2011 ACC/Big Ten Challenge Lineup Revealed (3:30 Update)

11-12 Basketball ACC26

The increasingly ludicruously-named Big Ten fields a full slate of twelve this year, so Wake gets to play. Hooray for the Deacs and Cornhuskers. NC State will make an intriguing visit to Bloomington to face host Tom Crean’s Indiana Hoosiers. An unlikely (but possible, since the game is in Raleigh) Pack victory would no doubt take Crean’s seat from hot to sizzling. Hat tip to Trout (in the comments) for noting that this is the first (and only) matchup of the two storied programs since a home-and-home in the late sixties. This is the type of interesting factoid that the challenge should produce more regularly, rather than keep trying to force Michigan State/UNC down our throats every year (and Sparty will avoid both blues this time around, drawing Florida State in a game will surely feature lots and lots of defense).

Full lineup of matchups is listed here.

About BJD95

1995 NC State graduate, sufferer of Les and MOC during my entire student tenure. An equal-opportunity objective critic and analyst of Wolfpack sports.

11-12 Basketball ACC

26 Responses to 2011 ACC/Big Ten Challenge Lineup Revealed (3:30 Update)

  1. Trout 05/17/2011 at 2:52 PM #

    Indiana comes to Raleigh…..

  2. old13 05/17/2011 at 2:53 PM #

    According to the ACC link, the Pack will host IU, not play at Bloomington.

  3. Trout 05/17/2011 at 3:02 PM #

    Hard to believe this:

    NC State will face Indiana for only the third time in school history. In the two previous matchups, Indiana won in Raleigh in 1968 (101-97) and in Bloomington in 1969 (77-62).

    Especially with our rich Indiana history. Case and Sloan were both Indiana boys.

  4. BJD95 05/17/2011 at 3:02 PM #

    Oops, sorry about my terrible reading comprehension. I shall fix after the top of the 9th of Braves/Astros.

  5. JEOH2 05/17/2011 at 3:10 PM #

    I hope Scott Wood lights them up that day…

    One thing that worries me is our schedule next year, I’ve only heard of ‘Cuse & now Hoosiers both at home…

    I know the schedule isn’t done, but can someone please tell me we have some RPI building & “eyeball test” games besides these ones next year…?

  6. BJD95 05/17/2011 at 3:16 PM #

    Not much the new staff can do for 2011-12, and it won’t matter anyway (we will certainly suck until 2012-13 at the very earliest). Though I have heard we are looking for at least one “road first” home and home. Good for Gottfried, learning a lesson from his time at Alabama (they were singled out at least once by the selection committee for their shitty non-conference SOS).

    Oddly enough, I remember none other than Lee Fowler explaining same on CBS. The world sure is funny sometimes.

    Brian McCann’s two-out pinch hit homer sends us to extra innins in Atlanta. Woohoo.

  7. Wolfy__79 05/17/2011 at 3:19 PM #

    WOW! i like it!! i didn’t know until now about NC STATE and the hoosiers only matching up twice before! fsu and msu should be a pretty good game!!

    ^those are two good games for rpi but i still say it all comes down to what happens in conference play for ACC teams, especially BIG FOUR teams. but, two wins here would go a long way with the state of NC STATE.

  8. wolffpride 05/17/2011 at 4:23 PM #

    Well maybe we can beat at least one of the Zellers next year

  9. ryebread 05/17/2011 at 4:33 PM #

    Wolfy___79: Sorry, but I don’t agree with that statement. The way our schedule has been laid out lately because of our non-conference opponents, their RPIs, our season was pretty much done before we ever entered ACC play. Last year, we’d have had to have gone something like 10-6 and win a first round ACC tournament game, or have won the ACC tournament to have made the big dance.

    It’s critically important that:
    1) The ACC mop up in out of conference play — which we didn’t do last year
    2) That teams build out a good out of conference schedule with winnable yet somewhat challenging games.
    3) Some games are played on the road and neutral courts — and not just against Sisters of the Poor.

    Back on topic, they’ll be 12 games in all. When I look at the match ups, it seems to favor the Big 10 this year quite heavily. There are very few clear winners for the ACC (UNC/Wisc and Clemson/Iowa seemingly are the ones that stand out) and quite a bit more for the Big 10.

  10. Wulfpack 05/17/2011 at 5:37 PM #

    I could be wrong but I thought Crean had a rather excellent recruiting class coming in for the Hoosiers. So this might be a nice test, who knows.

    Awesome Bravos win today, BJD! Love them Bravos. Playing well early.

  11. BJD95 05/17/2011 at 6:29 PM #

    This is a very likeable Braves squad. With Chipper over the hill and Heyward having an injured shoulder, nobody’s really above-average on offense but McCann. But they hang in games and function well as a team.

  12. BladenWolf 05/17/2011 at 6:30 PM #

    Purdue beats Miami
    Northwestern beats Georgia Tech
    Illinois beats Maryland
    No. 23 Michigan beats Virginia
    Clemson beats Iowa
    No. 5 Duke vs No. 3 Ohio State is a toss up.
    NC State beats Indiana. I know. I’m biased.
    Penn State beats Boston College
    No. 21 Florida State beats Michigan State
    Virginia Tech beats Minnesota
    Nebraska beats Wake
    No. 11 Wisconsin vs No. 1 North Carolina is a toss up. I know. I can’t pull for the smurfs.

