Carmichael Comments: 2024-25 ACC Schedule Release

With Tuesday night's much-anticipated ACC women's basketball schedule release, the 2024-25 Carolina Women's Basketball schedule is set in full. Already, we knew the 13-game non-conference slate, and broke it down with two editions of Carmichael Comments – one for the bulk of the schedule, and one exclusively spotlighting the Battle 4 Atlantis. If you haven't already, be sure to check those out.

But now, the main event is set. Courtney Banghart's sixth run through the ACC will be sure to offer excitement, challenges, and marquee games for her mix of a veteran core and young talent. On one hand, it's Alyssa Ustby, Lexi Donarski, and Maria Gakdeng's final run through the conference. On the other, the ACC will learn about names like Ciera Toomey, Laila Hull, Lanie Grant, Blanca Thomas, and more.

For the first time in Banghart's tenure, the makeup of the 18-game league slate will be different. The conference's addition of California, SMU, and Stanford will add a trio of programs that only further strengthen the ACC's status as the country's premier women's basketball conference. Stanford's three national titles, most recently in 2021, now gives the ACC three of the 16 teams that have won national championships.

In order to fit the new games into the league slate, the ACC adopted a 17+1 schedule model for women's basketball, where teams play all 17 league foes once, and the 18th game is a second matchup against a designated rival. For Carolina, that rival is naturally Duke, preserving the teams' longtime series of playing home and away each year. The tradeoff, though, is that the in-season home-and-homes with NC State, Virginia, and Virginia Tech are reduced to a single game each year. It just so happens that this season, all three of those matchups will take place at Carmichael Arena, meaning the Tar Heels will venture to all three new teams in Texas and California. Carolina is one of three teams, joining Boston College and Miami, that visits all three new ACC teams.

Another slight modification brought on by the new teams is that the ACC now has an even number of teams, eliminating the need for a team on a bye in each game window. With 18 games over 20 game windows, the Tar Heels will have two byes – each on Thursdays, and spread out in early January and early February.

Let's dive into the 18 games!

Pre-Christmas Start at Home

Carolina will start the ACC slate at home for a third straight year, hosting Georgia Tech on Sunday, December 15th. It's the first time since 2013-14 through 2015-16 that the Tar Heels have started the ACC journey at Carmichael Arena in three consecutive seasons. A win over Clemson in the ACC opener last season helped kickstart a 7-1 ACC start, so Carolina will be hoping for more of the same while also pursuing a seventh consecutive home win over Georgia Tech, a streak that dates back to 2013.

With the Dec. 15th ACC start, two non-conference games will remain (Florida and Norfolk State) after the ACC opener, the first time since 2021-22 that Carolina will have a non-league game post-ACC opener and first time that two non-league games remain since 2001-02.

Home (After) The Holidays

Following a Dec. 29 visit to Miami (starting the exclusively-ACC portion of the season), Carolina will take its first bye on Thursday, Jan. 2 and return to action with a home test against Notre Dame on Sunday, Jan. 5. Carolina, after struggling against the Irish for much of Notre Dame's early years in the ACC, will now be playing for a fourth straight home win against Notre Dame and third straight overall win against a fellow member of the national champions club.

The Notre Dame game will start off a three-game homestand, Carolina's first in ACC play since the pandemic-altered 2020-21 season and first in a non-pandemic year since 2008-09. Playing four of the first five league games at home is also a rarity, having not occurred for Carolina since the 1993-94 championship season.

Thursday, Jan. 9 brings Duke to Carmichael Arena for the first of the two matchups. A memorable Senior Day triumph this past March gave the Tar Heels a third straight home win over their rivals, and now Carolina will pursue a four-game home win streak against Duke – something that hasn't happened since 2008-11.

Boston College will provide the opposition for a Jan. 12 matchup to conclude the homestand. The Tar Heels are undefeated at home against BC in the Banghart era, and any Sunday game is always a fun experience in Chapel Hill.

Expect the atmosphere in Carmichael to be high energy to start 2025!

