gottfried) and now 2024 (Davis-Jon Scheyer-Keatts).
To this point, there has never been an NCAA Tournament in which the Tar Heels, the Blue Devils and the Wolfpack all advanced to the Elite Eight.
If UNC beats Alabama on Thursday night, then Duke (against #1 seed Houston) and State (against #2 seed Marquette) both win on Friday night, the Triangle trio would enter truly unprecedented territory. All three would play in the Elite Eight, of course, and the Blue Devils and the Wolfpack would face each other on Sunday night, with a Final Four bid on the line.
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.
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