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Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
ACC going back to 18-game conference schedule
CHARLOTTE, N.C. ( – The Atlantic Coast Conference has announced its men's basketball teams will play an 18-game conference schedule beginning with the 2025-26 season. The ACC has conducted 20-game conference schedules since the 2019-20 season and last played 18-game league schedules from the 2012-13 through 2018-19 seasons. The decision to return to an 18-game conference schedule comes after continued strategic assessment, during which the conference office collaborated with athletics directors, coaches, external consultants and television partners. This included working with multiple experts to conduct statistical analysis to examine the conference's basketball product, metrics and scheduling. The ACC has taken a clear and intentional approach to enhancing men's basketball, applying a comprehensive, 360-degree focus to the sport. Beyond scheduling, the league continues to collaborate closely with its member institutions and has strengthened its marketing and branding efforts – including expanded coverage through ACC Network programming – to spotlight players, coaches, and programs. This past season, the implementation of success incentives began, which financially reward those that invest and achieve success in basketball while viewership incentives are scheduled to begin in 2025-26. 'As a league, we have been transparent about the importance of ACC Men's Basketball and specifically our commitment to ensuring it is best positioned for the future,' said ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips, Ph.D. 'Moving to an 18-game conference schedule is a direct result of our ongoing strategic review and analysis and provides our schools a better balance of non-conference and conference games, while also allowing them more autonomy in the scheduling process. This decision reflects our on-going prioritization to do what's best for ACC Men's Basketball, and we appreciate the thoughtfulness of our membership and the support from our television partners.' The 18-game schedule features teams starting league play in late December and ending on the first Saturday of March. Each team will play one primary partner both home and away as well as one variable partner home and away. The variable partner will be determined each season. Teams will play one game, home or away, against 14 of the remaining 15 teams annually. Primary Partners: Boston College-Notre Dame Clemson-Georgia Tech California-Stanford Duke-North Carolina Florida State-Miami Louisville-SMU NC State-Wake Forest Pitt-Syracuse Virginia Tech-Virginia The breakdown of 2025-26 opponents and conference schedules will be announced at a later date. Following the regular season, the 2026 T. Rowe Price ACC Men's Basketball Tournament will be held Tuesday through Saturday, March 10-14, at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The 73rd edition of the tournament will be played for the 15th time in Charlotte, including the fourth at Spectrum Center (2008, 2019, 2025). The bracket – inclusive of seeding, times and networks – will be announced on Saturday, March 7 following the conclusion of the regular season. Of the league's 19 NCAA Tournament bids in the last four seasons, five ACC teams have reached the Final Four, the most of any conference. ACC teams own a 38-19 (66.7% win percentage) in the NCAA Tournament in the last four seasons, the best of any major conference. The ACC has captured three of the last 10 NCAA Championships (Duke 2015, North Carolina 2017 and Virginia 2019). Since 2015, the ACC leads all conferences in Men's Final Four appearances (10) and NCAA Tournament wins (116). Six different ACC programs have reached the Final Four since 2015 (Duke, Miami, North Carolina, NC State, Virginia, Syracuse) – the most schools of any league in that span. ACC Men's Basketball has won 15 NCAA national championships overall. Teams currently in the ACC have combined to win eight of the last 24 NCAA crowns and 19 overall. Since the tournament expanded in 1985, nearly half of the ACC teams that earned NCAA Tournament bids have reached the Sweet 16 (106 of 218). Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WSPA 7NEWS.
Associated Press
07-05-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
ACC cuts 20-game men's basketball slate to make room for more nonconference games, AP source says
The Atlantic Coast Conference is reducing its 20-game men's basketball schedule to 18, giving teams two more spots for marquee nonconference games in a bid to boost a league getting a dwindling haul of NCAA Tournament bids , a person familiar with the decision said Wednesday. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the ACC hasn't officially announced the move, which was first reported by CBS Sports. The change for this fall comes after commissioner Jim Phillips has been vocal about spending the past two seasons examining the conundrum of the ACC getting fewer bids — down to four this year, its lowest haul since 2013 — despite having teams regularly playing deep into March . Going to 18 games could make room for schools to add quality nonconference matchups to help their schedule strength — and therefore the ACC's stature, provided of course the league wins its share of measuring-stick games, unlike last year . The league moved to a 20-game slate for the 2019-20 season with its ESPN-partnered launch of the ACC Network. At the time, the ACC was coming off a fourth straight season with at least seven NCAA bids — including a record nine in 2018 and 2019 — while having three No. 1 seeds in 2019 and winning three of five national titles (Duke in 2015, North Carolina in 2017 and Virginia in 2019). Things have been tougher since the COVID-19 pandemic, coinciding with the retirement of big-name coaches like UNC's Roy Williams, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and Syracuse's Jim Boeheim. Or last year with the unexpected departure of Virginia's Tony Bennett weeks before tipoff. The league had seven bids during the bubbled 2021 tournament in Indiana, then fell to five for three straight seasons before sliding to four this year, its first as an expanded 18-team basketball conference. By comparison, the ACC had just 12 teams the last time it got just four bids in 2013. And yet, the league also had both UNC and Duke in the Final Four in 2022, Miami there in 2023, N.C. State in 2024 and Duke again in April. The ACC joins the SEC in playing 18 games. The Big Ten and Big 12 play 20-game slates. ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college basketball: and
