ACC Men's Basketball Tournament coming to The Barclays in 2017 and 2018

Pitt got their first taste of the ACC 'disadvantage' playing in Greensboro for the ACC Tournament. Most games played there for the Panthers will be virtual road contests due to the Panthers' proximity (or lack thereof) in comparison to many of the other ACC programs.

Things will shift a bit starting in 2016 when the ACC's head to Washington D.C. After that, things will head even farther north as the conference announced its championship game will be held at The Barclays in Brooklyn in 2017 and 2018.

The Atlantic 10 and ACC swung a bit of a deal to pull this off as the former had pretty much established themselves in the building. But the ACC will call The Barclays home for those two years and as part of the deal, will play inter-conference games with the A-10:

As part of the deal, the ACC and the A-10 agreed to play inter-conference doubleheaders at Barclays Center in 2015, 2016 and 2017, while the A-10 has secured a spot for its teams to participate in the building’s annual BROOKLYN HOOPS events.

That obviously is a big 'get' for the A-10 but it won't hurt the ACC, either, if that conference stays hot. The Atlantic 10 placed six teams into the NCAA Tournament and are a strong conference in their own right. The benefit for the A-10 is the exposure against ACC programs and the ACC gets The Barclays and what should be some good opponents as well.

The A-10, meanwhile, will look at some new homes for those two years, including some cities where member universities are located, according to the Trib:

A-10 commissioner Bernadette McGlade said the conference is open to playing the 2017 and 2018 tournaments in A-10 cities. Those cities could include Philadelphia (Saint Joseph's and LaSalle), St. Louis, Pittsburgh (Duquesne) and Dayton.

"Everything's in play right now," McGlade said.

This is just a big 'get' for the ACC and while it's not Madison Square Garden, playing the tournament 'up north' is a benefit to certain schools like Pitt and Syracuse. Even more than that, though, it just gives the ACC some more exposure in the basketball-heavy area of New York.

Hard not to like this move if you're a Pitt fan.

Be sure to join Cardiac Hill's Facebook page and follow us on Twitter @PittPantherBlog for our regular updates on Pitt athletics. Follow the author and manager/editor of Cardiac Hill @AnsonWhaley