REALLY early look at next years ACC/Big 10 Challenge

Shine · Post by **Shine** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 8:30 pm

Wake Forest at Iowa
Georgia Tech at Indiana
Minnesota at Florida State
Northwestern at Virginia
Wisconsin at Dook
Purdue at Clemson
NC State at Michigan State
Illinois at Maryland
Boston College at Michigan
North Carolina at Ohio State
Virginia Tech at Penn State

No surprise that once again an event made for TV to air on ACCPN ends up with matchups that favor the ACC. For the second year in a row with the field expanded to 11 games the ACC has their last place team miss out from participation. Contrast that to the 9 game format previously where the B10 had to have 2 teams miss out and that list included the likes of IU and Ohio State. Anyway, best game on paper this far out looks to be the UNC/tO$U rematch from last year. The GT/IU game could be good if the young studs from GT stay on campus. Early out call is 6-5 ACC.

Cicero · Post by **Cicero** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 2:35 am

I dont see a problem w/ the schedule. Where is the glaring discrepancy?

Shoalzie · Post by **Shoalzie** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 3:32 am

Wisconsin of this past year vs. Duke next year would've been a good matchup...Duke has the edge for next year given that the Badgers lose Tucker and Taylor.

Ohio State-Carolina can still be good even if Oden is gone. If they lose Conley as well...then the Heels should be big favorites in this one.

I agree with Shine...Indiana-Georgia Tech could very good. The Jackets were very young and very raw this past year...if Young and Crittenden stay, they could contend in the ACC. The Hoosiers already lost Calloway and Wilmont...could lose White as well.

Purdue-Clemson has potential to be a good game. Illinois-Maryland and Boston College-Michigan (given they keep all their recruits) are okay games and Florida State-Minnesota is intriguing with Tubby coming in and the Gophers return everyone.

Michigan State should handle the Wolfpack...I'd put State in the top 10 for next year for sure.
Virginia is a major mismatch for Northwestern and the Hokies are definitely way better than Penn State eventhough they lose several guys to graduation.

Wake and Iowa both lose their leading scorers from last year...Visser and Haluska respectively. The Hawkeyes are also going through a coaching change.

For the Big Ten, it could be a major transitional year. Ohio State could potentially lose their two best players to the draft and Wisconsin lost theirs to graduation. Michigan State is on the way up and Indiana loses quite a bit but probably has the best freshman coming into the conference. You have 3 major coaching changes with Michigan, Iowa and Minnesota. Purdue appears to be a program returning to prominence under Painter. Not sure where Illinois is at right now and Northwestern and Penn State are going to be bottom feeders perennially.

In the ACC, Carolina appears to be the favorite given that Hansbrough and Lawson have to committed to another year. Georgia Tech is a young team that should improve if they stay together. Duke loses McRoberts but brings in a very good freshman class and Nelson is the only senior on the roster. Dudley is gone from BC...could be a down year for them...and Florida State loses their top scorer in Thornton as well as Virginia Tech losing Dowdell. Clemson and N.C. State will return 4 double-digit scorers from last year...both are sleepers in the conference for sure. Maryland has been gutted by graduation. Virginia loses half of their backcourt duo but they had 6 freshmen on the roster last year.

Terry in Crapchester · Tue Apr 17, 2007 5:29 pm

Forgive me if this is a stupid question, but just curious: how do they come up with the pairings?

indyfrisco · Post by **indyfrisco** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 6:18 pm

There are no stupid questions, Terry. Just stupid people.

Goober McTuber · Post by **Goober McTuber** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 7:11 pm

Let’s see, it’s a made for television event. ESPN announces the matchups each year. I’m guessing ESPN dictates the matchups it wants.

Terry in Crapchester · Tue Apr 17, 2007 10:25 pm

Goober McTuber wrote:Let’s see, it’s a made for television event. ESPN announces the matchups each year. I’m guessing ESPN dictates the matchups it wants.

Okay, but without going Annie, that raises more questions than answers.

It would seem to me that the most logical way of doing it would be either (a) based on previous year's standings (which would justify exclusion of the last-place ACC team) or (b) on a round-robin basis, which would have the drawback of making the marquee matchups only a once-a-decade (actually less than that) event.

MgoBlue-LightSpecial · Wed Apr 18, 2007 12:44 am

I don't see a huge problem with the pairings. The ACC anally rapes the Big10 in this thing yearly anyway, so it's not like analyzing the fairness of the pairings is all that necessary.

Goober McTuber · Post by **Goober McTuber** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 2:45 pm

Terry in Crapchester wrote:
Goober McTuber wrote:Let’s see, it’s a made for television event. ESPN announces the matchups each year. I’m guessing ESPN dictates the matchups it wants.
Okay, but without going Annie, that raises more questions than answers.

It would seem to me that the most logical way of doing it would be either (a) based on previous year's standings (which would justify exclusion of the last-place ACC team) or (b) on a round-robin basis, which would have the drawback of making the marquee matchups only a once-a-decade (actually less than that) event.

If ESPN sets up the pairings, they’re going to do it whatever manner they believe will generate the maximum ratings. That’s all the logic you need to understand.