Column: Leaving Big East a Disaster for Syracuse (and others)

[Col. Bleep]

Abandoning Big East has become a disaster for one-time powerhouses

It’s clear who the breakup of the old Big East helped the most. It’s obvious it created an opening for Villanova and Jay Wright to take over the new creation of the conference and become one of the…

nypost.com

 

[the villager]

Big East has odd number of teams. Room for us, save money on travel.

 

[sutomcat]

Big East has odd number of teams. Room for us, save money on travel.

When the savings reach $30 million annually, this idea might make sense.

Right now, there are right about 30 million reasons to stay in the ACC.

 

[elimunelson]

The ACC move was a financial sell out that 100% of anyone w a brain would have done. W any money only decisions there
Is going to be regret because the big East was our home, we just decided to move to a more antiseptic cul de sac

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Is Zach suggesting that Syracuse and Pittsburgh should play football in the NFC East?

 

[cusefan88]

If Syracuse did not have a real football history, it would have been fine to go FCS or independent in football and then Big East for bball. However Cuse has a rich history and being in the ACC was needed financially for athletics.

 

[All4SU]

I hated what the BE had become - a bloated conference of teams with competing interests. Unfortunately, the ACC is much the same. At the risk of sounding like an old fart, I miss the 9 team leagues, and double round robin play. I miss real rivalries. Now rivalries are just TV constructs.

 

[jdubs30]

Lol what a Big East fluff piece

 

[syrBossHogg]

It's kinda funny how at the end he still agrees that SU/Pitt still should've left

 

[NKR1978]

Lol no it has not been a disaster.

Our program would be worse off in the Big East. We would have had the same sanctions and less money.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Staying in the BE was a non-starter due to football.

I'd rather be in the ACC than be in that other league with Memphis, Tulane, ECU, and SMU.

 

[UpstateSM]

Ugh I wish I could watch us play DePaul on CBSSN on Thursday nights while the football team gets ready to start a 10 year series with New Mexico State

 

[Madbiker]

Mostly true. Move to ACC definitely has hurt recruiting. The best SU can ever be in the ACC is to finish 3 or 4. All the talk in the ACC is about Duke, UNC, UVA. Doesn't excite kids. NE kids want to play in the Big East tourney at MSG not in Greensboro. Our NE recruiting has sunk. Some due to losing Hop but a lot not. Two best players we have are from Canada and Slovakia. Having a 76 year old coach who plays only zone, which many kids don't want to play exclusively, also is hurting us. All have combined to pretty much destroy SU as a nationally relevant program. Where are we again this season -- 9th in ACC. Our new annual spot. I get the U gets a big check for being the conference's football doormat. And the almighty $ always wins. But that doesn't make it easier to take.

 

[Scooch]

I don't buy it. Close to two-thirds of our games are played where they've always been. The BET was an awesome event, but we're not losing out on recruits because we don't play in it anymore. If that was such a draw, why does every northeastern school in the Big East, aside from Nova, stink?

Correlation doesn't equal causation. Probation, premature NBA departures, Hopkins' exit, JB's age, all have more to do with our recent swoon than conference affiliation, IMHO.

 

[newmexicuse]

The problem was that there was no real stay in the BE option. The BE we all knew and loved was falling apart, it was either move to the ACC or be left behind in a nothing conference. The BE ship had gone down way back when, when pedaphile state wasnt invited in, though it took a long time for that leak to sink the ship.

It only worked out for Nova because they were a hoops only school.

 

[JimBoston]

In the ACC, there is only room for about 4 top teams although more teams can be consistently good. Right now, the top 3 seem to be Duke, UNC, and UVa, with the 4th spot up for grabs. Syracuse could enter the top 4 at some point down the road, but it probably will have to be after Boeheim retires.

Losing the Big East Tournament at MSG is a huge loss, plus the BE games in the tri-state area: St. John's, Seton Hall, UConn, and Rutgers. All the tri-state games and the BET were covered by the NYC media and that exposure has gone down.

 

[Cusefan0307]

The move isn’t why we stopped winning as many games.

 

[Shrmdougluvr]

This thread will be a bad take-palooza.

 

[NateW]

We sold out our beloved basketball program to secure money for a football team that goes 1-10 and barely anyone wants the coach fired. Lol. What’s the point?

Complete joke.

 

[Eric15]

We sold out our beloved basketball program to secure money for a football team that goes 1-10 and barely anyone wants the coach fired. Lol. What’s the point?

Complete joke.

But if we didn't make the move to the ACC, in what conference would the football team even play? The American? That sounds dreadful.

 

[Alsacs]

It’s not like the current Big East would be fun for us.

Villanova
Georgetown
UConn
Seton Hall
St. John’s
Providence

They have added
Butler
Creighton
Xavier
Marquette
DePaul

Half of the conference we have little to no history with.

All we really miss are Georgetown, Villanova, and UConn and BET at MSG.

 

[syrBossHogg]

We sold out our beloved basketball program to secure money for a football team that goes 1-10 and barely anyone wants the coach fired. Lol. What’s the point?

Complete joke.

Football went 10-3 two years ago

 

[LeMoyneCuse]

We sold out our beloved basketball program to secure money for a football team that goes 1-10 and barely anyone wants the coach fired. Lol. What’s the point?

Complete joke.

Always nice to have a reminder of why I don't read the basketball board.

 

[NateW]

But if we didn't make the move to the ACC, in what conference would the football team even play? The American? That sounds dreadful.

Is going 1-10 in the ACC fun?

 

[OrangeDW]

We sold out our beloved basketball program to secure money for a football team that goes 1-10 and barely anyone wants the coach fired. Lol. What’s the point?

Complete joke.

Football team has finished the season ranked more recently than the hoops team has though.