I think there was a dual vision. One was to limit the power and perception of the Big East, the second was to gain an association with Notre Dame.
Getting BC, Miami, and the originally targeted Syracuse were steps towards both those goals. Politics intervened and VT came aboard instead. Still forward progress on both fronts.
After a period of consolidation, the Big XII was looking at Pittsburgh with rumors of some kind of talks with ND. The ACC was forced to act, perhaps quicker than desired. They managed to wrangle both Syracuse and Pittsburgh to come aboard, and shortly thereafter that coveted association with ND. These all demonstrated some skill as there was no leaking or foreshadowing that these moves were about to happen. To say there was no vision or skill is missing the obvious.
Rutgers and UCONN did nothing to increase the odds of a ND association. That's why Cuse and Pitt got the nod at that time.
Clearly losing Maryland was a blow. Maybe they could have accommodated them somehow. But all indications were that they were gone no matter what.
So, the selection of a replacement for Maryland was a reactionary move. The divisions had to be balanced. UCONN would have been a fine choice. But a few things worked against the Huskies...
- There was no thought of an ACC Network as there was no grant of rights, thus negating a potentially major positive for UCONN.
- The football centric schools were feeling like they where getting roughshod as none of the recent expansion moves had really helped football. So, they bowed up their backs and pushed for their preferred candidate.
- With all the talk of cultural and institution fit, no one ever mentions that Louisville fits with a predominately Southern conference better than UCONN. This is especially true for the Southern football schools.
So, before the yelling starts, I would just like to say that I support UCONN joining the ACC.