Last month, Clemson men's basketball released its 2026-27 ACC schedule, but there was one notable team absent from it: North Carolina.
The majority of Tiger fans vented their annoyance with the decision, as this is the first time in 75 years that the two ACC teams won't be able to play, the last time coming during the 1950-51 season.
Speaking to the media at ACC Tipoff, Clemson head coach Brad Brownell backed the disappointed fans and expressed his frustration with the scheduling model.
"I don't like it. I said it last year with Virginia: I hate that we don't play everybody. I don't understand. If we're gonna play 18 games, we need to play everybody once and a partner twice, in my opinion," Brownell said. "My opinion apparently doesn't mean a whole lot, and it probably shouldn't. But I'll reiterate that in spring meetings."
During the 2025-26 season, the Cavaliers were the one team missing from Clemson's schedule. Now, the Tar Heels have replaced them, and it really just isn't a great look for the conference, as the two programs are among the biggest and best brands in the ACC. Not to mention, they always make for a good matchup.
While an 18-game schedule should allow every team to play each of its conference opponents once, plus a two-game series with a rival of its choosing, that doesn't appear to be the thinking among ACC leaders. Instead, the Tigers will play Georgia Tech and Florida State twice each and 14 other ACC teams once.
Brownell said the ACC may need to revisit its schedule, including whether to expand the 18-game conference slate, even though that format may have helped send more teams to the NCAA Tournament last season.
"I do think we're going to have to think about whether we keep adding games — we go to 32 games now. You know, do we need to add more conference games? Do we need to get to 20? Go back," he finished. "I know we got more teams in the tournament last year, with 18, and maybe that was part of the special sauce because we tried the other for a while."
"But it really gets hard to schedule 14 non-conference games. It's not always going to work out the way you want, so we have to look at all of it."
Clemson and Brownell will open up ACC play in Littlejohn Coliseum against Virginia on Dec. 29 at 6:00 p.m. EST. The contest will be broadcast on ESPN2.
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