Indeed, these are crazy days in college athletics, and the news changes by the minute on what school is joining what conference and when.
On Tuesday night though, Brett McMurphy of CBS Sports wrote on his twitter "appears next season" when asked about a timetable for Syracuse and Pittsburgh to begin competing in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Big East bylaws state that any exiting team must wait 27 months, and pay a 5 million dollar exit fee. Those figures are certainly negotiable, and when Big East Commissioner John Marinatto said he would hold the Orange and Panthers to that timetable most knew it was a play for a higher exit fee. If McMurphy's "tweet" proves to be true, then it worked.
McMurphy also says that West Virginia has been rejected by both the ACC and SEC conferences, but former Post-Standard writer and current New York Times writer Pete Thamel says the SEC is still in play.
There are also rumors that the Big East may allow the Orange and Panthers to play football in the ACC in 2012, but keep them for basketball one more season. I'm not sure that makes a whole lot of sense for either party, and we know how these rumors can go when it comes to conference realignment issues. I'll try to keep you update on my twitter @NikoTamurian (link to my account)
One can see why Pitt and SU didn't believe the Big East's future plans were viable, as McMurphy reported on Tuesday night that Navy and Air Force (yes, the team from Colorado) were in serious contention to get a Big East invitation.
ESPN also reported that Villanova, a longtime member of the Big East for basketball actually applied to the ACC. The Wildcats' bid to enter the Big East for football was blocked by a few member schools and apparently Nova didn't take too kindly to that.
Andy Katz of ESPN has a lot more interesting notes when it comes to the Big East here.
In my opinion, if the ACC stays with 14 that's GREAT news in a lot of ways for Syracuse. It would block a rival like Rutgers, UConn or West Virginia from "making the cut" for lack of a better term, and is absolutely a weapon for Orange Head Football Coach Doug Marrone. If you're a kid from New Jersey that's considering SU and Rutgers, and the Orange can offer a prestigious league with games against Miami, Florida State, and Virginia Tech etc. in the national spotlight as opposed to a merged league with the Big 12 or Conference USA teams (or as listed above teams like Navy and Air Force) what would you choose?
It's also exciting to look at potential future divisions within the ACC. If the league stays at 14, it could look like this:
(ACC North--or maybe Coastal or Atlantic to keep current names)
Syracuse
Miami
Pittsburgh
Maryland
Boston College
Virginia
Virginia Tech
ACC South:
Clemson
North Carolina
Georgia Tech
Florida State
Wake Forest
NC State
Duke
That's my take anyway. What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.
