ACC to play 18-game league slate

GREENSBORO, N.C. — The Atlantic Coast Conference will move to an 18-game league schedule in both men’s and women’s basketball starting next season.

The men’s teams have traditionally played a 16-game schedule while the women’s teams moved from 14 to 16 league games this season. In a statement, ACC commissioner John Swofford says the increase will happen “regardless of our membership number.”

The league announced in September that it will add Syracuse and Pittsburgh from the Big East, though the Big East’s bylaws require a 27-month notice before leaving.

League teams played every other school twice in a season before the ACC expanded to 12 teams in 2004 and 2005. Swofford says ACC schools have discussed playing 18 league games for a while, which would create “a more equitable schedule” for all teams.