Seth Davis tweet: ND in early but signIficant talks with ACC

[upstater]

Some people on these boards make a big deal about the "southern culture" of the ACC. Just a few of comments. First the ACC has a much less "southern culture" than the SEC. Second from someone who lived all of his life in CT before moving to AL 28 years ago there is not a whole lot of difference between north and south that can not be accounted for by the fact that the south is much more rural than the northeast, and has a smaller southern and eastern european component to the white population. The south has much in common with the midwest heartland states such as MO, NB, KN, etc. Lastly with BC, SU, Pitt and yes Miami, the southern in the ACC to the extent that it was there is already highly diluted.

The idea that ND fits in culturally is laughable. Yes, it's all America. But if you're going to say the midwest = the south, I'm rolling my eyes. I've lived in both places, and in the northeast. I always encountered cultural differences, from people showing up to my parties 20 minutes early in the midwest, to people regularly smiling a fake "Hi" to me at 7 in the morning as I'm sipping my coffee and walking. And a myriad of odd behaviors in between. It is very different.

 

[uconnbaseball]

Obviously, UConn needs to be active here if ND is really considering this move. Use ESPN and any political maneuvers we can to get in. I'm not concerned with Davis' comment, as that seemed to be speculation on his part.

 

[Hoophound]

Obviously, UConn needs to be active here if ND is really considering this move. Use ESPN and any political maneuvers we can to get in. I'm not concerned with Davis' comment, as that seemed to be speculation on his part.

Something tells me that ESPN doesn't really go to bat for us. They need to step back from this mess a little to avoid trouble. They may just let it play out however it plays out. ACC should take ND, RU, UConn and UL, because the ACC is going to get raided at some point. If not, then it will be a toss up between us and Rutgers. Hopefully, Coach K gets to pick!

 

[tzznandrew]

Seth Davis picked against us? Sounds like good karma to me.

 

[freescooter]

I get a chuckle out of the cultural fit, too. Chicago Irish Catholic is about as close to a cultural fit as Northeastern Irish Catholic in a section which still refers to the War of Northern Aggression and considers the Pope the Anti-Christ...Outside of Atlanta and South Florida, the region isn't all that hospitable to Catholics even in this era.

 

[kibblesnbits]

Can only wonder what Flipper's tweets sound like. You can usually find out by following the Globe's Mark Blaudschun.

BCU is probably scurrying around trying to block ND because they want to be the school for Eastern Catholics. Sure they have no better chance of that than they do of being New England's university, but delusion runs deep.

 

[John Greene]

I get a chuckle out of the cultural fit, too. Chicago Irish Catholic is about as close to a cultural fit as Northeastern Irish Catholic in a section which still refers to the War of Northern Aggression and considers the Pope the Anti-Christ...Outside of Atlanta and South Florida, the region isn't all that hospitable to Catholics even in this era.

Wow, where in the south do you live? I come from a long line of Catholics and have raised a couple here. Can't say I felt any lack of hospitality about my religion. As far as "war of northern agression" you must have attended lots of meeting of the Son's of Confederate Veterans to hear that phrase.

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

Who knows how Seth Davis defines "cultural fit"...but as I have said before, ND likes a northeastern presence due to it's alumni. ND wants to play in Boston, New York, DC, Baltimore, and Philly. If the ACC was just the Carolinas and Georgia, I agree they don't fit. But...when the ACC added BC, Cuse and Pitt...they became a whole lot more appealing to ND.

The way a 16 team conference sets up, you probably will only play maybe 2 cross over games. So...ND's typical schedule might be to play BC, Cuse, Pitt, UConn, MD, Va, VT plus 2 other ACC schools. That doesn't sound like a southern schedule to me.

 

[upstater]

Wow, where in the south do you live? I come from a long line of Catholics and have raised a couple here. Can't say I felt any lack of hospitality about my religion. As far as "war of northern agression" you must have attended lots of meeting of the Son's of Confederate Veterans to hear that phrase.

I've lived in Carolina and Virginia, the center of the ACC. We did play rebels versus traitors as kids. Be that as it may, I read Yunte Wang's article in the NYT about Alabama's new immigration law this weekend. I mean, there ARE cultural differences.

 

[John Greene]

I've lived in Carolina and Virginia, the center of the ACC. We did play rebels versus traitors as kids. Be that as it may, I read Yunte Wang's article in the NYT about Alabama's new immigration law this weekend. I mean, there ARE cultural differences.

Of course there are "cultural differences" between Queens, Riverdale, and Hartford, two of those places are even in the same city, I don't believe that t means St. Johns, Fordham and Uconn can not be in the same conference. Heck ND has a lot more in common with Duke than it does with Uconn or RU.

 

[uconnric]

I would guess that ND's interest in the ACC is due to the fact that they don't believe that the Big East will be a viable conference for much longer.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Anybody with a reasonable head cannot believe the Big East is a viable conference anymore, especially with these new BCS considerations.

 

[epark88]

Due to the fact that the tweets are only coming from ESPN folks, I'm kinda skeptical about their accuracy and purpose in light of the Big East's expansion efforts.

I'll hold out until at least another news entity picks up on this story too before I start assuming the #BegHarder position...

