The SEC could take a couple of approaches to realignment which would be a bit less anticipated.

What if it added North Carolina, Duke, Kansas, and South Florida for 20? That's 4 AAU schools, 3 of the top 4 hoops brands, and the second largest AAU school in Florida, and in a DMA which offers better long term growth for the SEC? USF is showing a bit of premature respectability and with SEC revenue it wouldn't take long for them to payoff. And past the Baby Boomers their alumni base would become large overnight. If the SEC wanted to move to 22, add Miami and Virginia.

At 20 however taking only 2 ACC schools leaves them minus no current territory. It removes two top academic prizes from Big Ten interest and locks up an attractive DMA to the Big 10 to pair with Miami.

Put Clemson and FSU on the back burner and call the Big Ten's bluff.

Then if the SEC needed to get defensive Miami and Virginia to 22. From that position you could determine what would be best to 24. Clemson & FSU, Georgia Tech and Colorado?

A stable ACC is still the best the defense of the region. Remove the AAU schools and you remove the lion's share of Big Ten interest in the region. It may be enough at 20 to freeze the Big 10's interest in Stanford and Cal if Notre Dame still refused, and with Clemson and FSU remaining in the ACC the Irish probably would stick around.

1. Adding South Florida seems a bit premature. Their brand probably needs a decade of strong growth to even be considered by either P2.

2. Love the basketball blue blood trinity additions of UNC, Duke, and Kansas. They will add value to the secondary network and strengthen our winter sporting portfolio.

3. I would rather develop an underperforming brand like Virginia than develop an emerging USF. Let usf develop in a reconstructed ACC and see if they are still the hot central Florida team or see if ucf reclaims that title.

4. Big Ten has better targets in the south than USF and the sec can’t stop the big from taking them. Miami, fsu, Georgia tech, Clemson, Duke, UNC, Virginia are all possible candidates. Sec ain’t taking them all just to protect their turf. Big could also add a target out west if need be to get the votes for an expansion package.

5. “Call big ten’s bluff and leave Clemson and fsu in ACC”. I believe McMurphy’s article was right and that the way fsu went about the lawsuit makes them a disruptive school in the eyes of B1G and sec presidents. Also, FSU’s president praising unequal revenue sharing and looking forward to when the p2 does it has to make it extremely hard to get the lowered valued schools from the p2 to want to bring in a member that will insist on making more than them from day one.

6. Colorado could collapse back into a G6 school once coach prime leaves. The buffs should be negotiating the MWC poaching fees with Washington State, Oregon State, Stanford, and Cal. Realignment is a 100 year decision, not a flash in the pan.