Few events in sports bring more action and excitement to the table than single-elimination tournaments in college basketball. The Atlantic Coast Conference has held its do-or-die tourney since 1954 and has had plenty of thrilling moments to show for it. Excluding the Southeastern Conference, which has held a postseason tournament every year since 1933, the ACC Tournament is the longest standing in the nation and has hosted some of the country’s finest players and teams, along with some memorable games. Without further ado, here are some of the many ACC Tournament games/moments that have left considerable and lasting impressions in basketball folklore.
N.C. State vs. Duke, 1968: Believe it or not, back then—and until 1975—the tournament held even more meaning than it does today, as only its winner would advance to the NCAA Tournament. With that said, the 1968 semifinals, which pitted an underdog Wolfpack team against a Blue Devils team ranked 10th nationally, had significant national-title implications. The Blue Devils had defeated N.C. State twice already that year and head coach Norm Sloan refused to let the Dukies pack the paint and force errant Wolfpack jumpers for yet a third time. Instead, Sloan wanted to force Duke to come after his team and force the action. The result? A 4-2 halftime score and an absolutely memorable last-second finish that gave State a 12-9 victory. After the game, Duke head coach Vic Bubas admitted, “My decision to lay back and wait was a bad one.”
Duke vs. North Carolina, 1969: It didn’t long for the ACC Tourney to provide us with yet another memorable moment, as the 1969 Tournament saw UNC’s Charlie Scott become a college basketball legend. In the tournament’s finals, Scott found his Tar Heels in a significant halftime hole, trailing the Blue Devils 43-34. Scott, a junior Olympian and the first African-American scholarship player in any sport at UNC, would have much to say about the game’s final outcome, however. In one of the most clutch performances in history, Scott went 12-for-13 from the field for 29 points in the second half and would finish the game with 40 in an 85-74 victory. “It was one of the finest performances I’ve ever seen,” exclaimed UNC head coach Dean Smith.
N.C. State vs. Maryland, 1974: Considered by many to be the greatest game ever played, the ’74 Finals included two great veteran teams led by legendary players. Reportedly, single tickets to the memorable winner-take-all showdown were going for $1,000 prior to tip-off. Maryland was playing at its best, having just beaten a great North Carolina team by 20 points in the semifinals. The two teams battled back and forth the entire night and were tied at 97-97 with nine seconds remaining. The game would go to overtime where N.C. State’s 7-foot-4 All-American center Tom Burleson took over, leading the Wolfpack to an epic 103-100 victory. Burleson finished the game with an amazing 38 points to go along with 13 rebounds. Maryland decided to skip the NIT, ending its season right there, and the game was the last for the great senior duo of Tom McMillen and Len Elmore.
Duke vs. North Carolina, 1989: No doubt about it, these teams have played in some pretty special games. In 1989, Duke and North Carolina split their two regular-season meetings and entered the ACC Tournament ranked seventh and ninth in the nation, respectively, making for one the most intense showdowns in the rivalry’s storied history. By the time it became known that the two teams would meet in the tournament’s final round, the game itself carried the expectations of a heavyweight title bout. Not surprisingly, it played out like one too; both teams battled back and forth, committing 49 fouls along the way, before Danny Ferry’s almost full-court shot rimmed in and then out to give the Tar Heels a monumental 77-74 victory and their first ACC title in seven years.
Wake Forest vs. North Carolina, 1995: The Demon Deacons may have entered the game as the tournament’s No. 1 seed, but they still had to get through North Carolina and the likes of Jeff McInnis, Shammond Williams, Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace to be called champions. For Tournament MVP Randolph Childress, however, that would be no problem. Childress put up an impressive 37 points with an astonishing nine 3-pointers in regulation, but UNC kept the score close and pushed the game into overtime. As if he hadn’t done enough, it was in this final stanza that Childress truly made his name legendary. Not only did the 6-2 senior score all nine of Wake’s overtime points, he also hit the game’s winning basket with just 4.6 seconds remaining, giving the Deacons a memorable 82-80 victory.
Janovitz can be reached at sjanovitz@scoreatl.com.
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