ACC announces 18-game conference schedule, annual home-and-home opponents

After reports came out about the ACC’s plans to cut the conference men’s basketball schedule to 18 games, the league made it official. There was also a new wrinkle.

As part of the 18-game model – down from 20 games previously – teams will have one annual home-and-home opponent. That “primary partner” will be on the schedule every year, and teams will also have “variable partners” which will be determined each season. Additionally, teams will play against 14 of the remaining 15 teams, meaning one opponent will not appear on the regular season schedule.

The new schedule is meant to help put the ACC in a stronger position for NCAA Tournament access, commissioner Jim Phillips said. The league played 20-game schedules since the 2019-20 season, but teams can now look to bolster non-conference slates to help get into the big dance.

“As a league, we have been transparent about the importance of ACC Men’s Basketball and specifically our commitment to ensuring it is best positioned for the future,” Phillips said in a statement. “Moving to an 18-game conference schedule 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, and we appreciate the thoughtfulness of our membership and the support from our television partners.”

The primary partners will be on the schedule each year as part of home-and-home games, and the full list of opponents will come at a later date. Here is the full list of primary partners.

• Boston College–Notre Dame
• Clemson–Georgia Tech
• Cal–Stanford
• Duke–North Carolina
• Florida State–Miami
• Louisville–SMU
• NC State–Wake Forest
• Pitt–Syracuse
• Virginia Tech–Virginia

The ACC received seven bids to the NCAA Tournament in 2020-21, which marked the first tournament held after the change. Since then, though, the conference sent five teams to March Madness in 2022, 2023 and 2024. This past year, four teams went dancing.

Although the ACC has seen teams in the Final Four during that run – Miami in 2023, NC State in 2024 and Duke in 2025 – the league hasn’t seen the same amount of bids as other power conferences. The SEC set a record this past season with 14 teams in the NCAA Tournament field while the Big Ten sent eight teams to the dance.