(01-14-2018 01:09 AM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote:  

(01-14-2018 12:12 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  Football realignment ruined all that, and half of the ruination came before Maryland even left the ACC, with the addition of the Florida schools and the Big East schools that changed its tight-knit character.

You had schools who didn't want expansion. You had the conference taking a few and then wanting, but being denied, a waiver to get a CCG with a certain number of schools below the NCAA-mandated number, forcing the acquisition of more schools. State politicians forcing the acquisition of a member. You recently had the conference wanting CCG participant control outside of the approved structure.

Say what one will about the ACC and it destroying the Big East, the ACC was sort of forced to do things when it knew what it wanted otherwise. The NCAA wouldn't budge on some of those things, and what we have now is kind of the result.

But, to really sympathize, maybe the conference doesn't take Miami in the grab and makes it about Cuse and BC or bust and leaves Miami out. That the ACC, in the 80's and through the 90's just didn't want anything to do with Miami, to making sure they got them ahead of BC or Cuse...something really must have changed, and it wasn't UMFL's culture.

Miami basketball was nonexistent throughout part of the 80's, and when I say nonexistent, I mean it literally did not exist. The vote wasn't unanimous to allow FSU in at first, and they had a moderately successful basketball program at the time and had been to a Final 4. So imagine what the blue bloods thought of Hurricanes basketball?

The Big East knew it needed Miami for the football schools and made a sacrifice to invite the upstart Hurricanes basketball program too. It was a win-win for the Big East and Miami.

For the record, the ACC was interested in Miami (so was the SEC and I believe even the SWC, or at least a scheduling alliance), but expansion was so slow moving at that time that the powers that be didn't pull the trigger on the Canes for 10 years or so later.