The 2026 edition of the ACC men's basketball tournament is underway in Charlotte. Over the years, the tournament has been the scene of so much great basketball, some of the greatest games in college basketball history. Here are some of the most memorable.
1971 North Carolina vs. South Carolina
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It’s really hard to describe the bad blood between Frank McGuire’s Gamecocks and the rest of the ACC. The ’71 ACC tournament championship game marked South Carolina’s last conference game.
(The Gamecocks became an independent the following season. None of the rest of the league seemed to mind.)
In that 1971 tournament championship game, North Carolina built a double digit lead, but the Gamecocks methodically played their way back. The Tar Heels missed one free throw after another. They were 15 of 28 for the game. Even reliable George Karl missed a couple. South Carolina took a 50-49 lead with about a minute to go. Center Lee Dedmon scored to put the Tar Heels up 51-50, but the Gamecocks got the ball last. With about five seconds to go, Dedmon tied up USC’s Kevin Joyce.
Remember this was long before the alternating possession rule. In that era, every tieup was settled by a jump ball, and this one happened to be in South Carolina’s end. Dedmon had a seven-inch height advantage, but when referee Steve Honzo tossed the ball up, the tip went toward the South Carolina basket. Tom Owens was wide open. He laid the ball in, and South Carolina scored a stunning 52-51 victory to claim the ACC’s only bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Tar Heel forward Dave Chadwick was haunted by that play for years, concerned he was not in the right position. Most teams put two defenders on the opponent’s side of the jump ball circle. UNC had only one. Years later Chadwick went to see Dean Smith about that long ago game. “Coach,” Chadwick said, “was I in the wrong position on that jump ball?” The answer was vintage Dean Smith. “Dave, if you were in the wrong position that’s my fault for not doing a better job of teaching you where to be.”
1974 greatest game ever played
Maryland and NC State were two of the top three teams in the country when they met for the ACC Tournament Championship, yet in the days of the 25-team NCAA Tournament, only the conference champion would make the field. NC State had not lost a conference game in more than two years. Maryland whipped North Carolina, the sixth best team in America, by a resounding count of 105-85. And yet one of these teams wouldn’t qualify for the tournament and have a chance to play for the national championship.
Maybe the pressure these teams felt turbocharged the game itself, for the Wolfpack and Terrapins ran up and down the court, full throttle for 45 minutes. Free throws by 5’6 Monte Towe settled this battle of giants for NC State in overtime 103-100.
Maryland shot 61% with very few turnovers, yet its season ended that Saturday night. NC State shot 55%, enough to overcome an early 13-point deficit but not nearly enough to ever feel comfortable against the likes of John Lucas, Tom McMillen and Len Elmore.
But the big story was Tom Burleson. Miffed at being left off the All-ACC team, Burleson set out to show voters among the ACC media what they had missed. Burleson scored 38 points on Elmore, considered one of the ACC’s best ever post defenders.
NC State went on to win the NCAA Tournament in the only season the Final Four was played in Greensboro.
In 1975, the NCAA expanded the tournament field to 32 teams. But that was a year too late for Maryland, which perhaps could have won it all in 1974 if it had just been able to slip past the Wolfpack.
1975 the scoreboard call
There will never be another tournament like 1975. The six contests were decided by a collective 20 points. Not a single game was decided until the final minute.
The fun started in the very first game as upstart Wake Forest took a 90-82 lead on second-seeded UNC with 50 seconds to play. Tar Heel Coach Dean Smith used the same tactics that day he had employed in a well-chronicled comeback against Duke the previous season.
In that era, it was common for coaches to call timeout after the opponent scored so they could set up their offense. Smith, instead, called time after the Tar Heels scored, so he could set up pressure defense.
Against Wake Forest, the Heels scored three times and used three timeouts to cut the lead to 90-88. The Tar Heels committed fouls at the other end, and Wake obliged by missing free throws. The Deacons only made 10 of 19. The Wake Forest win looked certain when Jerry Schellenberg threw a high, arcing baseball pass to Skip Brown, who caught the ball over his shoulder and laid it in. But referee Fred Hikel ruled the ball hit the scoreboard. No basket. Carolina got the ball last, and Brad Hoffman curled in a jumper from the corner to force overtime. That’s an eight-point comeback in 50 seconds, without a three-point shot.
UNC went on to win 101-100.
