ACC - Big Ten Challenge

[gw67]

The Big Ten – ACC Challenge pairings for next year have been announced and are provided in the link below. They have mixed up the teams so some teams will play back-to-back home games (Duke). The Devils' opponent will be Wisconsin. The Badgers lose their top two players and don’t return much scoring; however, Ryan is a superb coach who gets the most out of his players and one or two of the returning players (Landry, Flowers, Butch, Krabbenhoft) can be expected to step it up. Ryan likes to rotate all of his players through the post on offense and they work the ball around until they have an open shot. Their offense is not very pretty to watch but it is very effective.

For my two cents, the top two teams in the Big Ten next year (assuming Oden and his buddies go pro) will be Michigan State and Indiana. N.C.State and Georgia Tech get the honor of playing these teams while UNC gets to play the Buckeyes. Clemson gets Purdue and Maryland plays Illinois at Comcast.

http://www.theacc.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/041607aac.html

gw67

[hurleyfor3]

Cool. I've wanted us to get matched up with Bucky in this thing for some time.

[mgtr]

Great info! I am excited already. Lets see now, April, May, November -- right?

[Olympic Fan]

Added 4/18/07:
Another piece to the puzzle was added today:

Michigan at Cameron

The Wolverines lose four starters off an NIT team and shouldn't be very good. But Beilein is a quality coach, so it could be interesting.

Still looking for the December Madison Garden foe ...

Old post:


Obviously, we have to wait until early August to see the whole schedule, but the pieces do come out in the spring and summer in bits and pieces. This is one big piece:

Wisconsin at Cameron

We also know the teams Duke will be competing with in Maui, although we don't know the pairings:

Duke
Illinois
Arizona State
Marquette
LSU
Oklahoma State
Princeton
Chaminade

I THINK I saw that the Duke-Georgetown series and the Duke-St. John's series will continue. If so, that means:

Duke at Georgetown
St. John's in Cameron

Not sure about any of the other non-conference games. There ought to be one more big one -- the pre-Christmas game in the Garden.

But the ACC rotation is available, so we should know the league games (not the dates and times, but who Duke plays and where).

Just to comment -- Wisconsin will be a good, solid opponent next season. They lose All-American Alando Tucker, guard Kammron Taylor (their only other double-figure scorer) and backup big man Jason Chappell.

They return a lot of solid, but not great players ... a lot of size. They have a superb coach who does a great job teaching defense.

As for Maui, the field isn't that great. Marquette could be very good if Dominic James changes his mind and returns. Illinois is rebuilding (they lose McBride and Carter, two of their top three scorers), LSU loses Big Baby (but they do add Anthony Randolph). Oklahoma State loses Mario Boggans and Jamal Brown -- they could also lose JamesOn Curry; Arizona State is just getting off the ground under Sendek; Princeton is as bad as its ever been.

Of the two home-and-home foes -- Georgetown will be very good, even without Green and Hibbert. Everybody else is back ... they have plenty of size even without those two and they're adding a couple of great guards (well, Wright is great ... Freeman has potential).

St. John's seems to be treading water, locked in mediocrity.

My point is that what we know of the schedule indicates that it will be respectable, but not overwhelming. Georgetown is the only known foe that will likely start in the top 10 (and at the bottom end). Wisconsin should be ranked ...

[Exiled_Devil]

Isn't St. John's always at MSG?

[JJweMISSu]

Wish we would have got paired with Indiana. For three reasons:

1. They have All-Star recruit Eric Gordan along with DJ annocing today he is coming back.
2. The last 2 match ups in the ACC-Big10 showdown have been great
3. Im from Indiana and I love watching them lose, exspecially to DUKE.

I think IU vs Duke would be great because, even though i hate IU with a passion, i have a feeling they will be pretty good.

[Classof06]

Cool. I've wanted us to get matched up with Bucky in this thing for some time.

I agree. I thought Duke should've definitely played Wisco by now. Maybe they paired us up with Indiana because of McRoberts, but last time they made the pairings, Wisconsin was much better than Indiana. Why not have an elite ACC school against an elite Big 10 school (like UNC-OSU last year)? Now we get the Badgers a year late, after their all-time leading scorer graduates and goes to the NBA. Really would've loved to see us play Wisco sooner...

[jjasper0729]

Isn't St. John's always at MSG?

It's a home and home series so every other year it's in the Garden.

[bird]

Isn't there some talk about the ACC going to 18 in conference games next year, which K opposes?

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Isn't there some talk about the ACC going to 18 in conference games next year, which K opposes?

Not for this coming 2007-2008 season but changes for 2008-2009 are up for discussion at the conference meetings this summer. So said John Swofford during a radio interview I heard a couple of months ago.

[watzone]

A littlle easier to access -

Monday, Nov. 26
7:00 p.m. ESPN2 Wake Forest at Iowa

Tuesday, Nov. 27
7:00 p.m. ESPN Georgia Tech at Indiana
7:30 p.m. ESPN2 Minnesota at Florida State
8:00 p.m. ESPNU Northwestern at Virginia
9:00 p.m. ESPN Wisconsin at Duke
9:30 p.m. ESPN2 Purdue at Clemson

Wednesday, Nov. 28
7:00 p.m. ESPN N.C. State at Michigan State
7:30 p.m. ESPN2 Illinois at Maryland
8:00 p.m. ESPNU Boston College at Michigan
9:00 p.m. ESPN North Carolina at Ohio State
9:30 p.m. ESPN2 Virginia Tech at Penn State

[Wander]

For my two cents, the top two teams in the Big Ten next year (assuming Oden and his buddies go pro) will be Michigan State and Indiana. N.C.State and Georgia Tech get the honor of playing these teams while UNC gets to play the Buckeyes. Clemson gets Purdue and Maryland plays Illinois at Comcast.


Even if Oden, Conley, and Cook all leave, I think that Ohio State willl be better than Indiana. They'll have a really good frontcourt and Butler is a decent enough point guard. The margin will probably be close, but I don't see why people think Indiana is going to be so much better this season than they were last season.

I do think Michigan State is the team to beat in the Big 10 though, if Oden, Conley, and Cook all leave.

[gw67]

wander - You may be right but my early thoughts were that Indiana returns 6 of their top 8 players, including White who may be the best big man in the conference this year while Ohio State returns 3 of their top 8. The Buckeyes have a good incoming freshmen class but so does Indiana and Gordon may be a very special player for Indiana.

gw67

[phaedrus]

this is awesome! i wish the game were in madison instead of durham this year though (i live in madison).

maybe i can finally get my girlfriend (uw alum) to watch a game with me now.

[obsesseddukefan]

I know it is EXTREMELY early, but does anyone have a clue as to when tickets might go on sale to the public for this game? My good friend is unfortunetly a Wisconsin/Big 10 (11) fan. We are both from Illinois and plan on heading that way for this game. Like I said I know it is early but I dont want o miss this game.

[devilish]

Tickets will probably not go on sale to "the public." They usually go to season ticket holders only.

[obsesseddukefan]

Well to anyone who cant make it to the game I will take them off your hands....