The Official Conference Realignment Rumors Thread

[JamesI]

Wow as a Big East Fan I hate the idea of Syracuse and Pitt leaving.

As a Syracuse fan, I love the move. I'll miss the rivalry with Georgetown, but Syracuse in the ACC for basketball will be great.

[Sports Guy]

I don't care what this does for football.

ACC basketball is going to be AWESOME!

[PrivateO]

Let's assume this is official and Syracuse and Pitt join the ACC. I know most of the readers here are ACC fans, but I wanted to take a look at the Big East, or at least, what remains of it.

Football members: Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, Rutgers, South Florida, TCU*, West Virginia
Non-football members: Notre Dame, Georgetown, Villanova, Marquette, St. John's, Providence, DePaul, Seton Hall

WVU has already been rumored to be heading to the SEC as well. Even if TCU is allowed to vote on conference expansion or who to bring in to make up for the Cuse/Pitt loss, the basketball-only schools have a 8-7 majority (assuming Notre Dame sides with them, thus keeping their football independence). Odds are the Catholics will vote against any possible football expansion, so that they can eliminate the "hybrid" conference. This will ultimately force the rest of the football members to seek asylum elsewhere, probably in a tweaked Big 12 (once OU decides what they're doing). There's still a lot that needs to happen for this to occur (Pitt/Syracuse to become official, OU/OSU to the Pac).

But, it's food for thought.

[JamesI]

TCU will jump ship (Big 10 or SEC maybe). There is no way the Big East is keeping their BCS auto berth without expansion and really, what schools are even remotely in the east and worthy to join (and aren't already in a great conference).

[Majin Buu]

Let's assume this is official and Syracuse and Pitt join the ACC. I know most of the readers here are ACC fans, but I wanted to take a look at the Big East, or at least, what remains of it.

Football members: Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, Rutgers, South Florida, TCU*, West Virginia
Non-football members: Notre Dame, Georgetown, Villanova, Marquette, St. John's, Providence, DePaul, Seton Hall

WVU has already been rumored to be heading to the SEC as well. Even if TCU is allowed to vote on conference expansion or who to bring in to make up for the Cuse/Pitt loss, the basketball-only schools have a 8-7 majority (assuming Notre Dame sides with them, thus keeping their football independence). Odds are the Catholics will vote against any possible football expansion, so that they can eliminate the "hybrid" conference. This will ultimately force the rest of the football members to seek asylum elsewhere, probably in a tweaked Big 12 (once OU decides what they're doing). There's still a lot that needs to happen for this to occur (Pitt/Syracuse to become official, OU/OSU to the Pac).

But, it's food for thought.

It will be interesting to see how the Catholic schools proceed. The Big East will still be a good basketball conference, but would there be some consolidation with the A-10?

[Birds of B'more]

Terrific news, if true.

http://texas.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1266526

Two sources close to the situation say the ACC as an option for Texas may be decreasing. Nothing is ever final in the world of realignment until it's final.

But a source close to Texas told Orangebloods.com the Pac-12 may be becoming more of a viable option for the Longhorns and that moving UT's non-football sports into the ACC and remaining independent in football would not be a leading option for Texas at this time.

Another source close to Texas said UT officials were totally surprised by the developments involving Pitt, Syracuse and the ACC.

******

Another Big 12 administrator told Orangebloods.com the ACC appears as if it is moving on without Texas in its plans.

That Big 12 administrator said the ACC is reluctant to bring in Texas for three reasons: 1) how the Longhorn Network would be worked into its revenue sharing; 2) that the ACC sees itself as an east coast conference and wants to protect that by not reaching into the southwest (no matter how much TV money adding Texas would mean); and 3) Texas indicated to the ACC it would need to bring Texas Tech with them to the ACC, and the ACC members were not excited about that because of Texas Tech's academic standing (No. 160 in latest U.S. News and World Report).

[Birds of B'more]

Revision time.

ACC

1 Boston College
2 Connecticut
3 Syracuse
4 Pittsburgh
5 Rutgers
6 Maryland
7 Virginia
8 Virginia Tech
9 Clemson
10 Duke
11 UNC
12 Wake Forest
13 NC State
14 Georgia Tech
15 Florida State
16 Miami

SEC

1 Alabama
2 Arkansas
3 Auburn
4 Florida
5 Georgia
6 Kentucky
7 LSU
8 Mississippi State
9 Ole Miss
10 South Carolina
11 Tennessee
12 Vanderbilt
13 Texas A&M
14 TCU
15 West Virginia
16 Louisville

Big Ten

1 Illinois
2 Indiana
3 Iowa
4 Michigan
5 Michigan State
6 Minnesota
7 Nebraska
8 Northwestern
9 Ohio State
10 Penn State
11 Purdue
12 Wisconsin
13 Kansas
14 Kansas State
15 Notre Dame
16 Missouri

PAC 16

1 Arizona
2 Arizona State
3 California
4 Colorado
5 Oregon
6 Oregon State
7 Stanford
8 UCLA
9 USC
10 Utah
11 Washington
12 Washington State
13 Texas
14 Texas Tech
15 Oklahoma
16 Oklahoma State

[Remember The Alomar]

Syracuse and Pitt to the ACC is official.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/colle...ast/50448806/1

Who's next?