In the semifinals, UNC survived another close game against Clemson, and then upset NC State in a four point “blow out” to win the official league championship behind freshman sensation Phil Ford. What a tournament to see so many close scores and one game decided by the scoreboard itself.
1980 Kenny Dennard and Buck Williams
This championship game between Duke and Maryland was played despite a howling snowstorm in Greensboro. More than 10,000 people braved the elements. Duke went ahead 73-72 on Mike Gminski’s tip in. Maryland got the ball back with nine seconds to play. Albert King’s jumper bounced on the rim three times. Buck Williams went up to try and tip the ball in but couldn’t get to it. Kenny Dennard backed into Williams’ legs and the two went down in a heap. Maryland’s Lefty Driesell said after the game, “Buck got killed.” Dennard denied that he tried to undercut the Maryland star.
“It was simply physics,” Dennard said. “You have two strong 6’8 guys pushing each other. When he jumped into the air where was I supposed to go except underneath him?”
Dennard noted the refs understood physics “and that’s why no foul was called.”
Duke advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the third and last time under Bill Foster.
Maryland, as the ACC’s regular season champ of course made the field, but could not recapture its February form and lost in the second round to Georgetown.
1982 UNC slows it down against Big Ralph
North Carolina and Virginia, each laden with some of the top talent in America, staged one of the ACC’s most compelling championship games ever in 1982 for about 32 minutes. Then, with UNC leading 44-43, Coach Dean Smith spread the floor with the four corners. Under the rules of the day the team with the lead was allowed to dictate to the trailing team defensively.
Carolina, behind James Worthy, started quickly in this game and led Virginia throughout most of the first and second half. But Smith reasoned that lead might not hold up if 7’4 Ralph Sampson hung out at the basket.
Had Sampson moved out to the perimeter to pick up Sam Perkins, the Tar Heels likely would have attacked the basket. But Sampson didn’t move. And so for seven minutes the Tar Heels passed and dribbled the clock away. With 28 seconds left, Virginia fouled Matt Doherty. The sophomore made the first half of a one and one but missed the bonus. Jimmy Black then foiled the Cavaliers attempt to tie forcing Jimmy Miller into a turnover. The Cavaliers then fouled Doherty again, and he made both free throws to clinch victory for the Tar Heels.
Despite the loss, Virginia kept its status as a No.1 seed. Meanwhile UNC’s 10th ACC Championship served as a springboard for Smith’s first national championship.
Not long after this game, the NCAA implements two major rule changes: A shot clock and a three-point shot.
1983 NC State takes down the giants
One day after stunning defending national champion North Carolina in overtime, Jim Valvano’s Wolfpack set its sights on 7’4 Ralph Sampson and Virginia. NC State had never beaten Virginia with Sampson on the roster. On the other hand, Big Ralph and the Cavaliers had never won the ACC Tournament Championship during that time span. Something had to give on this March day in Atlanta.
The ACC played the 1983 regular season under experimental rules with a 30-second shot clock and a three-point line that was drawn a mere 17’ 9 from the basket. NC State, with sharpshooters like Dereck Whittenburg and Terry Gannon, was quick to take advantage. Whittenburg in fact had scored 27 points in one half against Virginia at Reynolds Coliseum in January. But Whitt broke a bone in his foot in the second half and did not play again until March.
Whittenburg came back on the final day of the regular season, and the Wolfpack scored a whopping 130 points against Wake Forest.
But the experimental rules did not carry over to the ACC Tournament. Whitt’s 18 footers counted three against Wake on March 5 but only two points the following week. The Pack barely won the rematch with the Deacons in Atlanta 71-70.
Sampson began the championship game like he wanted to make the most of this final opportunity, scoring 18 points in the first half. But then Valvano switched to a triangle and two defense, with Cozell McQueen playing in front of Sampson and Thurl Bailey playing behind him. The others played a three-man zone against the Cavaliers’ perimeter players. Big Ralph only scored six points in the second half.
This was anybody’s game at the five-minute mark, but then UVA assistant Jim Larranaga was assessed a technical foul when he jumped off the bench to protest a charge called on Othell Wilson. Two shots and the ball for NC State. Whittenburg made both free throws and then hit a jumper -- four-point swing. The Pack never trailed again.
State still led by three with 40 seconds left with Virginia attacking. But Gannon stole the ball from Sampson before he could go up and dunk it, preserving an 81-78 win.
NC State -- against all odds -- won the ACC’s automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. The Wolfpack did not lose again, even denying Sampson and Virginia again in the West Regional Championship on their way to conclusion of this miracle season in Albuquerque.
