The ACC Tournament
CBB History: ACC Tournament by the numbers
If you can’t tell from any of my past articles, I love the history of basketball, and think it’s important to learn and remember what we can about the game. With that in mind, here’s a new series covering various topics from college basketball history.
As it stands now, the 2024 ACC Tournament will be the last tournament to feature every team in the conference, so I decided it was a good time to look through the record book of the nation’s longest running conference tourney. The ACC Tournament was first played in 1954 at NC State’s Reynolds Coliseum, with the hometown Wolfpack taking the title 82-80 over Wake Forest in overtime. Last season, I wrote about some of my favorite games, players, and memories from going to the tournament over the years (including eight in a row from 1993-2000). I loved recounting all the great names while doing the research, and here are some of my favorite facts and figures.
Teams
Most consecutive ACC Tournament Championships:
5 - Duke (1999-2003)
3 - NC State (1954-1956)
3 - North Carolina (1967-1969)
3 - Duke (2009-2011)
5 ACC Championship games have gone into overtime:
1954 - NC State 82 Wake Forest 80 (OT)
1970 - NC State 43 South Carolina 39 (2OT)
1974 - NC State 103 Maryland 100 (OT)
1995 - Wake Forest 82 North Carolina 80 (OT)
2004 - Maryland 95 Duke 87 (OT)
Largest Margin of victory in an ACC Championship game:
37 - North Carolina 87 NC State 50 (1968)
30 - Duke 91 NC State 61 (2000)
26 - Duke 79 North Carolina 53 (2001)
24 - NC State 80 North Carolina 56 (1959)
23 - Duke 96 North Carolina 73 (1999)
Longest game winning streaks in the ACC Tournament:
17 - Duke (1999-2004)
10 - Duke (2009-2012)
9 - NC State (1954-1956)
9 - North Carolina (1967-1969)
8 - Duke (1963-1965)
8 - North Carolina (1997-1999)
5 teams have won the ACC Tournament to finish with an undefeated ACC record:
1957 - North Carolina (17-0)
1963 - Duke (17-0)
1973 - NC State (15-0)
1974 - NC State (15-0)
1999 - Duke (19-0)
7 teams have won the ACC Tournament and the National Championship in the same season. Can you name them? See trivia answer below.
Players
19 players have been ACC POY and ACC Tournament MVP in the same season:
Dickie Hemric (WFU 1954); Lennie Rosenbluth (UNC 1957); Lou Pucillo (NCSU 1959); Len Chappell (WFU 1961, 1962); Art Heyman (Duke 1963); Jeff Mullins (Duke 1964); Steve Vacendak (Duke 1966); Larry Miller (UNC 1967, 1968); Albert King (Maryland 1980); Danny Ferry (Duke 1988); Christian Laettner (Duke 1992); Tim Duncan (Wake Forest 1996); Antawn Jamison (UNC 1998); Elton Brand (Duke 1999); Shane Battier (Duke 2001); J.J. Redick (Duke 2005, 2006); Tyler Hansbrough (UNC 2008); Nolan Smith (Duke 2011); Zion Williamson (Duke 2019)
Most points in an ACC Tournament:
107 - Randolph Childress (Wake Forest 1995)
106 - Lennie Rosenbluth (North Carolina 1957)
100 - Grady Wallace (South Carolina 1957)
87 - Len Chappell (Wake Forest 1962)
84 - David Thompson (NC State 1975)
Most rebounds in an ACC Tournament:
56 - Tim Duncan (Wake Forest 1996)
54 - Ronnie Shavlik (NC State 1955)
49 - Jack Williams (Wake Forest 1956)
Most assists in an ACC Tournament:
31 - Kendall Marshall (North Carolina 2012)
29 - Ed Cota (North Carolina 1999)
27 - Drew Barry (Georgia Tech 1993)
27 - Jay Williams (Duke 2000)
26 - Bobby Hurley (Duke 1992); Lorenzo Brown (NC State 2013)
Most career points in the ACC Tournament:
225 - J.J. Redick (Duke 2003-2006)
220 - Len Chappell (Wake Forest 1960-1962)
202 - Tim Duncan (Wake Forest 1994-1997)
196 - Lennie Rosenbluth (North Carolina 1955-1957)
193 - Art Heyman (Duke 1961-1963)
Most career rebounds in the ACC Tournament:
139 - Tim Duncan (Wake Forest 1994-1997)
136 - Ronnie Shavlik (NC State 1954-1956)
118 - Carroll Youngkin (Duke 1959-1961)
118 - Mike Gminski (Duke 1977-1980)
110 - Shelden Williams (Duke 2003-2006)
Most career assists in the ACC Tournament:
68 - Ed Cota (North Carolina 1997-2000)
64 - Steve Blake (Maryland 2000-2003)
61 - Drew Barry (Georgia Tech 1993-1996)
60 - Jay Williams (Duke 2000-2002)
58 - Bobby Hurley (Duke 1990-1993); Chris Duhon (Duke 2001-2004)
15 players are three-time members of the ACC All-Tournament First Team:
