New ACC targets

[dfairchild]

Just heard reported on ESPN radio - the Florida State president (I think,
might have been the AD) is quoted as saying the ACC will go after Notre Dame
for the 12th team.  Then, when they say no, they will go after Kentucky.

If this scenario plays out, you have to believe U of L would be SEC's pick
to replace Kentucky.

I guess this thing will continue to get crazier by the minute.

BTW, I'd hate to be a Memphis fan right now.

Darryl

-----Original Message-----
From: Scott Atkinson [mailto:address@hidden
Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2003 3:15 PM
To: address@hidden
Subject: [UC Basketball] Big East Leans on Hoops


Article in today's NYPOST...I couldn't agree more.

http://www.nypost.com/sports/37360.htm

BIG EAST LEANS ON HOOPS
By LENN ROBBINS
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
July 2, 2003 -- The day after losing a knockdown, dragout fight for football
powers Miami and Virginia Tech to the ACC, the Big East will rise by going
back to its roots.
Basketball will return to its rightful throne in the Northeast.

The reality is that college football has been - and always will be - a
third-class citizen in most Big East cities. College basketball, however, is
the game that put the Big East on the map and the outlook for the city game
may be enhanced in the new Big East.

In all probability, the Big East will refigure itself into two eight-team
leagues that have a minimum of interaction with maximum effect. In this
format, basketball gets top billing.

One of the Big East's leagues will be composed of the Division I-A football
playing members, which currently includes Boston College, Pittsburgh,
Rutgers, Syracuse, Temple and West Virginia. Connecticut probably will join
the league in 2004, a year ahead of schedule.

Expect Louisville, bags packed, to be the first football school to be
invited to join the Big East. Cincinnati should be the next school in. Not
even the defections of Miami and Virginia Tech are enough to give Temple a
reprieve.

Although this is the "football league," consider the basketball side of it.
The Big East now has a league which boasts a colorful cast of quality
coaches: Jim Boeheim; Jim Calhoun; Bob Huggins; Rick Pitino. Think of all
the Eastern high school players who want to play for one of those guys.

As should be the case in any college basketball league, Connecticut and
Syracuse will play each other twice a year. Cincinnati and Louisville; West
Virginia and Pittsburgh. These are known as rivalries, the life-blood of
college sports.

Memo to the ACC: Now that you've become a football conference, how are you
going to sell Miami-Duke or Virginia Tech-North Carolina in hoops? Tech
basketball coach Seth Greenberg makes about as much money as Florida State's
football equipment manager.

Back to the Big East, specifically the basketball conference. Add to the
nucleus of six - Georgetown, Notre Dame, Providence, St.John's, Seton Hall
and Villanova - Marquette and Xavier.

Once again, rivalries are revived. St. John's and Georgetown playing twice a
year. Marquette and Notre Dame; The Johnnies and The Hall.

Marquette, fresh off its Final Four appearance and boasting one of the
nation's top young coaches in Tom Crean, and Xavier, the oldest Catholic
university in the Midwest, should be the top two choices to round out the
roundball league. Both schools come with a bonus.

Consider these crossover games: Cincinnati-Xavier in a battle for
Cincinnati. UConn and St. John's in a battle for the Garden; BC and PC;
Georgetown and Syracuse.

This is basketball mania, and the Big East is where hoops star should want
to go. Not the ACC or the SEC or, heaven forbid, the Big XII (ever been to
Waco?!).

It will take time for the Big East to recover from the defections of Miami
and Tech, but losing those basketball programs is no sweat off Dave Gavitt's
back. Basketball rules in the East and it will rule like it did in the early
'80 s in the new Big East.