Originally Posted by
AluminumDuke
Option 4?
I'd go with a 4 pod system. I'd have each pod play home and away games against each podmate (6 "intra-pod" games), and then have home games against one pod and road games against another (8 "inter-pod" games). A six year cycle would evenly provide for every possible "inter-pod" match-up.
Each pod would then have a pod with which there would be no "inter-pod" games in a given season. Those pods could be matched up in a pre-season "Pod Challenge" akin to the ACC-Big 10 challenge. These games wouldn't count towards the conference records but would contribute towards seeding the pods in the ACC tournament. Each pod could choose its own 1-4 for pairing purposes in the "Pod Challenge", with 2 home games and 2 away games for each pod. The same pairings could be used the following year with the home and away teams flipped as has been done in the ACC-Big 10 challenge. Alternatively, all the games could be located at one site like a preseason conference pod vs. pod tournament.
The ACC tournament would then be seeded according to the Pod's records against the other pods, including the "Pod Challenge". The top pod would get the 1, 5, 9, and 13 seeds. The next best pod would get the 2, 6, 10, and 14 seeds, etc. No two teams from the same pod would play each other the first day, and upsets would be required for teams from the same pod to play at all.
I know all this sounds awfully complicated, but here are the advantages:
1. Each team within a given pod plays the same regular season schedule.
2. 14 regular season conference games leaves room for plenty of out of conference games.
3. In any given four year period, each team would play home and away against every other team in the conference at least once.
4. The "Pod Challenge" would add some early season excitement and would mean something for seeding purposes in the ACC tournament.
5. Disparities between relative strengths of the 4 pods would be accounted for in seeding of the tournament.
6. Travel expenses could be significantly reduced (a North pod, a "Mountain pod", a North Carolina pod, and a South pod?)