Reports: ACC trims schedule, makes room for nonconference games

The atlantic coast conference is reducing its 20-game men’s basketball schedule to 18, Giving Teams tw NCAA tournament bids, a person family with the decision said wednesday.

The person spoke to the assident press on condition of anonymity because the accurely announce the move, which was first report by CBS Sports.

The change for this fall comes after communication jim Phillips has been vocal about spending the past two seasons ex -conundrum of the acc to be gotting fewer bids – down to five Since 2013 – Despite has taken team regularly playing deep in MARCH. Going to 18 Games could make room for schools to add quality nonconference match to help their schedule strength – and there are Accc’s Stature, provided of course of share of Measuring-Stick Games, unlike last year.

The league moved to a 20-game slate for the 2019-20 season with its Espn-Partnered Launch of the Acc Network. At the time, the acc was coming off a fourth straight season with at last seven ncaa bids – including a record nine in 2018 and 2019 – when has been no. 1 Seeds in 2019 and winning three of the National Titles (Duke in 2015, North Carolina in 2017 and Virginia in 2019).

Things have been tougher since the covid-19 pandemic, coincidence with the retirement of big-name coaches like Unc’s Roy Williams, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and Syracuse’s Jim Boeheem. Or Last Year with the Unexpected Departure of Virginia’s Tony Bennett Weeks Before Tipoff.

The league had sewen bids during the bubbled 2021 tournament in Indiana, then fell to the five for three straight seats to be this year, its first as an explanded 18 -Team Basketbll Conference. By Comparison, the accc had just 12 teams the last time it got just for bids in 2013.

And yet, the league Also had Both unc and duke in the final Four in 2022, Miami there in 2023, NC State in 2024 and Duke Again in April.

The Accc’s Move comes after a similar change for the big 12, which announced in March that it would be drop from 20 games to 18 after its coaches had explored a grinding schedule with no time for Rest. The second, which got a record 14 bids from its 16 team last year, plays 18 games while the big ten plays 20.