 

[CL82]

Due to the fact that the tweets are only coming from ESPN folks, I'm kinda skeptical about their accuracy and purpose in light of the Big East's expansion efforts.

I'll hold out until at least another news entity picks up on this story too before I start assuming the #BegHarder position...

Agree. There seems to to be an concerted effort by some (namely the Worldwide leader and the Big 12) to queer any BE expansion.

 

[Point6]

If this is true, B1G needs to act by Friday (to pick up UConn & Rutgers) or they give up NYC.

This has to be done by FRIDAY!!

(I'm busy Saturday)

 

[EricLA]

UConn, red headed stepchild? It's amazing that as successful as UConn's athletics programs have been over the last two decades, the university is seemingly universally shunned in the realignment game.

that's a pretty awful thought. imagine ND, RU, L'ville leaving and UCONN stuck in the big east. worst case scenario hopefully it doesnt' come to pass. we could hang out with USF and Cinci.

 

[John Greene]

that's a pretty awful thought. imagine ND, RU, L'ville leaving and UCONN stuck in the big east. worst case scenario hopefully it doesnt' come to pass. we could hang out with USF and Cinci.

For what its worth I play golf regularly with someone from middle management at the SEC office (below comm. but above schedule maker) He has made comments several times about the fact that some in college sports see Uconn as a high maintenance, beautiful, girl friend. Marrying her needs to be considered carefully. The two most prominent people on the Uconn athletic side, JC & GA, to not get along and there has never been anyone nominally higher up who was strong enough to matter. This makes some AD's who have their own primadonas, (Saban, etc.) unconfortable.

 

[TRest]

For what its worth I play golf regularly with someone from middle management at the SEC office (below comm. but above schedule maker) He has made comments several times about the fact that some in college sports see Uconn as a high maintenance, beautiful, girl friend. Marrying her needs to be considered carefully. The two most prominent people on the Uconn athletic side, JC & GA, to not get along and there has never been anyone nominally higher up who was strong enough to matter. This makes some AD's who have their own primadonas, (Saban, etc.) unconfortable.

JC is a short timer at this point. I think nobody is willing to bet on the future of the athletic program being sustainable at this level.

 

[uconNYC]

UConn has two issues, one is that Geographically we are a bit of an outlier. The only conference whose footprint we fit inside is the ACC and that's only because of their additions of BC and now SU. Secondly, think ACC just did not do its homework when it comes to expansion the first time around. They actually thought that SU and BC were relevant sports programs in the New York and Boston markets (Kind of how some of our fans who've never lived in Dallas/TX think that SMU brings the Dallas market...). BC eventually got in and have been vocal in their opposition to our entry. Regardless, no matter what happens, I think we'll be fine. Our mens basketball program will be in a top 6 conference and that is all you need to have a legit shot at a FF. As for football, we'll just have to emulate what Utah, Boise state, and others have done. It starts with fans showing up for games.

 

[Fishy]

Outside of our own, no athletic director on this planet or any other gives a s*** whether our basketball coaches exchange Christmas cards or not.

 

[Ts5034]

Someone brought up ESPN before. I agree that ESPN really doesnt do a thing as far as being beneficial to Uconn. Right now it seems like their headquarters can be in Alaska and Uconn wouldnt get any more or less coverage. I feel if they were out of North Carolina there would be a lot more bias toward Duke and UNC and they would use that to their advantage.

 

[GG]

At the end of the day, how many athletic programs have experienced the amount of success that UCONN has over the last decade? UCONN would be a great addition to any of the top conferences.

 

[uconNYC]

Someone brought up ESPN before. I agree that ESPN really doesnt do a thing as far as being beneficial to Uconn. Right now it seems like their headquarters can be in Alaska and Uconn wouldnt get any more or less coverage. I feel if they were out of North Carolina there would be a lot more bias toward Duke and UNC and they would use that to their advantage.

I remember a few years back when Diana Taurasi visited ESPN Campus someone on ESPN Radio mentioning that she was perhaps one of the most popular athletes to visit their campus. Leads me to believe that a lot of ESPN's staff are Connecticut natives, but their higher-ups probably all graduated from Ivy League and NESCAC schools and really have no soft spot for UConn

 

[tduconn]

The ACC isn't buying into a school for expansion based on success of its athletic department........they are looking at football success.

Let's take our blinders off! I get it, UConn FB is a young program with some successes. And the FB program plays like a young program.......it is not very good.......it is not a very exciting brand of football. Nobody in other BCS regions of the country will forgo an ACC, SEC, Big 10, Big 12, PAC 10 FB game to tune to watch UConn play someone in a "head to head" time slot competition.

As much as I have supported UConn FB the past 40 years, I understand fans in other conferences being reluctant to adding UConn FB to their programs. Just review performance of the team this past Saturday. I'd gladly take any of Tom Jackson's or Skip Holtz's 1-aa teams from 1985 to the start of the 1-a era over this team. At least those players could run, throw, catch and tackle with consistency. And they were exciting to watch.

I wonder how many of the BE teams did not want to add Temple FB to the BE FB league in the nineties. They recognized their mistake in 2004.

UConn FB is its own worst enemy right now.

 

[GG]

I Know football drives the but how much recent success have pitt and Syracuse had?