Report: ACC, SEC reject West Virginia's application
by Andrew Porter on Sep 20, 2011 12:40 PM EDT
in Big East News
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PrintWest Virginia has applied for membership in the SEC and ACC and rejected by both conferences, according to a report this morning from CBS' Bret McMurphy, who has been one of the lead reporters on conference expansion.
As far as UConn is concerned this is interesting because we know the Huskies have been talking to the ACC and as of yet they haven't been rejected. That's a good sign. The best way to think about it might be that Syracuse, Pitt, WVU and UConn have all reached out to the ACC. Pitt and Syracuse have their acceptance letters, West Virginia has a rejection and UConn's sitting on the waitlist.
WVU has an undeniably bigger football footprint than UConn, so this might be a indicator that the ACC is looking out for basketball interests if they go for 16.
Of course the flip side is that the ACC is having reservations about expanding to 16, which is bad to UConn -- though at least the Huskies know now that if they stick around in whatever the Big East becomes they'll still have West Virginia to lose to.
It's probably also a good sign for Missouri -- the SEC will have 13 teams once they take on Texas A+M and logistically they're probably going to need to add someone else, with the Tigers as the best bet.
UPDATE 1:05 p.m. EST: This report indicates that the SEC's first choice for a 14th member is Louisville, but Kentucky is blocking the move. After that the SEC is targeting three ACC school's, but they might be held back by the ACC's $20 million exit fee. Missouri is in line after that. My reaction: RUN TO THE SEC FLORIDA ST., it's good for your crazy-love of football and even better for UConn's chances at ACC admission.
UPDATE TWO 7:00 p.m. EST: Pete Thamel of the New York Times (who broke the 'Cuse and Pitt talking to ACC story) says WVU hasn't been rejected, but that they're only an option if the SEC goes to 16.
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It's kinda messed up
For WVU but they aren’t going to be anyone’s number 14. They will be 15 or 16 because nobody even knows for sure if everyone else is going to 16 yet and their market and academics are not strong. If the ACC stays at 14 for a while the SEC will probably add Mizzou and stay at 14 as well. If that happens I think we are going to be in the BIG MERGE conference with Notre Dame pulling the strings for a while.
WVU has an undeniably bigger football footprint than UConn, so this might be a indicator that the ACC is looking out for basketball interests if they go for 16.
I don’t think the ACC is looking out for bball interests. I think they are looking out for academic integrity first and quality athletics second. WVU wasn’t a fit culturally for the ACC, its somewhat surprising that they were rejected from the SEC.
UConn---tabled.
It takes 4 votes from existing ACC members to nuke a candidate from joining.
BC and Miami are obviously “no votes” against UConn.
The Football Schools like Florida State, Clemson and VT have expressed serious concerns over the recent additions of Basketball-focused Schools in ’Cuse and Pitt.
From a purely speculative view, UConn’s chances don’t seem encouraging.
The ACC is looking for balance. Balance between strong Academics and solid Athletics. Balance between Football and Basketball.
There are much more attractive Schools ahead of UConn on the wish-list.
I have no doubt that UConn's fate depends on what happens with a handful of other schools
If Texas or ND wants in, UConn’s chances go way down, but who else is on the wish-list ahead of UConn?
And I still don’t by that BC and Miami are obviously no votes. Why? Because of a lawsuit that UConn jointly filed with Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh?
by Andrew Porter on Sep 20, 2011 1:22 PM EDT up reply actions
Penn State as a dark horse.
BC and Miami won’t vote in favor of UConn for a number of reasons. The law suit may not factor in but it certainly won’t enhance UConn’s chances. Don’t forget, BC’s AD was personally sued by your former publicity-seeking, power-hungry AG.
Miami has always been allied closely with BC and ’Cuse—-original three from initial exodus.
Secondly, there are no assurances that the ACC would go to 16. Unless market forces compel them to expand, the conference is at a position of strength. This means they will sit and wait for the glamorous brand-name schools.
You're dead right on the last part
and we’ve mentioned it a number of times here. If the ACC wants to stay at 14 they’re fine. If they want to go to 16, then UConn has a shot.
And you’re insane if you think Penn St. is leaving the Big Ten, the Big Ten Network, the CIC and all of those piles of money to go to the ACC.
by Andrew Porter on Sep 20, 2011 1:51 PM EDT up reply actions
Staying at 14 with a wait-and-see attitude is far more likely at this stage. The ACC has obviously positioned the conference to take shots at the juggernaut programs. It’s widely assumed that when the dust settles, there will be only 4 major conferences. Unless ND can finagle a deal with the BCS to maintain its Indie status, they’ll be forced inevitably to choose between the State-heavy Big 10 or the snooty-Private Liberal Arts ACC.
