Home Sweet Dome

Sometimes the breaks go your way and other times, well, you know.

The ACC schedule, issued by the league, presumably is minimally influenced by coaches’ preferences. Conspiracy theorists with strong rooting interests might blame it on the dark state within the conference, where the commissioner previously played and worked at a certain school that shall go nameless, but the shaping of the schedule is more straightforward than that.

At one end of the spectrum, North Carolina is the only league team that gets to play three straight ACC contests on its home floor without having to correspondingly endure three in a row on the road. The Tar Heels play at the Smith Center on Feb. 5, 9 and 11 against NC State, Miami and Virginia, respectively. Not a bad week’s work.

Syracuse, on the other hand, is the only squad mandated to play three straight ACC away games without the compensatory trio of consecutive league games at the Carrier Dome. The Orange must endure a similarly packed week, playing at VirginiaTech on Jan. 26, at Boston College four days later, then swing by Pitt on Feb. 2.

At least Jim Boeheim’s team avoids playing a North Carolina club in Greensboro, the town he disparaged so haughtily a few years back.