[Greg Pappas]

Syracuse and Pitt to the ACC is official.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/colle...ast/50448806/1

Who's next?

Great news for the ACC. I anticipated that this would happen, and now expect that two more teams will complete the quartet. Which two? It stands to reason that UConn and Rutgers are the favorites, but WVU stands a chance as well. Louisville, Cincinnati, and USF are far less likely, but I wouldn't completely rule them out. There are whispers of Notre Dame and Texas looking east to the ACC as #'s 15/16... but neither seem realistic options. I'll be very surprised if UConn is not one of the two. Again, brilliant move by Swofford.

[OregonBird]

They've added two great basketball schools so I'd like to see them add two great football schools. If you exclude Texas and ND, I'm not sure who those schools would be.

[Birds of B'more]

I don't care what this does for football.

ACC basketball is going to be AWESOME!

I'm equally impressed with how ACC Lacrosse will be upgraded with Syracuse.

[PrivateO]

Revision time.
.......

While this is possible, right now, I just don't see 4 by 16 happening. It leaves out several schools, which is going to cause a lot of unneeded lawsuits, and Jim Delaney and the B1G have been very quiet through all this.

My best guess right now would be that (after the Pac-12 raids the upper echelon of the Big XII), the remaining schools will invite the Big East football schools. They could still get automatic qualifying. KU, KSU, ISU, Baylor, Texas Tech?, Louisville, Cincinnati, TCU, and maybe 1-2 CUSA/MWC teams.

I do think eventually the ACC gets UConn and Rutgers to completely take over the East Coast market.

[mweb]

They've added two great basketball schools so I'd like to see them add two great football schools. If you exclude Texas and ND, I'm not sure who those schools would be.

WVU is probably the best realistic option in terms of a football program and they're good in basketball too. However, they have market and academic(I think) issues.

So two great football schools probably isn't realistic. They'll have to settle for 2 decent to good programs.

UConn and Rutgers have been improving in football and the former is a great basketball program. And they have great markets. I'd go with them.

[PrivateO]

UConn president Susan Herbst is aggressively pursuing membership in the ACC to become the 15th or 16th member institution in the conference, according to a source with direct knowledge of UConn's situation.

According to the source, Herbst was having conversations recently but in light of Pittsburgh's and Syracuse's defections from the Big East, the talks have accelerated in the last 48 hours.

In a statement earlier Sunday, Herbst said that although UConn was "a proud charter member of the Big East" the school was staying "actively involved in discussions with our counterparts from around the country to ensure the successful long-term future of our university's athletic program."

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/st...ve-source-says

[BaltimoreTerp]

Let's assume this is official and Syracuse and Pitt join the ACC. I know most of the readers here are ACC fans, but I wanted to take a look at the Big East, or at least, what remains of it.

Football members: Cincinnati, Connecticut, Louisville, Rutgers, South Florida, TCU*, West Virginia
Non-football members: Notre Dame, Georgetown, Villanova, Marquette, St. John's, Providence, DePaul, Seton Hall

WVU has already been rumored to be heading to the SEC as well. Even if TCU is allowed to vote on conference expansion or who to bring in to make up for the Cuse/Pitt loss, the basketball-only schools have a 8-7 majority (assuming Notre Dame sides with them, thus keeping their football independence). Odds are the Catholics will vote against any possible football expansion, so that they can eliminate the "hybrid" conference. This will ultimately force the rest of the football members to seek asylum elsewhere, probably in a tweaked Big 12 (once OU decides what they're doing). There's still a lot that needs to happen for this to occur (Pitt/Syracuse to become official, OU/OSU to the Pac).

But, it's food for thought.

I still think the smart play is going after four of the basketball programs (Georgetown, Villanova, St. John's and either Providence or Seton Hall) to create essentially reformed "Big East" and "Atlantic Coast" divisions in basketball. Keep the history and rivalries for each side, but increase the overall quality of intraleague play.