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The Tradition
Consistency. It is the mark of true excellence in
any endeavor.
However, in today’s intercollegiate athletics, competition
has become so balanced and so competitive
that it is virtually impossible to maintain a high level
of consistency.
Yet the Atlantic Coast Conference has defied the
odds. Now, in its 60th year of competition, the ACC
has long enjoyed the reputation as one of the strongest
and most competitive intercollegiate conferences
in the nation. And that is not mere conjecture, the
numbers support it.
Since the league’s inception in 1953, ACC schools
have captured 127 national championships, including
67 in women’s competition and 60 in men’s. In
addition, NCAA individual titles have gone to ACC
student-athletes 145 times in men’s competition and
105 times in women’s action.
Since 1977, when the league adopted women’s
basketball, a tradition of excellence was established.
The 2005-06 season marked the first time in
NCAA history that a conference sent three teams to the
same Final Four. The title game pitted an automatic
ACC winner as second-seeded Maryland faced No. 1-
seeded Duke. The Terrapins claimed their first national
title in school history and the league’s second with a
thrilling 78-75 overtime game at the TD Banknorth
Garden in Boston, Mass., on April 4, 2006. Following
the 2006-07 season, Duke became the first ACC team
and only the 14th in NCAA history to finish a regular
season undefeated (29-0), while 34 wins for North
Carolina marked the most in program history.
The 2011-12 ACC women’s basketball regular
season saw three teams – Duke, Maryland and
Miami – ranked among the nation’s top 10 most of
the year. Duke finished atop the ACC standings with
a 15-1 record after becoming just the ninth team in
conference history to begin the season 13-0 in league
play. The ACC Tournament was held at the Greensboro
(N.C.) Coliseum for the 12th consecutive year, and the
quarterfinal round featured a pair of major upsets
as ninth-seeded NC State defeated top-seeded Duke
73-71, and seventh-seeded Wake Forest upended
third-seeded Miami, 81-74. The ACC Championship
Game on Sunday, March 4 came down to a pair of
nationally-ranked teams, and second-seeded and
fifth-ranked Maryland prevailed by a 68-65 score over
fourth-seeded and 15th-ranked Georgia Tech. ACC
Player of the Year Alyssa Thomas scored a career-high
29 points to lead the Terrapins.
In addition to Thomas, conference season award
winners included Duke’s Elizabeth Williams (ACC
Freshman and Defensive Player of the Year) and
Maryland’s Lynetta Kizer (Sixth Player of the Year).
Thomas finished the season as the ACC’s leading
scorer at 17.2 points per game, while Williams set
the ACC freshman record for blocks in a season with
116. Kizer averaged 10.9 points and 5.5 rebounds per
game despite making just one start. Joanne P. McCallie,
who guided Duke to the regular-season title for
a third straight season, was named ACC Coach of the
Year. Maryland’s Thomas and Duke’s Williams were
joined on the All-ACC first team by the Miami duo
of Shenise Johnson and Riquna Williams, and Duke
guard Chelsea Gray.
ACC champion Maryland and ACC regular season
champion Duke were selected as No. 2 regional seeds
to the 2012 NCAA Tournament. Miami was a No. 3
seed while Georgia Tech received a No. 4 seed. All
four teams were ranked among the top 15 of the
season-ending national polls and among the top 14
of the March 6 RPI report released by the NCAA. It
marked the 18th consecutive year that at least four
ACC teams reached the NCAA Tournament field, but
only the fourth time that all of the teams chosen were
seeded among the top five in their respective regions.
Duke was selected for the ACC Tournament for an ACCbest
18th consecutive year. Three ACC teams – Duke,
Maryland and Georgia Tech – reached the Sweet 16
of the NCAA Tournament field, and Duke (27-6) and
2
TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE
Maryland (31-5) both reached the Elite Eight. The WNIT
field featured Virginia, NC State and Wake Forest, giving
the ACC at least seven teams in postseason play for the
seventh straight year. Virginia made the best showing
among the league’s WNIT participants, reaching the
quarterfinals to highlight a 25-11 season under first-year
head coach Joanne Boyle.
Maryland’s Thomas was named a first-team All-
American by the Associated Press, while Miami’s Johnson
was named to the second team, and Duke’s Williams and
Miami’s Williams were named to the third team. The four
All-America selections from the ACC led all conferences.
The United States Basketball Writers Association (US-
BWA) named Elizabeth Williams the 2011-12 National
Freshman of the Year. Thomas, Johnson and Gray were
named to the USBWA’s 10-member All-America team.
Overall, The ACC’s women’s basketball programs
continue to rank among the best in the country in terms
of the postseason tournaments, having made 166 NCAA
Tournament appearances and winning 224 games in the
last 35 years, including 36 wins by a number one seed.
In addition to accolades such as sending three teams to
the same Final Four for the first time in NCAA history, the
league boasts such national accomplishments as sending
at least one team to the “Sweet 16” for 24 consecutive
seasons and at least one to the Final Four in 11 of the
last 24 seasons. The conference has made 14 trips to the
Final Four in the last 31 seasons, with three teams finishing
second and North Carolina and Maryland capturing
National Championships in 1994 and 2006, respectively.
