Difficult ACC schedule

[BG05]

Has anyone noticed how hard Duke's conference schedule is?

Against the other top 8 teams in the conference, currently, Duke has home-and-homes with three of them (UNC, Florida State, Miami) and only away games against the rest (Louisville, UVA, ND, Syracuse, VA Tech).

It is amazing -- given the schedule, injuries, K out, Allen suspension -- that they are in the position they are in.

[Faustus]

Of course on the other hand, as close as the home wins were, maybe we were lucky not to have to play BC, Pitt, and Clemson on the road...

[AluminumDuke]

Julian made note of this at some point, also pointing out how much easier UNC's schedule is (with most of the same teams you listed only at home and the road-only teams coming from the bottom of the conference standings).

[Dev11]

Has anyone noticed how hard Duke's conference schedule is?

Against the other top 8 teams in the conference, currently, Duke has home-and-homes with three of them (UNC, Florida State, Miami) and only away games against the rest (Louisville, UVA, ND, Syracuse, VA Tech).

It is amazing -- given the schedule, injuries, K out, Allen suspension -- that they are in the position they are in.

I recommend the Duke Basketball Report podcast. Our own Jason Evans did a lively summary of the injustice (or luck) of Duke's 2017 schedule, particularly how it compares to UNC's.

[OldPhiKap]

Does that mean we get those teams at home next year? With maybe different home-away partners except UNC?

[Ultrarunner]

Of course on the other hand, as close as the home wins were, maybe we were lucky not to have to play BC, Pitt, and Clemson on the road...

We've been playing well on the road when the whole team is together. Our road woes are overstated (and magnified by injuries, suspensions, and coaching changes.) I think the fans at ND and VA will agree with me.

[flagellaman]

With 15 teams in the league maybe we need to consider a 14-game league season. You play every other team once. Then the next year switch home games. That seems like the only way to have a "balanced" schedule.

[Devilwin]

Don't fret. All we gotta do is win out. Should be easy enough, we are Duke!

[jv001]

We've been playing well on the road when the whole team is together. Our road woes are overstated (and magnified by injuries, suspensions, and coaching changes.) I think the fans at ND and VA will agree with me.

I get what you're saying regarding Duke's schedule. On the other hand, uncheat still gets the easier schedule. Like OPK, it's going to be interesting to see our 2018 schedule but more importantly uncheats. GoDuke!

[subzero02]

With 15 teams in the league maybe we need to consider a 14-game league season. You play every other team once. Then the next year switch home games. That seems like the only way to have a "balanced" schedule.

No way that's happening. There would be anarchy if we only played unc once a year.

[jv001]

No way that's happening. There would be anarchy if we only played unc once a year.

I'm hoping we don't play the cheats at all. I'm holding out they get the death penalty from the NCAA. GoDuke!

[DukeandMdFan]

With 15 teams in the league maybe we need to consider a 14-game league season. You play every other team once. Then the next year switch home games. That seems like the only way to have a "balanced" schedule.

I would prefer this approach.

Duke and UNC could also play a "non-conference" game every year to ensure each team gets a home rivalry game.

Duke could also schedule "non-conference" games with NC State and Wake in addition to the conference game.

Sure, it would be a little confusing and it cheapens the "non-conference" game(s) against UNC (and NC State and Wake), but it increases the value of the ACC Regular Season.

[-jk]

I'll dust this one off again... This has been my dream since we got too large for our traditional double round-robin: Split the ACC into two divisions, Upper (8) and Lower (7). Each team plays a double round robin within division (14 or 12 games) and 4 rotating single games across divisions, and maybe one extra game across divisions (call it the ESPN money-game rule for a temporarily down-and-out school - c.f., unc under Doherty). Given the current imbalance, the Lower teams get an out of conference chance to pad their resume. When we choose a 16th team, it'll rebalance.

This leads to killer SOS in the Upper division, and lots of great TV match-ups - and the chance for a strong Lower division team to really stand out. Just imagine a season of double round-robin games with Duke, unc, 'Cuse (ok, maybe not this year), Louisville and four other good teams. That's a bunch of the last dozen NCAA champs. ESPN's wet dream!

Here's where it gets really fun: At the end of the season, the top teams in the Upper division stay Upper and the bottom teams in Lower stay Lower. But the bottom two teams in Upper swap divisions with the top two teams in Lower. Premier League relegation awesomeness. (Watch those one-and-dones!)

The middle of the pack battles in both divisions would go down to the end of the season. No one near the top of Lower would coast down the stretch if they had a chance to move to Upper, and the middle of the Upper would fight dropping down. Almost every game would matter in the last couple weeks of regular season; it wouldn't just be a few key matchups. And ESPN gets to launch "Relegation Week!"

Tourney seeding could be worked out. Maybe just limit the ACC Tourney to the 8 Upper and top 4 Lower schools. Lord knows it couldn't be worse than the five days we have now!

-jk

[atoomer0881]

I'll dust this one off again... This has been my dream since we got too large for our traditional double round-robin: Split the ACC into two divisions, Upper (8) and Lower (7). Each team plays a double round robin within division (14 or 12 games) and 4 rotating single games across divisions, and maybe one extra game across divisions (call it the ESPN money-game rule for a temporarily down-and-out school - c.f., unc under Doherty). Given the current imbalance, the Lower teams get an out of conference chance to pad their resume. When we choose a 16th team, it'll rebalance.

This leads to killer SOS in the Upper division, and lots of great TV match-ups - and the chance for a strong Lower division team to really stand out. Just imagine a season of double round-robin games with Duke, unc, 'Cuse (ok, maybe not this year), Louisville and four other good teams. That's a bunch of the last dozen NCAA champs. ESPN's wet dream!

