2018 NCAA Tournament: The Best Conference Is Back In The Saddle

The ACC is back.

As far as NCAA participation is concerned, the ACC has rebounded to the impressive levels it achieved in 2015 and 2016, only to fall back last season.

The 2015 season was the first in two decades the ACC had at least four teams reach the Sweet 16. There were in fact five, a record for the league, even if that was only a third of its membership.

Then things got better. In 2016 the conference had six regional semifinalists, an embarrassment of riches that was a record for any conference. Four reached the Elite Eight, North Carolina and Syracuse got all the way to the Final Four, and the Tar Heels went to the championship game. The ’16 season also was the first since 1992 and…