That said, there is no immediate urgency to recruit UConn or Rutgers or anyone other peripheral program dangling out there.
Penn State.
1. Proximity
2. Academics
3. Jo Pa’s vision of Eastern hegemony
See: Fox Sports Article
Very surprised by this. Can’t be good for UConn.
Make no mistake, the move to expand the ACC is a football $$$ decision, but one where they don’t want to compromise the quality of basketball or the integrity of academics. So Syracuse and Pitt make sense, in that they have football programs with a large fan base, big stadiums, and a viable revenue stream, while also fielding very competitive basketball teams. It doesn’t matter that the football teams themselves are garbage, because the infrastructure is there and they’re good schools academically. West Virginia would fit into the same group, except with a more profitable and infinitely more successful football program. In terms of basketball success, it is a team two years removed from a final four appearance, which is more than Pitt or Syracuse can say. So this rejection has to be out of a general reluctance by the ACC brass to expand to 16 teams, and/or the perception that West Virginia is filled with moonshine-guzzling, incestuous Appalachians, which is a pretty accurate assessment.
The reason why UConn hasn’t been formally rejected is because, to my knowledge, they haven’t formally applied.
I’m still holding out hope, because the ACC seems like the only viable avenue for UConn at this point. The fact is, however, despite our meteoric rise from 1-A to a Fiesta Bowl berth, the football program is an unknown commodity. Connecticut is a fairweather state to begin with, in terms of fan support, and Hathaway executed a complete botch job when it came to putting people in the seats. Plus, the coach that singlehandedly built the program left overnight, in part, because he questioned the legs the program had.
Will the ACC take us based on our academic merit and our basketball chops? I hope so, but I take this WVU rejection as a sign they’re looking to stand pat at this point in time.
Why are you worried?
UConn has a LOT more to offer than West Virginia. If football success meant anything…the ACC wouldn’t have taken Pitt & Syracuse. It’s about eyeballs and $$$$$.
The ACC isn’t going to do anything until Notre Dame gives them the definitive NO. And technically, Texas is still on the table too. The ACC isn’t going to say yes to Rutgers & UConn before they know Texas & Notre Dame are impossible. It’s only smart.
Not to mention, the ACC isn’t out of the water yet. $20 million may sound like a lot but as SEC writers have mentioned…adding Florida State (national appeal) and Texas A&M (hello Texas) makes $20 million look like chump change. They could pass the hat around at an SEC president’s meeting and cover that fee.
Even Virginia Tech…imagine if they added Va. Tech (DC/Richmond), Florida State (America), Texas A&M (Texas) and Missouri (Kansas City & St Louis)?? CBS would write the SEC a check with 10 zeros. ESPN would write them one with 9 zeros.
Tiger fan that likes UConn
Personally as a Clemson fan, I like UConn because I believe they are still an up and coming football program as the flagship Univ. of the state – hopefully someday we will see your stadium at 65k or so. Much rather have seen UConn than BC, we have enough private schools as it is and what has BC and Boston brought to our conference other than toying with us about have the ACC Baseball tourney at Fenway.
I also like WVU because of their fan support – travel extremely well. Having been out of college for 22 years, I could careless over the Mountaineer’s academic standing or lack thereof – you get out of your education what you put into it, regardless where you attend.
I like hosting football games at Death Valley where the opponent sells out their ticket allotment. The Auburn game was packed last Saturday just as the FSU game will likewise this Saturday – GT and VT travel extremely well too. Duke, Wake, BC, Maryland – forget about it, they maybe bring 1000 fans – talk about exciting. I like college b-ball just as well, but football is driving the train right now. The NFL is the number one spectator sport in the country with college football second.
Wouldn’t you guys love to go on the road to Tiger town for an Clemson/UConn ACC football showdown in front of 81K? We actually have some of the most cordial fans at Clemson, but very passionate – comes from our military heritage I guess. Come to think of it, you guys were in town during the baseball playoffs and kicked our butt.
WVU academics
Are the reason they’re getting denied by both conferences. Ludicrous as it may sound, I’m actually starting to think that might be weighing in more heavily than we all originally thought. Football would obviously be the top driver, but academics might be a closer second, followed by basketball and then geography. With all of that in mind, WVU staying in Big East might not be worst thing for UConn — they could just stay where they’re at, or head to Big Ten if necessary. Plus, if Marianatto holds SU & Pitt to the 27 months rule (now seemingly likely), there’s plenty of time to figure things out.
