University of North Carolina Athletics
Photo by: Maggie Hobson
Lucas: MBB Schedule Rapid Reactions
September 24, 2024 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Quick takeaways from the full 2024-25 schedule release.
By Adam Lucas
1. The realities of a 17-team conference have changed how you look at a league schedule. The days of it being relatively balanced are over. Who you play and where you play them are now the most important factors. With that in mind, the Tar Heels will always have a challenging slate because they'll always have a home-and-home with Duke. Much of this year's league hierarchy is uncertain at the moment, but on the surface getting Virginia only at home is a plus; getting Cal and Stanford only once each is unfortunate. The full schedule is available here.
2. The road-only slate of Clemson, Florida State, Louisville, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest is formidable. The fact that two of those games—Clemson and FSU—are the back halves of Saturday/Monday turnarounds is even more challenging. Playing at home on Saturday and then getting on a flight Sunday to play Monday is probably the most difficult aspect of the league schedule. The Tar Heels have just two Saturday/Monday combinations, but in both cases the back half is a plane trip away.
3. The most positive aspect of this ACC schedule is the seven home league games on a Saturday. The Smith Center is just different for Saturday home games, and those are by far the most desirable games on the schedule from a fan demand standpoint. No less an authority than Hubert Davis has noted the difference in the building for big weekend games, so getting seven of them out of ten home league games is a big break.
4. Carolina has now gotten the December ACC slot at home for two straight seasons. The Tar Heels will face Georgia Tech on Dec. 7…and then not see the Jackets again for the rest of the regular season. The other weird scheduling quirk is facing Pitt twice in an 11-day stretch in the middle of the league season, meaning two out of three games in that span are against the Panthers.
5. Starting the January portion of the league schedule with three out of four games on the road is a challenge. Of course, it also means the Tar Heels could be in a couple of those locations before students arrive back on campus.
6. It's not a bad break to get what should be an improved Louisville team on Jan. 1, when students will be out of town. But expect the Cardinals to creatively market that game, as it falls during the post-Christmas stretch when families are often looking for things to do. Carolina, for example, has had big home crowds for nonconference games in that same window—expect this year's Dec. 29 game against Campbell to be a sneaky big ticket.
7. The Tar Heels will also go to Notre Dame on a day when students are out of town, and on a day when there will be plenty of competition for sports viewers with NFL games the last week of the regular season. The prime CBS TV spot that day probably means the network is using the basketball game as a lead-in for NFL coverage.
8. The Feb. 1 trip to Duke is the earliest initial meeting with the Blue Devils in almost a quarter-century (the teams met on Jan. 31 during the utterly forgettable 2001-02 season). After watching the game get pushed into mid-February during some pre-Covid seasons, it's nice to have it back where it belongs in the middle of the ACC schedule.
9. That game is part of a gauntlet of four games out of five on the road, including trips to Pitt, Duke, Clemson and Syracuse. The good news is that if the Tar Heels make it through unscathed, they'll close the regular season with four out of six games at the Smith Center. That provides a nice opportunity to make a push for postseason positioning.
9. With much of the ACC being very unpredictable this season—only the Tar Heels and Duke are currently slotted into the top 30 in ESPN's "way too early" basketball rankings—Carolina's hefty nonconference schedule will be key. The Heels have definite games against the top two teams in those rankings, and have possible Maui games against two more in the top seven. Add two games against Duke, and Carolina could play six games against the top eight teams on ESPN's list.
1. The realities of a 17-team conference have changed how you look at a league schedule. The days of it being relatively balanced are over. Who you play and where you play them are now the most important factors. With that in mind, the Tar Heels will always have a challenging slate because they'll always have a home-and-home with Duke. Much of this year's league hierarchy is uncertain at the moment, but on the surface getting Virginia only at home is a plus; getting Cal and Stanford only once each is unfortunate. The full schedule is available here.
2. The road-only slate of Clemson, Florida State, Louisville, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest is formidable. The fact that two of those games—Clemson and FSU—are the back halves of Saturday/Monday turnarounds is even more challenging. Playing at home on Saturday and then getting on a flight Sunday to play Monday is probably the most difficult aspect of the league schedule. The Tar Heels have just two Saturday/Monday combinations, but in both cases the back half is a plane trip away.
3. The most positive aspect of this ACC schedule is the seven home league games on a Saturday. The Smith Center is just different for Saturday home games, and those are by far the most desirable games on the schedule from a fan demand standpoint. No less an authority than Hubert Davis has noted the difference in the building for big weekend games, so getting seven of them out of ten home league games is a big break.
4. Carolina has now gotten the December ACC slot at home for two straight seasons. The Tar Heels will face Georgia Tech on Dec. 7…and then not see the Jackets again for the rest of the regular season. The other weird scheduling quirk is facing Pitt twice in an 11-day stretch in the middle of the league season, meaning two out of three games in that span are against the Panthers.
5. Starting the January portion of the league schedule with three out of four games on the road is a challenge. Of course, it also means the Tar Heels could be in a couple of those locations before students arrive back on campus.
6. It's not a bad break to get what should be an improved Louisville team on Jan. 1, when students will be out of town. But expect the Cardinals to creatively market that game, as it falls during the post-Christmas stretch when families are often looking for things to do. Carolina, for example, has had big home crowds for nonconference games in that same window—expect this year's Dec. 29 game against Campbell to be a sneaky big ticket.
7. The Tar Heels will also go to Notre Dame on a day when students are out of town, and on a day when there will be plenty of competition for sports viewers with NFL games the last week of the regular season. The prime CBS TV spot that day probably means the network is using the basketball game as a lead-in for NFL coverage.
8. The Feb. 1 trip to Duke is the earliest initial meeting with the Blue Devils in almost a quarter-century (the teams met on Jan. 31 during the utterly forgettable 2001-02 season). After watching the game get pushed into mid-February during some pre-Covid seasons, it's nice to have it back where it belongs in the middle of the ACC schedule.
9. That game is part of a gauntlet of four games out of five on the road, including trips to Pitt, Duke, Clemson and Syracuse. The good news is that if the Tar Heels make it through unscathed, they'll close the regular season with four out of six games at the Smith Center. That provides a nice opportunity to make a push for postseason positioning.
9. With much of the ACC being very unpredictable this season—only the Tar Heels and Duke are currently slotted into the top 30 in ESPN's "way too early" basketball rankings—Carolina's hefty nonconference schedule will be key. The Heels have definite games against the top two teams in those rankings, and have possible Maui games against two more in the top seven. Add two games against Duke, and Carolina could play six games against the top eight teams on ESPN's list.
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