1993 An unforgettable day in Charlotte
The 1993 tournament had it all. A serious injury to UNC’s point guard. TV mayhem from the ambulance that picked him up. A major snowstorm that dumped eight inches in Charlotte. And two power outages that delayed the UNC-Virginia game for 28 minutes.
Carolina’s 74-56 semifinal win over Virginia was never in doubt, yet so much about this Saturday lay well outside of Tar Heel control.
In the late stages of the oft-delayed game, Virginia’s Justin Williford fouled Tar Heel quarterback Derrick Phelps in an attempt to deny him a breakaway. Phelps crashed to the floor. An ambulance was summoned to take him to a nearby hospital for evaluation. Phelps was diagnosed with a severe contusion of the tailbone and lower back.
Here’s the rest of the story: That ambulance ran over WRAL’s TV cables. Only some quick work by the station’s engineering team enabled those in Charlotte to report live on television later that evening.
On Sunday without Phelps, UNC lost the championship game to Georgia Tech. The Heels did get Phelps back later in March to play in Dean Smith’s second national championship.
1995 Get the ball to Randolph
Randolph Childress poured in 40 points in Wake Forest’s quarterfinal win over Duke. He knocked in 30 more in the semifinal triumph over Virginia. But he saved his best for championship Sunday.
North Carolina, with stars Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace, jumped to the early lead prompting Deacon Coach Dave Odom to call time out. Childress, irked by his teammates poor start, took over the huddle and demanded the basketball.
R.C. literally put the Deacons on his back. Shooting jump shots from all over the court, Childress made nine 3 pointers as Wake Forest forced overtime. With the game on the line, Childress again called his own number. He took two dribbles to elude the defender Jeff McInnis, then pulled up at the foul line extended for a two-point shot. Bottom of the net. Wake Forest 82, UNC 80.
It was an historic performance for Childress and the Deacons. Wake won its first ACC title since the days of Billy Packer and Len Chappel in 1962. And Childress with 107 points over three days broke Lennie Rosenbluth’s tournament scoring record — a mark that had stood for almost 40 years.
2001 The change that saved Duke’s championship season
Duke suffered a double indignity on senior night in 2001. The Blue Devils lost to Maryland, the ACC’s third-place team. Worse, star center Carlos Boozer went down with a broken bone in his right foot.
To many fans and media, Duke’s championship aspirations, which had seemed so real for 29 games, suddenly looked bleak.
But not to coach trained in the Army.
Mike Krzyzewski put the tactical and crisis management skills he had learned at West Point to immediate use in perhaps the finest coaching job in his illustrious career.
With just a few days to prepare for the season finale in Chapel Hill, Coach K and his staff made a radical change, going with a smaller, quicker lineup that would run, press and shoot the three.
Rookie of the Year Chris Duhon was inserted into the starting lineup alongside Jay Williams and Mike Dunleavy, giving Duke a three guard look. Versatile forward Shane Battier remained at forward. Boozer’s center spot would be shared by Casey Sanders, Matt Christensen and Reggie Love. 6’6 Nate James who had been starting would be coming off the bench.
The new look Duke Blue Devils took off from the jump, exploding for 95 points in a surprisingly easy win at Carolina. Williams alone poured in 33.
Then it was off to the ACC Tournament at the Georgia Dome, which seated some 40,000 people. The Blue Devils kept their foot on the gas in this atmosphere, knocking off NC State and then avenging the loss to Maryland. In the championship game, Duke absolutely buried Matt Doherty’s Tar Heels 79-53, one of the most lopsided championship games in tournament history.
Duke broke the 90-point barrier three more times in the first two weeks of the NCAA Tournament, and then welcomed Boozer back at the Final Four, ultimately winning the school’s third national championship.
In the final analysis that Duke team, a rare double winner (ACC and NCAA) made a whopping 407 three-point shots, an NCAA record at the time.
Krzyzewski put his stamp on the ACC Tournament in another way. From 1999 through 2011, Duke won 10 of 13 ACC titles, an unequaled success in this granddaddy of all conference basketball tourneys.
North Carolina has claimed far more regular season titles than Duke, but Duke leads in ACC Tournament Championships 22-18. And as we start another tournament week here in 2026, Duke, now under Jon Scheyer is favored to repeat.
Can’t wait to see what the ACC Tournament delivers this year in Charlotte.
