ACC Hoops to Go to 18 Games in 2012-2013
The ACC has decided to switch from 16-game model to an 18-game model. According to the ACC’s official website:
“Our member institutions have been talking about this increase for awhile and knowing our league will be expanding to 14 in the future, we’ve decided to move to an 18-game conference schedule next year, regardless of our membership number,” said ACC Commissioner John Swofford. “The additional conference games create a more equitable schedule and we’ve received significant feedback from our fans for more conference games.”
This will apply to both men’s and women’s basketball.
The questions are already being raised as to whether this is a good move or not. Some are concerned that this will lead to Duke scaling back its ordinarily challenging out-of-conference slate. Naturally, there must be a quantity reduction with this move. So the only real question is whether and how it impacts the quality of the out-of-conference scheduling.
Again, this change will apply without regard to whether Syracuse and Pittsburgh are part of the ACC.
Notably, the Pac-12 has already implemented the 18-game schedule for its 12 teams. Of course, when it had 10 teams, the 18-game slate allowed for a true round-robin. The Pac-12 did not have to add games when it expanded by two teams.
In the end, until the league can get up to 16 teams (we’re looking at you Notre Dame), 18 games will be a bit cumbersome. But, with 16 teams and two 8-team divisions, playing each team in your division twice and 1/2 of the teams in the other divisions works out to a very nice…. 18 games.
The Confidential 