ACC-Big East merger?

[Spaniel with a Short Tail]

Feel the mega conferences will do what is best for them.
Which in and of itself is not bad.
But feel it is bad for the many many left out and more importantly bad for America.

This is a bold take...that I kinda agree with.

[The Sultan]

Georgetown becomes a story as soon as they have any success. When Ewing led the Hoyas to the 2020 BET title, SportsCenter was falling all over itself to cover it. A lot of media decisions are made by old people.  Like to cover the Cowboys who hasn't been to a Super Bowl in 30 years.

If I'm ranking national draw of Big East teams (assuming each team would be Top 10 in the AP...ie relevant) I would guess it would go:

1) UConn
2) Georgetown
3) St. John's
4) Villanova
5) Marquette
6) Creighton
7) PC
8) Xavier
9) DePaul (you could argue me higher)
10) Hall
11) Butler 

The Georgetown run in 2020 had no lasting impact on their success or their popularity. That era was long ago.

[IrwinFletcher]

How has joining the ACC (for basketball) worked for Notre Dame?

[The Sultan]

How has joining the ACC (for basketball) worked for Notre Dame?

They had their only conference championship as a member of the ACC. Two Elite 8s as well.

I think their falling off was more about Brey sticking around too long than anything else. Their sports overall have been just fine there.

[The Lens]

My rankings as assuming every team is #10 in the AP Poll what does that mean in terms of coverage / national conversation. 

[Its DJOver]

My rankings as assuming every team is #10 in the AP Poll what does that mean in terms of coverage / national conversation. 

That's a flawed argument.  When 2X defending champ UConn was top 10, it wasn't news at all, they're #1 on your ranking.  If DePaul churns out a top 10 season, it'd be a massive story, just because they've been terrible for so long. Gtown is no longer the brand you think it is.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

If you're not in the B1G or SEC, it would be negligent not to be having as many of these conversations as possible. The only certainty is that the B1G and SEC will be fine.  Everyone else needs to be proactive with their post 2032 futures.

My pipe dream is that football f#cks off and forms its own league outside the NCAA and conferences realign to make geographic/traditional sense again in all other sports. Never going to happen but I love the idea. Football has screwed all the other sports.

I'm still confident that MU is in the highest level of competition post 2032. But whether that's as a member of the current Big East, a Big East/ACC hybrid, or as a basketball only member of the B1G or B12, who knows? Val should and is considering all options.

[Billy Hoyle]

Are you suggesting New Yorkers are going to be more likely to watch KState, Texas Tech and Houston play football because St. John's plays basketball in the same conference?

These programs already have access to the New York market. P5 football games are national broadcasts.

Football? No. But Comissioner Yourmark has been very open talking about basketball being undervalued, so getting into the NYC market is about increasing basketball exposure. The Big Ten (Rutgers, huge alumni bases, especially Michigan and Penn State) and the ACC (Syracuse, huge alumni bases, especially UNC and Duke) are the only P4 conferences with a strong NYC presence. He wants a piece of it.

[dgies9156]

I'll say it again: The merger will happen after:

1) Clemson, Miami, Florida State and North Carolina join the SEC.
2) Virginia and Notre Dame join the BIG.

There will be a football league with what's left over. BC, Wake, Syracuse, VA Tech, NC State, UConn, Louisville, Pitt & Duke may eventually be rejoined by Cincinnati and West Virginia to form the Big 12 of the East. All are good but none are good enough.

This will be a very high-powered basketball league. Period.

[wadesworld]

I'll say it again: The merger will happen after:

1) Clemson, Miami, Florida State and North Carolina join the SEC.
2) Virginia and Notre Dame join the BIG.

There will be a football league with what's left over. BC, Wake, Syracuse, VA Tech, NC State, UConn, Louisville, Pitt & Duke may eventually be rejoined by Cincinnati and West Virginia to form the Big 12 of the East. All are good but none are good enough.

This will be a very high-powered basketball league. Period.

Just because you're saying it again doesn't mean you're not terribly wrong.

[Big Papi]

I'll say it again: The merger will happen after:

1) Clemson, Miami, Florida State and North Carolina join the SEC.
2) Virginia and Notre Dame join the BIG.

There will be a football league with what's left over. BC, Wake, Syracuse, VA Tech, NC State, UConn, Louisville, Pitt & Duke may eventually be rejoined by Cincinnati and West Virginia to form the Big 12 of the East. All are good but none are good enough.

This will be a very high-powered basketball league. Period.

I think that is very likely. 

I wouldn't mind seeing some sort of mini kick off the year or in-season tournament with ACC and Big East teams at a couple of locations over a couple of days. 

[MU82]

I'll say it again: The merger will happen after:

1) Clemson, Miami, Florida State and North Carolina join the SEC.
2) Virginia and Notre Dame join the BIG.

There will be a football league with what's left over. BC, Wake, Syracuse, VA Tech, NC State, UConn, Louisville, Pitt & Duke may eventually be rejoined by Cincinnati and West Virginia to form the Big 12 of the East. All are good but none are good enough.

This will be a very high-powered basketball league. Period.

I'll say it again: Bigfoot is real. Period.

