Duke Basketball Report reminds us that now that the Big Ten has twelve teams, the annual ACC Big Ten Challenge will likely feature 12 a side from both the ACC and the Big Ten:
One minor effect of the Big Ten’s expansion will be on the ACC-Big Ten challenge. Assuming that it continues and assuming that the Big Ten stops at 12, it might be a while before the ACC loses.
With the addition of Nebraska, the Big Ten now has three teams that have historically been weak: aside from the Huskers, Northwestern has always been the weakest team in the conference with the possible exception of Penn State since they joined.
I guess this is somewhat good news, considering that BC has played all of three teams in the Challenge - Michigan, Michigan State and Iowa. It will be good to see some new blood in the Challenge. This also allows all twelve ACC teams playing in the challenge annually. While BC has never missed the cut after sitting out of the 2005 Challenge due to conference realignment, we've certainly had our close calls.
In addition, given that Nebraska isn't exactly a basketball heavyweight, the ACC probably will never, ever lose this tournament again.