Thamel: power commissioner privately concede realignment not done, "inevitably ACC will be poached"

[Rumrunner]

"The ACC already looks a lot like the Big East, as additions of Miami, Virginia Tech, Boston College, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame and Louisville give it a familiar feel.

And this is the part that ACC folks don't like to hear: As the college landscape keeps shifting, the ACC will continue to look a lot more like the "old" Big East, just like the soon-to-be-renamed Big East now resembles the old Conference USA.

All five major conference commissioners privately acknowledge that realignment isn't done. And the next logical evolution will inevitably be a poaching of the ACC.

When will this happen? That's the biggest question among athletic directors and TV executives right now. No one knows the answer. But this much is certain -- there's nothing that's happened in the last three years that suggests that realignment will just stop. Will Jim Delany expand the Big Ten this spring with North Carolina and Virginia?

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/college-basketball/news/20130314/acc-madison-square-garden/#ixzz2NXQbBJaU"



This is an angst ridden piece of how the ACC should try to secure MSG by Pete "On Nate Miles' Doorstep" Thamel. Looks like he's afraid of Syracuse's new found home's stability. Reaffirmation that realignment isn't dead and that UVA is in the mix.

Whether we should be hoping for UNC and UVA to the Big 10 is complicated. If UNC and UVA, does Delany go to 18 with UConn and GTech? GTech and Duke? UConn and BC? If UNC demurs does UVA make the jump and then logically UConn is next?

For those hoping for a decimation of the ACC, while the ACC will be better than the memphis/tulsa/houston/tulane lineup of today, the ACC would most assuredly see NC State and VA Tech bolting. Free Shoes U and Clemson, also. No matter what, the power 5 will become the power 4, and march towards the 64 team split. Still, chaos is UConn's only ally at this point. I sure hope one of the conferences has the balls to be the first to crush the ACC, just as one in particular did to crush the Big East.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Pete Thamel, like every single other Syracuse basketball person in the country, does not want to travel to Greensboro, NC to watch the Orangemen lose in March.

He should have just titled the article: "I don't want to go to Greensboro in March."

Putz.

 

[Waquoit]

Why can't someone poach UConn? We're poachable. We'd welcome a good poaching. I think the main problem now is that we come off as too eager, too desperate. The same reasons that keep a guy off the duckk list are keeping us off the poach list.

 

[WestHartHusk]

Good because I cannot stand reading "who-is-me" crap coming out of the NC papers regarding poor-old-Swofford's predicament in conference realignment. He lived by realignment, and will die by it and I for one can't wait for it all to go down.

Here are some of my favorite notes from the article:

“We’re to a point where college athletics really needs a period of stability,” Swofford said.

“There are a lot of us in college athletics, as well as fans, that would welcome a period of stability where things can just settle down and people can adjust to the new conference affiliations, develop those rivalries and fans can readily figure out who’s in what conference.”

“I don’t think anybody knows what the endgame is,” Swofford said. “People have their opinions, but there’s no collegiate czar sitting in a room somewhere, or even a group of czars saying, ‘Let’s manipulate this, that and the other and end up at this point.’ That just doesn’t happen.

 

[UConn Dan]

Why can't someone poach UConn? We're poachable. We'd welcome a good poaching. I think the main problem now is that we come off as too eager, too desperate. The same reasons that keep a guy off the duckk list are keeping us off the poach list.

We're not even in the friend zone. Everyone hates us.

They're just jealous of our awesomeness.

 

[UConn Dan]

Good because I cannot stand reading "who-is-me" crap coming out of the NC papers regarding poor-old-Swofford's predicament in conference realignment. He lived by realignment, and will die by it and I for one can't wait for it all to go down.

Here are some of my favorite notes from the article:

“We’re to a point where college athletics really needs a period of stability,” Swofford said.

[

I can't believe he has the audacity.

EDIT: who am I kidding. I CAN believe it. Doosh swofford!

 

[ZooCougar]

Pete Thamel, like every single other Syracuse basketball person in the country, does not want to travel to Greensboro, NC to watch the Orangemen lose in March.

