May 13, 2003

ACC expansion is now official.: The only question now is which teams other than Miami will be asked to join, and if they will come.

posted by corpse to basketball at 06:02 PM - 14 comments

damn it. As a Syracuse fan, I hate this. If they switch, there goes tradition and all the usual rivalries that I've grown up with. If they don't, there goes any decent football competition and the BCS berth, and thus money. The basketball conference can survive the loss of all 3, but Miami alone kills the football conference, or at least its BCS berth in all likelihood, unless they can get VT, SU, and someone else like WV to be perennial top 10 teams. I wish they could replace Miami with someone else good and stay where they are... Time to check the local news to see if this is something SU is going to do... before the approval the reaction to the idea was mixed at best.

posted by Bernreuther at 07:05 PM on May 13, 2003

two things. syracuse must now build an outdoor football stadium. and their home games against the 'canes must now be scheduled in november or december. same for boston college.

posted by lescour at 07:26 PM on May 13, 2003

lescour, my question to both of those is "why?" They already schedule their Miami games at the end of the season... every year when I'm home for Thanksgiving, that weekend I put up the tree and watch that game. The outdoor football stadium won't happen for quite some time, if at all. The town loves the dome, the dome is part of one of the schools logos, there isn't a lot of money in Syracuse, it's a big part of the landscape, and all the development of the next few years in Syracuse will be that stupid useless mall project. Though I have some great memories of that Dome, my friend had the great idea that they go back to Manley, or some other smaller venue, for basketball, if only for the noise. No matter how many people show and how many attendance recrods are broken, that dome is a terribly atmosphere for basketball, and it's quiet. Too big. The new Pitt place packs the students right around the court and they go nuts... same as Cameron, which I visited this past weekend (not quite THAT nuts though). Cameron is SMALL. So if the Dome gets replaced, I won't mind a bit. But I really doubt it'll happen. Though there is room up near the rest of the athletic stuff if they wanted to make an outdoor stadium. If SU moves does the ACC get to say that they have the last 3 national champions? And if so, does the Big East still get to claim it?

posted by Bernreuther at 07:57 PM on May 13, 2003

Hey, I told you so. Check out the columns section and look for the piece I wrote back a few months ago. I'd rather see Marshall, East Carolina, and either Virginia Tech or West Virginia included in the ACC instead of Miami, Syracuse, and (maybe) Boston College.

posted by jasonbondshow at 11:12 PM on May 13, 2003

Bernreuther: see ref: Dolphins, Miami at Bills, Buffalo and Patriots, New England. Related: Buccaneers, Tampa

posted by Ufez Jones at 11:48 PM on May 13, 2003

Can a conference jump the shark? Cause the ACC's about to.

posted by herc at 02:18 AM on May 14, 2003

I blame Penn State.

posted by 8ighteenAcres at 04:25 AM on May 14, 2003

Two thoughts. 1. Syracuse, Miami, and Va Tech would make the ACC a much better football conference, improving the quality of play and recruiting. 2. The ACC is a Basketball conference. What the heck are they thinking. Not having to play Duke or Maryland twice a year? Madness I tell you. (Full disclosure: Tar heel fan who could care less about football). If they really wanted to improve the conference, bring in Temple. A legit basketball school with a football team that even Duke could beat most years.

posted by trox at 08:16 AM on May 14, 2003

well, it'll be a few years untill SU is any good again after this year's recruiting blunder, so indoor and outdoor don't matter. They'll be lucky to win 4 games this year. I still can't believe they lost to Temple. Actually, Temple is one of those teams that has always puzzled me... With all this talk of conferences matching in football and basketball, how is it that they're allowed to exist in 2 different ones? I always thought they'd be a more natural fit in the Big East basketball conference since they're in football, better for sure than half of those other teams they added. Miami seems to want a matching conference in the Big East if they'll stay, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Sure it'd be nice but what good comes of it? You'd be lopping off charter members of the basketball conference and great opponents like UConn, St. Johns, georgetown, etc. Miami could leave the Big East without much difficulty if that South Bend school whose hoops team is in the conference would join up... that'd keep a BCS bid and the money rolling in. Then, they'd be a conference rival so I could hate them even more! I don't know, this move is all about football dollars and it'd ruin the basketball of 2 conferences, and destroy the big east football conference, all so that the ACC could make a few million by having another game. According to figures I've seen, even if they annually put 2 teams in BCS bowls, they're still short a few million of the 27 that they need to be able to pay 12 teams instead of 9 each year. So maybe there wouldn't be any big winners here.

posted by Bernreuther at 11:49 AM on May 14, 2003

they keep saying that the Big East has a good shot at it if they drop the basketball only schools to satisfy miami... but my question is, why does Miami care if those schools go away? Anyone have any idea?

posted by Bernreuther at 01:41 AM on May 15, 2003

Heh. This entire topic could have been discussed in Swahili for all the sense it makes to me..

posted by salmacis at 07:44 AM on May 15, 2003

Bernreuther: In the Big East, Miami shares football revenue with teams who don't play football at all, and still has to travel far north to play them in basketball (a sport that Miami essentially doesn't care about.) That's probably the big driver there.

posted by tieguy at 10:47 AM on May 15, 2003

oh. that makes sense. well too bad. if they go to the ACC that ruins 2 basketball conferences and their tradition, and destroys one football conference. And if they stay, they're still going to destroy the Big East basketball conference. Stupid hurricanes :( Actually, it's the ACC's fault. Screw them! At least Duke and UNC had the good sense to veto it. You're a Duke and Miami guy, what is your actual opinion of this all? As a Cameron Crazy (I was there this past weekend... only family member who hasn't seen a game there though) I imagine you'd prefer to keep the ACC hoops league as is... right?

posted by Bernreuther at 05:21 PM on May 15, 2003

I can't speak for the Duke and Miami guy, but as a Tar Heel, Hokie guy, I hope the ACC stays exactly the way it is.

posted by trox at 08:18 AM on May 16, 2003

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