ACC/B1G Challenge Pairings: Part I (Miami @ Purdue)

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SelectionSunday

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Sounds like pairings for the Challenge are starting to leak out. This report says Miami will play @ Purdue.

An educated guess says that leaves the Gophers' most likely home opponent as Boston College, Clemson or Virginia Tech. I'd wish for Clemson among those three, as the Tigers return quite a few players from their NCAA-qualifying squad.

Updated Challenge projections. ... official pairings will be announced later today.

ACC Home Games
Illinois @ Virginia
Indiana @ NC State
Michigan @ Florida State
Northwestern @ Maryland
Penn State @ Georgia Tech
Wisconsin @ North Carolina

B1G Home Games
Boston College @ Iowa
Clemson @ Michigan State
Duke @ Ohio State
Miami @ Purdue
Virginia Tech @ GOPHERS
Wake Forest @ Nebraska

http://indiana.sbnation.com/purdue-...acc-big-ten-challenge-miami-will-visit-purdue
 

Sounds like you have the UW/UNC game correct. It will be pretty cool to play at UNC, but I don't think it will be particularly close. Hopefully the Badgers get a shot at the Tarheels in the Kohl Center a year or two down the road.
 

Based on the B1G's home and away teams, to me the top 2 matchups (Duke @ OSU/Badgers @ UNC) are obvious; we'll see if it works out that way. If Darius Morris had stayed in school I would have flip-flopped the Badgers & Wolverines, giving UM a shot at the Tar Heels with the Badgers going to Tallahassee.
 


UWOle said:
Sounds like you have the UW/UNC game correct. It will be pretty cool to play at UNC, but I don't think it will be particularly close. Hopefully the Badgers get a shot at the Tarheels in the Kohl Center a year or two down the road.
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It's a good bet they will with Tokoto committed and Koenig on their radar.
 


Official release from the U:

Gophers to Host Virginia Tech in 2011 Big Ten/ACC Challenge

The University of Minnesota men’s basketball team will host Virginia Tech in the 13th Annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge, the conferences announced today. The Gophers and Hokies will square off on Tuesday, Nov. 29, at Williams Arena. The time has not been determined.

Minnesota and Virginia Tech will be meeting for the first time in each school’s history but head coach Tubby Smith has a perfect 2-0 record against the Hokies. Smith’s Georgia Bulldogs defeated Tech in back-to-back seasons, 85-72 during the 1995-96 season and 60-57 in 1996-97. The Gophers’ last victory in the challenge came in 2008, a 66-56 triumph over Virginia at Williams Arena.

The Gophers are 4-8 in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge following last season’s 87-79 loss to the University of Virginia at Williams Arena. The Michigan State Spartans (6-5) and Wisconsin Badgers (6-6) each have six victories in the history of the challenge. Illinois (5-7), Northwestern (5-7) and Ohio State (5-5) have five wins followed by the Gophers, Michigan (4-6) and Purdue (4-7) with four. Indiana (3-7) and Penn State (3-7) each have three victories while Iowa (2-7) has two. Duke holds the best record in the challenge at 11-1.

Thanks to the addition of Nebraska to the Big Ten Conference, the Challenge will feature 12 games for the first time in the history of the event, all of which will be broadcast on the ESPN family of networks (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU & ESPN3.com).

The Big Ten is the defending Commissioner’s Cup champion, defeating the ACC by a 7-to-4 margin a year ago. Road teams won six of the 11 games in 2010.

Go Gophers!!
 

Reportedly, like the Ryder Cup, a tie goes to the reigning champion, meaning B1G needs only go 6-6 to retain the Commisioners Cup.

Virginia Tech vs. Minnesota has a nice ring to it. ... they should call it the "Battle of the Bubble Boys". If there are two schools historically linked to the bubble, these two are it.
 

That's a nice home game for the Gophers. Although VT lost Delaney and Jeff Allen, they figure to return some key guys who had unfortunate injuries this past season (Hudson and Chaney) and have a 5* forward recruit coming in. VT is a team that appears on paper to be capable of making the tourney, but as SS says, they are always on the bubble and Seth Greenberg's teams seem to choke at the worst time just about every year they are in position to make it.
 

BleedGopher said:
Duke holds the best record in the challenge at 11-1.
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Among the problems with the U's release? Duke may indeed have the most wins in the Challenge, but the Dookies do not have the best record. Boston College is unbeaten (5-0) since joining the Challenge in the 2006-07 season.

MORE IMPORTANTLY, they provided the wrong date of the Gophers game. The game is Wednesday, Nov. 30, not Tuesday, Nov. 29. Pretty important piece of information to get correct, I think. Let's see how long it takes 'em to figure it out & correct it (edit: looks like they just caught it).
 



BC getting a home game is the only clear oddity on the ACC H/A deseignations. BC was due to play on the road - they already had 3 home games to 2 road games, add this game with PSU and they're at 4 home and 2 road in the Challenge. BC is now due to play back-to-back road games.
 

Hodger, this blog recognized your prediction a few weeks ago of UW/UNC:

"The biggest surprise to me is that North Carolina hosts Wisconsin to close the event. It seemed automatic that the Tar Heels would face of Ohio State, which would have been a potential early season blockbuster/NBA talent evaluator get-together. However, the good folks over at gopherhole.com figured out a few weeks ago that the Tar Heels and Buckeyes looked likely to play at home, with the Badgers liable to get on a plane."

http://www.bloggingthebracket.com/2...cc-challenge-schedule-2011-college-basketball

Go Gophers!!
 

Thanks Bleed. Chris at bloggingthebracket.com has given GopherHole some love on a couple different occasions. I like his web site.

Appreciate that he didn't mention I only projected 4 of the 12 matchups (my final projections yesterday) correctly!
 

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