He should have just titled the article: "I don't want to go to Greensboro in March."

Putz.

Thamel is such a Putz. It's a wonder he isn't tenured at ESPN.

 

[Rumrunner]

Flipping through my favorite dictionary, I came to the word "hypocrite". Odd, there was no textual definition of the word, only a picture:

Good because I cannot stand reading "who-is-me" crap coming out of the NC papers regarding poor-old-Swofford's predicament in conference realignment. He lived by realignment, and will die by it and I for one can't wait for it all to go down.

Here are some of my favorite notes from the article:

“We’re to a point where college athletics really needs a period of stability,” Swofford said.

“There are a lot of us in college athletics, as well as fans, that would welcome a period of stability where things can just settle down and people can adjust to the new conference affiliations, develop those rivalries and fans can readily figure out who’s in what conference.”

“I don’t think anybody knows what the endgame is,” Swofford said. “People have their opinions, but there’s no collegiate czar sitting in a room somewhere, or even a group of czars saying, ‘Let’s manipulate this, that and the other and end up at this point.’ That just doesn’t happen.

 

[alexd]

Good because I cannot stand reading "who-is-me" crap coming out of the NC papers regarding poor-old-Swofford's predicament in conference realignment. He lived by realignment, and will die by it and I for one can't wait for it all to go down.

Here are some of my favorite notes from the article:

“We’re to a point where college athletics really needs a period of stability,” Swofford said.

“There are a lot of us in college athletics, as well as fans, that would welcome a period of stability where things can just settle down and people can adjust to the new conference affiliations, develop those rivalries and fans can readily figure out who’s in what conference.”

“I don’t think anybody knows what the endgame is,” Swofford said. “People have their opinions, but there’s no collegiate czar sitting in a room somewhere, or even a group of czars saying, ‘Let’s manipulate this, that and the other and end up at this point.’ That just doesn’t happen.

Oh sure.....now that the ACC is done with their decade long project of grabbing 6 1/2 BE schools....NOW its time for a period of stability. This is too funny.

 

[ZooCougar]

A successful ACC raid is possible, probable even, but hardly inevitable.

Some smart people here have already stated, the ACC is a logical conference. Those schools seem to fit together, (with the exception of Louisville being second rate commuter school with a Athletic Dept) and ESPN has vested interest in it remaining intact.

There actually is an incentive to keep this conference together.

The Big East Football conference was pretty much always a drawer full of mismatched socks. And the incentive to stay never outwieghed the incentive to jump ship.

 

[noeynox]

When you read a sentence that says bludgeon the c7, before they begin, makes you wonder how athletic departments continue to act as non profit entities.

 

[upstater]

A successful ACC raid is possible, probable even, but hardly inevitable.

Some smart people here have already stated, the ACC is a logical conference. Those schools seem to fit together, (with the exception of Louisville being second rate commuter school with a Athletic Dept) and ESPN has vested interest in it remaining intact.

There actually is an incentive to keep this conference together.

The Big East Football conference was pretty much always a drawer full of mismatched socks. And the incentive to stay never outwieghed the incentive to jump ship.

Whether it makes sense or whether there are incentives to hold the conference together is not the driving force. I could make some similar arguments about the BE. The thing I point to is fear--fear of being left behind. While FSU, UVa and NC State will all find a spot, none of the other teams are assured of anything. All those teams have something to fear, some more, some less. I already listed the teams that have most to fear, but at the top are these:

1. Wake Forest
2. Georgia Tech
3. Miami
4. Clemson
5. NC State
6. Virginia Tech
7. Duke

This is why Maryland has already departed. Maryland is essentially like Georgia Tech, though with better geography.

 

[UConnJim]

A successful ACC raid is possible, probable even, but hardly inevitable.

Some smart people here have already stated, the ACC is a logical conference. Those schools seem to fit together, (with the exception of Louisville being second rate commuter school with a Athletic Dept) and ESPN has vested interest in it remaining intact.