Here's where it gets really fun: At the end of the season, the top teams in the Upper division stay Upper and the bottom teams in Lower stay Lower. But the bottom two teams in Upper swap divisions with the top two teams in Lower. Premier League relegation awesomeness. (Watch those one-and-dones!)

The middle of the pack battles in both divisions would go down to the end of the season. No one near the top of Lower would coast down the stretch if they had a chance to move to Upper, and the middle of the Upper would fight dropping down. Almost every game would matter in the last couple weeks of regular season; it wouldn't just be a few key matchups. And ESPN gets to launch "Relegation Week!"

Tourney seeding could be worked out. Maybe just limit the ACC Tourney to the 8 Upper and top 4 Lower schools. Lord knows it couldn't be worse than the five days we have now!

-jk

Just saying if somehow that ever came to fruition, that would legit be awesome. One could wish.

[DBFAN]

The one good thing it does is prepare us for March. UNC struggles on the road and their schedule will not help them come tourney time. I've noticed all the scheduling stuff, and one other question that I have is how many times has UNC had 1 day rest for another game, compared to other teams in league. I ask that because it shouldn't come as a big surprise that some of those close games Duke had were in 1 day rest. Tonight is a good example, UVA gets one day rest after playing in Chapel Hill, while the Holes get 3 days rest for another home game

[BG05]

I'll dust this one off again... This has been my dream since we got too large for our traditional double round-robin: Split the ACC into two divisions, Upper (8) and Lower (7). Each team plays a double round robin within division (14 or 12 games) and 4 rotating single games across divisions, and maybe one extra game across divisions (call it the ESPN money-game rule for a temporarily down-and-out school - c.f., unc under Doherty). Given the current imbalance, the Lower teams get an out of conference chance to pad their resume. When we choose a 16th team, it'll rebalance.

This leads to killer SOS in the Upper division, and lots of great TV match-ups - and the chance for a strong Lower division team to really stand out. Just imagine a season of double round-robin games with Duke, unc, 'Cuse (ok, maybe not this year), Louisville and four other good teams. That's a bunch of the last dozen NCAA champs. ESPN's wet dream!

Here's where it gets really fun: At the end of the season, the top teams in the Upper division stay Upper and the bottom teams in Lower stay Lower. But the bottom two teams in Upper swap divisions with the top two teams in Lower. Premier League relegation awesomeness. (Watch those one-and-dones!)

The middle of the pack battles in both divisions would go down to the end of the season. No one near the top of Lower would coast down the stretch if they had a chance to move to Upper, and the middle of the Upper would fight dropping down. Almost every game would matter in the last couple weeks of regular season; it wouldn't just be a few key matchups. And ESPN gets to launch "Relegation Week!"

Tourney seeding could be worked out. Maybe just limit the ACC Tourney to the 8 Upper and top 4 Lower schools. Lord knows it couldn't be worse than the five days we have now!

-jk

I really like this idea.

[BandAlum83]

I would prefer this approach.

Duke and UNC could also play a "non-conference" game every year to ensure each team gets a home rivalry game.

Duke could also schedule "non-conference" games with NC State and Wake in addition to the conference game.

Sure, it would be a little confusing and it cheapens the "non-conference" game(s) against UNC (and NC State and Wake), but it increases the value of the ACC Regular Season.

Or, we could bring back the Big 4 tournament.

Not really. I'm just getting nostalgic.

[camion]

I'll dust this one off again... This has been my dream since we got too large for our traditional double round-robin: Split the ACC into two divisions, Upper (8) and Lower (7). Each team plays a double round robin within division (14 or 12 games) and 4 rotating single games across divisions, and maybe one extra game across divisions (call it the ESPN money-game rule for a temporarily down-and-out school - c.f., unc under Doherty). Given the current imbalance, the Lower teams get an out of conference chance to pad their resume. When we choose a 16th team, it'll rebalance.

This leads to killer SOS in the Upper division, and lots of great TV match-ups - and the chance for a strong Lower division team to really stand out. Just imagine a season of double round-robin games with Duke, unc, 'Cuse (ok, maybe not this year), Louisville and four other good teams. That's a bunch of the last dozen NCAA champs. ESPN's wet dream!

Here's where it gets really fun: At the end of the season, the top teams in the Upper division stay Upper and the bottom teams in Lower stay Lower. But the bottom two teams in Upper swap divisions with the top two teams in Lower. Premier League relegation awesomeness. (Watch those one-and-dones!)

The middle of the pack battles in both divisions would go down to the end of the season. No one near the top of Lower would coast down the stretch if they had a chance to move to Upper, and the middle of the Upper would fight dropping down. Almost every game would matter in the last couple weeks of regular season; it wouldn't just be a few key matchups. And ESPN gets to launch "Relegation Week!"

Tourney seeding could be worked out. Maybe just limit the ACC Tourney to the 8 Upper and top 4 Lower schools. Lord knows it couldn't be worse than the five days we have now!

-jk

This would be interesting within the ACC. It might hurt us (the ACC) for NCAA seeding though.

[Spanarkel]

The one good thing it does is prepare us for March. UNC struggles on the road and their schedule will not help them come tourney time. I've noticed all the scheduling stuff, and one other question that I have is how many times has UNC had 1 day rest for another game, compared to other teams in league. I ask that because it shouldn't come as a big surprise that some of those close games Duke had were in 1 day rest. Tonight is a good example, UVA gets one day rest after playing in Chapel Hill, while the Holes get 3 days rest for another home game

Duke, UNC and Louisville all have 3 occasions this season when they play ACC contests with one day off in between, while UVa has 2 such occasions. I didn't check the other 11 ACC teams' schedules.

[OldPhiKap]

Does that mean we get those teams at home next year? With maybe different home-away partners except UNC?

Bumping my question in case anyone knows the answer.