"Double Road" Weeks Begin

The tradeoff for all those early home games is a run of road games – eight in 12 in all – that begins on Thursday, Jan. 16 in Dallas. There, Carolina will face SMU for the first time ever in the Tar Heels' first of three trips to a new ACC foe. The back end of the Thursday/Sunday week will also see Carolina on the road, traveling to Pittsburgh to face Pitt on Jan. 19. Double road weeks have been rare, as Carolina hasn't had one since January 2023 against Pitt and Clemson. That weekend was the only time in the Banghart era that Carolina has faced two teams on the road in one week and had to fly to both games. But that's the tradeoff in hosting NC State, Virginia, and Virginia Tech.

This season, the Heels will have three "double road" weeks: the aforementioned Jan. 16/19 swing, Jan. 30/Feb. 2 at California and Stanford, and Feb. 20/23 at Syracuse and Louisville. Carolina hasn't played even two "double road" weeks since 2019-20.

Between the Texas & Pennsylvania swing and the trip to California is a two-game homestand on Jan. 23 and 26 against Wake Forest and Florida State, providing even more chances to catch Carolina at home before January is up.

California Dreaming

On Jan. 30, the Tar Heels will face California in Berkeley, the first meeting between the two since the 2019 NCAA Tournament and first as league mates. The game will be Carolina's first in the Golden State since the 2014 Sweet 16 and Elite Eight, played at Stanford's Maples Pavilion. Three days later on Feb. 2, the Tar Heels will return to that very venue and see Stanford in the fifth matchup all-time between the two historic programs. Stanford eliminated the Tar Heels from the NCAA Tournament in 1995, 2011, and 2014, but Carolina won the most recent matchup in November 2014 in Hawaii.

After California, a well-earned bye follows on Feb. 6. That precedes a Feb. 9 trip to Clemson. Carolina's eight straight wins over the Tigers is the longest active streak against any one ACC opponent.

Rivalry Week at Home

The ensuing week, the Tar Heels finally come home to play Virginia Tech on Feb. 13 and NC State on Feb. 16. These two games will assuredly be electric atmospheres, as games against the Hokies and Wolfpack have been all through the Banghart era. Reigning ACC regular season champion Virginia Tech has undergone a coaching and roster makeover since last season, but the growth in fandom at both schools in recent years has made their matchups must-see events of late. After all, ESPN's College GameDay visited the game last season in Blacksburg. Now, Carolina gets to host in the lone meeting of the season.

Then, for the first time in program history, the Tar Heels will play NC State just once in a regular season, and it will take place at Carmichael on Sunday, Feb. 16. Carolina has beaten a ranked NC State team at home in four of the past five seasons and will look to win a fifth home game in six meetings against the Wolfpack. That's a run not seen since a remarkable string where the Tar Heels lost just once at home to NC State between 2002-2017.

Marquee Road Finale

It's right back on the road from there, heading to Syracuse and Louisville for matchups with a pair of teams that frequently reside near the top of the ACC standings. There figures to be a lot on the line on Feb. 20 and 23 for the trips to upstate New York and the Derby City.

The same can be said for a Thursday, Feb. 27 trip to Cameron Indoor Stadium and the second game of the season against Duke. Carolina won in 2022 and 2023 on Duke's home floor and will look to win three times in four years in Durham.

'Hoos That in the Finale?

The placement of the Duke game on a Thursday means the Tar Heels won't end the regular season against Duke for the first time since 2021, when Virginia Tech provided the opposition. Even that game was a replacement for a canceled Duke game due to the pandemic, so you have to go back to 2/29/04 to find the last scheduled ACC finale not against the Blue Devils. That day, Carolina played Virginia, who they'll see again in the 2025 closing game of league play. The Tar Heels will look to continue a remarkable 16-game home win streak against Virginia, dating back to 2002. It will also be the last regular season home game for Alyssa Ustby, Lexi Donarski, Grace Townsend, and Maria Gakdeng.

The ACC Tournament returns to Greensboro, Mar. 5-9.

Okay, now you're ready. Let's tip it off!

-Matt