North Carolina's Roy Williams appreciates ACC and NCAA history, having been a part of it all as a coach since his 10 years (1978-88) as an assistant to Dean Smith. Williams also understands that many of his team’s accomplishments this season (32-2, first-place finish, ACC title, No. 1 poll rankings, No. 1 NCAA seed) will be forgotten if the Tar Heels don’t find more success in the postseason.

“What does everybody talk about?” Williams said recently. “If you think about our (2007) team, what does everybody talk about? That we lost (in the Elite Eight) to Georgetown. Nobody says, ‘Yes, but they won the ACC Tournament.’ Let’s be honest.”

Like UNC, the ACC as a whole would like everyone to remember the longer-term past, especially when it comes to the NCAA Tournament. And the ACC, like UNC, sees this year as an opportunity for redemption, with No. 2 seed Duke, No. 5 seed Clemson and No. 7 seed Miami joining the Tar Heels in the 65-team NCAA field.

Why redemption?

In 2007, after earning a league-record seven NCAA bids, the ACC fell apart in the postseason — for the second time in a row.

Only UNC made the Sweet 16 last year, and the Tar Heels fell short of the Final Four by losing to Georgetown in the regional final. On the previous weekend, Duke and Georgia Tech lost in the first round. Boston College, Maryland, Virginia and Virginia Tech fell in the second round.

In 2006, the ACC didn’t even get a team past the Sweet 16, a disappointment that had happened only once (2003) in the previous 26 years.

The 2006 and 2007 postseasons represented the first time since the NCAA Tournament changed its rules in 1980 — eliminating its long-held limits (one through 1974, then two through 1979) on bids per conference — that the ACC had gone two straight years without a Final Four team.

If that doesn’t sound too terrible, consider these facts as context:

* The ACC has won three of the last seven (42.9 percent) national championships, with three different teams — Duke in 2001, Maryland in 2002, and North Carolina in 2005. The league also has won six of the last 17 (35.3 percent) NCAA titles, and eight of the last 26 (30.8 percent). Its other national champions in that stretch: UNC in 1982, N.C. State in 1983, Duke in 1991, Duke in 1992 and UNC in 1993.

* The ACC averaged one Final Four team per year from 1980-2005, balancing its five seasons without a representative in the semifinals with five in which it filled half the four-team bracket by itself.

* The ACC’s all-time NCAA Tournament winning percentage (.668) entering this year’s event was significantly better than that of any other conference. The Big East (.622) was second, the Big Ten (.620) third and the Pac-10 (.609) fourth. Nobody else was over 60 percent.

* Since 1979, the ACC has had just one losing season in NCAA Tournament play (5-6 in 1987) and has a success rate over 67 percent. Again, nobody else is close.

* From the expansion of the NCAA field to 64 teams in 1985 through last year’s event, the ACC had 117 teams in the NCAA Tournament, about the same as the Big East (122). Yet the ACC had 227 wins in that span — 36 more than the Big East. The Big Ten had 130 participants yet had 42 fewer wins. The SEC, with 115 participants, had 60 fewer wins. The Pac-10 had about half as many NCAA wins (117) as the ACC in the modern era. From the formation of the Big 12 in 1996 through last year, it trailed the ACC 103-77.

* In the first 54 years of ACC history, 24 of 51 ACC champions advanced to the Final Four. (Three ACC champs were on probation and thus didn’t participate in the NCAA Tournament.) That’s a stunning 47 percent success rate for the league’s top representative. In 10 of the last 17 years (58.8 percent), a first-place regular-season finisher (including ties) from the ACC made the Final Four.

As the No. 1 overall seed this year, UNC will carry the highest expectations of the four ACC entries into the NCAA Tournament. After their first-place finish in the regular season, then their run to the ACC title, the Tar Heels had plenty of believers.

“They’re built for a title run,” Clemson coach Oliver Purnell said. “I don’t think there’s any doubt about that.”

ACC In 2008 NCAA Tournament

First Round

East Region — No. 1 North Carolina vs. No. 16 Mt. St. Mary's, Raleigh, Friday, 7:10 p.m.

West Region — No. 2 Duke vs. No. 15 Belmont, Washington, D.C., Thursday, 7:10 p.m.

Midwest Region — No. 5 Clemson vs. No. 12 Villanova, Tampa, Fla., Friday, 9:40 p.m.

South Region — No. 7 Miami vs. No. 10 St. Mary's, Little Rock, Ark., Friday, 12:30 p.m.