Should the ACC do away with, or change, its division format to loosen up scheduling?
Each week, we’ll look at one key play or topic from the game, and give you the chance to sound off on it. You can vote as many times as you’d like.
Here’s the situation:
North Carolina and Wake Forest have played one of the longest running series in each program’s history. The beginnings date back to 1888 and they played every season from 1919 until 2004.
Then expansion happened.
The ACC split into the Atlantic and Coastal divisions and in doing so, squashed the annual rivalry between the two schools. (The same thing happened to the rivalry between N.C. State and Duke.)
Had the Tar Heels and Demon Deacons stuck to the ACC schedule, their first meeting since 2015 wouldn’t come until the 2022 season. But since the schools see value in maintaining a traditional opponent — as well as adding a quality opponent — they signed on to play the past three seasons as non-conference foes.
Wake won the first meeting in Winston-Salem in 2019. Carolina won last year’s meeting in Chapel Hill, 59-53, and Saturday’s game, 58-55. Next season, the teams will play in a game that counts in the ACC standings in Winston-Salem.
Is this simply the best way to get around the ACC’s division-hampered scheduling? Or should the league look to a new model so that teams, especially many of the league’s traditional rivals who are now in separate divisions, don’t go long stretches between games?