ESPN: Pitt, Syracuse apply to ACC

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If they could get themselves into the ACC it would create a fantastic basketball conference.
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JMO but I think the ACC is already a fantastic basketball conference.
 


If the Super Conferences truly mean the 'end of the NCAA' (those 4 conferences withdraw) what will become of the basketball tournament? It makes me sad that football is so blindly the only focus of all of this.
 

Katz and O'Neil on relalignment

I agree with Katz. I think (and hope) the B1G will sit tight at 12, unless Notre Dame expresses an interested in joining. Adding Notre Dame is the only way I'd be for expanding beyond 12.

12 is a nice number for a conference. I hope the B1G doesn't prostitute itself all for the sake of getting to 16 schools. I think Jim Delany, the presidents and AD's are smarter than that.

I haven't seen this brought up anywhere. ... does anyone think there's any chance whatsoever that Penn State would consider bolting the B1G, especially now that Pitt is in the ACC? Penn State's the only school I think would even consider leaving the B1G.

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebask...35482/katz-oneil-answer-realignment-questions
 



Interesting piece by Myron, but can't say I agree with a lot of it. It's hyperbole to say the ACC will be the "lifelong dictator of college basketball". Conference supremacy goes in cycles; that won't change with Pitt/'Cuse's move to the ACC.

No question, ACC hoops received a big boost with the addition of Pitt/'Cuse, but B1G basketball will be just fine. It's not as sexy to the national media as the ACC or the Big East, but it'll be just fine.

I'm not worried at all how how realignment will affect the B1G's ability to receive NCAA Tournament bids. By and large, the Selection Committee does a fantastic job selecting the correct teams for the tournament field. I'll beat the same drum I've been beating for years. ... "Teams get bids, not conferences."

If your resume's strong enough, you're going to make the tournament, no matter your conference affiliation. The Big East didn't get 11 bids last year because its name is the Big East. The Big East got 11 bids last year because it had 11 individual entities that earned it during the regular season. Ditto for the B1G last season. It got 7 bids because it had 7 individual entities do the necessary work during the regular season.

The number of bids conferences receive fluctuates every year. The fact is, each team is an individual entity every season -- an independent so to speak -- once the ball tips in November, no matter its conference affiliation. How coaches schedule and how their teams perform between November & March determines whether they'll make the NCAA Tournament, not their conference.
 

Interesting, and unfortunate, discussion. What gets lost in the conversation about football versus basketball is who controls the pie. The whole motivation for football dictating every decision without consideration for basketball is that the schools/conferences control the cash in football. The NCAA gets zip or nearly zip on football, while it collects billions for the basketball tournament. That's why the conferences don't care about basketball. 16 team conferences are not really conferences anyway. I can't believe they won't have a negative affect on the culture of college sports as they eliminate and dilute historical rivalries.

Said before and worth saying again is that the short sightedness of the football crowd could have a chilling affect on basketball, especially if these folks get arrogant enough to think they can do their own basketball tournament without the little guys. The elimination of the little guys from March Madness will kill that goose, as casual fans by the boatload jump ship and start watching local high school basketball again.

Myron once again demonstrates that he is a conspiracy theorist on the NCAA basketball tournament, which over the last several years has been proven incorrect. Tip the hat to the committee. They have a system requiring some subjective judgment and do a pretty good job at being consistent.

All that said, I have little sympathy for the Big L'East. They created the made for TV conference and raided others to build what they have and now it is getting spit back at them. East Coast media types whining about it either means they are ignoring history or are self serving because their road trips will get harder. I think Dana O'Neill is one of the best in the business, but she is over the top when she considers something formed in 1979 for TV as venerable history. When the Ivy League makes a run at Bucknell and Navy then we have a story.
 

This whole issue of the conference realignments saddens me and makes me contemplate if college basketball has taken an irreversible turn for something worse. I agree with most everything you say in your post Holy Man, but I am sad to see the Big East breaking up; I cut my college basketball teeth in the golden years of the '80s, and the great Big East teams of that era are a big part of my memories. I am hoping this is just another shift in the landscape and programs like Villanova, Marquette, Xavier, Butler, Gonzaga, etc etc do not get buried in the college football frenzy.
 



Any thoughts on what happens to the ACC/B1G Challenge?

With the ACC going to 14 and possibly 16 teams, it got me wondering...
  • The first two deals between the leagues and ESPN were 6-year contracts. This year is #13, does anyone know if they signed onto another 6-year deal or did they just extend for a year or two?
  • Would the B1G consider a different challenge? with the P12? Since both are working on TV deals with Fox it might be a significant move for both networks to get early season "must-see" programming.
  • If they stay committed to the ACC, how will they determine the teams that sit out. My assumption would be that Syr/Pitt would miss the first two years upon their entry, but ESPN will push hard to have those teams included. How long before they have the skipped teams be Miami and Clemson. While the Challenge has never been a real good guage for the leagues, this could become incredibly unbalanced.

Any thoughts?
 

Big 10/ACC Challenge

My thoughts are the event has run it's course and is rather stale, I wouldn't mind if it is put out to pasture.

I'm looking forward to seeing Virgina Tech but the teams the Gophers have been matched up recently, Florida St, Virginia (over and over) & Miami...whoopdeedarndoo.
 

Ope3 said:
My thoughts are the event has run it's course and is rather stale, I wouldn't mind if it is put out to pasture.

I'm looking forward to seeing Virgina Tech but the teams the Gophers have been matched up recently, Florida St, Virginia (over and over) & Miami...whoopdeedarndoo.
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The SEC currently has a partial challenge with the Pac 12 IIRC. I think a trade is in order. B1G with the Pac 12 and the SEC with the ACC.
 

howeda7 said:
The SEC currently has a partial challenge with the Pac 12 IIRC. I think a trade is in order. B1G with the Pac 12 and the SEC with the ACC.
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It with the Big East, not the Pac 12. SEC doesn't have one with the Pac 12.
 



Pac 12 series because it would be all inclusive

I wouldn't mind seeing the Big Ten and Pac 12 start a series/challenge. It makes sense. They'll be the only two major conferences with 12 teams (currently 2012-13 season is ACC=14, Big East=15, Big 12=9, SEC=13), not to mention the two conferences are historically linked because of the Rose Bowl. Anything that guarantees the Gophers will play a major conference opponent, I'm all for it.
 

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