Panther247 Board

Does it make sense to add both Louisville and UConn?

I don't think the ACC can assume ND will ever fill a football slot in the conference.

Go to 16 by adding Louisville and UConn as full members. Add Navy as an football-only associate to take ND's empty football slot which keeps the conference in the Beltway. Make sure ND doesn't count Navy as one of its five annual ACC games.

Why wait around for the B10 and SEC to move? Shore up as much of the east coast lefts overs as possible.

Absolutely agree.

UConn > Rutgers

Lville is big time athletics.

Navy is good for ND and for Maryland.

My opinion remains that the ACC is dead .. until there is evidence to prove otherwise.

Lville going to the ACC would be a GIGANTIC piece of evidence. I'll believe it when i see it.

EDIT: however, on second thought .. why add Lville when Clemson and FSU are the likely next step for the Big 12?

In times like these...I always revert back to my mentor.

WWBWD?

If UL is the replacement, FSU and Clemson may be happy that MD is leaving. UL is an obvious upgrade in both revenue sports.

I think Paco said it in another thread, but the decision on who to add should very heavily favor the requests from Clemson and FSU.

ehh, upgrade in football. ACC is losing its presence in a prime recruiting territory in hoops. I don't think Louisville is that much better of a basketball program than Maryland to justify that swap. But the loss of market is really what stings, along with the hit to perception.

At this point .. is there any ability to just get rid of Wake Forest? I know it's a wild idea to kick members out at this point, but isn't UConn, Lville, Cincy, USF all better than Wake Forest? Ok, maybe i'm insane. I need some coffee .. for this migraine.

What Would Brad Wesley Do?

Consolidating the expansion discussion to one thread is about as futile as trying to consolidate college football into four super conferences.

Isn't it ironic (don't ya think) that let's flash back to 2002 and the Big East.

If there were some foresight.....some leadership with an idea of what is going to happen, the Big East football Conference could easily been the Pac 12 of the East.

Miami was National Champs in 2001, and were 11-1 and 12-1 in 2000 and 2002. VT played for the National Title in 1999. And had regular 10 win seasons then. BC was its typical 8 win teams. Pitt was just getting it together, won 9 games in 2002. WVU was starting its ascension under RichRod. Syracuse was actually 10-3 in 2001. What if they flipped the coin? What if they got FSU who won national title in 1999, Maryland won 10 and 11 games in 2001 and 2002. GT was decent.

The Eastern Football Conference could have made this play.
Miami
VT
BC
Pitt
WVU
Rutgers
Invite UConn
FSU
GT
Maryland
Invite Louisville
Clemson

That was the play. That was the play to make.

Why didn't anyone go there? There were obvious rumblings in both the Big East and the ACC that certain schools weren't happy. There was that race to 12 football schools for a Conference Championship But it was sort of like Pre 9/11. Obviously people knew something like this could happen, but in the end, people lacked the imagination and never believed it would happen. Until it did.

The problem with the ACC is BC, Wake, Duke, Miami and to a lesser extent, GT, NC State, and Maryland lack a large fanbase. Pitt and Syracuse are in that latter group. So when they have these Champ games and bowl games with these teams....it is not pretty as the stadiums are half empty.

Pitt left the Big East because it was an unstable mess with internal politics that made addressing any issue, particularly its eroding perception, an absolute nightmare.