There actually is an incentive to keep this conference together.

The Big East Football conference was pretty much always a drawer full of mismatched socks. And the incentive to stay never outwieghed the incentive to jump ship.

ACC fits together? Let's see, you have 5 private schools (6 counting ND), 2 top public schools in their state, 7 public universities that are clear #2 in their states, and a basketball only school.

The ACC that would have made sense:

North: BC, UConn, Syracuse, Penn St., Pitt, Rutgers, Miami, WVU
South: Maryland, UVA, Va Tech, UNC, NC St., GT, Clemson, FSU

You would have had 7 top public universities in their state, 6 public universities that are clear #2s, and 3 privates. Dominant conference on the east coast from Massachusetts to Florida.

 

[ZooCougar]

Whether it makes sense or whether there are incentives to hold the conference together is not the driving force. I could make some similar arguments about the BE. The thing I point to is fear--fear of being left behind. While FSU, UVa and NC State will all find a spot, none of the other teams are assured of anything. All those teams have something to fear, some more, some less. I already listed the teams that have most to fear, but at the top are these:

1. Wake Forest
2. Georgia Tech
3. Miami
4. Clemson
5. NC State
6. Virginia Tech
7. Duke

This is why Maryland has already departed. Maryland is essentially like Georgia Tech, though with better geography.

In the ACC's case. The incentive to stick together may actually outweigh fear, expansion may reached the point of diminishing returns. ESPN sweetening the pot and the desire to stick with what has worked.

The Big East once had a pretty big offer from ESPN, and even still the ACC and the B1G were seen as better options by all.

If ESPN fears the ACC breaking up, I do believe that they will do what they can to protect their investment. The Big East never had that.

The real x factor is how the football playoff system will influence things. That sustem isn't fully developed, meaning I don't think the playoff format will be an enduring endstate.

Many people think that the enduring format will favor four power conferences. If this is true then it doesn't bode well for the ACC.

But the ACC getting raided to the bone is hardly inevitable in my opinion.

 

[ZooCougar]

ACC fits together? Let's see, you have 5 private schools (6 counting ND), 2 top public schools in their state, 7 public universities that are clear #2 in their states, and a basketball only school.

The ACC that would have made sense:

North: BC, UConn, Syracuse, Penn St., Pitt, Rutgers, Miami, WVU
South: Maryland, UVA, Va Tech, UNC, NC St., GT, Clemson, FSU

You would have had 7 top public universities in their state, 6 public universities that are clear #2s, and 3 privates. Dominant conference on the east coast from Massachusetts to Florida.

The ACC makes 1000% more sense than a 16 team conference from Wisconsin to Tampa, half of which are basketball onlies.

 

[B1GEast]

A successful ACC raid is possible, probable even, but hardly inevitable.

Some smart people here have already stated, the ACC is a logical conference. Those schools seem to fit together, (with the exception of Louisville being second rate commuter school with a Athletic Dept) and ESPN has vested interest in it remaining intact.

There actually is an incentive to keep this conference together.

The Big East Football conference was pretty much always a drawer full of mismatched socks. And the incentive to stay never outwieghed the incentive to jump ship.

When Clemson, FSU and UVA see what Maryland and Rutgers will earn in a few years they'll line up to kiss Delaney's

 

[upstater]

Fear controls more psychology than anything else. Self-preservation rules. Logic goes out the window.

 

[ZooCougar]

Fear controls more psychology than anything else. Self-preservation rules. Logic goes out the window.

Well, in order for fear to have that effect, you have to feel insecure. And if ESPN steps in and gives their pet conference a warm fuzzy then the ACC will remain that much more rational.

The Big East never had that. It was always worth more dead than alive to many.

 

[Point6]

Why can't someone poach UConn? We're poachable. We'd welcome a good poaching. I think the main problem now is that we come off as too eager, too desperate. The same reasons that keep a guy off the duckk list are keeping us off the poach list.

I realize its probably very cool but we need to quit puppetry. Puppetry guy is never going to get laid.

