Big 12 and ACC are fumbling with their expansion apprehensiveness? They will become 2nd class BBall citizens as well if they continue.

[nelsonmuntz]

The SEC is interested in the SEC. Conquering the world is a big ten goal

They are both interested in conquering the world. Sooner or later they will run into the NFL and NBA and learn what those leagues do to their competitors.

 

[SellersElbow]

John Feinstein just ripped on the ACC for their choices of members in the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/01/10/acc-mens-basketball-struggles-duke/

 

[jostar1]

John Feinstein just ripped on the ACC for their choices of members in the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/01/10/acc-mens-basketball-struggles-duke/

The ACC forgot it was a basketball conference​

You can now add struggles in men’s basketballs to the ACC’s lengthy list of problems.

https://archive.ph/9jT7A

 

[Stray_Dog]

So you like criticizing anyone who argues for making the best of the Big East while we are here, and you like criticizing anyone who argues for eventually leaving the Big East. I think you have all the positions covered.

ummm, I criticize anyone who thinks that criticizing us being stuck in our current situation (Big East and independence in football) is interpreted to mean that its the AAC that we want to go back to - this is just dumb. I can dislike our current situation, dislike having been in the AAC and continue to want a better home for all our sports. This is what makes College different than the NFL, the NHL, the NBA or baseball. I can have one college team that plays all the sports I like. The UConn Husky hockey team is not affected by our conference affiliation and very likely would not be by joining another conference. However, most of our sports reside in the Big East and as good as it is for now for BB men's and women's - not good for our football. So we make a trade BB (men's and women's) for football. We need a good home for all 3. ...and therefore I dislike the affiliation of the conference that does not give the team I root for a good home for ALL their sports! GO UCONN!!!

 

[ZooCougar]

The ACC forgot it was a basketball conference​

You can now add struggles in men’s basketballs to the ACC’s lengthy list of problems.

https://archive.ph/9jT7A

“But the never-ending realignment of college athletics hasn’t been good to the ACC. Corrigan’s successor, John Swofford, went on a raiding crusade, bringing in mediocre football programs like Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Boston College along with one-time powers Miami and Virginia Tech — both of which soon turned mediocre.”

Ouch

 

[nelsonmuntz]

ummm, I criticize anyone who thinks that criticizing us being stuck in our current situation (Big East and independence in football) is interpreted to mean that its the AAC that we want to go back to - this is just dumb. I can dislike our current situation, dislike having been in the AAC and continue to want a better home for all our sports. This is what makes College different than the NFL, the NHL, the NBA or baseball. I can have one college team that plays all the sports I like. The UConn Husky hockey team is not affected by our conference affiliation and very likely would not be by joining another conference. However, most of our sports reside in the Big East and as good as it is for now for BB men's and women's - not good for our football. So we make a trade BB (men's and women's) for football. We need a good home for all 3. ...and therefore I dislike the affiliation of the conference that does not give the team I root for a good home for ALL their sports! GO UCONN!!!

You could have just posted "yes".

 

[freescooter]

“But the never-ending realignment of college athletics hasn’t been good to the ACC. Corrigan’s successor, John Swofford, went on a raiding crusade, bringing in mediocre football programs like Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Boston College along with one-time powers Miami and Virginia Tech — both of which soon turned mediocre.”

Ouch

The ACC’s basketball problems are, I think, more the result of losing 3 Hall of Fame coaches and several other excellent ones who have something like 10 NCAA titles in their combined careers within the last 5 years. We may hate K, Roy and Boeheim but they could coach.Bennett was excellent too. Add coaches from Miami, and Notre Dame and maybe even slick Rick. We know how a bad coach can set a program back. Imagine trying to replace that many. If every coach was Coach K he wouldn’t be anything special.

It didn’t help that they added a bunch of members that aren’t basketball powers, but replacing legends takes time. And despite all this, they continue to get teams into the Final Four. And have a top program right now.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Three thoughts:

1) I think the window to be added has closed, and neither the ACC or Big 12 will add UConn alone. UConn does nothing to address the strategic problems those leagues face, and even if UConn played for free in the league, the incremental money from one more team does not really move the needle for either league's members.

2) The Big 12, ACC and Big East, and ultimately the Big 10, need to do something big or all of college sports is going to become a regional entertainment enterprise based in the southeast, at which point the entire product will likely fail.

3) People focus so much on which of the ACC or Big 12 are going to get raided next by the P2. I think the answer is more obvious than that. If the SEC took about 4 schools from the Big 10, the Big 10 would drop to 4th among the football leagues, while the SEC would become permanently dominant over every other league. Why wouldn't the SEC do that?

 

[UConnJim]

This week, the ACC has 1 school in the men's basketball AP Top 25, Duke. The ACC basketball tournament doesn't come close to selling out any more even when it's in Greensboro. First rounds attendance is usually 10k or less. With 15 schools, now 18, you only need to sell ~1k tickets per school to sell out. It's amazing how far that ACC basketball has fallen.

Imagine if a P2 conference took Duke, UNC, Clemson, and FSU, the ACC would become irrelevant in both basketball and football. Why wouldn't the SEC grab those schools and dominate from the mid Atlantic to Florida to Texas?

