Pitt's Jeff Capel Favors Potential Changes to ACC

Pitt Panthers head coach Jeff Capel examined the outlook of the ACC upon league expansion.

PITTSBURGH -- As the ACC, the home conference of the Pitt Panthers gears up to introduce three new schools to its ranks in the 2024-25 academic year, uncertainty remains about how the conference will go about structuring its basketball scheduling and tournament formats moving forward. 

The impending addition of SMU, Stanford and Cal will boost the ACC's member schools from 15 to 18, forcing the conference to switch up its current framework in a modern landscape where college sports are dominated by realignment. It will make an immediate impact on the week to week operations of Pitt and every team in the conference. 

In its current configuration, every ACC program participates in the conference tournament at the end of the regular season with a chance to earn an NCAA tournament berth, which is the norm across the country. However, the Big Ten announced that it will only be expanding its tournament field to 15 teams starting next season despite growing to 18 member schools much like the ACC, opening up a can of worms that could have a snowball effect. 

During the weekly ACC Coaches Call, Jeff Capel made it clear that with everything up in the air, he would still like to see every program involved in the conference tournament. 

"I would want everyone in the ACC Tournament," Capel said. "I think it’s an opportunity for every team to have a chance at the postseason and that’s really what March Madness is about. You can get hot, it could be an unbelievable story and if you don’t allow teams to go there, then you strip a program or programs of that opportunity and kids of that opportunity.”

The ACC is also tasked with establishing a new regular season scheduling system. The conference began incorporating a 20-game slate in 2019-20 and could stick with that approach, much like the Big Ten. It also has the option of trimming it down to 18 games with an emphasis on maximizing out-of-conference opportunities, though that would potentially take away from the rivalries and allure already present within the league. 

Capel voiced his opinion on this matter as well, stating that his vote would be for whatever gives the programs in the conference the best chance to prove themselves on a national stage.

"I would go with whatever’s best for the ACC and whatever’s going to give us the opportunity to get the most teams in the NCAA Tournament," Capel said. "So, if 18 games gives us a chance to get maybe more national games or if that’s a way to get us more teams into the NCAA Tournament - because we’ve shown that once we get to the tournament, we perform as well as any conference in America. And so whatever would give us the best opportunity, I’m all for that.”

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