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Does The ACCT In Charlotte Mean Success Is Coming?

The 1993 national champion Tar Heels also played the ACC Tournament in Charlotte three weeks earlier.
The 1993 national champion Tar Heels also played the ACC Tournament in Charlotte three weeks earlier. (AP)

The ACC Tournament returns to Charlotte next March for just the second time since 2002, remarkably, meaning just one of the last 16 ACC Tournaments have been played in the Queen City.

That happened in 2008, when North Carolina defeated Clemson in the championship game and two weeks later advanced to the Final Four, also clinching it in Charlotte.

The 2018-19 basketball season doesn't start for another two months, but with the ACC releasing an updated schedule over the next four years for the ACC Tournament, it's a good time to look ahead to next spring and what that could portend for the Tar Heels.

UNC's history in the ACC and NCAA Tournaments in years the ACC holds its annual event in Charlotte is actually pretty good, especially the second postseason.

Charlotte has hosted the ACC Tournament 12 times, with UNC cutting down the nets five times and reaching the finals in three other years. In the NCAA Tournament in years the ACC plays its event in Charlotte, UNC has done quite well.

The 1968 Heels celebrate an NCAA Tournament victory.
The 1968 Heels celebrate an NCAA Tournament victory. (GoHeels.com)
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Carolina has played in 10 NCAA Tournaments in the 12 seasons Charlotte hosted the ACCT, not making it in 1970 when just one team per conference played in the NCAAs, and in 2002, which was the worst season in Carolina basketball history.

In those 10 seasons, UNC was eliminated in the first round of the NCAAs once, second round once, Sweet 16 twice, and advanced to the Final Four six times. When at the Final Four, Carolina played for the national championship and lost to UCLA in Los Angeles in 1968 and won the national title in 1993.

Now, this obviously means nothing when it comes to projecting what the Tar Heels will do next spring, but it’s interesting to note that when the ACC Tournament is in Charlotte, the odds have been pretty good the Tar Heels would do well there, and even better in the following NCAA Tournament.

Those 12 Seasons

*= UNC won ACC Tournament

1968* – National runner-up

1969* - Final Four

1970 –

1990 – Sweet 16

1991* – Final Four

1992 – Sweet 16

1993 – National champions

1994* – 2nd round

1999 – 1st round

2000 – Final Four

2002 –

2008* - Final Four

Future ACC Tournament Sites:

2019 – Spectrum Center; Charlotte, N.C.

2020 – Greensboro Coliseum; Greensboro, N.C.

2021 – Capital One Arena; Washington, D.C.

2022 – Barclays Center; Brooklyn, N.Y.

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