RE: New ACC targets

[Keith Wedinger]

Kentucky to the ACC?  I don't know but that sounds pretty far fetched to
me.  Kentucky has a very long history of success in the SEC and I don't
understand the attraction of moving to the ACC.  Seems like a lateral
move at best. 


J. Keith Wedinger
Webmaster
Bearcatnews.com
Sciotofootball.com


-----Original Message-----
From: dfairchild [mailto:address@hidden 
Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2003 3:47 PM
To: address@hidden
Subject: [UC Basketball] New ACC targets

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.