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Friedlander: Upsets, overtimes and amazing performances highlight ACC Tournament history in DC
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The ACC Tournament returns to Washington, DC, for the first time since 2016 this week. It will mark the 6th time the league’s signature event has been played in the national capital area, tying it with Atlanta for the most among non-North Carolina sites.
This year’s tournament promises to be the most wide-open in recent memory. But not only because of the parity in the conference. Of the ACC’s 5 previous trips to the DC area, the top seed has brought home the title only once.
Before the ACC Tournament begins Tuesday, here’s a look back at the most memorable moments of previous championships:
1976: UVa is Wally Wonderful
It took 22 years and a lot of lobbying on the part of Maryland coach Lefty Driesell for the ACC to finally move the tournament off Tobacco Road for the 1st time. While the Capital Centre in suburban Landover, Md., figured to boost the chances of Driesell’s Terrapins to become only the 3rd non-North Carolina team to win the championship, it was another outsider that made the most of the home cooking.
Virginia came into the tournament seeded 6th after going just 4-8 in the conference during the regular season. But behind the MVP performance of forward Wally Walker, the Cavaliers pulled off what has become known as “The Miracle in Landover.”
UVA beat NC State 75-63 on Thursday, Maryland 73-65 on Saturday and North Carolina 67-62 on Saturday to become the 1st team in tournament history to defeat the top 3 seeds in succession on the way to the title. Wally Wonder made up for being left off the All-ACC team by averaging 24 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists, capping things off with a 21-point, 7-rebound performance in the final against UNC.
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1981: Maryland Lefty-ed disappointed again
Driesell’s frustration over never having won a tournament title was at its height when the tournament returned to Landover in 1981. The previous year in Greensboro, the long-suffering Terps coach had lost in the championship game for the 4th time when his top-seeded team was beaten 73-72 on a controversial non-call on the final possession.
Maryland was seeded only 5th this time. But playing only a few miles from home, the Terps took down Duke and top-seeded Virginia to give the Lefthander another opportunity to bolt the tournament trophy to the hood of his car and drive around North Carolina for a month, as he once boasted.
In the end, though, it was just another disappointment. Led by MVP Sam Perkins, UNC handed Maryland its 2nd straight 1-point championship loss, 61-60.
“I guess the good Lord just don’t mean for me to win this thing,” Driesell said afterward. “I wish I knew why. I’m going to have to ask him.” The Hall of Fame coach eventually did win his elusive tournament title in 1985. But he didn’t follow through on his trophy tour boast, saying he was “too tired” to do it.
1987: Wolfpack working overtime
The Wolfpack’s tournament championship 4 years earlier is better remembered because of the improbable national title run it produced. But the accomplishment Jim Valvano’s 1987 team pulled off over 3 days in Landover is equally as remarkable.
Not only was State the No. 6 seed after going 6-8 in the conference during the regular season, they had to endure 3 overtimes before getting a shot at top-seeded UNC.
It took one extra period to escape with a 71-64 quarterfinal victory against Duke. A day later, the Wolfpack had to withstand a spectacular performance by Muggsy Bogues and 2 overtimes to get past Wake Forest 77-73. The Tar Heels also needed 2 extra periods to beat Virginia in the other semifinal.
Although the championship game didn’t go into overtime, it did come down to the final possession. UNC’s Joe Wolf and Ranzino Smith both missed potential game-winning shots before State came away with a 67-66 win with Vinnie Del Negro winning the Everett Case Award as the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
2005: Redick’s reign begins
JJ Redick won the first of his 2 consecutive Most Valuable Player awards to lead Duke to the championship on his way to becoming the tournament’s all-time leading scorer. But the Blue Devil sharpshooter’s heroics were only a small part of one of the most eventful tournaments in recent memory.
It started with the number of teams participating. The 2005 event was the first and only one with 11 teams in the bracket. The odd number came about because Boston College had to wait an extra year to enter the league than fellow newcomers Miami and Virginia Tech.
Wake Forest entered the tournament shorthanded after star point guard Chris Paul was suspended for hitting NC State’s Julius Hodge in the groin in the final game of the regular season. As luck would have it, the teams were matched again in the quarterfinal, with the 7th-seeded Wolfpack beating the 2nd-seeded Deacons.
The upset of the tournament, however, happened in the semifinals when Will Bynum led Georgia Tech to a 78-75 takedown of 2nd-ranked UNC. Bynum scored 28 of his 35 points in the 2nd half, then celebrated his team’s victory by shouting taunts at the Tar Heels fans in attendance.
But all that was a sideshow to the Blue Devils and Redick, who torched NC State with 35 points in the semifinals before scoring 25 in the championship game against Tech.
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PRE-REGISTER!2016: A Berry chalk tournament
For all the unexpected twists and turns of the 2005 tournament, the 2016 edition stuck almost entirely to the prescribed script. Of the 12 games that were played (1 fewer than usual because Louisville was serving an NCAA postseason ban and didn’t participate), 11 were won by the better seed.
Only No. 10 Georgia Tech’s 2nd-round win against No. 7 Clemson kept the event from going completely chalk.
Top-seeded UNC breezed through its 1st two games, routing No. 8 Pittsburgh 88-71 before putting an even more thorough 78-47 hurting on 4th-seeded Notre Dame. The Tar Heels had to work much harder to hold off 2nd-seeded Virginia in the final. But thanks to a defense that held the Cavaliers without a field goal for more than 8 minutes in the 2nd half and 19 points from MVP Joel Berry, UNC earned a 61-57 to end a 4-game losing streak in tournament championship games.
RELATED: Today is the day North Carolina online sports betting will launch, thus allowing legal sports gamblers in the Tar Heel State the chance to place online wagers on the ACC Tournament, NCAA Tournament and more.
Award-winning columnist Brett Friedlander has covered the ACC and college basketball since the 1980s.
