The 25 Greatest Sneaker Moments in ACC Tournament History

Image via Complex Original

Sneakers: Converse Pro Leather
Year: 1984

Sure, Mike iced Georgetown in the Pro Leather, too, but he also wore it while putting on for his conference. Sam Perkins and James Worthy did big things in the Pro Leather too, but neither of them grew up to be Michael Jordan.

Sneakers: Nike Air Flight Low
Year: 1990

Now that's how you split a double team. Kenny Anderson hit Georgia Tech like a crossover and made the rest of the ACC stagger. He wore various Flights throughout his stay in the ATL - maybe the Terps just wanted a closer look at these.

Sneakers: Nike Zoom Kobe 7
Year: 2012

Barnes notoriously annoyed Michael Jordan by choosing Kobe's shoes over his during his tenure at UNC. But Mike of all people should know you don't change what works. Barnes led Carolina to the ACC Final, where they lost to Florida State. OK, maybe Mike had a point.

Sneakers: adidas Centennial
Year: 1986

Johnny Dawkins won ACC MVP honors in '86 as the Blue Devils won just their second Conference tourney of the '80s. On the low, his Centennials were one of adidas' best basketball shoes ever.

Sneakers: Converse One Star
Year: 1974

The Converse One Star was a one-year deal in 1974, while NC State was back in the ACC Final for the second straight year. They defended their title in '74, defeating Maryland 103-100 in overtime - still the only time either team would top 100 in an ACC final. For McMillen this was his third straight loss in the ACC final, but at least he had a Rhodes Scholar spot to fall back on.

Sneakers: Nike Air Total Max Uptempo
Year: 1998

By his junior season, Vince Carter was more than ready for the NBA - he was established as a starter, and had terrorized more or less every other opposing guard with his superball bounce. The Reggie Miller approved Total Max Uptempos cushioned his landings lovely.

Sneakers: adidas Artillery
Year: 1991

Christian Laettner may have been a douchebag, but man, was he one talented douchebag. There may have been no better player in college basketball in the early '90s, and he sure let everyone know about it.

Sneakers: Nike Air Force V Low
Year: 1991

He didn't have the flash of Kenny Anderson or the marksmanship of Dennis Scott, but Jon Barry made his mark on the Ramblin' Wreck in the early '90s. He also took advantage of the school's generous Nike flow, sporting both Air Force Vs and the Fab Five endorsed Air Flight Huarache.

Sneakers: Nike Air Force II
Year: 1987

Before he became a coach with a penchant for perfect '80s hair and an uncertain grasp of time outs, Vinny Del Negro was a talented point guard with a penchant for perfect '80s hair and excellent '80s basketball shoes. He was also the MVP of the 1987 ACC tournament, although we expect his current crop of Clippers would find that hard to believe.

Sneakers: Nike Zoom Kobe VI
Year: 2011

Steph Curry's little bro may have never dropped 54 in the Garden, but big bro's Davidson squad never won an ACC tournament. Er, for good reason. Seth sports Brons this year, but he went with the low-cut Kobes on the way to a Duke ACC chip (their third straight) in '11.

Sneakers: Converse Cons ERX 250
Year: 1989

Remember when J.R. Reid was the next big thing? Nope, we don't either. But he was the truth in '89, when as a junior he earned the ACC tourney MVP, helping the Heels defeat the hated Blue Devils in the final. Even his Cons looked like the future, especially in comparison with Danny Ferry's decidedly archaic adidas Forums.

Sneakers: Nike Zoom LeBron III
Year: 2006

J.J. Redick accomplished nearly as much at Duke as Christian Laettner did, both in terms of on-court (except for the whole NCAA title thing) and off (being hated by everyone except Duke fans). He also wore LeBron IIIs with no-show socks, which is on a whole other level of douchitude. He won the 2006 ACC tournament MVP that way, adding insult to insult.

