ACC will stay with 15 teams for basketball tournaments next year despite expansion to 18 teams

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Next year’s newly expanded Atlantic Coast Conference won’t feature every team in its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.

The league announced Wednesday that the ACC will feature the top 15 teams in next year’s tournaments, which will be the first after the league has grown to 18 teams by bringing in California and Stanford from the Pac-12 as well as SMU from the American Athletic Conference. The league will stay with a 20-game conference schedule for the men and an 18-game schedule for the women.

The format of the ACC men’s and women’s tournaments had been in question because the league has long included every team, but going to 18 teams would push them beyond the current five-day event model.

The ACC also has approved a pair of technology measures for the 2024 football season, pending approval from the NCAA Football Rules Committee. That includes the use of coach-to-player helmet devices allowing for one-way communication, as well as providing access to in-game video to league teams to “enhance their ability to make in-game adjustments.”

The announcement came at the end of the three-day winter meetings, which included league athletic directors and other key administrators as well as the league’s Board of Directors made up of school presidents and chancellors.