The Big Ten ACC Challenge has been announced. ESPN released the match-ups 15 minutes ago. Specific networks and tip times to be announced later. I put the games that the obvious headliners in bold. But you can make up your own mind about the Big Ten ACC Challenge.
Mon, Dec 1
Nebraska at Florida State
Rutgers at Clemson
Tue, Dec 2
No. 21 Syracuse at No. 24 Michigan
Ohio State at No. 8 Louisville
Pittsburgh at Indiana
NC State at Purdue
Illinois at Miami (Maybe I should “take my talents to South Beach,” my journalistic talents” that is. South Florida sounds really nice on December 2nd when you live in Chicago. Especially given the NASTY winter we just had. And still continue to have, it’s 42 degrees on May 1st as I type this)
Minnesota at Wake Forest
Wed, Dec 3
No. 2 Duke at No. 4 Wisconsin
No. 18 Michigan State at Notre Dame (well, maybe not, this might be something I’d rather cover, the commute from Chi-City is closer…provided there isn’t a lake effect blizzard in St. Joseph’s County, we shall see)
No. 25 Iowa at No. 6 North Carolina
No. 7 Virginia at Maryland
Georgia Tech at Northwestern
Virginia Tech at Penn State
Seth Greenberg on Big Ten ACC Challenge scheduling: “Scheduling, in your top five things, has got to be number one or two. The problem is coaches, innately, are afraid to overschedule so they under-schedule. I was as big of an offender as anyone. It depends on where you are in your program and who you are. There are some coaches – their players are buying no matter what. Like a bunch of coaches in these two conferences. But some coaches – they are selling every single day. So having the right schedule is key to them selling, because they have to show progress, show they are winning games to keep their jobs. The ACC/Big Ten Challenge, the Maui, preseason NIT – the major preseason events – are so pivotal in helping you build your program or maintain the program.”
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also a frequent guest on national talk radio. Banks is a former contributor to NBC Chicago and the Washington Times, who’s been featured on the History Channel. President Obama follows him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)