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- Jun 26, 2014
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No way would Nebraska, UMCP or Rutgers leave the B1G. The B1G, PAC and SEC are the premiere conferences when looking at them overall. Contrary to my recent posts about recent B1G football, they will eventually be back. It's all cyclical and one day the B1G will be on top in football (same with SEC and PAC in given decades). UMCP will also be back in basketball and maybe even football again. Remember, UMCP has won a football NC back in the 50s and were good in the Bobby Ross days.
The B1G has been the most calculated in conference realignment. The ACC took Louisville, the B12 took TCU and the island of WVU, the PAC took Utah and the SEC took Mizzou. All rather puzzling moves. Rutgers and UMCP have a large living alumni, are flagships, are ranked well academically, meet the B1G profile, etc. The B1G does their homework. Louisville was a knee-jerk response. As far as the ACC being the old WAC model... I'd agree except the caliber of schools is a bit stronger than the WAC's. To me, the ACC seems like the old Big East with mostly full members sans ND.
I look at the Big Ten as a worthy competitor in basketball, regardless of their recent F4 performances. They are already located in a good recruiting area for basketball. The thing for them is that many bball prospects have ended up at marquee programs outside the Midwest. Now with their move East they are now at least have a chance at getting through to young prospects in the big eastern cities where they didn't have before. I tend to look at the overall value of athletics and recruiting, not just football. All they really need is to have a presence and they'd give us fits.
Once the SEC decided to take in TAMU they needed even numbers for football. Mizzou was taken over WVU because of Mizzou having a better academic reputation among the presidents. If WVU were picked, Mizzou probably would most likely stayed in the B12 or maybe the Big Ten decides to take them to prevent the SEC from doing so. The PAC wanted 12 for the CCG when they couldn't convince Texas and TAMU to come over. Colorado wanted to get away from the B12 badly. When people today talk about the ACC as being like the Big East, what do they mean? What's a "Big East" school? Is it more basketball-focused? VT and Miami have historically focused on football. The ACC didn't take Georgetown. They took programs they believe would benefit them. I think too many people are going by past associations. So the SEC has a B8 school, an ACC school and two SWC schools. And the B1G has a Big 8 school, an ACC school and a Big East school. Are GT, FSU, Louisville and VT still Metro Conference schools? I guess we could all the way back to the Southern Conference and the Middle Three. Bring back Pangaea.