The Atlantic Coast Conference announced its scheduling structure for when Syracuse and Pittsburgh begin competition in the near future.

Currently, the universities are slated to join the conference for the 2014-15 athletic season, but could be admitted a year earlier in 2013-14. Pittsburgh filed a lawsuit last Friday to leave the Big East for the ACC in 2013. Syracuse said it wants to avoid litigation but hasn’t ruled out any options either.

‘We’re ready to receive them as soon as they can come,’ ACC commissioner John Swofford said from the ACC’s spring meetings on Wednesday. ‘That’s between the two schools and the Big East conference.’

When the ACC does officially welcome Syracuse and Pittsburgh and expand to 14 teams, it will have a nine-game conference schedule in football and an extended tournament in men’s and women’s basketball.

The current ACC format has an eight-game conference slate in football. In men’s and women’s basketball, the league tournaments include 12 teams and lasts four days.

In football, Syracuse will compete in the Atlantic Division and Pittsburgh will be a member of the Coastal Division. Swofford said Atlantic Division teams will play five home games in odd years while Coastal Division teams will receive five home games in even years.

All 14 schools will participate in the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, which will take place over five days, Swofford said. The tournaments will start on a Wednesday with games between the Nos. 11-14 seeds and end with the championship game on a Sunday.

rjgery@syr.edu

Published on May 17, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Ryne: rjgery@syr.edu