In addition to the changes to the football schedule, the ACC also announced changes to both men's and women's basketball's conference schedule. While the conference will continue to play an 18-game conference schedule, the two-partner format will be tweaked to include Notre Dame.
One guess as to who Notre Dame got paired with ...
Here are the new primary-partners:
Boston College - Notre Dame and Syracuse
Clemson - Florida State and Georgia Tech
Duke - North Carolina and Wake Forest
Florida State - Clemson and Miami
Georgia Tech - Clemson and Notre Dame
Maryland - Pittsburgh and Virginia
Miami - Florida State and Virginia Tech
North Carolina - Duke and N.C. State
N.C. State - North Carolina and Wake Forest
Notre Dame - Boston College and Georgia Tech
Pittsburgh - Maryland and Syracuse
Syracuse - Boston College and Pittsburgh
Virginia - Maryland and Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech - Miami and Virginia
Wake Forest - Duke and N.C. State
Overall, I think that BC managed pretty well with the new draw. This rotation is leaps and bounds better than the original rotation of Miami and Virginia Tech. Syracuse is a natural rival and I can get used to seeing Notre Dame hoops twice a year, too.
Other teams didn't fare as well. I'm eagerly anticipating the reaction from Maryland fans, who lose Duke in favor of Virginia. Duke and Carolina can't be split three ways, so Wake misses Carolina and N.C. State misses Duke. Makes sense. Fans will still complain. Notre Dame-Georgia Tech was also an interesting choice likely rooted in their shared history / rivalry on the gridiron.
In addition to the new permanent scheduling partners, the league announced changes to the ACC Tournament and the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The ACC Tournament will feature all teams, with three games on Wednesday, four on Thursday, four on Friday, the semifinals Saturday and the championship game on Sunday. The top four seeds will receive -- gasp! -- a double bye into Friday's quarterfinals.
As for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, since the conference will soon have three more programs than the Big Ten, the league decided that the 12 teams with the best RPI from the previous year will be included. Boston College has its work cut out for it if it hopes to play in the 2013 ACC/Big Ten Challenge (or is it Big Ten/ACC Challenge?).