ACC Basketball Moves to 18-Game Schedule After Subpar Season

Dillon Hunter comes up court against the Duke Blue Devils. (Photo By Charles Mays/Tiger View Media)

The Athletic Coast Conference has officially moved to an 18-game schedule in basketball, according to Matt Norlander of CBS Sports. The ACC Athletic Director’s approved the decision to move away from the 20-game schedule, which started in 2019, in part because the ACC struggled this season. Of the 18 teams representing the conference, only four teams were selected into the men’s NCAA Tournament this year (Duke, UNC, Clemson, Louisville), with three of the four teams not making it past the first round. 

With this new 18-game schedule, each team will play a primary opponent both home and away while also playing a variable opponent home and away. The primary opponent will be played each season with Clemson’s matchup being against Georgia Tech. The variable opponent will be determined each season. The rest of the schedule will consist of one game, either home or away, against 14 of the remaining 15 teams each season. The breakdown of the 2025-26 conference schedule will be released at a later date. 

ACC teams will now have two extra spots for non-conference games, which could mean more Quad 1/2 opportunities for the upper-echelon programs in the conference. With Clemson making back-to-back tournament appearances and reaching the elite eight just two seasons ago, the Tigers need to consider themselves a part of that group. Brad Brownell has built yet another strong roster that should be headed for a third straight tournament appearance, and increasing their non-conference strength of schedule could be the final push they need. 

ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips Ph.D had this to say on the switch to the 18-game schedule: “(This) is a direct result of our ongoing strategic review and analysis and provides our schools a better balance of non-conference and conference games, while also allowing them more autonomy in the scheduling process. This decision reflects our on-going prioritization to do what’s best for ACC Men’s Basketball.”