By Adam Hoge
the daily cardinal
Next season's ACC-Big Ten Challenge schedule was released Tuesday and Badger fans will be pleased to hear the UW men's basketball team was rewarded with a premiere matchup at Duke Nov. 27.
Wisconsin and Duke have never met but the first meeting will be televised nationally on ESPN.
""We look forward to trying to carry the banner for the Big Ten again this year,"" head coach Bo Ryan said in a statement. ""Every year we know the Challenge will provide us with a quality opponent and this year is no different. We are excited to represent the Big Ten in what should be a great matchup.""
In eight seasons of participating in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, UW is 3-5. Duke is the only team that has never lost in the Challenge, boasting an 8-0 record.
In other games, North Carolina will travel to Ohio State in a rematch of last year's game, Illinois will go to Maryland in another rematch and Georgia Tech will head to Indiana.
Despite the Challenge being eight years old, UW has only played four different ACC teams in those eight games. In addition to beating Florida State last November, UW has taken two of three against Maryland while losing three to Wake Forest and one to Georgia Tech. Some fans have expressed frustration because UW has never gotten the opportunity to play Duke or North Carolina. After winning a school record 30 games, that changed.
UW's schedule for next season is not complete but the non-conference portion is already looking tough. The Capital Times reported that Wisconsin is expected to play at Texas Dec. 29 but the contest has not been finalized. In addition, the Badgers will host Marquette, who could be a pre-season top 15 team, and will play at UW-Milwaukee. Georgia is also set to make a visit to the Kohl Center.
Big Ten ups to 18 games
The conference season is getting tougher as well. The Big Ten announced Tuesday that it will play an 18-game schedule next season. The new schedule adds two games and means UW will play only two teams once instead of four. The Badgers were scheduled to play Ohio State and Michigan State just once next season, but that could change with two games being added.
""This is a great decision for the league,"" head coach Bo Ryan said in a statement Tuesday. ""I've been on record as wanting to play a 20-game schedule, which would mean you play everyone home-and-home. Increasing the number of league games is great for the conference and for the fans of the Big Ten. There are still some details that need to be worked out as to how everything will play out but I'm sure the schools will work together to get everything resolved in a fair manner.""
Each Big Ten team will now play two fewer non-conference games to accommodate the schedule changes.
The same changes will take place in women's basketball.
