The 1961 Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Basketball Tournament was held in Raleigh, North Carolina, at Reynolds Coliseum from March 2–4, 1961. Wake Forest defeated Duke 96–81 to win the championship. Len Chappell of Wake Forest was named tournament MVP.
North Carolina did not participate because the program was on NCAA probation. As a result, top seed Wake Forest received a first-round bye. The only other times an ACC team opted out of the tournament were Maryland in 1991 and Syracuse in 2015 for similar reasons.
References
1961 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA