2020-21 Basketball Schedule

[JasonEvans]

i'm not saying he'll be bottom five, but I've not seen anything in his coaching career that would indicate he can put together a more than competitive team...and he had some stellar classes at memphis...

I'm with Jim on this. Ga Tech is one of the leading contenders to come out of the middle third and challenge the top third this season, IMO. They will have one of the best backcourts in the league, for sure. I suspect Miami will be picked 6th in the conference and I would probably slate Tech in there at #7... need to think about it a bit more.

[sagegrouse]

I'm with Jim on this. Ga Tech is one of the leading contenders to come out of the middle third and challenge the top third this season, IMO. They will have one of the best backcourts in the league, for sure. I suspect Miami will be picked 6th in the conference and I would probably slate Tech in there at #7... need to think about it a bit more.

Analysis of conference schedules is much harder when you can't even count the teams on two hands, requiring removal of footwear.

[Nrrrrvous]

I'm with Jim on this. Ga Tech is one of the leading contenders to come out of the middle third and challenge the top third this season, IMO. They will have one of the best backcourts in the league, for sure. I suspect Miami will be picked 6th in the conference and I would probably slate Tech in there at #7... need to think about it a bit more.

I think it would be fun to do a Pick-em contest before anyone plays a game. Just to see where the resident experts put all 15. Let it simmer for a few months and check again after the season. Anyone up for it?

[BlueDevil2K]

Looking at the schedule, I'm surprised to see that the game at UNC may be on a Friday night. They've got it listed as 3/5 or 3/6. I wonder what the thinking is behind that.

Everything I'm seeing tonight has that game locked down for Saturday. The only "either/or" games are the 9 Tuesday/Wednesday games. The two Big Monday games are also locked down.

The ACC schedule looks *stunningly* normal to me...as if COVID doesn't exist. There had been talk of mini-bubbles or back-to-back games to reduce travel, but apparently all of that is out the window. Home-and-homes with Louisville, Pittsburgh, and Notre Dame shows there was no attempt to stay at all local either...

[rsvman]

I just want to know when the first few games are, so I can at least watch a little bit of college basketball, just in case the season falls apart at some point.

Obviously I hope it doesn't, but....

[Troublemaker]

I think it would be fun to do a Pick-em contest before anyone plays a game. Just to see where the resident experts put all 15. Let it simmer for a few months and check again after the season. Anyone up for it?

I'm down for that, and more importantly, I hope there is a Degenerates league in our future.

[TywinBlue]

Don't want to be a Debbie Downer, but experts are saying a Second COVID wave will hit before this year is out.

The absence of last year's ACC and NCAA Tournaments left a huge mental and emotional hole for many of us.

I can not contemplate what adding the absence of an ACC schedule in 2021 would do to many of us.

Let's take it week to week and month to month and hope for the best.

[uh_no]

Don't want to be a Debbie Downer, but experts are saying a Second COVID wave will hit before this year is out.

The absence of last year's ACC and NCAA Tournaments left a huge mental and emotional hole for many of us.

I can not contemplate what adding the absence of an ACC schedule in 2021 would do to many of us.

Let's take it week to week and month to month and hope for the best.

second covid wave?

LOL

the country has been in the middle of a massive third wave since the middle of september...

[Troublemaker]

Don't want to be a Debbie Downer, but experts are saying a Second COVID wave will hit before this year is out.

The absence of last year's ACC and NCAA Tournaments left a huge mental and emotional hole for many of us.

I can not contemplate what adding the absence of an ACC schedule in 2021 would do to many of us.

Let's take it week to week and month to month and hope for the best.

I mean, are you therefore also skeptical that NCAA football will finish its season? Pro sports?

It just seems like if there's money to be made, money will get made. Pretty confident we'll have an MBB season.

[rsvman]

I mean, are you therefore also skeptical that NCAA football will finish its season? Pro sports?

It just seems like if there's money to be made, money will get made. Pretty confident we'll have an MBB season.

Oh, they will START a season, to be sure............

[Nugget]

Oh, they will START a season, to be sure.......

I'd say it's also a mortal lock that they end the season with an NCAA tournament. That's where all the money in the sport is (and it's desperately needed after the 2020 cancelation).

