Along with Mason Plumlee, Michael Snaer, Harrison Barnes and C.J. Leslie, one of the most pivotal players in this ACC season is Karl Hicks. Karl Hicks?
Hicks is the ACC associate commissioner in charge of men’s basketball operations and one of his duties is to construct the annual men’s basketball schedule. Hicks doesn’t much like the term “unbalanced schedule,” explaining that it “balances every three-year cycle,” but no matter how you define it, each season ACC teams do not face equal competition. Don’t blame Hicks. The games each team plays and the sites where those games are played are all predetermined by the aforementioned three-year cycle, and Hicks works for months to figure out the fairest sequence for those games to be played, but the bottom line is that an unbalanced schedule is never fair to everybody.
As we begin to approach the midpoint of this conference season and the “haves” begin to clearly distinguish themselves from the “have-nots” and the “have-somes,” let’s examine the very unbalanced schedules of the four teams currently sitting atop the league standings with only one loss: Duke, Florida State, North Carolina and N.C. State. Which of those teams should curse Hicks and which should consider sending him a gift basket? (Hint: the signature on the card should read M. Gottfried.)
Duke: The Blue Devils play both North Carolina and Florida State twice this season. They play N.C. State only once (at home) and, unlike Florida State and North Carolina, they only have to play Virginia once (at home). Duke plays a total of only four games against the three teams that should ultimately finish at the bottom of the league: Boston College, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest.
Florida State: The Seminoles play Duke twice (one of which they have already won), North Carolina only once (which they have already emphatically won) and N.C. State once, so they are sitting pretty in that regard. But Florida State only gets to play a total of three games against the ACC’s trio of bottomfeeders.
North Carolina: The Tar Heels play both Duke and N.C. State twice (including tonight in Chapel Hill). They have played their only game against Florida State (alas, no rematch) and they also get just three games against the conference’s three weakest links.
N.C. State: The Wolfpack enjoys by far the most accommodating schedule of the four. N.C. State plays North Carolina twice, but only has to play Florida State, Duke and Virginia once each and two of those games are at home. Meanwhile, N.C. State is the only one of the four that is lucky enough to face Wake Forest, Boston College and Georgia Tech twice each. Yes, the Wolfpack has already lost to the Yellow Jackets at home, missing a gimme that will almost certainly loom large by the end of this season.
