WRAL Sports Fan

Colleges

ACC scheduling changes to impact basketball, football

By Erin Summers

Oct 3, 2012

Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner John Swofford announced what the addition of Notre Dame means for Triangle teams and others in the conference. He discussed the future scheduling formats and conference policies following the annual ACC Fall Business Meetings.

"The addition of Notre Dame gives us an opportunity to reinforce a number of conference rivalries in basketball and Olympic sports while also giving our schools greater flexibility in nonconference football scheduling," said Swofford.

In short, North Carolina will maintain their rivalry with Duke and NC State in basketball and Duke and NC State will partner with North Carolina and Wake Forest. 

The addition of teams to the conference also means the ACC basketball tournament will now expand to five days. The tournament will begin with three games on Wednesday, followed by four games each on Thursday and Friday. The two semifinal games will be played on Saturday with the championship game remaining on Sunday.

The top four seeds will continue to receive byes into Friday's quarterfinal round.

Men’s and women’s basketball will continue to play an 18-game conference schedule with two "primary partners" whom they will play home and home each season. The two-partner format secures the rivalry between North Carolina, Duke and NC State.

In addition to the four annual games against their partners, the remaining 14 conference games will feature home and away games with two rotating opponents and five home-only games and five road-only games.

The two-primary-partners within the conference are:
North Carolina - Duke and NC State
NC State - North Carolina and Wake Forest
Duke - North Carolina and Wake Forest
Boston College - Notre Dame and Syracuse
Clemson - Florida State and Georgia Tech
Florida State - Clemson and Miami
Georgia Tech - Clemson and Notre Dame
Maryland - Pitt and Virginia
Miami - Florida State and Virginia Tech
Notre Dame - Boston College and Georgia Tech
Pitt - Maryland and Syracuse
Syracuse - Boston College and Pitt
Virginia - Maryland and Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech - Miami and Virginia
Wake Forest - Duke and NC State

The annual ACC/Big 12 Challenge will include the 12 teams with the best RPI from the previous year.

In football, the ACC will continue play an eight-game conference schedule beginning in 2013. The league had announced in February it would have a nine-game football schedule once Pittsburgh and Syracuse joined but with Notre Dame playing five games annually against ACC teams the league voted to remain with an eight-game conference schedule. Divisions, primary crossover partners and rotating opponents from the opposite division will remain the same.

Beginning with the 2014 season, the ACC Baseball Championship will feature 10 teams in a six-day event. A double-elimination format will be used Tuesday through Friday followed by two single-elimination games on Saturday and the championship game on Sunday.

The ACC's Faculty Athletic Representatives and Athletics Directors also ruled that if a member institution is ineligible for postseason competition due to NCAA sanctions, it will be ineligible for regular season or divisional recognition.