Sneakers: Nike Air School Force
Year: 1996

Stephon Marbury only played one year at Georgia Tech, but he made it a memorable one. Taking over as the starting point guard for outgoing senior Travis Best, he led the Yellow Jackets all the way to the ACC finals, where they lost to Tim Duncan's Wake Forest squad by a single point. Kind of ironic that he wore the "School Force," seeing he had no intention on staying there.

Sneakers: Nike Air Zoom MZ3
Year: 1998

Vince Carter may have gotten all the wows, but Antawn Jamison put in a lot of work for the late-'90s Tar Heels. He followed up his ACC MVP honors in '98 by being named National Player of the Year. Not bad. And the MZ3 was kind of like 'Tawn - it wasn't super-flashy, but it put in that work.

Sneakers: Air Jordan XII Retro
Year: 2003

The early 2000s were a dark time for basketball shoes - and non-Duke ACC fans. The Blue Devils reeled off five straight ACC tournament titles from 1999 to 2003, with Daniel Ewing copping MVP honors in '03. While he laced up current models like the Ultraflight, he also took the opportunity to get his retro on.

Sneakers: Nike Air Flight 90
Year: 1990

Highs, lows, it didn't really matter to Kenny Anderson. He just rocked that oversized t-shirt under his jersey and diced up all comers. In another era, he may have skipped college entirely - the ACC would have preferred it that way.

Sneakers: Air Jordan XIII Retro
Year: 2012

Florida State's Ian Miller must have quite the sneaker closet - he's worn Foams and "Last Shot" XIVs in games - but hopefully these black XIIIs have a special place. He wore these in several games on FSU's march to the 2012 ACC championship.

Sneakers: Nike Air Max Uptempo '97
Year: 1997

NBA teams have been trying to figure out how to stop Tim Duncan for over 15 years now, so Florida State was more or less shit out of luck. Timmy could have - and would have - been the No. 1 overall pick in '95 AND '96, but chose to stay in school for all four years. Sorry, Seminoles.

Sneakers: Nike Air Strong
Year: 1996

North Carolina didn't fare too well in Vince Carter's first ACC tourney, falling to Clemson. But man, could VC make losing look good. His Air Strongs weren't half-bad either.

Sneakers: Nike Air Max Flight
Year: 1996

The Nike Air Max Flight was something of a confusing shoe, built with Visible Air in the front but not the back. Tim Duncan was anything but confusing, staying four years at Wake and winning the '96 ACC Final by a single point over Stephon Marbury and Georgia Tech.

Sneakers: Air Jordan XI Retro
Year: 2001

No, no, not the guy jumping, that's Mike Dunleavy Jr. The guy getting a faceful of Duke shorts - THAT'S Jason Capel. His older brother Jeff actually played at Duke, which must have led to some contentious Christmas dinners - but at least little bro got better kicks.

Sneakers: Nike Air Force 1
Year: 1984

By all accounts, Len Bias would have been one of the all-time greats. He stomped on the ACC's best in his Air Force 1s, and was the second overall pick in the '86 NBA draft. Two days later he was dead of a cocaine overdose. Oh, what could have been.

Sneakers: adidas Top Ten 2000
Year: 1997

By the late '90s NC State wasn't the power it had been in the Valvano era, but guards Ishua Benjamin and Clint Harrison still got some good shoes. And maybe that helped them in the ACC tourney, as the 8-seed Wolfpack upset No. 1 Duke in the quarters, making it all the way to the final, where they lost to their powder blue interstate rivals.

Sneakers: Air Jordan 2012
Year: 2012

He jumped OVER his... sorry, Miles Plumlee.

Sneakers: Nike Air Jordan XI
Year: 1996

We apologize that this is so hard to see, but you'll just have to trust us. Antawn Jamison rocked Columbia Air Jordan XIs in the '96 ACC Tourney. Yeah, he was just a freshman in '96, but when you average 15 and 10 for the Heels, you can wear pretty much whatever you want. (They lost in the first game to Clemson - oops - but he did wear these in that game, too. You can look it up.)