Sorry, but I love leaving | Syracusefan.com

Sorry, but I love leaving

garnermike

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Couldn't be more pleased if/when SU leaves the BE for the ACC. Sure, I live in the Triangle, so, yes, I would wind up having many more chances to attend SU games locally and follow more local media coverage of SU sports. But that's not the main reason behind my positive feelings about the move. The others are:

- no more competing in a marginally relevant football conference;
- no more worrying about whether the collegiate FB musical chairs would result in SU not having a seat;
- with Pitt's coming along for the ride, SU will STILL compete in the best BB conference in the nation (Duke, UNC, SU, Pitt, and half a dozen other schools that historically field decent-to-nationally-competitive BB teams);
- A huge plus for BB recruiting, as prospects will know their teams will have prime eastern and national TV coverage, and that they compete at the highest competitive level;
- better chances of landing FB recruits from the prime recruiting heartlands in FL and NC and VA;

Finally, I stand amazed at those who are looking at this as an immoral move of betrayal or of breaking promises. Anyone who was thinking, somehow, that rivalries, loyalty, ethics, commitment, history, and trust would play any meaningful role in reshaping a college FB system based on economic and market drivers was being way too naive.
 
I don't love the move (yet . . . so many dominoes yet to fall), so I'll play devil's advocate here:

Couldn't be more pleased if/when SU leaves the BE for the ACC. Sure, I live in the Triangle, so, yes, I would wind up having many more chances to attend SU games locally and follow more local media coverage of SU sports. But that's not the main reason behind my positive feelings about the move. The others are:

- no more competing in a marginally relevant football conference;

There is a very real possibility that the ACC becomes the new Big East: i.e. easily the worst (national whipping boy) of the big boy football conferences.

- no more worrying about whether the collegiate FB musical chairs would result in SU not having a seat;

After Texas, A&M, ND, and maybe FSU, the biggest prize left on the table was NYC and north-east metropolitan TV market. Syracuse was always going to have a seat.

- with Pitt's coming along for the ride, SU will STILL compete in the best BB conference in the nation (Duke, UNC, SU, Pitt, and half a dozen other schools that historically field decent-to-nationally-competitive BB teams);

Playing bball in the Northeast and at MSG defined Syracuse in many ways, putting us under the "bright lights." Some of that will decrease when as we decrease our northeast presence. We will have fewer memories made at MSG, and the stature of the Dome and the Cuse tradition will wane when we are compared to Duke and UNC as opposed to Nova and G'Town (I'm assuming Uconn comes with).

In the Big East, no one had a better looking future than Syracuse: we had more national cache than Pittsburgh and Villanova, our program was more sustainable than UConn, G'Town still sucked, Louisville seemed to have peaked, and no one else could scare us. We were the best program in the best Bball conference: the most popular NYC team in a dominant conference that was centered around the basketball and media mecca. Basically, it would have been hard for anyone to screw it up, even post-JB.

In the ACC, we project as the third best program. In the ACC, a lot of bball programs have fluctuated as the #3 program: but the top two tend to stay the same. Therefore, the "#3 best BBall program in the ACC" is a title that typically comes with a lot of downward mobility and zero upward mobility. Sure, we are Syracuse, and we are different. Maybe we will blow the old paradigm out of the water. But for a program that still has Tim Duncan and Chris Paul in the NBA, Wake Forrest does not have that much stature. I hope that is not our future, because we are giving up our spot as the best program in the best conference: right at home in NY.

- A huge plus for BB recruiting, as prospects will know their teams will have prime eastern and national TV coverage, and that they compete at the highest competitive level;

There is no reason to think that this is true. We are already a top 5 recruiting program nationally, so we don't have a lot of room for improvement in that area. The "prospect market" had already spoken: the kids loved Cuse in the BE.

In the ACC we have a few possible weaknesses. The downsides of living in Syracuse were somewhat hidden when we were competing for recruits against St. Johns, Nova, and Seton Hall, but those downsides are exacerbated when the campus atmosphere of Syracuse is competing against warmer, larger campuses.

- better chances of landing FB recruits from the prime recruiting heartlands in FL and NC and VA;

The best thing that Syracuse football had going for it was an easy path to a BCS bid and an undefeated season. We probably couldn't have played for a national championship in the BE, but if we could put a very talented team together, we could have made a mark nationally. Today, we are projected to be one of the worst football programs in the ACC, although that could change if the ACC gets raided or UConn and Rutgers join.

Finally, I stand amazed at those who are looking at this as an immoral move of betrayal or of breaking promises. Anyone who was thinking, somehow, that rivalries, loyalty, ethics, commitment, history, and trust would play any meaningful role in reshaping a college FB system based on economic and market drivers was being way too naive.

Morality we can leave aside. But I think many fans aren't exactly proud of Syracuse's disposition throughout this move. It comes off as somewhat panicked, since the stability of the ACC is still very much at issue. The allure of the NYC market was not going to disappear, and Syracuse was always going to have a seat, so it looks somewhat weak to jump and grab a seat before we can really be sure what we are getting into. I think many of the fans who are happiest about this move are those who do not know how much the other conferences were also interested in Syracuse. There is no guarantee that the ACC will even be better at football than a hypothetical 5th power conference composed of the left-overs. Syracuse was never even at risk for being part of the leftovers, so really, the choice was largely between the ACC, the Big 10, or some unrealistic-but-floated Texas/ND/NYC conference.

We might be choosing to go from being:
the best basketball program in the best basketball conference, with the easiest football path to the BCS and national relevance . . .
to being-
the worst football program in the worst (relevant) football conference, with a #3 ceiling hovering over the basketball program.


 
We might be choosing to go from being:
the best basketball program in the best basketball conference, with the easiest football path to the BCS and national relevance . . .
to being-
the worst football program in the worst (relevant) football conference, with a #3 ceiling hovering over the basketball program.

I don't think it will be that extreme in either direction. We've never been the best program in Big East basketball. It was Georgetown in the 80s and UConn in the 90s and 2000s. I can't see anything wrong with being #3 in hoops in the new ACC. Duke and UNC are the elite programs of the sport (along with Kansas and Kentucky) - I can't wait to play them regularly.

In terms of being the worst football program in the new ACC, that seems awfully pessimistic given our recent resurgence.
 
This was a very thoughtful analysis of another analysis. Everyone is grappling for meaning here, and no one has a crystal ball. Change, even change for the better, is hard. And none of us have a clue, really, about whether this change is better or worse. There is a good quote: "The more things change, the more they remain the same." At the end of the day, do we not have to hang onto that One True Thing: SU loyalty, which must supersede conference loyalty, political loyalty, perhaps even spousal loyalty!
 
I don't love the move (yet . . . so many dominoes yet to fall), so I'll play devil's advocate here:
Sorry, but the best BB program in the best conference, as of last April, and in the preceding 15 years, has been UConn at the end, and Pitt at the regualr season level.
Sounds like you're afraid of a little better competition...
 
The only things that bugs me is that I no longer get UC and Louisville games on a regular basis. Next closest is WVU. Gone too?
 

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