ACC Tournament Format: More Changes On The Horizon?

Not only is it looking like the ACC will be taking its signature conference tournament to New York as early as 2017, it sounds like the tournament may be moving a day up in the week. According to the Daily Press' David Teel, the ACC may be moving up the start date of the tournament to Tuesday starting next season.

Sources also say that the ACC is prepared, starting next season, to shift the tournament to a Saturday, prime-time championship game that would serve television (ESPN) interests and please coaches wanting more time to prepare for the NCAA tournament.

The move would entail a Tuesday tournament start, inconvenient for some fans, and Friday night semifinals. But the pluses outweigh the negatives, and all indications are this is going to happen.

"That's a possibility," Swofford said, "one of those things that's in full discussion. I don't know when we'll have a final decision on that, but I would guess it would be no later than our spring meeting (in May)."

If you loved Wednesday at the ACC Tournament this year, you're gonna REALLY love Tuesday at the ACC Tournament.

While I understand the importance of moving the ACC Tournament final to Saturday night for TV, "Tuesday at the ACC Tournament" is getting a tad bit ridiculous. Tournaments fields don't contract. They only ever expand, so you can forget about the conference qualifying only the top teams in the final regular season standings.

But if there was ever a case for the ACC to qualify the league's top 12 teams and start the conference tournament on Wednesday, this is it. Tuesday at the ACC Tournament is going to be a ghost town. Did Notre Dame, Boston College and Virginia Tech really deserve a trip to Greensboro this year?

I suppose an alternative solution to this would be first round games on campus, with the three #hexafinals winners advancing to the ACC Tournament. Announced attendance for this year's first round session was 10,945.

Other notes:

-- Swofford wouldn't dispute reports that the ACC will take its men's basketball tournament to Brooklyn as early as 2017. Interestingly, the Atlantic 10 is contracted to hold its conference tournament at Brooklyn's Barclays Center in 2017. In exchange for taking over the venue, the ACC has reportedly offered to play A-10 teams in a series of regular-season doubleheaders at Barclays in future years. Boston College faced VCU at Barclays this past December in the second annual BROOKLYN HOOPS Winter Festival. VCU won 69-50.

-- Sounds like the ACC will have a new schedule rotation for next season. Under the current format, Boston College faces Syracuse and Notre Dame twice a year every year as well as two rotating home-and-home partners. This season BC faced Georgia Tech and (mercifully) Virginia Tech each twice this season. The ACC is leaning towards establishing a schedule rotation that favors competitive equity over made-for-TV matchups. That's good news for a program like Boston College that would see the number of home games against the conference's elite reduced in favor of more made-for-TV matchups.

-- Greensboro will be in the mix for future conference tournaments so Tobacco Road can step back from the ledge. The tournament will stay in Greensboro next year before moving to Washington D.C.'s Verizon Center in 2016. Brooklyn's Barclays Center is expected to be named the tournament site for 2017 and 2018.