The Atlantic Coast Conference (founded in 1953) is one of the premier college basketball conferences in NCAA Division I. The current ACC champions are the Duke men's basketball team.

Members

Institution Nickname Location Founded Years in the ACC School TypeEnrollment Boston College Eagles Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 1863 2005–present Private/Catholic (Jesuit) 15,106 California Golden Bears Berkeley, California 1868 2024–present Public 45,307 Clemson Tigers Clemson, South Carolina 1889 1953–present Public 29,077 Duke Blue Devils Durham, North Carolina 1838 1953–present Private/Nonsectarian 16,780 Florida State Seminoles Tallahassee, Florida 1851 1991–present Public (State University System of Florida) 44,308 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Atlanta, Georgia 1885 1978–present Public (University System of Georgia) 47,961 Louisville Cardinals Louisville, Kentucky 1798 2014–present Public 24,123 Miami Hurricanes Coral Gables, Florida 1925 2004–present Private/Nonsectarian 19,852 North Carolina Tar Heels Chapel Hill, North Carolina 1789 1953–present Public (University of North Carolina) 32,234 NC State Wolfpack Raleigh, North Carolina 1887 1953–present Public (University of North Carolina) 37,873 Notre Dame Fighting Irish South Bend, Indiana 1842 2013–present Private/Catholic (Congregation of Holy Cross) 13,174 Pittsburgh Panthers Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 1787 2013–present State-related/Nonsectarian 31,237 SMU Mustangs Highland Park, Texas 1911 2024–present Private/Nonsectarian 12,544 Stanford Cardinal Stanford, California 1885 2024–present Private/Non-denominational 17,529 Syracuse Orange Syracuse, New York 1870 2013–present Private/Nonsectarian 22,589 Virginia Cavaliers Charlottesville, Virginia 1819 1953–present Public 25,944 Virginia Tech Hokies Blacksburg, Virginia 1872 2004–present Public 38,294 Wake Forest Demon Deacons Winston-Salem, North Carolina 1834 1953–present Private/Nonsectarian 9,121 Official Website of the Atlantic Coast Conference About the University of South Carolina

History

The early roots of ACC basketball began primarily thanks to two men: Everett Case and Frank McGuire. Case had been a successful high school coach in Indiana who accepted the head coaching job at North Carolina State at a time that the school's athletic department had decided to focus on competing in football on a level with Duke, then a national power in college football. Case's North Carolina State teams dominated the early years of the ACC with a modern, fast-paced style of play. He became the fastest college basketball coach to reach many "games won" milestones.

Case eventually became known as The Father of ACC Basketball. Despite his success on the court, he may have been even a better promoter off-the-court. Case realized the need to sell his program and university. State had originally started construction on Reynolds Coliseum in 1941, but stopped construction during the war. It was originally slated to seat 10,000 people, but Case persuaded school officials to expand the arena to 12,400 people. It opened as the new home court for his team in 1949; at the time, it was the largest on-campus arena in the South. As such, it was used as the host site for many Southern Conference tournaments, ACC tournaments, and the Dixie Classic, an annual event involving the four ACC teams from North Carolina as well as four other prominent programs from across the nation. The Dixie Classic brought in large revenues for all schools involved and soon became one of the premier sporting events in the South.

Partly to counter Case's personality, as well as the dominant success of his program, North Carolina convinced St. John's head coach Frank McGuire to come to Chapel Hill in 1952. McGuire knew that largely due to Case's influence, basketball was now the major high school athletic event of the region, unlike football in the South. He not only tapped the growing market of high school talent in North Carolina, but also brought several recruits from his home territory in New York City as well. Case and McGuire literally invented a rivalry. Both men realized the benefits created through a rivalry between them. It brought more national attention to both of their programs and increased fan support on both sides. For this reason, they often exchanged verbal jabs at each other in public, while maintaining a secret working relationship in private.

After State was slapped with crippling NCAA sanctions before the 1956–57 season, McGuire's North Carolina team stepped into the breach and delivered the ACC its first national championship. During the Tar Heels' championship run, Greensboro entrepreneur Castleman D. Chesley noticed the popularity that it generated. He hastily cobbled together a five-station television network to broadcast the Final Four. That network began broadcasting regular season ACC games the following season. From that point on, ACC basketball gained large popularity. Chesley's network continued until Metrosports took it over in 1981, handing it to Raycom Sports took it over in 1982; it was the direct ancestor of today's ACC Network.

Scheduling partners The table below lists each school's permanent men's basketball only scheduling partners after expansion in 2024.

School Partner 1 Partner 2 Boston College Notre Dame Syracuse California SMU Stanford Clemson Florida State Georgia Tech Duke North Carolina Wake Forest Florida State Clemson Miami Georgia Tech Clemson Notre Dame Louisville Pittsburgh Virginia Miami Florida State Virginia Tech North Carolina Duke NC State NC State North Carolina Wake Forest Notre Dame Boston College Georgia Tech Pittsburgh Louisville Syracuse SMU California Stanford Stanford California SMU Syracuse Boston College Pittsburgh Virginia Louisville Virginia Tech Virginia Tech Miami Virginia Wake Forest Duke NC State

Men's basketball titles by school As explained in the main article about the league, the ACC does not recognize any team other than the conference tournament winner as the champion for a given season. Accordingly, this table sorts the schools primarily by number of tournament wins, using first-place regular season finishes and NCAA championships as tiebreakers where needed.

Team Regular season first-place finishes ACC tournament championships NCAA Championships Duke 22 24 5 North Carolina 32 18 6 NC State 7 11 2 Wake Forest 4 4 0 Georgia Tech 2 4 0 Virginia 11 3 1 Maryland 5 3 1 Miami 2 1 0 Florida State 1 1 0 South Carolina 1 1 0 Notre Dame 0 1 0 Virginia Tech 0 1 0 Clemson 1 0 0 Louisville 0 0 3 California 0 0 1 Stanford 0 0 1 Syracuse 0 0 1 Boston College 0 0 0 Pittsburgh 0 0 0 SMU 0 0 0

References

External links Official site