From strictly a basketball standpoint

[Marsh01]

F insomnia

Yea well this time of year its 3 hours a night until April. Sacrifices I have to make

 

[SmilinBob]

The real Big East with MSG...yes. The DePaul and USF one, not so much. I'm happy Pitt and ND made the jump with us and that helps quite a bit.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Not to poke at the question too much, but how do you figure that outside of Duke and UNC the conference sucks? There are more nationally relevant programs in the ACC over the past ten years than in the Big East.

I'd disagree with that. If you count tournament teams that got past the first round, the Big East looks better. The Big East had four or five of the Sweet 16 just a few years ago. Marquette, Georgetown, Pitt, UConn, Notre Dame, Louisville have all made decent, if not deep, runs. Out of the ACC, who other than the Big 2 have been "nationally significant?" NC State was loaded last year and turned out to be terrible. Maryland hasn't been good since Gary Williams won his Championship in 2002. Virginia? Georgia Tech? Please.

 

[690West]

I honestly believe the move was made for football. Hmmmm, how's that working out the first year?????

You're joking right? The over/under in Vegas on our football wins this year was 4.5 and we're going to win 7. So to answer your question, our first year has worked out quite nicely. BO's are a hoot

 

[MGP]

While I think the old mid-tier BE may have been better than our current ACC middle, I do love the fact that the conference road games will be played in hostile, on-campus buildings instead of cavernous, NBA arenas.Even though a Clemson may not be up to snuff with a Providence, the atmosphere will bring out what is best about college hoops, and what had been a bit lost in the last years of the BE.

 

[billsin01]

While I think the old mid-tier BE may have been better than our current ACC middle, I do love the fact that the conference road games will be played in hostile, on-campus buildings instead of cavernous, NBA arenas.Even though a Clemson may not be up to snuff with a Providence, the atmosphere will bring out what is best about college hoops, and what had been a bit lost in the last years of the BE.

This is a pretty good point but I still would take the old BE in a landslide, particularly since the ACC football scene is fine but not necessarily like playing in some crazy football conference. But hoops-wise it's a no-brainer. I'll take those rivalries with classic BE programs (Pitt, GTown, UConn, Nova, etc) as well as the great games we had against Marquette, Louisville, etc. in a heartbeat. Gonna take a while to develop those kinds of rivalries in the ACC.

 

[Marsh01]

This is a pretty good point but I still would take the old BE in a landslide, particularly since the ACC football scene is fine but not necessarily like playing in some crazy football conference. But hoops-wise it's a no-brainer. I'll take those rivalries with classic BE programs (Pitt, GTown, UConn, Nova, etc) as well as the great games we had against Marquette, Louisville, etc. in a heartbeat. Gonna take a while to develop those kinds of rivalries in the ACC.

I loved the old BE and would take that back. Once Marquette, Louisville, DePaul, Cincinnati came into the conference the BE died as we knew it and I am glad now that we made the move. For both sports

 

[normaliswear]

Really the best number for a conference to have, from a sporting perspective, is 9 teams. 8 football games, 4 home and 4 away... and 16 basketball games where everyone plays everyone home and away. Unfortunately, that was never possible in the BE with all the basketball only schools. Just as unfortunate, money has made that configuration impossible from now to the foreseeable future. So given that I'm thrilled where we are with as many old BE rivals as we have and some like minded private schools to go with them. If we scrapped every conf and started from scratch give me Cuse, Penn St, Pitt, Rutgers, BC, UConn, WVU, Maryland, and maybe Nova adds football for 9, or Navy. ACC become Virginia, VT, UNC, NC St, Duke, Wake, Clem, S Carolina, and maybe E Carolina. And so on... ending with 10-12 solid regional confs rather than 5 super confs. Of course there's no chance that would ever be a thought.

 

[OttoMets]

Not to poke at the question too much, but how do you figure that outside of Duke and UNC the conference sucks? There are more nationally relevant programs in the ACC over the past ten years than in the Big East.

I don't agree with this, but I'll look it up. I suppose part of this depends on how we define national relevance.

Since 2004, the ACC had Duke, Miami, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Boston College, Wake Forest, and Georgia Tech in the Sweet 16. Duke and North Carolina won championships and reached multiple regional finals and Final Fours; State has been to two Sweet Sixteens; the other schools were one-time deals. (And the last three schools listed only sniffed tournament relevance, at least, in the very early part of the decade -- 2004 for Tech and Wake, 2006 for Boston College.)

The Big East saw Louisville, Syracuse, Marquette, Cincinnati, Connecticut, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Villanova, and Georgetown reach the Sweet 16. All but Cincinnati did so multiple times; all but Cincinnati got at least as far as a regional final. Six teams have reached a Final Four in the decade and there have been several instances in which a Big East school fell short of the Final Four after losing to another Big East school.

The ACC really has been a two-team conference for a long time.

