Sweet 16 Conference Breakdown: Exploring the conference with most appearances in NCAA Men's Tournament History ft. ACC
The Sweet 16 cast for this year's NCAA Tournament featured four teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) with North Carolina, Duke, Clemson and North Carolina State contending for the national championship.
The four teams continue ACC's dominance in the NCAA Tournament as they have the most number of Sweet 16 appearances in history at 227, with the Big 12 far behind at 155.
Despite Kentucky having the most Sweet 16 appearances in history with 44, the Southeastern Conference (SEC) still ranks fourth in the list with 124, three behind the Big 10 (127).
Surprisingly, Pac-12 and Big East rank fifth and sixth in successful Sweet 16 bids with 118 and 113 appearances, respectively.
Below is the detailed breakdown of Sweet 16 appearances per conference.
Which conference has the most teams in the Sweet 16?
The ACC has the most number of teams that have made it to the Sweet 16 in history. The conference has a total of 227 appearances with North Carolina leading the pack with 36 bids. Duke is not too far behind with 33, while Louisville and Syracuse are tied for third-best in the conference as far as Sweet 16 stints with 24 each.
Notre Dame (17), Maryland (14), NC State (12) and Virginia (10) are the other ACC teams that had 10 or more Sweet 16 appearances in history.
Big 12 is at second with a combined 155 Sweet 16 stints. Leading the conference is Kansas with 31 appearances. Kansas State is next with 18, while Cincinnati is third at 13.
Big 10 occupy the third spot with 127 Sweet 16 appearances. Indiana has the most Sweet 16 stints in the conference with 22, one ahead of Michigan State. Michigan has qualified in 17 Sweet 16s, while Purdue and Ohio State have 14.
The SEC is a close fourth at 124 mainly because of Kentucky's 44 stints in the Sweet 16. Arkansas had the second-most Sweet 16 appearances in the SEC with 14, while Tennessee, Alabama, LSU, and Florida had 10 each.
Two other conferences have more than 100 combined Sweet 16 appearances. Pac 12 had 118 mainly because of UCLA's 36 Sweet 16 stints, while Big East had 113. Villanova, UConn and Marquette have made it to the 16-team cast 19, 18, and 17 times, respectively.
West Coast and Atlantic 10 are far behind the 100-Sweet 16 appearances club with 42 stints each.
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Breakdown of the Sweet 16 field by conference
Here is the list of conferences with at least one Sweet 16 appearance in their program history.
Can the ACC maintain its Sweet 16 dominance in NCAA basketball?
With North Carolina, Duke, Clemson, and NC State making it to this year's Sweet 16, it is safe to say the ACC remains the dominant force in NCAA men's basketball.
However, the journey of the four ACC teams does not stop there, as they still have at the maximum four more rounds to prove that they are the best in the nation.
North Carolina will face Alabama for an opportunity to secure an Elite Eight berth. Clemson will have to upset Arizona to face the Tar Heels in a possible All-ACC West Regional final clash.
In the South region, NC State and Duke will have tougher semifinal opponents in Marquette and Houston, respectively.
The last time an ACC team won the national title was Virginia in 2019. They defeated Texas Tech in the final, 85-77, in overtime.
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