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Should he still be around, coach Kevin Stallings and Pitt are slated to play more games starting in 2019-20.
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Paul Zeise: ACC schedule expansion is bad for college basketball

Matt Freed/Post-Gazette

Paul Zeise: ACC schedule expansion is bad for college basketball

The Atlantic Coast Conference announced today that it would go from an 18-game schedule to a 20-game schedule for men’s basketball starting in the 2019-20 season.

Obviously, it isn’t a coincidence that’s when the ACC’s new TV network will launch. The league will need to find more programming to make it a successful venture.

This is a bad idea for college basketball.

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Sure, the argument can be made that by adding two league games it means teams will get one more quality home game, which is good for the fans. And there is some truth to that, providing you’re one of the marquee teams. For Boston College, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, etc., do you really think you’re getting more home games against Duke, North Carolina, Louisville and Syracuse?

ACC Commissioner John Swofford announces details on the conference's partnership with ESPN, including an ACC Network that will launch in 2019.
Sam Werner
ACC to launch its own television network in 2019

The math dictates you will get a few more trips over the course of five or six years, but the conference is looking for quality programming. That means it will be looking for more games between its marquee teams.

The problem with 20 conference games is it means there will be two fewer non-conference games per team, and that’s never a good thing. It will be made even worse, too, when teams lighten their non-conference schedule a bit more due to adding two “tough” games.

Look at the approach Pac-12 and Big 12 football teams take to non-conference scheduling because they have to play nine conference games instead of eight. If the ACC goes to a 20-game basketball schedule, how much longer before the other power conferences follow suit, leaving even fewer opportunities for non-conference games?

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I’m not naive. I understand the economic realities of college athletics. I also understand that networks want quality programming, and league-specific networks can generate revenue by putting their best foot forward as many times as possible. I get it. That doesn’t mean I have to like it.

One of the worst things that has happened to college basketball is Power 5 teams becoming less inclined to play each other in non-conference games, especially in true home/road games. Teams angle to play each other on neutral courts and in exempt tournaments because fewer coaches want to play on the road — and because there are so many opportunities now to play on neutral courts.

That’s a shame. Fans deserve better and deserve a chance to see teams from all over play their favorite teams on their home courts.

The college basketball non-conference home schedule is basically legal extortion. Season-ticket holders pay for eight or nine games against inferior opponents as part of their season-ticket packages, but the marquee games are farmed out to tournaments like the Battle 4 Atlantis.

The 20-game schedule will mean the end of what’s left of home-and-home scheduling. The other casualty likely will be events like the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Coaches I talked last season said if the schedule goes to 20 games, they will push for the end of events like the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

It seems like a theme of the week, but it’s the truth: more is not always better, bigger is not always better and there always are unintended consequences to every change made.

In this case, we’ll be treated to fewer marquee non-conference games and more neutral-site games, and that’s never good for the fans.

First Published: July 21, 2016, 7:21 p.m.

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Should he still be around, coach Kevin Stallings and Pitt are slated to play more games starting in 2019-20.  (Matt Freed/Post-Gazette)
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