To the original point, no, it's difficult to like the move from the Big East from a basketball standpoint. It'll be nice to see how SU plays Duke, since we've been talking about this matchup regularly since about 2005 (when we would've played them after beating Vermont and Michigan State) but Boeheim wouldn't willingly schedule them. The novelty and challenge associated with running through a new league this winter is very exciting. After that, meh. It's a lateral move at best. That we've given up half a dozen natural regional opponents makes it, to me, a step down.

It'll be nice to bring Louisville into the fold, though.

 

[MGP]

This is a pretty good point but I still would take the old BE in a landslide, particularly since the ACC football scene is fine but not necessarily like playing in some crazy football conference. But hoops-wise it's a no-brainer. I'll take those rivalries with classic BE programs (Pitt, GTown, UConn, Nova, etc) as well as the great games we had against Marquette, Louisville, etc. in a heartbeat. Gonna take a while to develop those kinds of rivalries in the ACC.

FWIW, I agree too. Nothing like the old BE. I guess I was just trying to find the silver lining in the fact that even though we'll be playing some inferior teams, they'll be good, exciting college hoops environments...

 

[OttoMets]

The teams are pretty similar - Maryland, NC State and Wake might not be great but they have tradition like a Nova - Miami, FSU, Virgina and Clemson are capable of having good teams from time to time

Yes, most of those teams have been good at some point in the last 30 years. When I grew up, Wake, State, and Maryland were as relevant as any team in the country - real top-40 programs. Georgia Tech, too.

But wake me up when Florida State does anything interesting (beyond their annual Civic Center upset of either Duke or Carolina). And Clemson is a big fat nothing. They had some fun mirage years in which Oliver Purnell would start 12-0 against the sisters of the poor and they'd find their way into the rankings, only to lose 9 of their next 11 and get sent to the NIT.

 

[KevMonstah]

Do you like the move to the ACC from the Big East? I think it's cool and exciting playing Duke and UNC every season but outside of those two squads the conference it kinda sucks. The thing I loved about the BE is every game on the schedule kept you on edge and the wins were so meaningful, like every game was a rivalry. Second part of the question, if it wasn't for football, would we have moved from the BE?

If not for football, I don't think any school changes conferences.

I like the move to the ACC far more than I would've liked a move to the big ten.

But still, mainly because it was easier as a fan to go and see some of the away games, and the places you went to (DC,
NYC, Providence/Boston-ish, Philadelphia, etc) offer more than some of the road trips to the ACC, I'm not a fan of
moving yet. And also, I don't care about most of those teams. Sorry, but living in the northeast,
beating or playing some of those teams means nothing to me. Yes, I want SU to win, but, the next GaTech fan I see
will be my first, ditto for a Wake fan, or Clemson fan. I work with a single VaTech graduate, the only other VaTech
fan I know is my brother-in-law, and he lives in VA. There won't be much fan intensity, aside from the top tier
program, because the majority of people don't have any interest in those schools.

Kev

 

[Scooch]

This is a pretty good point but I still would take the old BE in a landslide, particularly since the ACC football scene is fine but not necessarily like playing in some crazy football conference. But hoops-wise it's a no-brainer. I'll take those rivalries with classic BE programs (Pitt, GTown, UConn, Nova, etc) as well as the great games we had against Marquette, Louisville, etc. in a heartbeat. Gonna take a while to develop those kinds of rivalries in the ACC.

The bolded is the part I don't understand. I get missing playing long-time rivals like G'Town, Nova, SJU and UConn. But we played Louisville and Marquette for all of 8 years. I don't think it's improbable that 8 years from now we'll enjoy games with some currently mid-tier ACC schools the way we grew to enjoy games with Marquette or Cincy. And no one should be missing games against USF, Rutgers and DePaul.

I mean, I already miss the familiarity of some Big East opponents, and I will miss playing UConn (seriously), but all in all I think going to the ACC is mostly just different, not necessarily better or worse. If we can maintain some quasi-annual series with G'town, Nova and SJU I'll be pretty pleased.

 

[DonLightfoot]

You're joking right?

No, I wasn't. Overall record may not be too bad, but I was thinking of the three blowout losses which were disappointing. Hey - new coach, new conference, etc. etc. They have work to do and hopefully they can improve. Just my two pennies worth.

 

[omniorange]

I'd disagree with that. If you count tournament teams that got past the first round, the Big East looks better. The Big East had four or five of the Sweet 16 just a few years ago. Marquette, Georgetown, Pitt, UConn, Notre Dame, Louisville have all made decent, if not deep, runs. Out of the ACC, who other than the Big 2 have been "nationally significant?" NC State was loaded last year and turned out to be terrible. Maryland hasn't been good since Gary Williams won his Championship in 2002. Virginia? Georgia Tech? Please.

