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How will the ACC 20-game basketball schedule affect the Irish?

By Chase Eyrich

Mar 18, 2016; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish players celebrate on the bench against the Michigan Wolverines in the second half in the first round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 18, 2016; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish players celebrate on the bench against the Michigan Wolverines in the second half in the first round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports /
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After the announcement of the ACC Network, the conference will increase to a 20-game schedule.

The ACC has been making moves recently, between news of the ACC Network launching in 2019 as well as increasing the men’s basketball schedule from 18 games to 20. Without a doubt this move is to help provide content for the ACC Network, but altering the schedule is more difficult for schools.

As of now, schools play four home-and-away, five away and five home games against ACC schools. So depending on how the conference restructures the schedule, it seems like bigger matchups will benefit. Which schools will get an extra chance at the top team in the conference that season and how will ACC and ESPN decide the bigger match-ups?

For the Irish, the ACC’s recent moves are easy to look at as beneficial. Recruiting has been on the rise, recent success in the tournament has added to the following of the program (we now live in a world where Notre Dame basketball has more Twitter followers than Notre Dame football has), and revenue for the basketball program will increase from the ACC.

The big issue with this is how it will affect the scheduling for the Irish. Notre Dame plays in early regular season tournaments: Next season will be the FanDuels Legends Classic and in the future will be the Maui Invitational. The Irish also take part in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and the Crossroads Classic. With those games in the mix, Notre Dame will have to knock out two other nonconference games.

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Just like the majority of power schools, ND plays some small no-name schools to start off the season. This could cause the elimination of some weaker opponents, but some schools might elect to continue on that trend and offset the more difficult conference schedule. I’m not sure if that is exactly Mike Brey’s style though. I personally would be in favor of a tougher schedule, but I am fully aware of the level of competition in the ACC.

With nothing happening til the 2019 season, one thing is for certain: Mike Brey and the Irish are focusing on recruiting and the 2016-2017 season.

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