ACC Would Monopolize College Basketball If Super Conferences Formed

In all of sports, NCAA athletics have remained stable in their efforts to avoid the dark cloud of greed that hovers over the lethal combination of sports and business. Everyone knows the money is there for the taking but the NCAA has made valiant strides in staying grounded to what sports are really about.

Until now, due to the actions of a handful of greedy programs that want more.

We have now seen two great institutional faces bow out of the Big East circle. Syracuse and Pitt define what Big East basketball stands for. These two teams, which stay in the men’s basketball Top 10 year after year with great coaches and unbelievable recruiting ability, aren’t only recruiting for their respected teams but for the conference as a whole.

Collegiate sports have provided a safe haven for true sports lovers. Passion and loyalty come to mind when we support our favorite college teams, while glitz and glamor come to mind with our favorite professional teams.

College programs provide an example for tradition and loyalty. A championship season rings for years and years and star alumni light up JumboTrons when they come back to visit. Through thick and thin, fans support their programs. In the wake of scandals, recruiting violations or any of the host of hurdles a program may face, they maintain an unfathomable following.  

When Syracuse and Pitt join forces with the ACC, I think we can all agree that ACC football will improve. This may not be by a very large measure, but it will bring some level of added success to the conference. Unless you have been living in a cave off of the coast of Cucamonga for the last 20 years, you will also see the very obvious element at play here—men’s basketball.

Syracuse and Pitt—two legendary basketball programs. North Carolina and Duke—arguably the most vibrant combo of any teams, any conference, any sport, including the professional level. Steve Pederson, Syracuse's AD and Jim Weaver, Pitt's AD, know exactly what this move will do for both schools.

Their basketball programs are already near immeasurable on a balance sheet and with the merging of these four teams, we are about to see the ACC completely monopolize college basketball.

Hardly in sports is a match-up like Duke-North Carolina anticipated. For the past 40 years, the rivalry has been strong and competitive. It brings together the perfect mix of class and aura, conceit and sportsmanship.

Most of all, pride. Tobacco Road is defined by the winner of each game, bringing along bragging rights until the next battle surfaces. Losing is justified only by winning the next match, nothing less and nothing more. 

Syracuse brought home a championship in 2003 for the Big East, while Pitt has made the NCAA Tournament every year since 2002. When these four programs start recruiting against each other and rivalries start to develop, it will be a spectacle of greatness.

Imagine North Carolina in the Carrier Dome every season or Pitt making a stop in Durham. Basketball, as far as the ACC is concerned, needs this. The conference has been falling behind lately, conference shoe-ins are no longer wearing shoes and the reputation is suffering because of it.

Wake Forest and Georgia Tech are no longer dominant. While FSU has deemed itself worthy of some notoriety, it remains the only bright spot behind the North Carolina-Duke combo.

Pitt and Syracuse coming to the ACC could not come at a better time. This will exponentially improve the entire conference and bring back the hard-nosed reputations that once served ACC basketball programs. Recruiting will improve, with promises of more air time for each school, and everyone will be chomping at the bits to take down ACC powerhouses.

NC State will start snagging northeastern talent, while Pitt and Syracuse will have opportunities to snag the star-laden area of the southern Atlantic coast. Every program in the ACC will get better because of this. Competition between programs will fly through the roof. The best new coaches will take jobs in the ACC just to be a part of it.

As many of us know, when one side of that T-account goes up, the other must go down. This serves as a prime example of debits and credits. Credit ACC with Syracuse and Pitt, then debit the remaining conferences of power.

While the ACC will become nothing short of epic overnight, many other conferences will suffer because of this move, including the remaining Big East programs. The rest of the Big East has glimmers of hope, but Syracuse and Pitt were the faces and now those faces are gone.

St. Johns had some momentum until three of their stars were ruled ineligible by the NCAA. UConn is in good position, especially with the signing of Andre Drummond at center, the second ranked overall prospect in his class. There are plenty of teams who will stay on top, but nothing compared to what the ACC will bring to the table in three or four years.

The SEC was beginning to resurface as well, but that shouldn’t last too much longer. Then again, football will always carry this conference. You will probably see the Pac-12 change its name because of their expansion.

When a suitable name is established, PCC (Pacific Coast Conference) probably, it will sweep the west, making for an East vs. West feel in college basketball. The entire state of Texas will more than likely go to the PCC in recruiting battles. The ACC will probably smother all talent east of the Mississippi and up north.

All in all, it will be fun to watch if you’re a fan of the underdog like me. Every week will be about who can take down the ACC team of the month.  If not, hop on the Kentucky bandwagon as it will arguably be the only competitive program outside of the ACC, save a few PCC contenders.

Embrace the change and see where it takes us.