The weekend saw some news coming out of the Atlantic Coast Conference, as that league announced that men’s basketball would drop from 20 conference games to 18 for next year. And if I’m West Virginia basketball coach Ross Hodge, the wheels would start turning as to how the ACC playing 18 games benefits West Virginia.

To get to that, we first need to explain why the ACC is cutting two league games. Put simply, ACC basketball is just not very good right now. The league got four bids, and Duke was the only ACC team to still be playing after round 1.

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Contrast that with the Big 12. The league got seven bids, and only Kansas failed to win its first-round game. No, the Big 12 wasn’t on the level of the SEC or Big Ten, but it was a solid No. 3. That’s a good place for the league to be.

The ACC, in contrast, looked more like the West Coast Conference: one team dominating. Actually, the ACC was even worse than the WCC, because lately, Saint Mary’s has been the Robin to Gonzaga’s Batman. Duke didn’t even have Oracle, let alone Robin, in the ACC in 2025.

So the ACC is looking to trim some fat and beef up its non-conference scheduling. And that’s where West Virginia comes into the equation.

Read more: How the ACC Playing 18 Games Benefits West Virginia

West Virginia Can Use Its Geography

The Mountaineers are in a prime spot for ACC teams to add them as an opponent. West Virginia’s location makes it very easy for multiple teams to consider a home-and-home with them. The state touches the Big Ten, the Big East, the ACC and the SEC. That’s all four of the other major conferences covered.

Know what West Virginia hasn’t done in a while? Use its geography to its advantage.

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Part of that is not the Mountaineers’ fault. The school had to navigate Bob Huggins’ embarrassing exit and the fallout from that. The Mountaineers have had to keep changing coaches each year since then. There’s no time to fill out a good schedule when that takes up all of your time. You also need willing partners, which didn’t exist as leagues went to 20 game schedules.

But the fact remains: the Mountaineers haven’t scheduled a home-and-home on their own with anyone but Pitt since Virginia came to Morgantown in 2017.

That’s not good enough. The Mountaineers need to bring in name opponents and play them on the road. That’s even more true when there are many who aren’t far away. Playing Virginia, Virginia Tech, even Wake Forest, makes a lot of sense for the Mountaineers.

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There are two reasons why West Virginia should do this: it builds the NET ranking, and it saves money. Playing a nearby opponent in a power league sends your NET number up. Playing them away is even better. And in both cases, you do so with minimal expenses.

There are now opportunities for West Virginia to find willing scheduling partners. They need to be working the phones.

West Virginia Can Use Pittsburgh

To its credit, West Virginia has made sure to get Pittsburgh on the schedule year after year. Playing Pitt is a good thing and needs to keep happening.

But the Mountaineers can use the city of Pittsburgh much more than they have. And they already have some idea how to do that.

One of the biggest things you can do to build your NET ranking is by playing a few neutral-site games. Neutral site games give you more credit than playing at home, which is why teams like playing them. With the city of Pittsburgh close by, West Virginia has a prime opportunity to ask teams for an extra game.

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Gonzaga used to do this all the time. The Bulldogs would play a name opponent in the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena instead of on their home floor. It didn’t change the game atmosphere much, and it made a big difference for the Bulldogs’ appearance to the committee. Sometimes, for bigger games, they’d go to Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena.

West Virginia can do the same thing by playing a game at PPG Paints Arena. Working with the Penguins to find an open date can bring in a one-off opponent who might find it hard to play a home-and-home.

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This is not a foreign concept to the Mountaineers. A few years ago, they made a trip to Cleveland to play Ohio State. That’s the kind of game that’s perfect for both schools. The Buckeyes wanted to increase their visibility in Cleveland, and it’s not far for West Virginia either. West Virginia can use the lure of playing in a professional arena to its advantage.

West Virginia Can Use the ACC’s Weird Geography

As long as the ACC is going to use this ridiculous All Coast Conference setup, West Virginia can make that work for it. Why? Because the entire league save Duke will be looking to get more good games on the schedule. That means the Mountaineers can use proximity to Pitt to pick up other games.

Exhibit A is the Bay Area duo of California and Stanford. Good luck to ACC commissioner Jim Phillips in figuring out which two of the other 16 play one and not the other, but that’s his problem. West Virginia’s position is simple: getting one to stick around for a second game when they play Pitt.

The Panthers can’t miss both the Cardinal and the Golden Bears in a season, and talking one of them into a 75-minute drive down I-79 after facing Jeff Capel’s team shouldn’t be hard. The Mountaineers could even use the PPG Paints Arena idea and get them to play a second game in Pittsburgh.

Now, would this create a challenge for West Virginia? Sure. The Mountaineers would be signing up for a trip to the Bay Area for a return game. That’s not easy to add.

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But in case you haven’t noticed, the Big 12 also has weird geography. This league stretches from Orlando to Phoenix. And once you get out to Phoenix, it’s not hard to add a flight to San Francisco. West Virginia could work with the Big 12 and try to pair a trip to Cal or Stanford with a visit to Arizona and Arizona State.

SMU is an even easier add. If the Mountaineers wanted to play the Mustangs, they could get them and TCU on the same trip. They wouldn’t even need to take a second flight; the schools are 40 miles apart.

Smart Scheduling Can Help West Virginia

Smart scheduling is one of the best ways for a coach to build their program. Playing the right opponents at the right time helps with recruiting, helps with visibility and keeps fans happy.

Thanks to the Big 12 cutting back to 18 league games, Ross Hodge has an extra two games to play with. Thanks to the ACC playing 18 games, he has many more willing partners available to him now. It’s his job to make some smart additions to help his team thrive.

In this new era of college athletics, West Virginia has a few built-in advantages it can use. Hodge needs to use them to work for his team.