While the college sports world is undergoing upheaval in all areas due to transfer portals and NIL, the men’s basketball schedule is also undergoing its own changes.
This is especially true in the ACC this offseason as coaches and administrators work to increase the number of teams the league will qualify for in future NCAA tournaments.
For the past two seasons, quad systems designed around NCAA Rating Tool (NET) ratings have left the ACC frustrated. In each of the past two seasons, only 5 of the 15 league teams qualified for the 68-team tournament.
High-profile non-conference match-ups have always been played, but for decades, coaches at the ACC have focused on non-conference matches to get the Quad 1 victory needed to impress the NCAA selection committee. did not have to rely on
That has not been the case over the last two seasons, with weak teams in the middle and bottom of the conference weighing on the group as a whole.
As such, Duke University coach John Shyer has considered working with the administration not only on this season’s schedule, but on the years to come, while also considering finding opportunities for Quad 1 games outside of league play. I put it in.
This season, the Blue Devils will head to Chicago after Arizona arrives at Cameron Indoor Stadium on November 10 for their third game of the season against Michigan State in the Champions Classic.
Duke is currently competing in the ACC-SEC Challenge with Arkansas and is scheduled to play Baylor at Madison Square Garden on December 20, though details are yet to be finalized.
“I think a little bit more of that combination is what we’re trying to do, because we want to make sure we have a chance to win in quad one,” said Shire.
resume building
Last season, the ACC champion Blue Devils played 15 games to qualify for a NET Quad 1 victory. That was a home game against the Top 30, a road game against the Top 75, or a neutral ground game against the Top 50. Four players from ACC played in 15 games.
North Carolina played 13 games and lost 11 of them, missing out on the NCAA Tournament.
By comparison, Texas played 25 Quad 1 games, while fellow Big 12 member Kansas played 24. Baylor University played 17 games and went 14-3.
Kansas was the #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament Regionals, Texas was the #2 seed, and Baylor was the #3 seed.
The ACC team was not seeded higher than Virginia’s No. 4 seed. Duke was the ACC champion and the fifth seed.
Over the past two seasons, the ACC have been in trouble even before the league began in December. Too many ACC teams have suffered out-of-conference losses to teams in lower-rated leagues or not-so-powerful leagues.
As such, the ACC team struggled to improve their NET rating and position themselves to put the match in Quad 1 or Quad 2. Additionally, teams like Louisville and Florida State struggled very hard with NET ratings in his 200s, making it difficult to play against them. Quad 4 results. A game against Notre Dame (184 games) and a game against Georgia Tech (177 games) were also in the worst quad.
“I didn’t expect to get four more quad-four opportunities in the ACC,” said Kevin Keats, a coach at North Carolina State University. Wolfpack’s Wolfpack made it to the NCAA Tournament despite having as many Quad 4 (10) games as Quad 1. .
just win baby
Pittsburgh manager Jeff Capel, who led the Panthers to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2016 last season, was one of the teams previously playing four games in quads. Things changed last season, and non-conference games are becoming more important as he tries to keep it going.
“My wish is that we are all better,” Capel said. “We were certainly in that position. In my first four years, we were probably one of the teams holding back in the league. Like it was said earlier, you have to win. You have to find ways to win, ways to win early, and ways to win a lot.”
The situation has been discussed among coaches at league meetings, and NCAA men’s basketball division vice president Dan Gavitt addressed the group to explain how the system works. But his overall message was what coaches were already aiming for: winning on the court.
Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes said, “We can have a hard schedule, as we all need to do to improve the league, but we have to win games. That’s me. I think that’s where we are now.”
Two seasons ago, in his second season at Forbes Wake, his team was 13-5 in ACC play, but outnumbered by non-ACC opponents despite 10-1 in non-conference play. As a result, he was not selected for the 2022 NCAA Tournament. It’s a schedule weakness. A lack of quad-one game opportunities in the ACC sealed Wake’s fate.
Forbes magazine has revealed that Wake Forest will play for Georgia and Rutgers this season as part of a multi-year deal. The Demon Deacons will face Florida in his ACC-SEC Challenge.
This is in addition to being part of the Charleston Classic with Houston, St. John’s, LSU, Dayton, Towson, North Texas and Utah.
“Winning non-conference is more important than just the schedule,” Boston College coach Earl Grant said. “If I can schedule it so that I can get two or three quad 1s, that would be even better.
Last season, Clemson went 14-6 in the ACC, beating Duke, Pittsburgh, and North Carolina State three times. While the Blue Devils, Panthers and Wolfpack made it to the NCAA Tournament, the Tigers split just 10 games in Quad 1 to enter the NIT.
Clemson lost to South Carolina (11-12) and Loyola of Chicago (10-21) in non-conference play, and lost to Louisville (4-28) to the ACC. As a result, the Tigers finished in 67th place.
These losses were terrible, but Clemson had no chance to make up for them by amassing a Quad 1 win in ACC play, leaving the Tigers to struggle.
strategic scheduling
One thing that could help the Tigers this season is the ACC-SEC Challenge game in Alabama. The Crimson Tide has appeared in the NCAA Tournament three times, but Clemson’s last appearance in the tournament was in 2021, and they have appeared in just two of their last 11 tournaments.
When ESPN works with leagues to put together challenge events, it tries to create competitive and interesting games by creating games between teams of the same height. The teams traditionally at the top of the league play against the top teams from other leagues.
This makes it easier for teams like Duke University, University of North Carolina, and University of Virginia to win challenging games that are likely to be quad one games, for example. But a team like Clemson that could be in a tournament bubble doesn’t usually play matchups like that.
That changed somewhat with this first ACC-SEC challenge. The Clemson vs. Alabama game is a classic example. After making the Final 4, Miami will head to Kentucky instead of ESPN sending Duke and UNC to Kentucky for a bloody match that many will enjoy.
Duke still faces a tough game at Arkansas, but UNC made it to Suite 16 last season and will play at home against a Tennessee team that has played in the last five NCAA Tournaments under coach Rick Burns. do.
The point is, teams like Duke, UNC and Virginia have the prestige to line up big-time non-conference games.
Duke’s home game against Arizona this season will be the first game on a two-game deal that the Blue Devils will play in Arizona next season.
Shire said discussions have already begun to find more such games in future seasons to ensure the Blue Devils have a chance to win big games with the NCAA Tournament in mind.
“I think we’re going to see more changes in how we do things going forward,” Shire said. Because we will be more flexible in a few years, not this year. ”
