The Atlantic Coast Conference has moved back to an 18-game conference schedule this season for the first time since the 2018-19 campaign. Each ACC school will play two teams twice. One of those two-game series, called the "primary partner," is a series that will happen each season. The other, called the "variable partner," is a two-game skid that will change each season. Duke basketball's primary partner is North Carolina, obviously. Its variable partner for the 2025-26 campaign is Louisville. Obviously, part of this is to raise TV ratings to put the ACC in a better financial position. This gives the conference more leeway with the non-conference schedule, while also giving it the freedom to schedule the best games possible. Duke and Louisville are likely heading into the season as the top two teams in the ACC, so it makes sense they will face off twice.
At ACC Basketball Tipoff in Charlotte, NC, ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips spoke on the move to an 18-game slate and the main reasons for it. Besides raising TV ratings, it also has to do with the success of the conference. The ACC has been extremely mediocre over the last few seasons, securing no more than five teams in the NCAA Tournament field in any tournament since 2022. Only four squads out of the ACC made the big dance in 2025, with Duke being the only program from the conference ranked as a top-4 seed.
"We sat down, and we looked at what are the must-have rivalries that we need to try to make sure that we continue, and then where are the ones that from time to time we will re-engage those rivalries before the next couple of years we may have to take a bit of a pause. That's hard to do," Phillips said at the 2025 ACC Basketball Tipoff.
"What I would say is, it has brought us the ability to schedule a little differently in the nonconference, so I like where we ended up on that," Phillips said. "It also is a driver, quite candidly, about trying to get more teams in the NCAA Tournament.
It will be intriguing to monitor the new 18-game conference slate and if it actually leads to more television success and NCAA Tournament success, which the ACC desperately needs.