NCAA Tournament 2015: ACC Women, Men Dominate

Much has been made of the ACC getting five teams in this year's Sweet 16. There's no denying that it's quite a feat.

The conference has never had this many regional semifinalists in the same NCAA tournament. Even granting that an expanded league allows more opportunities to penetrate deep into the tournament, having five members in the Sweet 16 (31 percent of the total) is worth noting.

That goes for the ACC men as well.

A decade has passed since the conference completed the expansion that brought Boston College, Miami and Virginia Tech. Since then, ACC women have sent six or more teams to the NCAAs in eight of 10 seasons, including 2015, when they boasted eight. That's tied for the most women's teams ever from the ACC, a mark set last year.

The ACC men have never had eight teams in the same NCAA tournament. Over the past decade, they've sent six or seven teams on five occasions, including the past two seasons as a 15-member league.

The five teams in the Sweet 16 are a new high water mark for the ACC women and men.

The women had four teams get that far in both 2006 and 2007. Maryland won the national title in '06, defeating both UNC and Duke in the Final Four to get there. The win over the Blue Devils, arguably the most painful defeat in that program's history, came in overtime in the championship contest.

The last time the men had even four teams get to the Sweet 16 was 1995 - Maryland, UNC, Virginia and Wake Forest.

Counting this season, ACC women have put 29 teams in the Sweet 16 over the past decade, an average of three per year. For the men it's 20 and a 2.0 average.

Good as the ACC women are, their stature within their sport suffers a bit due to a lack of national titles. Since the NCAA took over women's sports for the 1982 season, ACC teams have combined for only two championships: by North Carolina in 1994 and Maryland in 2006. Compare that with the ACC men, who've won 10 national titles over the same span.