    The double edged sword regarding out-of-conference scheduling is you have to believe you will win most of those games, if not all of them. However you need those same opponents to have the highest RPI’s possible. It’s a balancing act. I like playing Indiana.

  13. BamaPack 05/17/2011 at 8:00 PM #

    It will be good to get a game against Crean before he’s shown the door at year’s end.

  14. Wolfy__79 05/17/2011 at 8:03 PM #

    ryebread.. i follow what you’re saying but 10-6 should be the minimum for us.. that’s kind of what i meant by that. i understand the ACC was down last year and the individual team ooc hurt rpi for those left out. the year before last i recall being right there with florida.. iirc the year before that was the arizona mathcup.. each was a turning point for SLowe’s teams. ..if they would have won those?? who knows.. there were alot of near misses w/in a couple of our past five seasons where it could have gone either way. 2010 we had a pretty solid ooc schedule.. the results weren’t so favorable. aside from what actually happened.. and the state of the conference last year, an NCAA tournament bound team from the ACC should easily finish 10-6 at worst on their way to the big dance. i think any of the big four ACC teams especially NCSU get the benefit of the doubt alot of the time. va tech gets bitten by the rpi bug every year.. you’d think they’d learn. i know the OOC is important, but i still feel that we get the benefit over some other ACC schools.

  15. Wolfy__79 05/17/2011 at 8:12 PM #

    wins over 2 of the big east’s best, big ten, pac10 and george mason would have done wonders for our rpi and also meant that we would have probably been around 10 wins in the ACC. but, just b/c you don’t have the best w/l early on against the ooc schedule.. to me doesn’t mean that the season has to be scrapped. you need a good mixture of both.. but i still think it all boils down to how you finish in conference play, especially the ACC.

  16. JEOH2 05/17/2011 at 9:22 PM #

    I don’t know if Crean will be gone after this year…his team could finish in the middle of the Big 10 this year, which would be significant progress…and next year (2012), he has a ridiculous class coming in that could rival anyone…

    He just can’t tank this season like they tanked last season…

  17. 61Packer 05/17/2011 at 9:29 PM #

    Despite IU having such bad teams of late, it still beats playing Northwestern or Penn State. This is a game we should win, and I think we will, mainly because we’re at home and we have a new coaching staff and a hopefully revitalized fan base. All of this will help our players.

    One thing is for sure- we simply cannot have a repeat peformance of our effort against Wisconsin in last season’s Challenge.

  18. backnine 05/17/2011 at 9:41 PM #

    Here’s a few things I expect in the Indiana vs State matchup:

    – A better Hoosier’s team than you’ve seen in a while
    – A better Wolfpack team than you’ve seen in a while
    – A full RBC Center who’ve come to be loud. This matchup will draw a sell-out.
    – Wolfpack uniforms that say “State” across the front. Its time we get back to our roots. All our glory has taken place when we sport the traditional uniforms. I’m amped up to see our uniforms back the way they belong. Harkens back to the day.

    With all that being said I like our chances but will be a tough game. How quick can our team internalize Gott’s new system? Crean is ahead of us there. He’s had more time.

  19. blpack 05/17/2011 at 9:46 PM #

    This is a good match up after last season’s debacle. I couldn’t remember the Pack playing the Hoosiers and now I know why. We should play each other more often. Hopefully this game and this challenge will help NCSU and the ACC repair it’s image after the letdown of last year.

  20. gotohe11carolina 05/18/2011 at 12:55 AM #

    I’ve never liked watching big ten basketball. I wish we would just play a different conference each year. fwiw ncsu v Iowa, worst. bball game in the shot clock era, neither team shot a lick and both of us struggled to break 40

  21. Moox 05/18/2011 at 2:20 AM #

    I can see Annabelle’s brochure now.

    “Battle of the Ages! Two formerly elite teams that haven’t played up to their expectations in over two decades battling it out for the title of biggest loser”

  22. BJD95 05/18/2011 at 7:42 AM #

    It won’t be a sellout, but should draw a decent crowd. Having one playable guard is a huge limiting factor in terms of competitiveness.

  23. 61Packer 05/18/2011 at 8:26 AM #

    I wasn’t aware that “State” has replaced the “NC State” on the uniforms. Outstanding!!!!!!!

  24. PoppaJohn 05/18/2011 at 8:37 AM #

    Just a guess, but I’m thinking it will be a sellout. The first big home game of the MG era. MG should be very good at PR and this will be early enough in the season that optimism will be ridiculously unrealistic. (at least on my part)

  25. Classof89 05/18/2011 at 9:57 AM #

    arguing whether being lousy in OOC games or ACC games hurt us more is sort of a “how many angels fit on the head of a pin” type discussion at this point, isn’t it, because we flat out sucked with respect to both portions of the schedule…

    Don’t understand the pessimism on this game. If there is one storied program that has performed worse in recent years than us, it is clearly Indiana…

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