The Conference Realignment Vigil- Update: Terps to Big10?

[Atlanta Duke]

"An ACC official told USA Today that Connecticut and Rutgers would be the candidates."

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bask...range-coup-acc

I'd imagine that there will be plenty of phone calls between the acc, uconn and rutgers after this mornings announcement, and with how quickly this pitt/cuse thing went, we will know by wednesday whether they're coming or not.

If the Big East expires, Rutgers might get a look from the Big Ten if the Notre Dame domino falls. Notre Dame needs a conference affiliation for non-revenue sports, which would allow the Big Ten to finally bring Notre Dame into the fold.

At that point the Big Ten would need another team - if Missouri goes to the SEC, Rutgers or (uh-oh) Maryland would be a logical expansion eastward to give the Big Ten access to another big TV market

[senkiri]

"An ACC official told USA Today that Connecticut and Rutgers would be the candidates."

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bask...range-coup-acc

I read that quote as: If the ACC looks to add other BIG EAST teams for further expansion, the targets would be UConn/Rutgers. Not the next two targets WILL be Uconn and Rutgers.

But then again I am approaching all of these leaks as if they are oblique statements made by cynical politicians...

[uh_no]

If the Big East expires, Rutgers might get a look from the Big Ten if the Notre Dame domino falls. Notre Dame needs a conference affiliation for non-revenue sports, which would allow the Big Ten to finally bring Notre Dame into the fold.

At that point the Big Ten would need another team - if Missouri goes to the SEC, Rutgers or (uh-oh) Maryland would be a logical expansion eastward to give the Big Ten access to another big TV market

The big east won't "expire" as a whole...even if they lose 4 members. The Big12 is falling apart and there are more than enough teams for the big east to pick up a couple. Even if big east football falls, the non-football schools will have a basketball based league, and I don't think ND would see any reason to pull their non-revenue sports out of such a leauge which will still command a big BBall contract (with ND, marquette, villanova, georgetown, and now with St. Johns up and coming) Especially with the leauge being effectively all catholic, ND probably wouldn't see the need to switch affiliation.

I don't think the Big 10 is expanding any more. THey like the fact that they can be exclusive and don't "need" to bring in more teams...and I highly doubt they'd be interested in Notre Dame sans football.

[davekay1971]

As for how to do 7 and 7 (which seems like it may be a very short lived scenario), I'd vote for a relatively simple formula:

For football:
Each team plays all the teams in it's division once (6 games), plus 2 teams in the other division (8 games total).

For basketball:
Each team plays it's divisional partners home-and-away (12 games), plus 4 teams in the other division once (16 games total). Basketball could go to an 18 game season (playing 6 of the 7 teams in the other division) or even a 19 game conference season (allowing each team to play all other conference teams), but that starts to gobble up all the available game dates, limiting non-conference scheduling. Limiting non-conference games doesn't just limit the number of patsy-tune-ups, but it also limits the ability of teams like Duke to schedule non-conference games for regional exposure/recruiting benefit. Plus, 16 is just such a nice base 2 number...

Agreed with some of the consensus above that re-establishing the geographic consistency would have the added benefit of keeping most (or all) of the Big 4 together.

I'll be very curious to see, if we do go to 16 teams, which two they will be and how that will affect divisional distribution. Adding Texas and Texas Tech immediately wipes out the geographical sense of North and South conferences, not to mention the whole ACC name (The Atlantic Coast of The USA and Lone Star State Conference (The ACUSALSSC), with separate offices in Greensboro and Austin). Adding two more Northern schools (say, UConn and Rutgers) actually helps the North-South division from a Big 4-centric view (which I certainly hold). It would, however, split up VT and UVa which doesn't matter one iota from a TV marketing standpoint, but, having lived in Richmond for awhile, I can tell you would break up a passionate, if recently one-sided, in-state rivalry.

[Olympic Fan]

First of all - here is a report that the Texas Board of Regents will be voting on joining the ACC tomorrow (Monday).

Secondly - one big impact of all this will be... wait for it... lacrosse! Syracuse Lax is, along with Johns Hopkins, the other major program that was not in the ACC. With Syracuse in the ACC, joining Lax powers Duke, Virginia, and Maryland... wow, ACC Lax is gonna be off the charts. The ACC tourney will be harder to win than the NCAA tourney. Seriously.

-Jason "is TTech automatic with Texas? Or are we still holding out hope for ND or another BEast team like UConn?" Evans

Jason,

I've seen the news that the Texas Board of Regents will be voting on conference realignment monday, but nowhere else have I seen the suggestion that they are voting on ACC membership. In fact, most of what I read suggests that they are more likely to vote on joining the Pac 10. Again, the big drawback from of Texas to the ACC is the Longhorn network. I still do not believe that the ACC will back down from its policy that all league teams must be full and equal members -- and that includes sharing all TV money equally.

BTW, the Oklahoma trustees also have a vote set for Monday on conference realignment. That makes me think that the rumors of Texas-Oklahoma to the Pac 10 as a package are more likely.

PS -- I also agree that the idea of adding Rutgers and UConn leaves me cold. The myth of Rutgers delivering the New York market (when nobody up their cares about Rutgers) is persuasive. Plus, they are lousy in the two major sports. UConn has great basketball, decent football and a strong TV market, but I object to adding another cheater to the league. We already have Georgia Tech, Miami and UNC either on probation or about to go on probation (and FSU just coming off probation). I can't see adding another team that's on probation at the moment to the mix.

[Wander]

For those who know way more than me about this: isn't UConn and West Virginia, not UConn and Rutgers, the next logical step? The Rutgers TV market has always seemed overrated to me, and West Virginia has a nice rivalry with Pitt that would be kind of symmetrical to Syracuse/UConn. And WVU has much better teams/programs in both major sports.

