Syracuse Basketball: ACC eyes more marquee non-conference; it won't matter without wins

It's been well-documented by many media members, myself included, that the Atlantic Coast Conference has been down in recent years, and one could say the same thing about Syracuse basketball.

Other power-conference leagues are getting substantially more teams into the annual NCAA Tournament, although we can all agree that the ACC has performed well in the Big Dance over the past few seasons, evidenced by Duke (twice), N.C. State, Miami and North Carolina all reaching the Final Four since 2022.

Still, ACC officials have said on many occasions in recent terms that they want to see more of their members get invites to March Madness. To that end, as first reported by national reporter Brandon Marcello of CBS Sports, the "ACC is strongly considering reducing its conference schedule so teams can schedule more marquee nonconference games and improve the league's chances of landing more at-large teams in the NCAA Tournament."

On the face of it, such a proposal, if enacted, would make sense. Because the ACC hasn't been that good of late, its members likely aren't getting as many quadrant-one and quadrant-two games for their resumes when facing league foes, as compared to other power conferences.

Syracuse basketball and its ACC peers could have more non-conference contests in the future.

For example, in the 2025 NCAA Tournament, the Southeastern Conference saw 14 of its 16 squads land berths in the Big Dance. Thus, throughout the regular season and post-season tournament, SEC schools were facing tougher competition when playing other league members.

The ACC didn't have that to rely on. In the 2025 March Madness, as Marcello pointed out, the ACC "placed only four teams in the NCAA Tournament in March, the lowest percentage (22.2%) in its history, and only one team (Duke) advanced beyond the first round."

But the Blue Devils reached the Final Four, which kind of masks the ACC's struggles a tad. I'd equate it to the recent history of Syracuse basketball. Since joining the ACC in the 2013-14 campaign, the Orange has, by and large, proven sub-par in its regular seasons, yet the 'Cuse went to the Final Four in 2016, and the Sweet 16 in 2018 and 2021, which sort of masked those disappointing regular terms.

To be fair, numerous elite head coaches in the ACC have retired or departed in recent years, including Jim Boeheim, Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams, Mike Brey, Tony Bennett, Jim Larranaga and Leonard Hamilton. That's a lot of wins and post-season success among those legends, so it may take some time for the new crop of ACC head coaches to find their groove on a national scale.

In any event, per the CBS Sports article, the ACC and its broadcast partner, ESPN, are in discussions to potentially move from 20 conference games to 18 starting with the 2025-26 season. If that occurs, in the upcoming campaign, the 'Cuse and other ACC members would move from 11 non-conference contests to 13.

From my perspective, here's the problem. Scheduling more non-conference games against high-quality opponents won't mean much at all unless ACC schools win those games. As a quick example, in this past season's SEC/ACC Challenge, the SEC went 14-2 overall. Syracuse basketball fell, 96-70, to highly rated Tennessee, on the road, in the annual event.

Given the ACC's woes, what guarantee is there that it will even be able to schedule more non-conference games versus top-flight foes? What if the ACC does increase its non-conference docket, and league schools end up playing more encounters against quadrant-three and quadrant-four opponents? That, my friends, would prove a disaster.

As the Hall of Fame reporter Donna Ditota of Syracuse.com put it, via X: "Someone needs to explain to me how fewer conference games and more games against 'marquee' non-con teams helps get more teams in the tournament. ... Because the ACC hasn’t beaten marquee non-con teams. ... So maybe focus on getting better players and winning more games?"

Well said, Donna. Well said.