Louisville won't save the ACC

With basketball on everyone's mind, I've read and heard a lot of talking heads and experts say that Louisville  (along with Notre Dame, Pitt and Syracuse) make the ACC the premier basketball conference. Adding the defending champs is nice, but it doesn't mean much when you look at the whole picture. Being the best and deepest basketball conference is a good thing, but football still runs college athletics. 

Things have been silent lately on conference shuffling, but I hope Bates is still working on BC's backup plan. The ACC is now as vulnerable as ever. TV contract windows are coming for the Big Ten and SEC. If they feel it makes sense to go to 16, they will. Maryland is proving that debt and penalty money is not a factor. 

As much as I love the NCAA Tournament, I think its appeal just makes a power conference breakoff that much more likely. If the football factories leave the NCAA, they can create their own basketball tournament and keep all of that TV money. 

While Bates works the backrooms, he also needs to make sure our basketball and football teams get better faster. On-field performance doesn't mean anything (see Maryland, Rutgers) but we want to be as strong as we can be when thing shake out again. 

Division shuffle may mean end of "VT rivalry"

Jason Staples broke the news Monday that the ACC is likely to shake up the divisions with the departure of Maryland and the arrival of Louisville. Instead of the Cardinals taking Maryland's spot in the Atlantic, Louisville would join the Coastal and Georgia Tech would move to the Atlantic. As a BC fan in Atlanta, I love the idea, but that is not the big news. Because Georgia Tech and Clemson are now cross-division rivals, having them in the same division would require adjustments for everyone. Staples speculates that Clemson would now face Virginia Tech annually. If that happens and the other "rivalries" stay the same, that leaves BC facing Louisville or Virginia annually.

While we do have some history with Virginia Tech, I wouldn't shed a tear over dropping them from our schedule. Since we joined the conference, the Hokies have been the most consistent program and hurt our win-loss record. Even if they fade a bit as Beamer ages, I still think it will be a tough game for any BC team. Plus the location is hardly inviting for any of our fans.

Louisville as a annual opponent won't excite the old-timers at Alumni, but it is not a bad game or rivalry for us. They are good now, but based on the historical strengths of each program, we should be able to compete with them. Making trips to Louisville also benefits our recruiting in Cincinnati and southwest Ohio. And although it is a "southern" school, geographically the game would be a nice road trip for our fans in Ohio and Indiana.

Virginia probably excites more people and is near a huge alumni base, but I don't think it will happen. My prediction is that the two more established ACC schools in UVA and Georgia Tech will ask to be paired together and let the newbies in BC and Louisville have each other.

This does confirm that my idea of a "Big East" and "ACC" divisional mix is dead, but getting rid of the Hokies is a nice compromise.

Louisville doesn't matter, ACC cable network does

The ACC voted to invite Louisville to join the conference. Ostensibly it was about replacing Maryland. The reality was the move was also about protecting the conference from future poaching. Louisville was also a rumored target for the Big XII. The rationale is that if the ACC gets to 16 first, they will protect themselves if or when things truly become four 16-team Super Conferences. The Big XII is only at 10 teams and really only has two heavyweights in Texas and Oklahoma. ACC leadership is betting that it will be easier for the good Big XII teams to find new homes as opposed to the Big XII enticing six ACC teams to join them.

But lost in the Louisville news is a report that the ACC and ESPN are exploring a cable network. I've been calling for this for months and I am glad people in Bristol finally woke up. Having its own cable network is the only way the ACC will ever get to revenue parity with the other conferences and is the only way Florida State and Clemson start to feel more comfortable with the ACC's future. The move makes sense for ESPN too as it provides stability to its exclusive partner (the ACC) and controls all the content on various platforms.

As for Louisville, I am indifferent on actually playing them. They don't fit the ACC's academic profile, but the last few weeks have proven that none of this is about academics.