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2015 Big Ten/ACC Challenge Matchups Announced

Maryland plays against old conference rival North Carolina, and other matchups were announced today by ESPN

Better later than never, ESPN has finally announced the matchups for the 2015 Big Ten/ACC Challenge, two weeks after the release date last year. This year proves to be especially fun as the challenge features four of the Top 7 teams in the nation along with another handful of ranked teams outside of the Top 10 in pre-season polls. You can find our predictions here.

The matchups, by day, are the following:

Monday Games

Clemson @ Minnesota: We had FSU @ Minnesota, so we were wrong in this prediction as we had Clemson as one possibility to not even play in the challenge on the ACC side.

Wake Forest @ Rutgers: We had Virginia Tech @ Rutgers, so now we’re 0 for 2, but the bottom is always a crapshoot.

Tuesday Games

Maryland @ North Carolina: We finally got one right, but I would expect this to also be a #1 vs. #2 matchup when the game comes around and the actual pre-season polls come out that take transfers into account. This will almost assuredly be the headline game for the night in the 9:00pm EST slot.

Virginia @ Ohio State: We had Virginia matched up with Wisconsin, so thankfully that atrocity didn’t happen. 1 for 4 now, but I’m happy with this miss.

Michigan @ NC State: This game could be fun with both teams seemingly on the cusp of making it back into the Top 25 but injuries or early departures have hurt both programs. Oh, we also got this one right, so 2 for 5.

Purdue @ Pittsburgh: We somehow got this one right too, predicting Purdue to fall a bit in the standings vs standings matchups. Pitt will struggle against the size Purdue has in the paint. Back to 50%!

Northwestern @ Virginia Tech: This game might make ESPNU, maybe. I hope that Collins gets his team ready, because as bad as Tech has been, accounting for Seth Allen will be a challenge. Got this one wrong, so 3 for 7.

Miami @ Nebraska: Got this one wrong too, but it’s all good. A football rematch from this year and both teams are down. Kinda makes sense.

Wednesday Games

Indiana @ Duke: Got this one right, as it seemed a bit obvious that Maryland and Indiana were going to play some combination of North Carolina and Duke. Indiana is very experienced and will give the Duke freshmen a tough test. 4 for 9.

Louisville @ Michigan State: Got this one right too, so doing well at the top but bad otherwise. This one puts two great coaches against each other and avoids the MSU vs. another Carolina school again. Back to 50%! So obviously that means...

Wisconsin @ Syracuse: Got it wrong, duh. How will Syracuse look after its sanctions and presumably without its head coach on the sidelines? 5 for 11.

Florida State @ Iowa: And wrong again. FSU has a bunch of talented underclassmen, so if they put it together early this could be a sneakily good game.

Illinois @ Notre Dame: This game could be really good with Illinois great recruiting class and Notre Dame trying to find themselves after losing their top performer.  Oh, I also got this one wrong.

Penn State @ Boston College: And wrong on the last game too and finished 5 for 14 (a few I didn’t count in the total game number of right/wrong earlier, I had already said I was wrong). So this will be a snooze fest, right? Just beat BC.

How do you all feel about your teams matchup? Like it? Hate it? Don’t care about college basketball at all but you read all of this for no reason anyways?