Virginia Basketball 2017-2018 ACC slate announced

The ACC officially (re) released the conference matchups today, re-iterating some information we already knew. It’s never too early for basketball info, and now it’s officially official who the Hoos will be facing this coming season.

Here’s who Virginia will see (and how many times) in the ACC this season:

Home/Road: Louisville, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Syracuse

Home: Clemson, North Carolina, NC State, Boston College, Notre Dame

Road: Florida State, Miami, Duke, Wake Forest, Pitt

2016-2017 Season:

Louisville: The Hoos continued their utter dominance of the Cardinals as they won both meetings with the good guys taking it on the road 61-53 and at home 71-55. Despite losing Donovan Mitchell, the Cards are expected to finish in the top three of the ACC as they have Quentin Snider, Deng Adel, Ray Spalding, and VJ King returning.

Virginia Tech: The Hoos handily defeated Virginia Tech 71-48 in the friendly confines of JPJ, but fell victim to the fiery sauna of an auditorium that is Cassel Coliseum in double overtime, 80-78. I don’t think we need to see that shot of the basketball stuck on the rim. The Hokies lose Seth Allen and Zach LeDay(FINALLY), but return Kerry Blackshear and Chris Clarke. Bad news, Virginia Tech will be good.

Georgia Tech: Jack Salt had the best game of his career against the Yellow Jackets as he was solid defensively on GT’s Ben Lammers. Salt held Lammers to just seven points - half his season average - in 35 minutes of playing time. New head coach (and ACC Coach of the Year) Josh Pastner overachieved in his first season at the helm of the Jackets. Will he be able to repeat the same feat? They return Lammers and sophomore Josh Okogie.

Syracuse: SO WE MEET AGAIN, ORANGE. For the first time since Syracuse joined the ACC, the Hoos and Orange will face off twice in the regular season. Last year, then #9 Virginia went on the road to the Carrier Dome and - in an unprecedented fashion, one that had never occurred before against Syracuse - lost a big lead in the second half and fell 68-66. Cuse returns Tyus Battle and Taurean Thompson at the guard spot, but are projected to finish in the lower third of the ACC.

Clemson: FINALLY Jaron Blossomgame is gone. UVA needed 25 from London Perrantes to squeak out a 77-73 win on the road over the Tigers. Clemson is projected to finish near the bottom of the conference this coming season.

North Carolina: Virginia faced off against the eventual NCAA champions twice last season, getting destroyed (65-41) and putting together one of the best games of the season and winning (53-43) in the other. More impressive? The Hoos rebounded from their mollywhopping to get redemption just nine days later. Joel Berry II returns for the Heels, but they lose Justin Jackson, Kennedy Meeks, and Isaiah Hicks.

NC State: The Hoos went on the road to Raleigh and handily defeated the Wolfpack, 70-55. Dennis Smith Jr. departed for the NBA, but NC State hired the excellent Kevin Keatts from UNC-Wilmington. Omer Yurtseven and Abdul-Malik Abu return.

Boston College: Boston College, oh Boston College. The Hoos handled the Eagles in Chestnut Hill last season 71-54. This should be a win for Virginia, especially at home.

Notre Dame: Glad to be playing Notre Dame at home this year. Virginia defeated the Irish on the road, 71-54 (deja vu all over again), in Ty Jerome’s big game. Notre Dame got redemption in the ACC Tournament, defeating the Hoos 71-58 (ew). The Irish return Matt Farrell and reigning ACC Player of the Year Bonzie Colson, who will be a handful. ND is expected to finish in the upper third of the conference.

Florida State: Ohhhhh I had forgotten this one. Kyle Guy scored 14 points in his coming out party and appeared to have hit the game winner until the scorching Dwayne Bacon drilled the final three of his 29 points as the buzzer sounded. Bacon (and Xavier Rathan-Mayes and Jonathan Isaac) have departed, but Leonard Hamilton returns Terrance Mann and brings in some fresh faces. The experts can’t figure out what to do with FSU, some having them as low as 11 (Sports Illustrated) or as high as seven - and above the Hoos - (CBS Sports). The trip to Tallahassee will be tough.

Miami: Another OT loss for the Hoos, again at JPJ. Brutal game to watch as Virginia fell 54-48 (yes, that was the OVERTIME score). Expect the Hurricanes to be very good this coming season.

Duke: The Blue Devils rode an unconscious-shooting Jayson Tatum to a 65-55 win at JPJ. Virginia hasn’t won (officially - looking at you traveling Grayson Allen) at Cameron Indoor since 1995. Allen returns, but Duke loses Tatum, Luke Kennard, Amile Jefferson, Matt Jones, and Frank Jackson (all five end of season starters). In true Coach K fashion, however, the Blue Devils are reloading and expected to finish atop the conference standings.

Wake Forest: The Hoos cruised to a 17 point win, 79-62, over the Demon Deacons at JPJ. Danny Manning returns some serious firepower with Keyshawn Woods and Bryant Crawford, so the Hoos better be ready to roll in Winston-Salem.

Pitt: Virginia lost to Pitt on the road last year in overtime, and it took the Panthers’ Jamel Artis and Chris Young shooting lights out from three to pull it off. In JPJ, Virginia evened the score with a big 67-42 win on senior night. The Hoos took the rubber match against the Panthers in the ACC tournament, winning 75-63. This year, Coach Stallings has two returning players - no starters - from last year’s team. The Hoos should win this one handily, and if they don’t, it’s time to panic.

Outside of the ACC schedule, we know that Virginia will host Davidson at some point in the non-conference schedule, and have games already scheduled at VCU (11/17/17), against Wisconsin in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge (11/27/17), and at West Virginia (12/5/17).

Stay tuned for more scheduling info as we find out more. Last year, the full schedule was released by Virginia September 12.