UMD was easy for the plucking because of their financial situation, but hardly low hanging fruit. Again, it's about upside and market. From my angle, both Rutty and MD were very make sense moves for the BiG. Just because they are currently two floundering athletic programs does not mean they don't have potential to trend up. Both flagship, both athletically committed, both meet academic profile and they grab a chunk of highly populated interlaced geography. NJ is a football hotbed. They are both more about what the BiG can do for them versus the opposite today, but have great stock up potential being part of the BiG.
Virginia is still a question mark on my end. There are too many variables there to make me think that's happening this soon. First, the UMD exit fee scenario hasn't played out. Second, their ties to VA Tech as a state partner and then, even moreso, their ties to ACC bretheren UNC/Duke. Virginia may be a bit more of a hybrid state culturally, but it's still by and large a southern state. If you go to the UVa board, you will see absolutely zero enthusiasm regarding the BiG. At some point, you wonder if the glue that bonds the ACC holds tight. When I start thinking about ACC nucleus, I think that starts with Duke/UNC/UVa as the blue bloods, mainly because of southern academic prestige. I just don't feel like a UVa takes off for a northern conference for dollars to feel like they are sitting on an island culturally. At some point, culture trumps . You cannot sacrifice your identity for every last cent when you're not in bad financial shape to begin with. Virginia is, nor ever really will be, a football first program. So unless they are dying for the , or see the writing on the wall this quickly, don't see it.