Agreed. I do, however, believe the ACC will get to that level within the next five years. People on this board forget that it took a couple of years before the synergy of adding Louisville, Marquette, and Cincy to UConn, SU, and Pitt got the nnBE to the 2009-2013 level of success it enjoyed. Prior to the C-USA teams joining, Nova and G'Town were not doing as well as they after they joined.

The ACC will get there eventually.

Cheers,
Neil

 

[omniorange]

This is a pretty good point but I still would take the old BE in a landslide, particularly since the ACC football scene is fine but not necessarily like playing in some crazy football conference. But hoops-wise it's a no-brainer. I'll take those rivalries with classic BE programs (Pitt, GTown, UConn, Nova, etc) as well as the great games we had against Marquette, Louisville, etc. in a heartbeat. Gonna take a while to develop those kinds of rivalries in the ACC.

To me, playing in the BE was playing G'Town, UConn, Nova, St. John's, Pitt, and ND.

Well we get two of them as conference foes now and will likely play three of the other four regularly OOC as long as they are willing.

Only teams we won't face regularly of the ones you mentioned are UConn and Marquette. I think Duke and UNC make up for that quite nicely, myself.

Cheers,
Neil

 

[billsin01]

I loved the old BE and would take that back. Once Marquette, Louisville, DePaul, Cincinnati came into the conference the BE died as we knew it and I am glad now that we made the move. For both sports

I definitely respect this opinion but I just don't agree. I have buddies in Providence and we caught games there (not to mention I remember the billy donovan/pitino teams as a kid). I saw two games at UConn with Uconn fan friends (I know, I know, no one should associate with anyone from UConn). I went to MSG every year for the BET. I saw them play at ND, at Seton Hall (2x). I never did the SJU but obviously that was doable and the Johnnies had some good teams as recently as the Artest/Postell years. Saw two great (ugly, but great) Marquette games at the tourney as well as a Cincy one. Both were pretty fun. Obviously went to GTown every year and Nova in Philly 3 times with my brother.

I don't know. That kind of access was awesome and there was some pretty cool history with a lot of those teams. L'ville was a fast rivalry, I always enjoyed Marquette, Cincy was a really competitive team with a pretty good hoops history, WVU had some fun teams to play against under Beilein and were fun to hate under Huggins. ND had a history before even joining the BE (Edgar Bennett).

I don't know, I suppose I could do Charlottesville but I don't know anyone there or anywhere in Carolina. I just feel a little detached with UMD leaving. I guess I'm a northeast guy with family in Philly and Boston and buddies in Jersey, CT, NYC and Provy and, obviously, I live in B'more/DC. It's fine that they made the move but I have a really hard time buying into the notion that all of those cool rivalries and fun towns were tarnished by USF and Depaul. I just don't see it that way.

 

[billsin01]

I work with a single VaTech graduate, the only other VaTech
fan I know is my brother-in-law, and he lives in VA. There won't be much fan intensity, aside from the top tier
program, because the majority of people don't have any interest in those schools.

Kev

I actually know a lot of Va Tech fans and I have yet to find one who cares in even a minuscule way about that hoops program.

 

[billsin01]

The bolded is the part I don't understand. I get missing playing long-time rivals like G'Town, Nova, SJU and UConn. But we played Louisville and Marquette for all of 8 years. I don't think it's improbable that 8 years from now we'll enjoy games with some currently mid-tier ACC schools the way we grew to enjoy games with Marquette or Cincy. And no one should be missing games against USF, Rutgers and DePaul.

I mean, I already miss the familiarity of some Big East opponents, and I will miss playing UConn (seriously), but all in all I think going to the ACC is mostly just different, not necessarily better or worse. If we can maintain some quasi-annual series with G'town, Nova and SJU I'll be pretty pleased.

I don't think the odds of this are real high. But, as for Marquette and Cincy as well as Louisville, I understand your point. But I always thought all three were hoops schools first and had pretty good hoops traditions. They are absolutely replaceable but I had no problem getting fired up every time we played L'ville with Pitino (huge Northeast/Big East ties) and Marquette gets shorted on this board, IMO. They haven't missed the tournament since 01, they've won 25 games in 6 of the last 12 seasons. Went to the final four in 03 and have made it to the second weekend of the tourney the past three seasons. Name an ACC school school outside of Carolina or Duke that can come close to that. I haven't looked it up, I"ll admit, but I don't think another school even comes close.

 

[billsin01]

Agreed. I do, however, believe the ACC will get to that level within the next five years. People on this board forget that it took a couple of years before the synergy of adding Louisville, Marquette, and Cincy to UConn, SU, and Pitt got the nnBE to the 2009-2013 level of success it enjoyed. Prior to the C-USA teams joining, Nova and G'Town were not doing as well as they after they joined.

The ACC will get there eventually.

Cheers,
Neil

This is a good point. Let's hope it works out that way.

 

[Hoo's That]

I actually know a lot of Va Tech fans and I have yet to find one who cares in even a minuscule way about that hoops program.

That's because they root for UNC in hoops.