The Countdown: 49 days until the ACC

49 days until the ACC: ACC leads all conferences with NBA first round picks

The ACC has been good at basketball for a while - I don't think that bit of news is going to really surprise anyone (at least I hope not). They've also had elite coaches who are able to get their players to not only succeed in college, but also get drafted by the NBA and succeed in the pros as well.

With the NBA Draft coming up in about a month and a half, today we'll look at the ACC's success in past drafts. Not surprisingly, the conference has done well on draft day, with eight draft picks in last year's draft including six in the first round alone from Duke and North Carolina.

But even in the past seasons, schools that haven't had as much success on the hardwood, like Boston College, Georgia Tech, Clemson, and Wake Forest have had players drafted in the first round within the past three years. In fact, every ACC school except Virginia and Virginia Tech has had a first round NBA draft pick more recently than Pitt has (Vonteego Cummings in 1999). Hopefully, that changes this year with Steven Adams being projected as a first round choice.

Not only though has the ACC had players drafted from all of its schools recently, but the ACC actually leads all conferences in NBA first round selections. Even more than the Big East, with it's multitude of storied programs. Since 2001, the ACC has had 49 first round selections while the Big East has had 42. Furthermore, the ACC has had more #1 overall selections in the NBA Draft (10) than any other conference. It's really a testament to how much the schools in the ACC value the sport.

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