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[QUOTE="HtownOrange, post: 1850161, member: 622"]
Well said , Omni.  To add to this mix, the Army has West Point in NY, which delivers on academics, sports and tradition, similar to SU and draws a national following.

To recap:

The best (elite!) academics with Div. 1 sports would be Cornell and Columbia.
The best sports (elite levels at some point in the past) with respectable academics would be Syracuse and Army, possibly Colgate.
The four (possible 5) have history, tradition, money, loyal fans.

The SUNY schools (presumably the ones in the running for an official flagship school) all lack history, tradition and money.  The State will not fund elite level athletics because their focus is on education.  Who can blame them?  Limited budgets, politics, excellent pro teams (especially in the heavily populated NYC area), and essentially two mindsets (upstate v. downstate).

For any SUNY school to carry the banner of NY's flagship U would be a major undertaking and would require some massive sports funding and performance at the highest levels.  Can it be done?  Possibly.  Anytime soon?  Nope.  Not in my lifetime (sub 50).  Would another school have the best option?  Yes, Syracuse, Cornell or Columbia (West Point would not want to be tied to the State but their history, tradition, etc, would be hard to overcome anytime soon - imagine a "flagship" being overshadowed by a Military academy, not much of a flagship)

Cornell and Columbia will not be leaving the Ivy League.  That leaves Syracuse, a private school, to carry the banner by default.
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