They should be able to pull off without too much difficulty a covid bubble or bubbles with common testing protocols that the NCAA would pay for (making it look more like the NBA's and less the ****-show of the ad-hoc one ESPN tried to put together) for the NCAA Tournament.

I don't think we'll see anything like a blemish-free regular season. But, I don't see anything stopping them from having an NCAA Tournament they can put on tv.

[uh_no]

I'd say it's also a mortal lock that they end the season with an NCAA tournament. That's where all the money in the NCAA is

Fixed that for you. It's about more than bball for the ncaa

[Tappan Zee Devil]

I'd say it's also a mortal lock that they end the season with an NCAA tournament. That's where all the money in the sport is (and it's desperately needed after the 2020 cancelation).

They should be able to pull off without too much difficulty a covid bubble or bubbles with common testing protocols that the NCAA would pay for (making it look more like the NBA's and less the ****-show of the ad-hoc one ESPN tried to put together) for the NCAA Tournament.

I don't think we'll see anything like a blemish-free regular season. But, I don't see anything stopping them from having an NCAA Tournament they can put on tv.

And how does a bubble and isolating players coexist with the fact that classes are still going.
It's not a good visual.
At least now there is the fiction that teams can go home and attend class in the days between playoff rounds

[CrazyNotCrazie]

And how does a bubble and isolating players coexist with the fact that classes are still going.
It's not a good visual.
At least now there is the fiction that teams can go home and attend class in the days between playoff rounds

How many schools are doing in person classes anyway? So does it matter if the Duke players are zooming from the Wash Duke or a hotel 2,000 miles away? Also, if they do a regular format, 75% of the teams are done the first weekend. So the number of players being seriously impacted isn’t as bad as it seems.

I agree with your overall premise that the term student-athlete is a joke, but from a missing classes perspective, it actually isn’t that bad.

[uh_no]

]And how does a bubble and isolating players coexist with the fact that classes are still going.[/B]
It's not a good visual.
At least now there is the fiction that teams can go home and attend class in the days between playoff rounds

given that 50% of duke's students aren't on campus at all, and our neighbors in the triangle failed to keep anyone on campus, I assume the players would be plenty able to join their colleagues in attending lessons remotely.

[aivroadstr]

I know last month Coach K said they were still going to try and do something “special” for Countdown. Obviously it would be way different from years past but does anyone have any insight to whether or not they are going to do something (virtual, player intros, etc)?

[pfrduke]

I know last month Coach K said they were still going to try and do something “special” for Countdown. Obviously it would be way different from years past but does anyone have any insight to whether or not they are going to do something (virtual, player intros, etc)?

Countdown The Movie is supposed to have public release on Friday: https://twitter.com/DukeMBB/status/1328419115762147329

[Troublemaker]

I'd say it's also a mortal lock that they end the season with an NCAA tournament. That's where all the money in the sport is (and it's desperately needed after the 2020 cancelation).

Yup, that's where I'm at with this, too.

I'm with Jim on this. Ga Tech is one of the leading contenders to come out of the middle third and challenge the top third this season, IMO. They will have one of the best backcourts in the league, for sure. I suspect Miami will be picked 6th in the conference and I would probably slate Tech in there at #7... need to think about it a bit more.

I really like GaTech's backcourt, too, but they're going to really miss James Banks (All-ACC defense) in the middle. He's been a key to their stingy, weird zone and also their m2m when they run it. I don't think shifting Moses Wright from PF to C is going to work, so they'll need a rim-protecting center to emerge from somewhere.

[Bluedog]

Are the metric geeks/NCAA still planning to take into consideration "road games" this year? I guess we'll see if there's really a home court advantage without fans. I suppose it's possible some schools will allow some fans like we've seen in football though.

[gofurman]

QUESTION - are different ACC teams playing a different amount of ACC conference games???!?!? I look at the schedules on ESPN and Duke has 12(I think) and Clemson has only 10 - something like that. Pitt also looks to have 10 ACC games... UNC looks to have 13 conference games.

*Are different teams in the league playing a different number of games? That would be crazy (not counting COVID alterations). Or have they not finalized the schedules?