The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) dropped a major update for college basketball fans, revealing the conference opponents for the 2025/2026 men’s basketball season. This announcement marks a pivotal shift for the league, transitioning to an 18-game conference schedule, down from the 20-game format used in recent years.
The change comes as the ACC grapples with a decline in NCAA Tournament bids, a challenge that has pushed the conference to rethink its scheduling strategy. With historic rivalries like UNC-NC State facing unprecedented changes and new matchups emerging, the 2025/2026 season is already shaping up to be a turning point for ACC basketball.
New 18-Game Schedule Aims to Boost NCAA Tournament Bids.
The ACC’s decision to trim its conference schedule to 18 games is a calculated move to address a growing concern. In recent years, the league has seen a dip in NCAA Tournament bids, with only five teams earning spots in the 2024 tournament, a far cry from the conference’s historical dominance.
The ACC’s new scheduling model is designed to boost quality wins and improve the league’s overall NET rankings, which are critical for tournament selection. The logic is straightforward: fewer conference games mean more opportunities for non-conference matchups against high-caliber opponents, potentially boosting teams’ resumes for March Madness.
Under the new format, each team will play two opponents twice (home and away) for four games, while facing the remaining 14 teams once, split evenly between home and away games.
This setup ensures that every team in the 18-member conference plays each other at least once, a structure that mirrors the Big 12’s approach. The ACC’s scheduling model also aims to balance competitive equity while preserving some of the league’s storied rivalries, though not without controversy, as we’ll explore later.
Historic UNC-NC State Rivalry Faces Unprecedented Scheduling Change
One of the most shocking revelations from the 2025/2026 opponent list is the impact on the UNC-NC State rivalry, a cornerstone of ACC basketball. For the first time since 1919, UNC will not host NC State in Chapel Hill, with their lone matchup scheduled in Raleigh at the Lenovo Center.
This marks a seismic shift for a rivalry played uninterrupted in both cities for over a century. The Tar Heels also won’t face Boston College, home or away, highlighting the scheduling shakeup.
The ACC has announced its conference opponents for the 2025-26 season. pic.twitter.com/2dPNts8W9O
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) May 28, 2025
The two schools, located just 25 miles apart, have played 60 times in Chapel Hill and 51 times in Raleigh since their first meeting in 1913, with only two games ever contested outside those cities, as detailed in a Wikipedia entry on the North Carolina-NC State football rivalry.
The basketball rivalry has followed a similar pattern, with annual home-and-home games becoming a staple of the ACC calendar since the conference’s founding in 1953. The decision to limit this matchup to one game, and in Raleigh only, has sparked debate about preserving college basketball traditions, especially as the ACC navigates its expansion to 18 teams with the addition of Cal, Stanford, and SMU.
Can the ACC Recapture Its Basketball Dominance?
The ACC’s move to an 18-game schedule is a bold experiment that will be closely scrutinized as the 202520/26 season unfolds. If the strategy pays off, the league could see a resurgence in NCAA Tournament bids, potentially returning to the days when it regularly sent seven or eight teams to the Big Dance.
KEEP READING: ‘Not Sustainable’ – UNC HC Hubert Davis to Rework Entire North Carolina Basketball Program
However, the scheduling changes come with risks. By prioritizing balance over tradition, the ACC may alienate fans who value rivalries like UNC-NC State above all else. The league must find ways to honor its history while adapting to the realities of a modern, expanded conference.
College Sports Network has you covered with the latest news, analysis, insights, and trending stories in football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, and baseball!
