I was treating Cuse as Big East at the moment, just as I included Memphis, UCF and Houston as CUSA. I'm not saying anything about the ACC...you brought that up. Brand-wise, the ACC, due in part to the private schools (although Miami and Duke have good name recognition), and the fact that GT is always behind UGA, is weaker than the B1G, SEC, B12, Pac12. Essentially I think UT and A&M will always be more important than Houston or SMU, no matter what happens on the field. Tennessee will always attract more fans and attention than Memphis, no matter what. Florida and FSU will always have more appeal than UCF and USF. SDSU will never match USC or UCLA in appeal, no matter what they do on the field. The NBE has a host of programs that are permanently limited in appeal. By the way, this analysis suggests that the ACC should have preferred UConn and Rutgers to Syracuse and Pitt. Our upside is higher. Pitt is permanently second tier in their own state. Syracuse at least has no big state U to compete with in NY, and is a national name in basketball. BC was in a similar situation in MA.
Think of it this way, if you went state by state, and picked just one program, which would you pick? The B1G and Pac would have the chosen school in every state they are in (excluding ND as they are not in a conference). The SEC would other than Texas (and has a strong #2 in TX). The B12 in every state but Iowa (has the #2). The future ACC is lower tier in FL, GA, SC, and PA. The NBE would have 3 dominant states, CT, NJ and Idaho and would be lower tier (often 3rd or 4th) in CA, FL, TX, KY, OH, TN and PA.