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Tuesday, June 24 Updated: June 25, 4:03 PM ET Questions abound about ACC's surprise move By Andy Katz ESPN.com |
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The ACC's reported stunning move to invite Miami and Virginia Tech to go to an 11-team conference raises a host of questions that won't be easily answered by an official announcement from the league Wednesday:
What happens next?
Will Miami and Virginia Tech accept the offer? If the ACC did have 11 teams then the question remains, how would the divisions be divided? One with six and one with five would lead to an imbalanced schedule and the failure to crown a true champion. Miami has to decide if the Big East has gone too far in its comments and with a lawsuit before opting to return. But the Hurricanes might find the money is a wash and simply wants to get out of the Big East. Personal relationships would also be burned. Miami president Donna Shalala is a close friend of Syracuse chancellor Buzz Shaw. Leaving Syracuse behind could leave scars in the relationship. Virginia Tech would be in the awkward position of joining a conference that it is a plaintiff against in a lawsuit with four other Big East members. The Hokies would take a public relations hit as being hypocrites if it were to immediately join the ACC. Virginia Tech is only in this position because its rival Virginia was pressured into voting for the Hokies.
What happens to men's basketball with 11 teams? ACC schools like Duke or North Carolina value their non-conference schedules for TV games, neutral court games and a few guaranteed- win games. They won't sacrifice their non-conference schedules for the sake of having a true champion in a complete round-robin format. The conference tournament would have an opening round and last four full days with no day off and that's if everyone was invited to the event. And what does the ACC get in hoops? Not much. Virginia Tech has been one of the worst programs in the Big East. Miami turned the program around under Leonard Hamilton with a trip to the Sweet 16 in 2000 and Perry Clark was able to keep the 'Canes in NCAA contention the following season. But the 'Canes missed the NCAAs last season. Adding Syracuse would have made a significant difference to the basketball power rating. Expanding to Virginia Tech and Miami does very little.
What happens to the lawsuit?
What happens to Boston College and Syracuse?
When would the change take place?
What does the Big East do? They would have to go to eight or possibly 10 schools and that means looking at Cincinnati, South Florida, Central Florida, East Carolina and Marshall. The Big East has discussed a 16-team model that has eight football/basketball schools and eight non-football, basketball schools. If that were to occur then the Big East would look at Marquette and Xavier. If all these dominoes were to fall then Conference USA suddenly becomes the carcass in the middle of college athletics, with little left to stand by itself but a gripe like the Big East to file suit against a hostile takeover. Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com |
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