Comparison of Historical ACC and Big East Basketball
For 34 years (1980 until 2013), the ACC and old Big East were reputed to be the best conferences for elite college basketball. Thought it would be nice to compare some facts about the NCAA Tournament achievements of these conferences during the 34 year span.
As background, the membership count of the two conferences was overwhelmingly different. With the exception of the first 3 years, the Big East had more basketball playing members. Overall, the BE was 8% larger in the 1980s; 25% larger in the 1990s; 39% larger in the 2000s; and 33% larger in the early 2010s (Vis-a-Vis the ACC). The data presented below does not fully normalize for the size of the conference (much of the data is raw counts).
The data is divided into 4 increments:
1980 - 1989
1990 - 1999
2000 - 2009
2010 - 2013
All 34 years
1980s
Tournament champions: ACC 2 (UNC 82 & NCSt 83); BE 2 (GTown 84 & Nova 85
Final Four teams: ACC 8 (UVA 81 & 84; UNC 81 & 82; NCSt 83; Duke 86, 88 & 89); BE 8 (GTown 82, 84 & 85; Nova 85; StJ 85; Syr 87; Prov 87; SH 89)
#1 Seeds: ACC 7 (UVA 81, 82 & 83; UNC 82, 84 & 87; Duke 86); BE 9 (Syr 80; GTown 82, 84, 85, 87 & 89; StJ 83, 85 & 86)
Depth of play: 49 out of 80 ACC teams made the tournament (61%); 44 of 86 BE teams (51%)
The conferences had polar opposite styles, but the results were similar. Possibly, the depth of the play in the ACC was at uniquely historic levels.
1990s
Champions: ACC 3 (Duke 91 & 92; UNC 93); BE 1 (UConn 99)
Final Fours: ACC 11 (Duke 90,91,92,94&99; GTech 90; UNC 91,93,95,97&98); BE 2 (Syr 96; UConn 99)
#1 Seeds: ACC 9 (UNC 91,93,94,97&98; Duke 92,94&98; WFU 95); BE 3 (UConn 90,96&99)
Depth: 52 of 88 (59%) teams in ACC; 49 of 110 (45%) teams in BE made the tournament.
Duke and UNC elevated their programs to a different level...the ACC had the basketball chops. The addition FSU didn’t much impact the depth of the ACC, but the additions of Miami/Rutgers/WVU/ND had an adverse impact on BE basketball.
2000s
Champions: ACC 4 (Duke 01; UMD 02; UNC 05&09); BE 2 (Syr 03; UConn 04)
Final Fours: ACC 9 (UNC 00,05,08&09; Duke 01&04; UMD 01&02; GTech 04); BE 4 (Syr 03; GTown 07; UConn 09; Nova 09)
#1 Seeds: ACC 11 (Duke 00,01,02,04,05&06; UMD 02; UNC 05,07,08&09); BE 5 (UConn 06&09; Nova 06; Louisville 09; Pitt 09)
Depth: 50 of 104 (48%) teams in ACC; 62 of 145 (43%) teams in BE made the tournament.
Can’t keep up with the blue bloods...in terms elite programs, the ACC leads the way. But the whole structure of power basketball conference depth changed in 2005/2006 when the BE lost Miami/VT/BC, and added Cincy/DePaul/Louisville/Marquette/USF.
2010-2013
Champions: ACC 1 (Duke 10); BE 2 (UConn 11, Louisville 13)
FF: ACC 1 (Duke 10); BE 4 (UConn 11, Louisville 12&13; Syr 13)
#1 Seeds: ACC 3 (Duke 10&11; UNC 12); BE 4 (Syr 10&12; Pitt 11; Louisville 13)
Depth: 19 of 48 (40%) teams in ACC; 34 of 64 (53%) teams in BE made the tournament.
The depth of the BE was clearly superior during the last 8 years of their existence.
Over the entire 34 year overlap, ACC basketball had more champions (10-7), Final Fours (29-18), #1 Seeds (30-21) and better depth (53%-47%). But the ACC was clearly transitioning away from a basketball-first conference. On the other hand, the BE started out as a basketball conference...then emphasized football for 15 years...a finally became the undisputed basketball Beast during its final 8 years.
(This post was last modified: 05-27-2020 04:16 PM by Wahoowa84.)
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