The ACC stands tallest during the Men’s and Women’s NCAA Tournaments the last 2 years.

A funny thing happened (again) during March. The national perception was that ACC men’s basketball was having its worst year in history. Most computer metrics had the ACC as the 6th or 7th rated conference. ACC women’s basketball was also considered down, but not quite to the extent of the men. Top 15 fixtures like Notre Dame, Louisville, and NC State were suffering major injuries and/or roster turnover from last year.

The Virginia Tech women were a #1 seed, but how many Elite 8 capable teams did the ACC have on the women’s side?

Well, this is what happened.

With the Virginia Tech women advancing to the Elite 8, the ACC leads all conferences with 4 Teams in the Men’s and Women’s Elite 8.

Women – Louisville, Virginia Tech, Miami
Men – Miami

No other conference has a team in both Elite 8s.

— Jeff or Jeffrey Fann (@TalkinACCSports) March 26, 2023

The year before the ACC had 5 Elite 8 teams – 3 on the men’s side (Duke, UNC, Miami) and 2the  women’s side (NC State and Louisville).

That’s 32 Teams in the men’s and women’s tournaments, and 9 have come from the ACC. A whopping 28% of the Elite 8 for the Men’s and Women’s NCAA Tournaments in the last 2 years are from the ACC.

The next closest conferences are the Big 10 with 4 Elite 8 teams, 3 from the Women’s side in 2023 and 1 in 2022, and the SEC with 4 Elite 8 teams 2 from the Women’s side in 2023, 1 in 2022, and 1 men’s team in 2022.

Of the 16 Number 1 seeds in the last two years in both tournaments, 3 of them have lost to ACC teams – (Men 2023 – Miami over Houston, Men 2022 – UNC over Baylor, Women 2023 – Miami over Indiana).

Saturday ACC commissioner Jim Phillip’s said he had to change the basketball narrative.

ACC commissioner Jim Phillips told me the league needs to be more aggressive and proactive about changing the men’s basketball narrative. So he will meet with coaches + ADs as soon as the season ends https://t.co/uKFC5IwWFZ

— Andrea Adelson (@aadelsonESPN) March 25, 2023

This shouldn’t be hard for Jim Phillips. He only needs to look at March. The numbers are all there. The men are a sterling 20-9 in the NCAA Tournament the last two years. There were a remarkable 14-5 in 2022, and a respectable 7-4 so far despite being underseeded and underrepresented in the NCAA’s. That’s a winning percentage of 70%. That’s the best of any league including the Big 12 who is 22-12 or 65%.

Even the most uneducated of basketball observers should have been able to recognize that the ACC men this year were dragged down by the metric-killing combo of Florida State and Louisville and their 18 OOC losses, but this didn’t happen as a reliance on metrics clouded a complete understanding of the league’s teams – ala Joe Lunardi’s gem Saturday.

Commish: ACC will meet to alter hoops narrative https://t.co/mtd36faMKN. 🏀🏀 All due respect to the Commissioner, but the ACC doesn’t have a “narrative” problem. It has a basketball problem.

— Joe Lunardi (@ESPNLunardi) March 25, 2023

The ACC doesn’t have a basketball problem, it has a lazy analysis problem and March is once again proving it.

As we update this post – Miami defeated Texas 88-81 to reach the Final 4. That’s 38% of the men’s Final 4 the last two years.

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