ACC’s 18-Game Shift Signals the End of Another Basketball Tradition

With the ACC officially approving its move to an 18-game conference schedule, yet another longtime tradition has quietly faded into history.

On Wednesday, the league confirmed a change that had been leaked days earlier: Starting next season, each ACC team will play 18 conference games instead of 20. The shift opens the door for schools to schedule two more non-conference matchups—ideally high-profile games that can boost NCAA Tournament résumés come March.

There was a twist, though. Rather than adopting the model used by ACC women’s basketball, where each team has three rotating home-and-home series, the new format gives every team one permanent home-and-home rival, a second rotating opponent for a home-and-home, and excludes one ACC team from the schedule entirely each year.

For UNC, the permanent home-and-home partner is obvious: Duke. Regardless of format changes, the Carolina-Duke rivalry remains the ACC’s biggest TV draw. It helped launch ESPN2, after all. The league was never going to reduce its most valuable product to a once-a-year matchup.

What isn’t guaranteed anymore is UNC’s annual home-and-home with NC State.

The new scheduling model effectively ends that tradition, at least as a certainty. It’s a tough pill to swallow for fans who’ve grown up with the intensity of those biannual showdowns—games that stirred emotion no matter each team’s record, always among the hottest tickets of the season. When one team swept the other, it meant more.

This change is just the latest example of the ACC shedding its old identity. The round-robin schedule is long gone. The conference tournament no longer includes all teams. There’s no regional network broadcasting every game. Longstanding rivalries are being sacrificed at the altar of expansion and television revenue.

Ironically, NC State played a key role in all of this. When the ACC expanded to 18 teams in 2023, it was NC State’s pivotal vote that pushed the change through. It was a move rooted in survival, meant to keep the league viable in case top programs broke away via legal action. But in backing expansion, NC State inadvertently helped eliminate one of its own most cherished traditions.

Now, with the league too big for multiple annual rivalries, UNC and NC State might not even face each other in some years.

We’ll soon find out what the first schedule under the new format looks like. Will the ACC give UNC and NC State one final season with both matchups? Will they split into a single game? Or could the league go even further and skip the rivalry entirely this year?

And then there’s the question of how UNC will use its two new non-conference slots. More marquee matchups could be on the way, but it’ll be hard to replace the loss of something that once felt so foundational

A former basketball target for UNC decommits after being selected unexpectedly.

Back in the fall, UNC basketball was in the mix for longtime Tar Heel fan Niko Bundalo

The 6-foot-10 senior forward from Prolific Prep (Calif.) had listed UNC among his top nine schools and later included them in his final four, alongside UConn, Michigan State, and Ohio State. However, in a surprising move last November, Bundalo committed to Washington — a program that hadn’t made his previous shortlist.

Now, the recruitment race is back on. Multiple reports on Tuesday confirmed that Bundalo has been released from his signed commitment to Washington and is once again available.

Ranked No. 31 nationally in the 2025 class by the 247Sports Composite, Bundalo is now the second-highest ranked uncommitted prospect in the cycle.

It remains uncertain whether UNC head coach Hubert Davis will pursue him again, though Bundalo’s deep-rooted connection to the Tar Heels — inspired by his mother’s admiration for Michael Jordan — could make Chapel Hill a natural fit. The Tar Heels still have roster spots open for next season.

UNC Basketball Makes the Cut for the Elite Forward List

The UNC basketball program remains in the hunt for five-star recruit Anthony Thompson, who announced his top 15 schools over the weekend.

In early January, Western Reserve Academy (Ohio) standout small forward Anthony Thompson received an offer from Tar Heels head coach Hubert Davis. Nearly four months later, UNC has secured a spot on his shortlist.

On Friday, Thompson revealed his top choices on social media, naming UNC along with BYU, Texas, Xavier, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, Georgetown, Indiana, Auburn, Notre Dame, Purdue, Ohio State, Michigan State, and Michigan.

The 6-foot-8, 185-pound left-hander narrowed his options after drawing over 30 scholarship offers early in the 2026 recruiting cycle.

According to the 247Sports 2026 Composite rankings, Thompson currently sits at No. 11 overall, No. 3 among small forwards, and is the No. 1 prospect in Ohio.

“Whenever Anthony Thompson is in the gym, it’s tough to find a jump shot that looks better,” 247Sports’ Eric Bossi recently observed, also noting Thompson’s impressive “nearly 7-foot-3 wingspan.”

The Tar Heels have issued numerous offers to 2026 prospects and remain firmly in the mix for many of their top recruiting targets.

A second UNC basketball starter arrives at the portal before the deadline.

UNC basketball has now seen several players opt to explore the transfer portal

On Monday morning, just under two days before the portal deadline, Tar Heels forward Ven-Allen Lubin announced his intention to enter the transfer portal.