 

[Chief00]

I think there are better homes than the ACC.

 

[baggerbob]

When the Big 10 realizes picking Maryland, Rutgers doesn't make them money they will want to throw them back. Both of the areas they bring are owned by professional sports, the majority of people there could care less about those 2 schools.

 

[Adios]

We are FAR better off in the B1G or the Big 12. Or of course, the SEC. Still can't believe people care so much for the ACC when it is going to become Wake Forest, Temple and probably BC.

 

[HuskyHawk]

We are FAR better off in the B1G or the Big 12. Or of course, the SEC. Still can't believe people care so much for the ACC when it is going to become Wake Forest, Temple and probably BC.

We don't know what it will become. It may hold together better than we expect. But it is likely to still contain most of the former Big East schools, that makes it better than our current home by a wide margin. Of course the B1G or SEC is better...but I am not convinced that the Big 12 is. If not for the GOR it would be on shakier ground than the ACC. The ACC thus far has lost one school. The Big 12 has lost four, and those four were pretty big losses.

 

[uconnric]

We don't know what it will become. It may hold together better than we expect. But it is likely to still contain most of the former Big East schools, that makes it better than our current home by a wide margin. Of course the B1G or SEC is better...but I am not convinced that the Big 12 is. If not for the GOR it would be on shakier ground than the ACC. The ACC thus far has lost one school. The Big 12 has lost four, and those four were pretty big losses.

I really don't think we're better off in the SEC, we'd be a real fish out of water. We're better off where we have some traditional rivals and the only place is the ACC. BiG would be nice, but that would take some getting used to.

 

[SAMCRO]

We are better off in any of the 5 other conferences than we are right now.

The ideal situation is a 20 team B1G or SEC that adds UConn, UVa, UNC, Duke, SU and (I'm throwing up in my mouth as I type this) BC. Gives the Northern and mid atlantic schools some regional rivals, and locks up the Eastern seaboard from the Carolinas to Maine for the ACC, or Florida to Maine for the SEC. It is highly unlikely this ever happens, but that would be the ideal end game for UConn IMO.

 

[UCHuskies08]

We are FAR better off in the B1G or the Big 12. Or of course, the SEC. Still can't believe people care so much for the ACC when it is going to become Wake Forest, Temple and probably BC.

Because that's still better than SMU, ECU, Tulane, Tulsa/UMass....

 

[pj]

The ideal situation is a 20 team B1G or SEC that adds UConn, UVa, UNC, Duke, SU and (I'm throwing up in my mouth as I type this) BC. Gives the Northern and mid atlantic schools some regional rivals, and locks up the Eastern seaboard from the Carolinas to Maine for the ACC, or Florida to Maine for the SEC. It is highly unlikely this ever happens, but that would be the ideal end game for UConn IMO.

Ideal scenario for 20 team B1G: UConn, UVa, UNC, Georgia Tech, FSU, either Duke or Clemson or Notre Dame for #20.
Ideal scenario for 18 team SEC: UNC, Duke, UVa, UConn ... two from the Big 12 (Texas, Texas Tech? or Kansas/KState if Texas/Oklahoma stick together or go Pac 12?) to go to 20 and four from the Big 12 (Texas, TT, Oklahoma, OSU or Kansas) for 22.

No ideal scenario has us sharing the limelight with BC or Cuse. Rutgers would be the best local partner, then Penn State.

 

[The Funster]

I still have a hard time wrapping my head around what could happen. IMO, the ACC "should" stay alive. In the big conference model the PAC has to add teams and the only place those teams can come from is the Big 12. And, assuming that, the next question is "How many power conferences?" If the answer is 3 x 20 then obviously it would be PAC, SEC and B1G. If it is 4 power conferences (and the Big 12 is gone) then there has to be enough left of the ACC for it to actually be a power conference. I still think antitrust is a factor going forward.

I also think the best way to handle it is if the conferences decides to proceed logically, in tandem, to evenly distribute teams as opposed to the "raiding" concept currently being employed.