Why is it that people don't want to realize that today's ACC is not the same as yesterday's BE? With the breakup of the BE, the ACC got doubly strong from top to bottom. There are 7 former BE teams in the ACC. At some time each was a power in the BE. How has each faired in their new, stronger league? There has been limited success. Very limited. Now, not only does SU have to compete against teams that were tough in the BE, there is a whole new set of teams that routinely sit atop the ACC. And the dynamics of recruiting has changed. Besides the sanctions, it's no longer recruiting BE versus the ACC, its play for SU in the ACC or play for Duke, or UNC or Virginia etc. And that doesn't take into account how recruiting itself has changed. So the whole picture has changed. And it may be difficult for SU to completely regain its former glory.
Sorry, I don’t think that’s on point. The leagues were comparable mostly. And yes, recruiting has changed, but it actually changed in a direction that we were already on (AAU alliances, national shoe/apparel deals...when there was stratification here we were a top team and promoted as such). On top of all that, we have one of the best on campus basketball facilities going. People can say what they want about the atmosphere at Duke or UNC or KU or other big Blue Blood, but that’s not GT, UNC, Wake etc who don’t compare to The Dome. There are kids who WANT to step into a big arena and be in that spotlight.
Where I agree with you is that college basketball has changed. And what boggles my mind is that changed in a direction that should have been very beneficial to us:
-it became more corporate: we had big early shoe/apparel deals and SU Basketball was a major brand
-media expansion: SU grads all over the place in broadcasting, production, PR
-geography: there is still a lot great basketball in the NE, and we had proven to be able to recruit nationally
-market: see NYC (regardless of what Rutgers tried to claim)
The ACC, when looking at SU, was seeing more in the basketball program than what they are getting. No way, in basketball, the performance has met expectations. That said, it only sort of matters because they want to lock down the market which we still mostly do (SJU is no SU in market pull). There was land grab-like moves (Pitt, BC) but they didn’t come with the performance expectations of an SU basketball program.
We have had a drop off and it is more than sanctions. That’s the play on the court and whether or not that as been affected directly is really up to interpretation by the individual relative to how far the program has shifted. The drop off extends to: expansion of the brand nationally, recruiting (other schools have access to private jets which means you can see more kids ina given period), etc.
All that said, there is no way we shouldn’t be top tier in this league and I expected the move to the ACC to bolster our position rather than dilute it. And that needs to get fixed. In a hurry.
If that’s the coach, fine. If that’s the administration, fine. If that’s the marketing dept and AD, fine. If that’s the staff, fine. I don’t care what it is and it’s not my job to know what it is. But it’s someone’s job to know and bubble teams and mediocrity in the ACC don’t cut it.
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