Why are the women playing 14 ACC basketball games, while the men are playing 16?
DB: On the men’s side, we wanted to take advantage of the strong teams we have throughout the league. At the same time, we wanted to create opportunities to play inter-league games and not hurt special events like the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. League games are very important to the television contract. With women’s basketball, we don’t have to deal with the same impact on TV, and the coaches wanted even more games outside the league. There was some debate that the primary partners and the number of league games should be the same for the men and women in that it would be helpful for the fans. I think we should acknowledge there are differences and allow for some scheduling differences. THM: Are you pleased with the men’s ACC Tournament solution? [Three games–6 seed vs. 11 seed, 8 seed vs. 9 seed, and 7 vs. 10 seed–will be played on Thursday, and then the quarterfinals will take place as in the present format.] DB: I had voiced concern about the impact of expansion on the ACC Tournament.
