The ACC/Big Ten Challenge matchups were announced on Thursday. What should Big Ten Basketball fans expect with the pairings?
One of the premier non-conference events in college basketball each year is the ACC/Big Ten challenge. Over a three-day stretch, each December ACC and Big Ten Basketball play 14 games to see who can take home the Commissioner’s Cup, given to the conference with the most wins in the series. Last year’s series ended tied at seven but the ACC took home the cup based off winning the cup in 2017.
The ACC/Big Ten challenge first started in 1999, with the ACC winning the first ten before the Big Ten rattled off the next seven. The ACC has won 13 of the 20 challenges and will look to take home the cup for the fourth time next year.
Last season the ACC was considered by most to be the best conference in the country but the Big Ten held its own, including a huge upset when Penn State went into Blacksburg and beat Virginia Tech.
Michigan made the biggest statement by beating a top five North Carolina team by 17 in a game that wasn’t even that close. Louisville picked up a big win against Michigan State and Syracuse was able to Ohio State and win by 10.
Overall the games were very competitive as nine of the fourteen games were decided by five points or less. Only three games were decided by more than ten points and that included the before mentioned Michigan and North Carolina game and Duke beating Indiana easily.
With the announcement of the challenge games for next year, the two conferences can start to get excited about the basketball season. Like always there looks to be some great matchups and some rematches of tournament games.
The Big Ten will look to take the Cup back after missing out on it the last three years, but it won’t be easy.
But before we get to December we take a look at the top five takeaways from the release of the schedule.