r/BigEast

On January 18, 1989, Georgetown completed a 14-point second half comeback on the road to beat PC 80-77. Guard Charles Smith dropped 35.

The ACC has felt like it’s been on the verge of falling apart for a few years now, but overall, things seem to have settled down a bit since the lawsuits.

I’m a college hoops fan who grew up in Baltimore, so the old Big East and the ACC were the programs for me growing up. When realignment gutted the Big East, losing Pitt, Louisville, Syracuse, etc., they survived by redefining themselves. They added Creighton, Xavier, and Butler, and leaned entirely into a basketball first identity. The Big 12 did something similar recently. They were already strong with Kansas and Baylor, but they cemented themselves as a basketball juggernaut by adding Arizona and Houston.

So, what should the ACC focus on?

Schools like Florida State and Clemson are going to take the first life raft out of the conference the second it makes financial sense. Adding Stanford, Cal, and SMU brought in some decent brands, but the move felt kind of directionless. Meanwhile, the ACC's historical dominance in basketball has slipped over the last decade, with legacy brands like Syracuse really falling off. And Notre Dame as a full member is a pipe dream.

The ACC needs to overlook the impending football departures and go all in on basketball. There is still a massive amount of value there. UNC, Duke, and Louisville are top 15 national brands. Virginia, NC State, and Syracuse are big in their own right. If the goal of expansion is to be proactive before we inevitably lose 2-6 teams down the line, here is who the ACC needs to target to build a stronger basketball conference:

Easy Adds

UConn: The ACC needs to go hard here. If UConn has any interest in leaving the Big East, the ACC absolutely has to be their landing spot.

Memphis: They have a fantastic basketball pedigree, a good market, and an athletic department that has proven it's dedicated to pouring resources into its programs.

Could Really Work If You Think About It

Villanova: If Nova is ever willing to make the jump to FBS football, they shouldn't bother transitioning through the mid major level. The ACC grab them up immediately.

Throwing It Out

Georgetown: If the ACC is already theoretically poaching the Big East for UConn and Villanova, bringing Georgetown along is a choice. It immediately revives some of the greatest, most heated rivalries in college basketball history. They deliver the D.C. market, carry a national brand despite some recent down years, and fit perfectly into the ignore FBS football, maximize basketball strategy. Honestly, not a good idea lol.

San Diego State: If the ACC wants to make the Cal and Stanford additions work, bringing in more western teams makes sense. They have a recent Final Four, a basketball fanbase, and the Southern California market. Poaching them gives the ACC a West Coast basketball powerhouse and start to build a western pod.

UNLV: Everyone is moving to Las Vegas, maybe the ACC can too? Bringing UNLV brand adds some basketball prestige. You get to keep building that western wing out too.

Have some fun with this. Throw things out there.

Opponents for 2026/27 include UMD, Clemson, UNC, Texas, UCLA

Regardless of whether Cooley will take this program back to the promised land, at least we’re respectable enough to have a non-conference slate like this.

Not too long ago we just had teams like coppin state, UMBC, etc and even those weren’t the “easy wins” they should’ve been.

Zuby Ejiofor - SJU
Tarris Reed Jr. - UCONN
Alex Karraban - UCONN

These are three of the five members of the All-Big East First Team.

boston college mens hoops

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