ACC–Big Ten Challenge

The ACC–Big Ten Challenge (or Big Ten–ACC Challenge as it is called in alternating years) is an in-season NCAA men's college basketball series established in 1999 that matches up teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and the Big Ten Conference. ESPN was a key part of the creation of the challenge, and holds the broadcast rights to all the games.

The ACC leads the series 10-5-2; the ACC won the first 10 consecutive challenges, while the Big Ten won the next three. The following two challenges resulted in ties. The most recent two challenges were won by the Big Ten 8-6. In the 16 years of the event, nine of the challenges have been decided by a single game.

The Big Ten–ACC Challenge occurs early in the season, typically around late November/early December. Each game is hosted by one of the participating schools, with teams typically alternating home and away status in each successive year.

Nine games were played for each of the first 6 challenges, leaving two teams from the 11-team Big Ten Conference without an opponent. With the expansion of the ACC to 12 teams with the addition of Boston College, Miami and Virginia Tech, the field was expanded to 11 games in 2006, meaning that one ACC team would not play. With Nebraska joining the Big Ten in 2011, the challenge expanded to 12 games and every member from both conferences participated. In 2013, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, and Notre Dame joined the ACC, leaving three ACC teams excluded from the competition. In 2014, Maryland withdrew from the ACC and joined the Big Ten along with Rutgers, giving that conference 14 teams, and Louisville joined the ACC, replacing Maryland and maintaining the conference's 15-team membership. The conference realignments have led to the challenge being expanded to 14 games.

Imbalances in the number of teams in the conferences are resolved by dropping the larger conference's lowest finisher(s) in the prior season from the challenge pool, although in 2014 the ACC elected to exclude Boston College instead of last-place Virginia Tech to avoid excluding Virginia Tech in consecutive years.

When the challenge was expanded to 12 games, the change resulted in the possibility that the challenge could end in a tie. In the event of a tie, the previous year's winner retains the Commissioner's Cup. This scenario occurred in 2012 and 2013, with the Big Ten retaining the Cup based on its 8-4 win in 2011.^[1]

In the year 2007, the ACC–Big Ten Women's Challenge was founded.

The popularity of this series has led other conferences to form similar partnerships in which their members go head-to-head against each other. Examples are the Big 12/SEC Challenge and Mountain West–Missouri Valley Challenge and the now-defunct SEC–Big East Challenge and Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series. The ACC-Big Ten Challenge itself followed another popular interconference challenge series involving the ACC, the ACC-Big East Challenge which took place in the 1980s and 1990s at the height of the Big East Conference.^[2]

Yearly results

Team records

Atlantic Coast Conference (10–5–2, streak Lost 2)

• Maryland moved to Big Ten Conference. Results prior to the 2014-2015 school year are still included for the ACC.

Big Ten Conference (5–10–2, streak Won 2)

The column "Out" indicates the number of Challenges that the team was excluded from participation.

Results

2015 Big Ten 8–6

2014 Big Ten 8–6

2013 Tied 6–6

Considering that Maryland was the last ACC team in, and Wake Forest the first out, based on the previous ACC standings, some Wake Forest supporters argued that since Maryland had already established that it would leave the ACC for the Big Ten, the Terrapins should have been left out of this season's Challenge due to the conflict of interest and Wake should have played instead.^[3]

2012 Tied 6–6

*All Times Eastern

2011 Big Ten 8–4

2010 Big Ten 6–5

2009 Big Ten 6–5

2008 ACC 6–5

2007 ACC 8–3

Notes: Miami did not play. Rankings from ESPN Coaches Poll (Nov. 26).

2006 ACC 8–3

Notes: Wake Forest did not play. Rankings from ESPN Coaches Poll (Nov. 27).

2005 ACC 6–5

Notes:

• #8 Boston College did not play.
• Rankings from ESPN Coaches Poll (Nov. 28).
• The North Carolina/Illinois match-up was a rematch of the 2004–2005 NCAA Championship game.

2004 ACC 7–2

Notes: Penn State, Iowa, Miami, Virginia Tech did not play. Rankings from ESPN Coaches Poll (Nov. 29).

2003 ACC 7–2

Notes: Iowa, Penn State did not play. Rankings from ESPN Coaches Poll (Dec. 1).

2002 ACC 5–4

Notes:

• Michigan and Purdue did not play.
• Rankings from ESPN Coaches Poll (Dec. 2).
• The Indiana/Maryland game was a rematch of the 2001–2002 NCAA national title game in Atlanta, GA.

2001 ACC 5–3

Notes:

• Michigan and Purdue did not play.
• Rankings from AP Poll (Nov. 27).
• Michigan State vs. Virginia, at Richmond Coliseum, was cancelled during the game's second half due to unsafe court conditions. Virginia led 31–28 at the time the game was called.

2000 ACC 5–4

Notes: Indiana and Ohio State did not play. Rankings from AP Poll (Nov. 28)

1999 ACC 5–4

Notes: #23 Indiana and #15 Ohio State did not play. Rankings from AP Poll (Nov. 30)

See also

ACC–Big Ten Women's Challenge

References

External links

• 8th Annual ACC–Big Ten Challenge