Len Chappell (WFU 1960-62); Art Heyman (Duke 1961-63); Jeff Mullins (Duke 1963-65); Bob Verga (Duke 1965-67); Tom McMillen (Maryland 1972-74); David Thompson (NC State 1973-75); Phil Ford (UNC 1975-77); Mike Gminski (Duke 1978-80); Johnny Dawkins (Duke 1984-86); Tim Duncan (Wake Forest 1995-97); Jay Williams (Duke 2000-02); Daniel Ewing (Duke 2003-05); Shelden Williams (Duke 2004-06); Tyler Hansbrough (UNC 2006, 2008-09); Kyle Singler (Duke 2009-11)
Most points in an ACC Championship game:
40 - Charles Scott (North Carolina 1969) - UNC 85 Duke 74
38 - Lennie Rosenbluth (North Carolina 1957) - UNC 95 SC 75
38 - Tommy Burleson (NC State 1974) - NCSU 103 MD 100 (OT)
37 - Randolph Childress (Wake Forest 1995) - WFU 82 UNC 80 (OT)
33 - Len Chappell (Wake Forest 1961) - WFU 96 Duke 81
Trivia Answer: North Carolina (1957); NC State (1974); North Carolina (1982); NC State (1983); Duke (1992); Duke (2001); Duke (2010)
Duke in the ACC Tournament
In my article last year, I included a list of my favorite non-Duke players who made the All-Tournament team in the same year I attended. Here are all the Duke guys who made the All-Tournament team when I was in the building. If I didn’t attend the tournament, that year isn’t listed - for example, Zion and RJ from 2019 or Smith, Singler, Curry, and Miles Plumlee from 2011. In total, I’ve seen 28 Blue Devils make the All-Tournament team:
Grant Hill (1994); Cherokee Parks (1994); Trajan Langdon (1998); Roshown McLeod (1998); Chris Carrawell (1998, 2000); William Avery (1999); Elton Brand (1999); Corey Maggette (1999); Shane Battier (1999, 2000); Jay Williams (2000); Carlos Boozer (2000); Mike Dunleavy (2000); Dahntay Jones (2003); Daniel Ewing (2003, 2004, 2005); J.J Redick (2003, 2005, 2006); Chris Duhon (2004); Luol Deng (2004); Shelden Williams (2004, 2005, 2006); Greg Paulus (2006); Josh McRoberts (2006); Gerald Henderson (2009); Jon Scheyer (2009, 2010); Kyle Singler (2009, 2010); Nolan Smith (2010); Jabari Parker (2014); Rodney Hood (2014); Amile Jefferson (2014); Jahlil Okafor (2015)
11 Duke players have scored 30+ points in an ACC Tournament game:
35 - Bob Verga (1967) - Duke 99 UVA 78
35 - J.J. Redick (2005) - Duke 76 NCSU 69
34 - Ronnie Mayer (1955) - Duke 90 UVA 77 (OT)
33 - Tate Armstrong (1976) - Duke 78 MD 80 (OT)
33 - Christian Laettner (1992) - Duke 94 MD 87
33 - Marvin Bagley (2018) - Duke 88 ND 70
32 - Art Heyman (1961) - Duke 92 SC 75
32 - Daniel Ewing (2003) - Duke 83 UVA 76
31 - Zion Williamson (2019) - Duke 74 UNC 73
30 - Carroll Youngkin (1960) - Duke 71 UNC 69
30 - J.J. Redick (2003) - Duke 84 NCSU 77
In 1963, Art Heyman posted the only triple-double in ACC Tournament history with 21 points, 18 rebounds, and 10 assists. Duke beat Virginia 89-70.
Cherokee Parks has the record for most blocked shots in a single ACC Tournament game, with 10 blocks in a 77-64 win over Clemson in 1994.
Duke played in 9 consecutive ACC Championship games from 1998 to 2006.
Duke has the record for most steals in an ACC Tournament, with 38 steals in 2001.
Duke has the record for most assists in a single ACC Tournament game, with 27 assists in a 96-69 win over Pittsburgh in 2023.
Duke has won 22 ACC Tournament Championships: 1960, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1978, 1980, 1986, 1988, 1992, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2017, 2019, 2023.
Change is inevitable at this point in the college sports landscape, and the ACC Tournament is no exception. The tournament has been dominated by the state of North Carolina, with only two title games in history not featuring Duke, North Carolina, NC State or Wake Forest - 1990 (GT 70 UVA 61) and 2021 (GT 80 FSU 75). However, the 2015 tournament concluded a run of four consecutive years with a champion not from NC - Florida State (2012), Miami (2013), Virginia (2014), and Notre Dame (2015) - and a lot of people don’t realize South Carolina was one of the founding members of the ACC in 1953. Florida State joined the league for the 1991-1992 season, adding a fourth day to the tournament schedule, and the conference changed the format again from 1998-2000. It will be strange to see three conference teams missing from the 2025 ACC Tournament but, while change is inevitable, it’s also nothing new.
Thanks for reading, Go Duke!
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