(07-03-2014 06:27 AM)Rich52c Wrote: (07-01-2014 11:40 AM)TerryD Wrote: (07-01-2014 11:30 AM)stever20 Wrote: (07-01-2014 10:22 AM)Tallgrass Wrote: (07-01-2014 10:07 AM)Maize Wrote: Maryland can and will be back...way too much talent in that area and Maryland has a very good Basketball Tradition.
DC/Maryland are good sports fans. I think BiG got a good team in Maryalnd. But ACC still remains strong in the DC market with Virginia and Virginia Tech.
Congrats to Louisville and ACC. ACC picks up a very, very strong program in the Cards in both football and basketball. With ACC's addition of Louisville, Pitt and Syracuse, the affiliation with ND, and the football revival of Clemson and Florida State, ACC has set itself up for the future in a very big way.
The addition of Louisville, Pitt and Syracuse and the ND affiliation more than makes up for the loss of Maryland.
It would not surprise me that someday that Maryland and Rutgers find their way back to ACC. That would happen if Notre Dame joined ACC as a full football member. It could happen anyway.
UVA is just a complete afterthought quite frankly in DC area. VT is 1000 times stronger in DC despite being much further away than UVA.
There is no chance Maryland and Rutgers go back to the ACC. NONE. Not when they are in the #1 money conference in the country now.
Rutgers was never in the ACC, but your main point stands.
I wish Rutgers and Maryland well, but I see them as being similar to Purdue, Indiana and Illinois as far as Big Ten football success goes (at least for the near future).
The B10 is a lot more than athletic conference.
Its research grants and academic status add greatly to both Rutgers and Maryland.Rutgers athleticly needs to get rid of what Greg Schiano left behind on his way to Tampa Kyle Flood and replace him with a real big time coach.
Given all the turmoil of conference reconfiguration of the recent past, nothing in the future should surprise. FWIW, Maryland and Washington, DC have always identified with the east. All the DC colleges consider themselves and identify with the east.
Their alums do not go to Omaha, Minneapolis, Chicago, or Detroit so much as they go to NYC, Boston, Philly, and DC. THen too, eastern folks retire in the warm geography and beaches and mountains of the lower eastern seaboard, from North Carolina on down to Florida. For those alum living in those areas, having Maryland and Rutgers coming down to North Charolina, Florida, etc would probably be something favored by them.
In this world of surprises, it would not surprise that, some day, Rutgers and Maryland end up in ACC.
I think there is a natural tug for Maryland and Rutgers to be eastern oriented. Perhaps the B1G configuration is good enough to serve that purpose. For Rutgers, getting into a BCS conference is automatically going to illicit support and loyalty.
Many of my Maryland U friends and colleagues had very mixed emotions about leaving ACC. I can't quote a percentage here but it certainly wasn't unanimous, that's for sure.