Cal basketball ACC opponents include Syracuse and Virginia at home, UNC and Duke on road

The California Golden Bears will have a fairly competitive but manageable ACC slate.

Credit: Cal Men’s Basketball

The California Golden Bears will play all 16 ACC opponents at home and on the road in the 2024-25 season in a 20-game conference schedule. Three will be home-and-home games, seven more at Haas Pavilion, and then seven out east on yet-to-be configured road trips. (NET ranking in parentheses—Cal is currently ranked 115th)

Home and road games: Stanford (116), SMU (44), North Carolina State (78)

Home slate: Boston College (91), Florida State (90), Miami (88), Syracuse (81), Virginia (46), Virginia Tech (60), Wake Forest (27)

Away slate: Clemson (23), Duke (13), Georgia Tech (136), Louisville (209), North Carolina (9), Notre Dame (134), Pittsburgh (49)

Highlighting the ACC schedule is Cal making the fabled trip to Tobacco Road to play North Carolina and Duke. Both rank in the top 15 in NET this year and figure to be just as talented next year. Clemson has also been on the rise in hoops and will be a tough road game. There are some manageable matchups as well like Georgia Tech and Louisville, but the logistics of travel have yet to be sorted out.

At home, Cal will welcome historic power Syracuse, although the Orange are a step below their previous incarnations. Tougher matchups include recent national champions Virginia, as tournament contenders Wake Forest will make it to Berkeley. But much of their home slate should feature winnable games where Cal should be slight favorites.

As expected, Cal will conduct home and homes with Stanford and SMU as the three newest members of the conference. We all know Stanford’s status—they will be rebooting or playing well below expectations. SMU has proven to be a solid AAC squad and is likely ready to be competitive immediately. Joining them will be NC State. The Wolfpack are a general bubble team nearly every year so this figures to be a tough matchup.

All in all, this is a manageable slate. Obviously the Bears are facing another big rebuild via the transfer portal, so any expectations about winning big in year one hinge on getting the resources needed.

If you are a Cal fan of decent means, this is the year to contribute to the Cal Men’s Basketball NIL via Cal Legends, and the Cal Men’s Basketball Excellence Fund. Let Mark Madsen cook!