(07-28-2021 02:41 PM)Fighting Muskie Wrote:  

(07-28-2021 12:25 PM)Eichorst Wrote:  I think ESPN probably wants a strong ACC if only to counter the strength that they're creating in the SEC. Basically, they don't want the SEC calling the shots. They'd rather have two powerful entities that they can play off each other that are both within the ESPN sphere. So yeah, I could see the ACC making a move on the top Pac-12 schools while simultaneously pushing Notre Dame to commit as a full member. I'm sure ESPN could make it worth everyone's consideration.

The ACC isn’t a strong conference though—it’s very weak relative to the SEC and Ohio State.

FIFY. The ACC and the B1G are extremely comparable leagues in basketball, even though it's been over two decades since a then-current B1G member actually won March Madness (ACC has 7 in that span, excluding Cuse's 2003 win when in the Big East, Louisville's 2013 title, when they were in the AAC and which was vacated, and Maryland's 2002 crown, because, well, f*ck Maryland). Yet we all know FB is what drives this, and Ohio State is what's keeping the B1G relevant in FB, just like Clemson has carried the water for the ACC since FSU fell off a cliff during the end of Jimbo's tenure. It's not like the football at Minnesota, Illinois, Rutgers, Northwestern, Maryland, Michigan or Michigan State is substantially better than UNC, Miami, Virginia, VPI, Pitt, or Louisville. The thing I find most interesting about the SEC expansion drama isn't that the Big XII was kept in the dark, but that the B1G got caught flat-footed by this. I do think it is a pipe-dream to consider adding PAC-12 teams to the ACC, but an out-of-conference scheduling arrangement between the two, akin to the proposed B1G-Pac 12 plan that never came to fruition, might make sense.