It’s the dog days of August, and by now we’re all tired of a news cycle dominated by eligibility, lawsuits, transfers, and money. Not only that, but 90% of those stories are about three conferences, even though we always refer to the group as the Power 4. The Big 12, Big Ten, and SEC get all the headlines because they also get and throw around most of the money, while one conference gets treated like the black sheep.
The ACC seems to get the short end of the stick in every situation, as if they are the basketball black sheep of the Power 4. Not only do they have a case of Little Brother Syndrome as the forgotten member of the Power 4, but they’re also treated like Max from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. They get dragged along in all these lawsuits and hearings and proceedings they want no part of because out of everyone involved, they’ll likely get the least out of it. But being around three bigger brothers usually hardens up the runt of the litter, and in the end, it’s that little brother who flourishes the most.
There’s a real irony that gets lost in all this so-called power 4 designation, at least from a basketball perspective. We’re reminded all the time that sports is a results-based business. If that is true, why is the ACC the low man on the power-conference totem pole? Sure, the other three leagues have more in terms of brand recognition and league depth, thanks to realignment, but on the floor over the last half-decade, the Big 12, Big Ten, and SEC haven’t dominated in March.
Do the numbers lie?
The basketball disparity between the ACC and the other three conferences is illustrated through two different lenses with the same focus: money. There’s no denying that the money allocated to basketball over the last five years has grown. The Big Ten and SEC have gone from spending nearly $287 million on basketball in 2022 to having 27 of the top 50 most expensive rosters in 2026-27. That means only seven rosters from the top two spending conferences are outside the top 50. Even the Big 12 has just eight (which is still half the conference) of the top 50, and the Big East, which has seven, has more than the ACC. In contrast, the ACC spent $120.7 million on basketball in 2022 and has six of the top 50 rosters. The other lens that shows just how much more notoriety the SEC, Big Ten, and Big 12 get compared to the ACC is the number of bids they’ve received to March Madness. Over the last five years, the Big 12 has received 36 bids, including seven or more since 2023. The two conferences spearheading this monetary explosion, the Big Ten and SEC, have had 40 and 46 bids, respectively, with the SEC garnering 24 bids over the last two seasons. The fewest bids they have received over the last five years is six. Since 2022, the ACC has received a total of 27 bids, but up until last year, when they received eight, the conference had no more than five bids in a season.
Despite having the economic and depth advantage over the ACC, have those advantages translated to correlated success on the court for the Big 12, Big Ten, and the SEC? Over the last five seasons, the answer to that question may surprise many people. Sports are a results-based business, and people are going to remember Final Four appearances a lot more than the number of bids a conference received. In the last five years, the SEC, Big Ten, and Big 12 have each had three teams reach the Final Four. On the surface, it looks like they have been dominant during that time, accounting for nearly half of the available spots. But taking into account that they also had a total of 122 bids in that time, three teams per conference doesn’t look all that successful. The ACC’s portfolio has more Final Four appearances than any other conference over the last five years, with five. Duke, NC State, and Miami have all been to the sport’s final stage since 2022. Even though they have no national titles to show for those appearances, the fact that they’ve had more teams reach that stage given how many fewer bids they’ve had is an impressive feat. Even the Big East, thanks to the success of UConn, has more final four appearances than the Big Three, with four.
The ACC is getting stronger
There are a couple of things at play for the ACC. First, they’re pouring more resources into basketball than they were coming out of COVID, which is the case all over the high-major level. Second, the league isn’t nearly as top-heavy as it was a decade ago. The eight bids the conference received last season were the most since it received nine in 2018. Expect that to continue this season with the league projected to have four of the top 20 rosters in the country based on NIL. Duke, Miami, and Virginia all have top-10 potential. North Carolina under new head coach Michael Malone should begin the year ranked in the top 25. Add in teams like Clemson, Virginia Tech, and NC State, among others, and the ACC has the chance to continue the trend of increased tournament bids.
They may not have post-COVID national titles like Michigan and Florida the past two seasons, but the ACC is going to break through soon. However, their success in the tournament compared to the big three proves the adage: money talks. Sports may be a results-based business, but college sports has become a money-talks-and-you-know-what-walks business, more now than ever before. The ACC will break through with a national title soon, maybe even this year. Even if the ACC doesn’t win a national title this season, let’s remember the next time we hear about the Power 4, at least when it comes to basketball, the ACC is nowhere near the black sheep it’s being made to look like next to the other three.
Links
Use code SSM25 at https://statelineco.shop/ for a great discount on some awesome apparel!
SSM is now an ambassador for Bucked Up! Use the code SSM2026 for a discount at https://www.buckedup.com