ND to ACC

[DishNSwish]

as soon as possible, all sports except football.

http://post original url/Alhc0sFt

 

[Drumguy]

There goes one of the best wball rivalries, not to mention the other fallout (Olympic sports, football, etc.).

 

[ladybears4eva]

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/8369070/sources-notre-dame-football-acc

Thoughts? Concerns?

Sad to see your rivalry end?

 

[VAMike23]

Whoa.

So they will play 5 games against ACC schools in football "eventually", but not join for football. Sort of a one foot in, one foot out arrangement? Probably meant to preserve their special TV deal or ability to negotiate future deals on their own.

27 months huh? - bet it will end up happening earlier than the BE rules allow

 

[Vowelguy]

Terrible news for UConn.

 

[Icebear]

Thanks for the Link and the heads up.

 

[alexrgct]

Just saw this. Boy did the big XII screw the pooch here. They could have had this exact same arrangement six months ago.

And there goes what was budding into the best rivalry in WBB. Maybe we can still get an annual game. And UConn does own ACC opponents.

 

[alexrgct]

Whoa.

So they will play 5 games against ACC schools in football "eventually", but not join for football. Sort of a one foot in, one foot out arrangement? Probably meant to preserve their special TV deal or ability to negotiate future deals on their own.

27 months huh? - bet it will end up happening earlier than the BE rules allow

The B1G rivalry games are fairly useless to them. The only games they care about are Navy and USC. The ACC games get them into the south for recruiting purposes.

 

[UcMiami]

Is it bad news for Uconn? Doesn't this make for an unbalanced basketball league? Are they looking for a second team? And does this move the Big 10 off their spot having lost the jewel they were hoping to get?

 

[bschwartz]

So basically, UConn will be scrimmaging until March. The BE reg season and tourney are now a big MEH! UConn should spot opponents 30 points to make the games palatable. Suddenly hope SJ will get good.

 

[VAMike23]

The B1G rivalry games are fairly useless to them. The only games they care about are Navy and USC. The ACC games get them into the south for recruiting purposes.

Good point. They definitely need to find a way to consistently get top talent again. (It would be interesting to see the average rating for their recruiting classes, comparing 2011 to 1991......)

 

[Vowelguy]

Is it bad news for Uconn? Doesn't this make for an unbalanced basketball league? Are they looking for a second team? And does this move the Big 10 off their spot having lost the jewel they were hoping to get?

ACC will likely add one of the BE Catholics.

B10 knew it wasnt getting ND anytime soon. But it still could someday. This doesnt change much for them.

 

[Wbbfan1]

Shame just when ND was becoming more relevant in WBB, they bail out on the Big East. Unfortunately for UConn WBB, don't know who in the conference will become the big rivalry home/away series. IMHO until Rutgers hires another head coach, I don't see them being as good as ND is anytime soon. UConn's best games that will draw National Interest will be their out of conference games. With how ND is recruiting, I expect them to be a Top 5 team for the foreseeable future. I wonder if Geno will continue to schedule ND when they finally leave the Big East. I suspect not with his previous comments about how ND Football is screwing the Big East.

This is a good move for ND for football. They get a guaranteed 5 games against ACC teams and allow them to cherry pick games for the rest of their schedule. It will expand their recruiting base and make inroads into the SouthEast where there is so much football talent.

 

[stwainfan]

It's on ND site http://www.und.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/091212aaa.html

 

[alexrgct]

I would not assume UConn is staying put forever either. If at all possible, UConn will bail from the big East, if the BEast doesn't fall apart beforehand.

 

[EricLA]

can't say i blame them. BE is on life support as it is.

 

[Man-Man]

Big East = Mid Major Conference? We need to make an ACC deal ASAP.

 

[ThisJustIn]

Where do we want UConn to go?

 

[EricLA]

Where do we want UConn to go?

basically anywhere but the big east. ACC, Big 10, who knows? But UCONN and RU are the schools who have been the most screwed so far.

 

[Vowelguy]

Big East = Mid Major Conference? We need to make an ACC deal ASAP.

Not gonna happen. ACC now has 15, with a non-FB school to be added. With 16, they aint gonna be expanding, unless others leave.

 

[Icebear]

I would not assume UConn is staying put forever either. If at all possible, UConn will bail from the big East, if the BEast doesn't fall apart beforehand.

Sooner the better.

 

[tomcat]

This is an unmitigated disaster for UConn. If it remains in the Big East, there could be serious recruiting consequences, not just because Notre Dame left, but because the stage on which these players will get to exhibit their skills will have shrunk a little bit more. Great Coach+great tradition+lousy league is not the format through which you get top-five athletes year in and year out.

Remember years ago when Old Dominion was a nationally-ranked power in a weak conference? Or years before that, when La Tech was the same in an even weaker conference? Well, it'll be not quite as bad, but close.

Until now, I had been reluctant to consider the idea of UConn switching conferences, but to my way of thinking, this absolutely cements the need for UConn to get itself out of the Big East asap. I agree that it is unlikely that the ACC will take UConn now, because there's no good reason for it to do so, but UConn needs to find another major league, and it needs to do so quickly. And to make matters worse, everyone in the world knows this, so the university will be negotiating from a position of weakness.

 

[semper]

AWFUL....my one chance to see us play live down the tubes. Sad day for me. PLEASE move UCONN to the ACC!

 

[alexrgct]

This is an unmitigated disaster for UConn. If it remains in the Big East, there could be serious recruiting consequences, not just because Notre Dame left, but because the stage on which these players will get to exhibit their skills will have shrunk a little bit more. Great Coach+great tradition+lousy league is not the format through which you get top-five athletes year in and year out.

Remember years ago when Old Dominion was a nationally-ranked power in a weak conference? Or years before that, when La Tech was the same in an even weaker conference? Well, it'll be not quite as bad, but close.

Until now, I had been reluctant to consider the idea of UConn switching conferences, but to my way of thinking, this absolutely cements the need for UConn to get itself out of the Big East asap. I agree that it is unlikely that the ACC will take UConn now, because there's no good reason for it to do so, but UConn needs to find another major league, and it needs to do so quickly. And to make matters worse, everyone in the world knows this, so the university will be negotiating from a position of weakness.

ODU's or La Tech's situation vs. UConn's are simply not analogous. UConn as a brand is much more powerful than ODU or La Tech. When ODU or La Tech were powerhouses, they had no TV exposure. UConn does...and has also been far more successful for a far longer period of time.

Being in a bad league would be a problem if a) Geno retired, b) under circumstances that left the cupboard pretty bare in terms of talent, and c) the new coach ended up being disappointing. At that point, the program would be in a bad spot even in a good league, but if there's not even the league to sell recruits on and the program is down, then you really have little value proposition.

As is, every game is still televised, more than a third nationally (all if you count SNY as national), you still have a program with a longstanding and unique tradition of incredible success, the greatest coach of all time in WBB, and what is conistently one of the very best OOC schedules around.

Now, if the Big East continues its downward spiral, I would expect men's BB, football, and baseball to suffer significantly, so the urgency for UConn to make a move is absolutely there. But if we're talking WBB specifically, I have to take exception to gloom and doom and comparisons to Old Dominion and La Tech.

 

[Replicant]

IIRC from all the conference realignment hub-bub last year, the gating issue for a possible UConn move to the ACC was always centered around ND. The thinking was that every conference wanted to land ND and that the ACC would be unbalanced with 15 teams if ND signed-on.

I'm not happy with all the conference realignments, but it is, what it is. The best thing for UConn now (IMHO ) would be to join the ACC if invited. I hope that happens.