See if this sounds familiar.

Every season from 1978, the first year the NCAA Tournament accepted more than two members from the same league, through 1998, at least half of the ACC’s teams got NCAA bids. Then in 1999 the ACC sustained a shock. Only three of its teams were selected for the national tournament – Maryland, which lost to St. John’s in the Sweet 16; North Carolina, which shockingly dropped its opener against Weber State; and Duke, with a tremendously gifted team (Elton Brand, Shane Battier, Trajan Langdon, Chris Carrawell, Will Avery, Corey Maggette, Nate James) that finished 37-2, with its second loss coming in the national title game.

That season a Wake squad coached by Dave Odom failed to get an NCAA bid for the first time in eight years. Maryland, on the other hand, set a school mark with its sixth straight invitation under Gary Williams. NC State, 19-14, was snubbed, extending a league-worst string of exclusions that lasted from 1992 through 2002. And predictably, UNC, with Bill Guthridge at the helm, ran its streak of consecutive NCAA appearances to 25.
Prior to the start of the ‘99 NCAAs, with the Blue Devils’ brilliance casting a shadow over the rest of the league, coach Mike Krzyzewski decried the paucity of bids for the nine-team ACC.

“I think the ACC was let down,” he said of the league’s three representatives. “I just don’t know how that happens. I really thought we’d have five, to be quite frank with you. Just because of the strength of the three teams — Duke, Maryland and North Carolina. I can’t equate a 20-10 record from someone else, without saying who, with a 16-13 Wake record.”

Now fast-forward to 2025. Duke was again transcendent. But while there were good teams in the ACC, only Louisville and Clemson even made the top 25 in the AP’s final poll. In all, with wobbly UNC slipping into the field, a measly 22 percent of ACC members (four of 18) got NCAA bids. Few arguments were credibly made that more were deserving of inclusion. The ACC was like a soda that had gone flat — the flavor was familiar, but it had no fizz.

Whether last season was a modern low point or indicative of a new reality, we’ll soon find out. The ACC rebounded from its 1999 slump to place teams in four straight Final Fours, with Duke winning the 2001 championship and Maryland triumphant in 2002.

No telling what the prospects are for 2026, considering the lingering effects of last season, the addition of eight new head coaches in two years, and traditions of less-than-excellence for about a third of the present ACC membership.

Since 2010 five current schools combined to manage seven NCAA selections in 75 opportunities (.093 percent). A slightly different five haven’t gone to the tournament even once in the past eight years. Wake, SMU, and Stanford did post respectable records in 2025 that might have earned NCAA bids in other seasons, but not last year.

Talk of expanding the NCAA tournament field spiked and receded during the offseason. Hopefully the greedheads will grow quiet for awhile. For now, if nothing else, getting into the tournament remains a reasonable gauge of strength both for teams and leagues.