Since 1989, the ACC has placed 14 players on the
All-Final Four team, including Maryland’s Laura Harper,
who in 2006 joined the ranks of Virginia’s Dawn Staley
and North Carolina’s Charlotte Smith as the NCAA Tournament
Most Outstanding Player. In all, 73 ACC players
have been named to the NCAA Tournament All-Region
teams with 10 Most Outstanding Player recognitions.
The ACC also won four of the last five ACC/Big Ten
Women’s Basketball Challenges and played to a 6-6 draw
last December. In 2008 and 2009, the ACC won seven of
the 11 Big Ten/ACC Challenge games, while the inaugural
Challenge in 2007 saw the ACC collect eight victories.
The ACC and the Big Ten conference offices determine
the 11-game schedule each season, and match-ups may
repeat from year-to-year in efforts to coordinate similar
opponents and reach competitive equity. In addition,
the official title of the Challenge will rotate each year.
Through the first five Challenges, Georgia Tech and
Maryland are the only unbeaten teams remaining from
either conference.
Six ACC players have garnered National Player of the
Year accolades, while competing under the ACC banner.
Staley was a back-to-back selection in ‘91 and ‘92, while
Smith received the ESPY award in ‘95. Duke’s Alana
Beard was recognized with National Player of the Year
honors in both ‘03 and ‘04, and UNC’s Ivory Latta earned
ESPN.com National Player of the Year in ‘06. In 2007,
Duke guard Lindsey Harding was named the Naismith
Trophy Women’s College Player of the Year presented by
AT&T.
Five league coaches have combined to earn 13
National Coach of the Year honors. North Carolina’s
Sylvia Hatchell, Virginia’s Debbie Ryan, former Maryland
head coach Chris Weller, former Duke head coach Gail
Goestenkors and the late NC State head coach Kay Yow
all garnered national recognition.
Seven ACC representatives, including coaches and
student-athletes, have participated in the Olympics.
Yow, assisted by Hatchell, headed up the ‘88 gold
medal-winning Olympic team. Maryland’s Vicky
Bullett was a member of both the ‘88 and ‘92 Olympic
teams. Staley, a three-time Olympian, struck gold
in Athens as a member of the ‘04 title squad, while
Goestenkors served as an assistant coach on the gold
medal-winning team in Athens.
A total of 128 ACC student-athletes have earned
women’s basketball All-America honors. In addition,
ACC women’s basketball players have earned
Academic All-America honors 38 times, including
Virginia’s Val Ackerman – the former President of the
WNBA in ‘81. In 1997, NC State’s Jennifer Howard
was tabbed GTE CoSIDA Academic Player of the Year
after posting a flawless 4.0 grade point average
throughout her career.
Since the inaugural season of the Women’s
National Basketball Association (WNBA) in ‘97, the
ACC has been a recognizable presence in the league.
Ninety-six (96) former ACC stars have played on the
hardwood in the WNBA, while six former players
have worked the sidelines as coaches. Two ACC
players were selected in the first round of the 2012
WNBA Draft, while six players were taken overall.
The league’s record was set in ‘06 and ‘07, with nine
taken in the respective professional drafts.
Over the years, ACC women’s basketball teams
have gained national recognition through their
television exposure. Fifty seven (57) televised games
making up 112 television appearances – the most
television appearances since the inception of ACC
women’s basketball – highlight the 2012-13 schedule.
In addition to the 57 events announced as part of the
ACC’s conference package, it is anticipated that more
games will be added to ESPN3. Further, other games
will be carried by official websites and regional cable
partners of the ACC institutions and as part of other
conference packages.
2011-12 in Review
The 2011-12 academic year saw league teams
capture four more national team titles and seven
individual NCAA crowns. In all, the ACC has won 55
national team titles over the last 14 years and has won
two or more NCAA titles in 29 of the past 31 years.
The ACC was one of only three conferences in
America to place four of its teams in the final Top
10 rankings of the 2010-11 Learfield Director’s
Cup Standings--symbolic of the nation’s top overall
programs--as Florida State (5th), North Carolina
(8th), Virginia (15th) and Duke (16th) all were ranked
nationally in the Top 20.
This past year also marked the 11th consecutive
year that the ACC has placed four or more teams in
the Top 30.
A total of 126 ACC teams placed in NCAA postseason
competition in 2011-12. League teams compiled
a 116-73-5 (.611) mark against opponents in
NCAA championship competition.
2011-12 National Championships
Field Hockey Maryland
Ice Hockey Boston College
Men’s Soccer North Carolina
Rowing Virginia
The Championships
The conference will conduct championship competition
in 25 sports during the 2012-13 academic
year - 12 for men and 13 for women. The first ACC
championship was held in swimming on February 25,
1954. The conference did not conduct championships
in cross country, wrestling or tennis during the first
year.
The 12 sports for men include football, cross
country, soccer, basketball, swimming, indoor and
outdoor track, wrestling, baseball, tennis, golf and
lacrosse. Fencing, which was started in 1971, was
discontinued in 1981.
Women’s sports were initiated in 1977 with the
ACC ACC Women’s Women’s Basketball
Basketball