After spending decades as a perennial basketball powerhouse, the Atlantic Coast Conference hit rock bottom last year.
Heading into the 2025 NCAA Tournament, the ACC had sent a record-low four out of 18 schools (22.2%) to the 68-team field — its lowest percentage of bids in the league’s entire history. Out of those four teams, only one survived the first weekend, with Clemson, Louisville, and North Carolina falling in the first round and Duke being the sole program to advance to the Round of 32.
Last year’s dismal showing marked the first time the conference had one or fewer teams alive past the first game since the expansion of March Madness in 1975.