Schedule Building In The ACC

DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - NOVEMBER 5: Patrick Ngongba II #21 of the Duke Blue Devils reacts against the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers at Cameron Indoor Stadium on November 5, 2026 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Lance King/Getty Images) | Getty Images When team schedules are revealed prior to th

College Basketball

SEE ALL

Vols Wire

Lady Vols-MTSU basketball live updates: Score, stats, highlights

Fighting Irish Wire

Notre Dame men’s basketball player has standout performance in win

Huskies Wire

Washington WBB Aiming to Extend Unbeaten Start Vs CSU Bakersfield

What is the story about?

When team schedules are revealed prior to the season observers tend to scan them, then move on. Periodic check-ins to view the path ahead occur from time to time as league play commences and the possibility of a squad’s NCAA inclusion becomes clear.

But before we get too far down the road, it’s instructive to compare ACC schedules and how they’re constructed.

Boston College, trying to make a good impression under new coach Luke Murray, starts the season with three home games out of four, the exception

a meeting with UMass at neutral TD Garden, the Boston Celtics’ arena. Two of the following three games are at Conte Forum, with a third high-level local meeting at Harvard. (Tommy Amaker’s Crimson are at Duke on Dec.4.)

Then, for a month from Dec. 5 to Jan.5, the Eagles roost at home for a generous seven contests, the last of the lot North Carolina and Clemson, both tough tests. We should know a lot more about BC by the end of that run, which is exceeded in length only by those at UNC and Notre Dame, which each enjoy a league-high nine consecutive home games in the season’s early going.

Another new ACC coach, Scott Cross, loaded Georgia Tech with a handsome 19 home games, including eight in a row to start the season. The opener, a 75-55 victory over Hampton, ended the ACC’s longest ongoing losing streak – inherited from Damon Stoudamire, at 12 straight.

Only Notre Dame, Pitt, and the travel-challenged western trio of Cal, Southern Methodist and Stanford hang at home with similar avidity.

Cal actually opens with 14 straight on friendly courts, counting a matchup with Houston just over the state line in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Presumably fortified with success, the Golden Bears venture to Chapel Hill on Dec. 30. Three days later they head to Durham to face Duke, completing their season’s series with the bluebloods.

As usual, the Blue Devils take their high-powered show on the road more than most, with a modest 16 games at Cameron. Remarkably, the Blue Devils also join Louisville, with its 16 Yum! schedule bites, as the only league squads lacking a homestand of longer than two games.

The Cards follow a Dec.1 home meeting with Texas in the SEC/ACC Challenge with away games at Michigan and arch-rival Kentucky, which long avoided facing Louisville. That’s after taking on Texas Tech and either St. John’s or Oregon in a tournament.

UK also meets UNC at MSG (Madison Square Garden). That’s one of three the Wildcats scheduled against ACC clubs, along with UL and then Virginia in the SEC/ACC Challenge.

While half the league avoids in-season tournaments, the other half participates in stressful tests in which a quick turnaround simulates postseason play, offering little chance to adjust practices to counter second- and third-day opponents. Notre Dame, for instance, faces Florida and then perhaps Houston in a three-game tournament at Las Vegas sponsored by a beer company.

Miami enjoys a five-game homestand before participating in what’s potentially a four-game Las Vegas tournament straddling Thanksgiving. Then the Canes return home to confront Alabama in the ACC/SEC Championship.

Soon thereafter, NC State comes to Miami, having avoided hostile courts through 13 of its first 14 games.

Two weeks after going to Miami, Justin Gainey’s Wolfpack partners with Carolina to create a second matchup between the rivals at more-or-less neutral Greensboro. This is the second season the ancient antagonists, who first played in 1888 (UNC won, 16-0) lost round-robin status in the 18-team ACC.

Pitt scheduled into early January with 13 of 15 early games at home, the exceptions Penn State at Philly’s Palestra, and Butler at Hinkle Fieldhouse, site of the NBA Cup. Similarly, SMU starts with 13 games out of 14 at home or against fellow out-of-towners at Palm Desert, Cal.

Keep in mind that when teams jigger their November and December schedules to avoid uncomfortable surroundings, their records are apt to appear more formidable than they actually are.