 

[Jetskies]

Obviously we wouldn't say no to the ACC, but the Big12 is in a much better position and mostly due to the ACC incompetence...

y'know ... i used to say an ACC invite would be an automatic "yes" from UConn (or at least a yes from me), but with what I'm reading here in the BY about the ACC's choices, I am starting to get convinced that the ACC is 100% a timebomb, that is no longer a matter of "if", but "when" it explodes. I am starting to think that UConn may even say "no thanks" to the ACC invite if it comes too close to the expiration of their current media deal, and their important schools are still unhappy (UNC, Duke, UVA, FSU, Clemson)

We will get stuck in an AAC 2.0 situation again.
I'll take Big East + Independence all day, before that mess.

Can you imagine a relegated ACC, where the few schools remaining have to pull a Pac12 to stay alive, and start inviting richmond, butler, buffalo, Eastern Michigan, Ball state, and Delaware, to join them? I'd end my UConn fanhood in that exact moment.

"It's been nice cheering with y'all. Good luck to us all." - Me in 2030, probably

 

[Patman]

“But the never-ending realignment of college athletics hasn’t been good to the ACC. Corrigan’s successor, John Swofford, went on a raiding crusade, bringing in mediocre football programs like Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Boston College along with one-time powers Miami and Virginia Tech — both of which soon turned mediocre.”

Ouch

but its the truth. Regardless of 'basketball stronk' football was always leading the bus. i do think basketball got underrated over time but that's the way it goes.

@Jetskies since I don't want to multiquote, this is where i've been since the B12 started to talk about uconn because it all made sense. Either the b12 or the b10 are raiding the ACC.

 

[Patman]

This week, the ACC has 1 school in the men's basketball AP Top 25, Duke. The ACC basketball tournament doesn't come close to selling out any more even when it's in Greensboro. First rounds attendance is usually 10k or less. With 15 schools, now 18, you only need to sell ~1k tickets per school to sell out. It's amazing how far that ACC basketball has fallen.

Imagine if a P2 conference took Duke, UNC, Clemson, and FSU, the ACC would become irrelevant in both basketball and football. Why wouldn't the SEC grab those schools and dominate from the mid Atlantic to Florida to Texas?

irony is that if they remained hyperregional as an 8 school league they'd probably be doing a lot better.

 

[KryHavok]

This week, the ACC has 1 school in the men's basketball AP Top 25, Duke.

To be fair, the same can be said for the Big East, but I get your point and don't want to misrepresent what you wrote. Imagine if the All Cretins Crew picked UConn all those years ago, we'd be doubling their Top25 right now.

Watching that conference coming apart is like enjoying a telenovela on Univision, can't completely understand what they're doing, but the visuals are nice: ay, que lastima.

 

[Kolumbo]

y'know ... i used to say an ACC invite would be an automatic "yes" from UConn (or at least a yes from me), but with what I'm reading here in the BY about the ACC's choices, I am starting to get convinced that the ACC is 100% a timebomb, that is no longer a matter of "if", but "when" it explodes. I am starting to think that UConn may even say "no thanks" to the ACC invite if it comes too close to the expiration of their current media deal, and their important schools are still unhappy (UNC, Duke, UVA, FSU, Clemson)

We will get stuck in an AAC 2.0 situation again.
I'll take Big East + Independence all day, before that mess.

Can you imagine a relegated ACC, where the few schools remaining have to pull a Pac12 to stay alive, and start inviting richmond, butler, buffalo, Eastern Michigan, Ball state, and Delaware, to join them? I'd end my UConn fanhood in that exact moment.

"It's been nice cheering with y'all. Good luck to us all." - Me in 2030, probably

The only ACC i envision UConn getting invited to is a heavily pilfered shell of the ACC and we'd still take it. It's all in the name. The PAC 12 imploded leaving only OSU and WSU. Instead of just dying, they poached the MWC so the new PAC is really mostly the MWC. Our version of the ACC would be UConn, cuse, bcu, pitt, louisville, wake, smu, cal. If lucky, duke, Va Tech, Ga Tech, NC State. And even if those programs get poached, the ACC would poach the AAC with USF, Memphis, Tulane, etc. The ACC would still be a far better landing spot than Indie. I think.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

Three thoughts:

1) I think the window to be added has closed, and neither the ACC or Big 12 will add UConn alone. UConn does nothing to address the strategic problems those leagues face, and even if UConn played for free in the league, the incremental money from one more team does not really move the needle for either league's members.

2) The Big 12, ACC and Big East, and ultimately the Big 10, need to do something big or all of college sports is going to become a regional entertainment enterprise based in the southeast, at which point the entire product will likely fail.

3) People focus so much on which of the ACC or Big 12 are going to get raided next by the P2. I think the answer is more obvious than that. If the SEC took about 4 schools from the Big 10, the Big 10 would drop to 4th among the football leagues, while the SEC would become permanently dominant over every other league. Why wouldn't the SEC do that?

With pay to play now above the table and with the sheer size and power of Big10 members, they will ultimately surpass the SEC (and maybe we're already seeing the beginning of it).