Also, even if your scenario will ever be close to happening, what makes you think the B18G will cede North Carolina to the SEC? The B18G has long wanted UNC, which has much in common with their many outstanding state universities.

[MuggsyB]

I'll say it again: Bigfoot is real. Period.

Also, even if your scenario will ever be close to happening, what makes you think the B18G will cede North Carolina to the SEC? The B18G has long wanted UNC, which has much in common with their many outstanding state universities.

The top state schools in the ACC are better than the B18. And their overall schools are probably better as well. 

[The Sultan]

The top state schools in the ACC are better than the B18. And their overall schools are probably better as well. 

Like right now? That certainly isn't the case. And I would argue even historically there is one ACC public university (North Carolina) that has a better history than the public schools of the Big Ten.

[MuggsyB]

Like right now? That certainly isn't the case. And I would argue even historically there is one ACC public university (North Carolina) that has a better history than the public schools of the Big Ten.

UVA, Georgia Tech, Cal. 

[MuggsyB]

I just looked it up Fluffy. The ACC is ranked #1 academically among the Power 5 schools. 

[The Sultan]

Muggs thought you were talking basketball. My bad.

[MuggsyB]

Muggs thought you were talking basketball. My bad.

No worries. 

[Pakuni]

Like right now? That certainly isn't the case. And I would argue even historically there is one ACC public university (North Carolina) that has a better history than the public schools of the Big Ten.

Louisville?

[TallTitan34]

I'll say it again: Bigfoot is real. Period.

Also, even if your scenario will ever be close to happening, what makes you think the B18G will cede North Carolina to the SEC? The B18G has long wanted UNC, which has much in common with their many outstanding state universities.

I've always kind of assumed UNC was B10 bound as well.

[muwarrior69]

I just looked it up Fluffy. The ACC is ranked #1 academically among the Power 5 schools. 

Who does the ranking and what objective metric is used.

[SaveOD238]

I'll say it again: Bigfoot is real. Period.

Also, even if your scenario will ever be close to happening, what makes you think the B18G will cede North Carolina to the SEC? The B18G has long wanted UNC, which has much in common with their many outstanding state universities.

Tier 1: UNC, Notre Dame

UNC is the big fish in all of this.  No one else brings the athletic and academic reputation, fan base, market, and brand of UNC.  Whichever conference wins the battle for UNC wins the next round of realignment.

Notre Dame is the other big fish, but I think they will hold onto their football independence as long as they can.


Tier 2: FSU, Clemson, Miami

Florida State, Clemson, and Miami have athletic success but are not as highly regarded academically (none of them are THE state university in their state). 


Tier 3: Duke, Virginia, GT

Duke, Virginia, & Georgia Tech are great academic schools with good markets, but don't have the football cachet to make it in the big boy conferences (you could argue the same for UNC I guess).


Tier 4: Cal/Stanford

These two are almost assuredly a package deal. As enticing as being in California might be to the SEC, I can't see a world where two NorCal hippy liberal schools (with bad football) fit culturally with Georgia and Alabama. The Big 10 makes more sense.


Tier 5: Louisville, NC State, Wake Forest, Syracuse, Pitt, SMU, Virginia Tech, Boston College

One or more of these schools could get the call to fill out a conference with an even number of schools, but none of them are moving the needle in any significant way. They are either laughable in athletics (BC) or academics (Louisville).  Does Syracuse get you New York? Maybe. Does the NC state legislature require UNC and NCSt to stay together? Maybe.  But when all is said and done, THESE are the ACC schools we may hitch our wagon to someday. 


If I had to guess:

Big 10: UNC, Notre Dame, Virginia, and either Georgia Tech or Virginia Tech
SEC: Clemson, Florida St, Miami, and one of Virginia Tech, Louisville, or SMU

[MDMU04]

If I had to guess:

Big 10: UNC, Notre Dame, Virginia, and either Georgia Tech or Virginia Tech
SEC: Clemson, Florida St, Miami, and one of Virginia Tech, Louisville, or SMU

I agree with a lot of this, but I think the future is three 20 team leagues. SEC, B1G and B12.

B1G: UNC, Virginia
SEC: Clemson, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Duke
B12: Florida State, Miami, SMU, NC State

ND brought in over $220 million in revenue in 2023, and did at least $20 million better last year just from CFP payouts. As long as the CFP rules allow for at-large spots for independents, that's where they will stay.

[The Sultan]

Well will see. I'm not convinced that either the Big Ten or the SEC will be interested in expanding significantly if and when the ACC blows up. Things are quite different now with talk of dedicated number of slots for the CFP and everything.

And I think academics will only be played a lip-service role in all of this.

[MDMU04]

I also think that the future of the college basketball championship tournament once it splits from the NCAA will be pretty similar to the CFP.

The field will probably be something like 48 teams. You'll see something like 10-12 guaranteed slots for each of SEC/B1G/B12, and 12-18 at large bids for everyone else. The top 16 seeds (first round byes) go to the 16 highest ranked teams, the first round games would be between teams 17-48.

I can't see the SEC/B1G/B12 braintrust going with a 64-68 team tournament, I doubt they'd want to split up the money any more than they have to.