[TexHawk]

Here's how I would rate them factoring in football, academics, basketball and stadium capacity

38 - KU but probably a package deal with K-St, well behind TX, MO & Baylor

Is this a serious comparison? Baylor?

Given your four criteria...
(a) Football: Baylor with 1 bowl game in the last 20 years (last year). KU with 6 (not fantastic), but 1 BCS bowl win and two Top 10 finishes in that time.
(b) Academics: KU is an AAU school, Baylor is not. KU comes in around 100 (25 spots lower) in USNews rankings, but as I explained earlier, the Kansas schools get dinged twice in those things because of some crazy state laws.
(c) Basketball: Baylor did make an E8 against you guys two years ago... And that was their 2nd tournament appearance in 25 years. While KU has been a #1 seed 4 out of the last 5 years, with one title.
(d) Stadium capacity: About the same, KU holds slightly more.

And no... KU/K-State are not a package deal.

[uh_no]

For those who know way more than me about this: isn't UConn and West Virginia, not UConn and Rutgers, the next logical step? The Rutgers TV market has always seemed overrated to me, and West Virginia has a nice rivalry with Pitt that would be kind of symmetrical to Syracuse/UConn. And WVU has much better teams/programs in both major sports.

academics, I would think. and though rutgers doesn't bring the market, it certainly gives the ACC a presence in NY much like maryland gives us a presence in DC, and GT in atlanta

[Bluedog]

For those who know way more than me about this: isn't UConn and West Virginia, not UConn and Rutgers, the next logical step? The Rutgers TV market has always seemed overrated to me, and West Virginia has a nice rivalry with Pitt that would be kind of symmetrical to Syracuse/UConn. And WVU has much better teams/programs in both major sports.

People are saying the ACC isn't interested in WVU due to academics. Whether or not that's 100% true, I don't know, but it certainly could be a consideration.

[fan345678]

Let there be divisions of Union and Confederacy and build a gigantic new football stadium in Gettyburg just for the annual conference football championship!

Except Miami and Duke might end up getting put in the "Union," with UVa and VT in the "Confederacy." History tends to matter to Virginians, even if everything north of Charlottesville has fallen to the yankees.

[Teton Jack]

The ACC should not touch UCONN with a proverbial ten foot pole. Their basketball program is dishonest and when it finally hits the fan, the ACC will be glad it avoided this disaster on wheels. No TV market would be worth the pain!

[uh_no]

The ACC should not touch UCONN with a proverbial ten foot pole. Their basketball program is dishonest and when it finally hits the fan, the ACC will be glad it avoided this disaster on wheels. No TV market would be worth the pain!

I was under the impression that the investigation was closed and the program sanctioned....but maybe you know more than the rest of us on the situation?

[uh_no]

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/st...ve-source-says

well, Uconn wants the ACC, and an ACC official stated earlier that Uconn and rutgers were the targets

I would expect it by wednesday.

[Bluedog]

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/st...ve-source-says

well, Uconn wants the ACC, and an ACC official stated earlier that Uconn and rutgers were the targets

I would expect it by wednesday.

UConn president Susan Herbst is aggressively pursuing membership in the ACC

A Duke grad wants her school to join the ACC. Shocking. Yes, the prez at UConn graduated from Duke - I'm surprised the board approved her in light of that information.

[senkiri]

Per Chris Brown at Orangebloods who is well connected to Texas...

http://texas.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1266871

[uh_no]

A Duke grad wants her school to join the ACC. Shocking. Yes, the prez at UConn graduated from Duke - I'm surprised the board approved her in light of that information.

because there's a lot more hate at duke for uconn than there is at uconn for duke...understandably so.

[Acymetric]

I'll be disappointed if UConn joins but not as disappointed as I would be about Rutgers...that school adds nothing (how many people in NYC pull for Rutgers, honestly? 5?)

[uh_no]

I'll be disappointed if UConn joins but not as disappointed as I would be about Rutgers...that school adds nothing (how many people in NYC pull for Rutgers, honestly? 5?)

the problem is that without rutgers, is there is no presence in NYC whatsoever...and there is so much potential there...especially if a new look big east doesn't use MSG for their tournament, the possibility of having the ACCT in MSG every 3-5 years certainly opens up much easier with an ACC team in the area.

[OldPhiKap]

because there's a lot more hate at duke for uconn than there is at uconn for duke...understandably so.

Being from CT, I don't think this is necessarily true. I think it is fairly mutual and deep.

[A-Tex Devil]

Spend a weekend in Cashiers Valley and everything hits the fan. Wow.

I agree that the ACC should reject Texas if it won't come in for all sports and share the conference TV deals equally. And it looks like that is what will happen. But, what is so objectionable about a school controlling it's right for games and sports below the second tier? All of the SEC does it. If ACC rejects Texas for THAT, I would be disappointed, because if the Texas model works, it is a model that Duke, UNC and others could emulate for the good of their athletic departments and institutions. Unfortunately the media and others have so distorted what the LHN is and it's mission, that I am afraid the PR war is too far gone.

Texas is playing the guinea pig for a potentially new way of distributing sports and other school related media to a school's fan base. Its unfortunate that "OMG high school games!!1!!" and "it's so unfair!" reactions here and elsewhere in the media and inter webs are clouding what could be a new model for all schools. In fact, schools are doing LHn type things already on a smaller scale - K-State for one. Is isn't about competing against other schools as Aggies and others would have you believe. It's about giving alumni and fans more access through a delivery system run by the entity that knows best what those fans want. The school. Not the conference.