Find me on the Twitters: @JohnCassillo
Think Big Ten
UConn prez said she has been receiving offers. Who other than the ACC would approach UConn?? Why have the insane Notre Dame to ACC rumors started up?? Why is Rutgers so confident?? Why is Missouri reluctant to jump on the SEC money train??
I think the Big Ten finally has Notre Dame cornered with the collapse of the Big Ten. Notre Dame wants to dance in NYC….so they bring Rutgers & UConn along. Missouri finally gets its invite.
In seconds, the Big Ten Network is on basically cable in St Louis, Kansas City, NYC, NJ & Connecticut…and the Big Ten starts printing money.
I feel like if that idea is even being floated….UConn and Rutgers are going to play wait & see.
My gut tells me Notre Dame is waiting on Texas & Oklahoma. Once the Pac-16 is created, ND will see the writing on the wall and join the Big Ten. Which opens the door for Missouri, Rutgers & UConn to come along.
There’s no way in hell Notre Dame ends up in the ACC to play football. They’re not passing up playing Nebraska, Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State as well as old rivals Michigan State & Purdue.
Also, no Penn State
The Penn State to ACC rumors are even more insane. They make twice as much money from the Big Ten and they will continue to make twice as much money as long as they’re paired up with Michigan and Ohio State.
Remember all those Arkansas to Big XII rumors? Please.
Just because Joe Paterno, who is 112 years old, wanted to play Maryland in 1981 doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. Especially since the Big Ten’s manifest destiny is to take over NYC with Notre Dame.
Kansas City Star story RE: Mizzou / SEC
http://www.kansascity.com/2011/09/20/3155336/source-mizzou-has-sec-offer-but.html
Mizzou wanted to be part of the B1G for a long time, but I guess they got tired of waiting.
"When among evil companions, try to fit in." - Wild Bill Donovan
Missouri still wants the Big Ten
Poor Missouri…they keep batting their eyes at the Big Ten. Schools would KILL for an SEC invite…they get one…and they don’t want to say yes yet.
I love that Missouri said they are waiting for the Big XII to implode. Uhhh, it already has. That should read, “waiting to see if the Big Ten changes it mind.”
"Who other than the ACC would approach UConn?"
I know the MAC is shopping for a UMass travel partner ;)
This is destroying my productivity at work today
2011 National Champs in Men's Basketball
START NEBRICH
18-1
1967: Embrace it
Amazing
It’s amazing that all these very respectable people are posting comments, and all it took was the end of the friggin’ world.
It’s almost impossible to handicap this thing. There’s a logic to the selection process that no one is privy to but the principals involved.
It'll be a while
I think it’s going to be a while before the ACC adds any additional teams. Getting to 14 with a 20 million buyout puts up a big barrier to other conferences that want to raid the ACC.
Fact #1 – The only way a conference goes past 16 teams is if they are at 16 and Texas or Notre Dame want to join. So, it’s not like the PAC 12 is going to go to 20 schools while the B10 and SEC go to 16 and leave the ACC with no choices. When it all shakes out, the ACC will have it’s choice of at least 4 schools from the following list. In all liklihood, they’ll have more.
UConn Rutgers WVU Cincinnati
Louisville South Florida TCU Central Florida
Baylor Kansas Kansas State Iowa State
Fact #2 – Who’s going to take UConn or Rutgers ahead of the ACC? Eliminate the Pac 12. And Assume that UConn/Rutgers will always be able to be pried away form any combined BE/B12 conference. So, the only choices are the Big 10 and the SEC. I don’t think the SEC has any interest in coming North of the Mason Dixon line. So, that leaves the Big 10. Could UConn or Rutgers be in the B10 plans? Sure. Are both of them? I doubt it. So, it’s likely that at least one of those two will always be available for the ACC.. Unfortunately for UConn, the B10 prefers members of the AAU. Rutgers is a member. UConn is not.
- - Nobody wants to fill that 16th spot until they are sure that they can’t get ND. So it makes sense to hold it open as long as possible. There’s no rush. Predators won’t think of going after the strongest member of the heard until the lame members are all gone. As long as the BE and B12 are around, the ACC is going to be safe. This is the ironic part. The mere existence of the BE/B12 are what’s preventing a conference from grabbing up UConn. If the conference just folded, that wouild probably speed the process up.
I think fact 2 is the key one there
There may be 12 schools in Fact 1, but they don’t all fit — WVU, Cincy, Louisville, South and Central Florida are all out because of academics. The rest of the schools aren’t on the east coast and the ACC has indicated it wants geographic unity.
by Andrew Porter on Sep 20, 2011 11:43 PM EDT up reply actions
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