Marcus13

An intense lobbying effort has helped land Louisville a spot in the Atlantic Coast Conference, Yahoo! Sports has learned.

The latest Big East evacuee was chosen as the 14th member of the ACC Wednesday after a vote by the league's school presidents, multiple sources said. Louisville will replace Maryland, a founding ACC member which abruptly left for the Big Ten last week along with Rutgers of the Big East.

When Maryland's spot in the league came open, several Big East members made clear their interest in moving to the ACC. Sources said Louisville outmaneuvered the perceived early favorite, Connecticut, in large part because of the school's overall athletic commitment, the health of its football program and the issues Jim Calhoun left behind in the Huskies' basketball program. Cincinnati also made a spirited 11th-hour push, sources said.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaaf--...132113087.html




Glad to hear its not UConn. That would have ruined Big East basketball.

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bball2223

ACC basketball is going to be awesome. Coach K, Pitino, Boeheim, Roy Williams all in the same conference? Going to be fun to watch.

ATLien

Yep. Improves basketball and football. Weak academics compared to the rest of the conference too.

Dissonance

OK FSU/Clemson. Go make the jump to Big XII.

JD Hoops

All these moves I think may have a negative impact on the March Madness in future years. The power conferences get even more centralized power, but what happens to the Selection committee when same conference bids typically do not play each other in the first two rounds. That scenario gets harder if you consider the quality and depth of say the ACC with UNC, Duke, Pitt, Cuse, and now Louisville even with Marylands departure. Throw in NC State, FSU and its gets cloudy come March. I hate these moves because as we here in Virginia always long for March to see how the ACC matches up against the former Big East powers those days are over since they will be playing those teams twice a season now in conference. I think these moves in the end may diminish the March Madness brand than growing it.

Seanzie

Louisville has got to be breathing a big sigh of relief. They've been trying ridiculously hard to get out of the Big East for a few years now.

I do like this move for the ACC. Louisville is a burgeoning football program and a top basketball school. The more good teams you can have in your conference, the better. Even though UConn seemed like it made more sense culturally, Louisville makes more sense competitively.

Big East basketball is already ruined.

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Nope.