MisterGopher
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https://www.cbssports.com/college-b...-and-acc-merger-to-create-a-super-conference/
The biggest moves in this era of college athletics and realignment have paid the biggest dividends. Literally, in some cases.
Some of the biggest moves, so far, include:
Texas and Oklahoma exiting the Big 12 for greener pastures in the SEC
Cincinnati, Houston, UCF, Houston and BYU leaving for the Big 12.
USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington ducking out of the Pac-12 to join the Big Ten.
Each domino falling required equal parts foresight and opportunistic thinking to position teams and conferences best into the future.
And it's why former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who spoke this week in an exclusive interview with Jon Rothstein on the Inside College Basketball podcast, reiterated his belief that for the future health of the ACC, the league must consider merging with the Big East.
"It's worth looking at," Krzyzewski said. "People would be naive to think all conferences will look the same five years from now. Once certain milestones pass, it becomes less expensive to move, and the ACC is a terrific conference. Why not do something unbelievable in basketball?
"It could also give UConn an opportunity," he said. "They're playing football -- and they'd love to be in a conference where every school plays football. It would be an amazing league with a huge footprint stretching into the Midwest."
:
Fellow Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino, who now coaches in the Big East for reigning league-winner St. John's, said this summer he's all for it.
"I'm in total agreement with Coach K," Pitino said in August on Inside College Basketball. "When I started 51 years ago, college football and college basketball were on the same plane. The NFL and NBA were on the same plane. Today, football is here [as he gestures up near his face] and basketball [as he gestures lower, near his chest] is here. So in order for the Big East and ACC to survive this football mania -- because a bad college football game will surpass an NBA playoff game as far as viewership. If we want to survive basketball-wise with the ACC and the Big East, combining it into a mega-conference would be an awesome thing.
"Unfortunately," Pitino added. "Outside of coach and myself, I don't think there's a lot of feelings that way. I don't think the NCAA is very proactive. I don't think the ACC and Big East is very proactive. I don't think they think outside the box."
The biggest moves in this era of college athletics and realignment have paid the biggest dividends. Literally, in some cases.
Some of the biggest moves, so far, include:
Texas and Oklahoma exiting the Big 12 for greener pastures in the SEC
Cincinnati, Houston, UCF, Houston and BYU leaving for the Big 12.
USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington ducking out of the Pac-12 to join the Big Ten.
Each domino falling required equal parts foresight and opportunistic thinking to position teams and conferences best into the future.
And it's why former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who spoke this week in an exclusive interview with Jon Rothstein on the Inside College Basketball podcast, reiterated his belief that for the future health of the ACC, the league must consider merging with the Big East.
"It's worth looking at," Krzyzewski said. "People would be naive to think all conferences will look the same five years from now. Once certain milestones pass, it becomes less expensive to move, and the ACC is a terrific conference. Why not do something unbelievable in basketball?
"It could also give UConn an opportunity," he said. "They're playing football -- and they'd love to be in a conference where every school plays football. It would be an amazing league with a huge footprint stretching into the Midwest."
:
Fellow Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino, who now coaches in the Big East for reigning league-winner St. John's, said this summer he's all for it.
"I'm in total agreement with Coach K," Pitino said in August on Inside College Basketball. "When I started 51 years ago, college football and college basketball were on the same plane. The NFL and NBA were on the same plane. Today, football is here [as he gestures up near his face] and basketball [as he gestures lower, near his chest] is here. So in order for the Big East and ACC to survive this football mania -- because a bad college football game will surpass an NBA playoff game as far as viewership. If we want to survive basketball-wise with the ACC and the Big East, combining it into a mega-conference would be an awesome thing.
"Unfortunately," Pitino added. "Outside of coach and myself, I don't think there's a lot of feelings that way. I don't think the NCAA is very proactive. I don't think the ACC and Big East is very proactive. I don't think they think outside the box."