 

[Patman]

With pay to play now above the table and with the sheer size and power of Big10 members, they will ultimately surpass the SEC (and maybe we're already seeing the beginning of it).

one season in football is not a trend

 

[nelsonmuntz]

With pay to play now above the table and with the sheer size and power of Big10 members, they will ultimately surpass the SEC (and maybe we're already seeing the beginning of it).

Then the Big 10 raids the SEC for Florida, Georgia, Texas and Alabama. Either way, there is no way both leagues survive if a P2 emerges. And there is no reason to go after any other league's members because those leagues are already dead.

The predatory nature of conference realignment is phenomenally short-sighted. This is the equivalent of the 10 biggest market NFL teams trying to box out the rest of the league. I guess it would work in the short term to hurt the small market teams, but on the other side of that move would be a league that no one cares about.

 

[Rufus]

So much for people not caring ---

MSN

ESPN Breaks Records with Cotton Bowl Viewership Amid NCAA Playoff Excitement​

ESPN has made history with its recent announcement of record-breaking viewership for the Cotton Bowl. With the expansion of the College Football Playoff to 12 teams, ESPN’s $7.8 billion media rights deal is already proving to be a wise investment. Last week, Ohio State defeated Texas 28-14 in one of the most thrilling games of the season. The game averaged 20.6 million viewers, with a peak of 22.7 million, making it the most-watched Cotton Bowl in history.

 

[Ha Who]

So much for people not caring ---

MSN

ESPN Breaks Records with Cotton Bowl Viewership Amid NCAA Playoff Excitement​

ESPN has made history with its recent announcement of record-breaking viewership for the Cotton Bowl. With the expansion of the College Football Playoff to 12 teams, ESPN’s $7.8 billion media rights deal is already proving to be a wise investment. Last week, Ohio State defeated Texas 28-14 in one of the most thrilling games of the season. The game averaged 20.6 million viewers, with a peak of 22.7 million, making it the most-watched Cotton Bowl in history.

Well I don’t give a sheet which is all that matters

 

[Jetskies]

The only ACC i envision UConn getting invited to is a heavily pilfered shell of the ACC and we'd still take it. It's all in the name. The PAC 12 imploded leaving only OSU and WSU. Instead of just dying, they poached the MWC so the new PAC is really mostly the MWC. Our version of the ACC would be UConn, cuse, bcu, pitt, louisville, wake, smu, cal. If lucky, duke, Va Tech, Ga Tech, NC State. And even if those programs get poached, the ACC would poach the AAC with USF, Memphis, Tulane, etc. The ACC would still be a far better landing spot than Indie. I think.

so.... AAC 2.0?

better than independent..... hmmmmm.
I don't see it. I just don't see it.
UConn Basketball must be protected, I was told - are we willing to take the risk AGAIN in a fake version of the ACC? I thought the whole reason we left AAC was to stop playing memphis/USF/ECU and those guys. That conference sucked and it still brings me no excitement to hear those brands.

I really really don't know about that........

I don't want our school to be desperate enough to find a football home, that we ruin the entire Ath Dept's prestige/income with 1 bad decision. I get what you're saying, but if I'm holding the keys, I say no thanks to ACC unless they have a new deal in place.

 

[Kolumbo]

so.... AAC 2.0?

better than independent..... hmmmmm.
I don't see it. I just don't see it.
UConn Basketball must be protected, I was told - are we willing to take the risk AGAIN in a fake version of the ACC? I thought the whole reason we left AAC was to stop playing memphis/USF/ECU and those guys. That conference sucked and it still brings me no excitement to hear those brands.

I really really don't know about that........

The ACC currently has 18 members so it's not like we would join with only a handful of ACC programs. I'm thinking it would be at least 8-10 current programs so no, not AAC 2.0. And if it should come to pass, the ACC would likely have a war chest of exit fees to help financially. And it would still most likely be the 4th best football conference. We'd be a Yes, no question.

 

[Jetskies]

The ACC currently has 18 members so it's not like we would join with only a handful of ACC programs. I'm thinking it would be at least 8-10 current programs so no, not AAC 2.0. And if it should come to pass, the ACC would likely have a war chest of exit fees to help financially. And it would still most likely be the 4th best football conference. We'd be a Yes, no question.

we'd be a yes, I agree.
I just don't think it'd be a safe long-term decision.

 

[Kolumbo]

Drake Toll is the Big 12 guy. First he crapped on UConn saying we didn't have enough revenue. Then he was on board with UConn when Yormark really wanted UConn. I follow him just to see if anything is going on with the Big 12 and UConn. It's just one year so I don't think there is much separation between the Big 12 and ACC. I do think FSU is in big danger of having its brand doing a David Caruso career impersonation.

I don't like that he says the Big 12 and ACC should work together to combat the P2 unless there is more of a basketball focus.

 

[superjohn]

one season in football is not a trend

This board is bonkers, now we have posters saying the SEC will go away.

 

[Patman]

This board is bonkers, now we have posters saying the SEC will go away.

it might happen... but I really don't think it will