The Atlantic Coast Conference has been lackluster at best throughout the last five seasons. The conference hasn't secured more than five bids into the NCAA Tournament since 2021, and hasn't secured more than two top-4 seeds since 2019. With several new coaches and revived programs throughout the ACC, it came into the 2025-26 college basketball season with expectations to be vastly improved, and it has done just that. The conference looks to be in a much healthier place than it's been in any of the last five years, and could get more of its teams into the NCAA Tournament than it has in several seasons.
ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips switched back to an 18-game conference schedule for the first time since the 2018-19 season, giving more programs the chance to schedule marquee non-conference games with the hope of getting more teams into the big dance, and it has worked like a charm. According to ESPN's latest Bracketology, the ACC has a projected eight teams in the field, which would be the most it has had since 2018.
ACC basketball proves it is back with success over non-conference slate
When comparing the ACC's non-conference slate from 2024-25 to 2025-26, it's clear to see the vast improvement across the conference from top to bottom.
ACC teams across 2024-25 non-conference schedule:
Record against major conference opponents: 16-50
Quadrant 1 record: 10-50
NET Top-75 teams: 6
ACC teams across 2025-26 non-conference schedule:
Record against major conference opponents: 38-39
Quadrant 1 record: 16-31
NET Top-75 teams: 10
Drastic improvement in just one year.
The ACC is done with non-conf major conference opponents until Feb. 14 (just 3 left overall). Here is a comp of the last 2 seasons at this point:
— Bryan Ives (@awaytoworthy) December 22, 2025
2025-26
Major Conf W-L: 38-39
Q1 W-L: 16-31
NET Top 75 teams: 10
2024-25
Major Conf W-L: 16-50
Q1 W-L: 10-50
NET Top 75 teams: 6
The ACC is historically one of the best, if not the best, conferences in all of college basketball, but that hasn't been the case over the last several years.
Beyond the success against high-majors, the ACC was also much more competitive in this year's ACC/SEC Challenge after being utterly embarrassed in 2024.
In the 2024 ACC/SEC Challenge, ACC teams went just 2-14, losing 11 of 14 games by double digits and five of those games by 20 or more points. The ACC was just 2-6 at home as well. This season, the SEC still won, but with a 9-7 record. Granted, the 2024-25 SEC was potentially the greatest single-season conference in the history of the sport, but it's still a top-three conference this year.
Duke rolled to a 19-1 record, an ACC regular season title, and an ACC Tournament title against a mediocre ACC a season ago. There's no doubt it will be much more competitive this time around.