University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: ACC Schedule Reactions
April 22, 2014 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
by Adam Lucas, GoHeels.com
1. Forget everything you knew about the ACC basketball schedule. As the conference grew in membership and also added two additional league games, the schedules for the previous two years had to be juggled. This year's slate, however, is the first year of a 12-year schedule rotation that will feature two permanent partners along with a mix of one-time home and road foes and two additional home-and-home series. Carolina's permanent partners are Duke and NC State, which means you can plan on trips to PNC Arena and Cameron Indoor Stadium for the next dozen years (or until the league changes structure again).
2. With the unbalanced league schedule, one of the keys has been which teams you have to play on the road without a return game at home. Those can often end up being ACC Tournament seeding tiebreakers, and the right draw can provide an edge in the standings. For Carolina next year, the one-time road games are Miami, Clemson, Wake Forest, Pittsburgh and Boston College. At first glance, that's a fairly manageable quintet. The trip to Pittsburgh will be Carolina's first since wins in 1993 and 1995.
3. There's not much question about the marquee name on Carolina's list of home-and-home opponents. Rick Pitino will bring his Louisville club to Chapel Hill for the first time since 1998 and just the second time ever, and the Tar Heels will return the favor in Louisville for the first time since 1999 and just the third time in program history.
4. The 2014-15 home schedule includes just two games against members of the original ACC (Duke and NC State). Virginia joined six months after the bylaws were ratified and is not generally considered a charter member of the league.
5. The Tar Heel schedule will again be stacked next season. Factoring in a definite nonconference game against Kentucky, plus possible Battle 4 Atlantis tilts against Florida and Wisconsin, plus home-and-home series with Louisville and Duke, Carolina will play seven games against top-10 teams in this early look at the 2014-15 top 25. And that's before the ACC-Big Ten Challenge opponents are announced (which could be in the next two weeks) and before a possible date is arranged for the next game in the Texas series.
