I went to sleep Friday night safe and secure in the knowledge that the Syracuse Orange had a home in the Big East for as long as they wanted. I woke up Sunday morning confused and yet even more secure in the knowledge that Syracuse now has a home in the ACC for as long as they both shall live.
New Supreme Chancellor John Swofford, swear us in.
"The ACC has enjoyed a rich tradition by balancing academics and athletics and the addition of Pitt and Syracuse further strengthens the ACC culture in this regard," said commissioner John Swofford. "Pittsburgh and Syracuse also serve to enhance the ACC’s reach into the states of New York and Pennsylvania and geographically bridges our footprint between Maryland and Massachusetts. With the addition of Pitt and Syracuse, the ACC will cover virtually the entire Eastern Seaboard of the United States."
Say it with me... I, for one, welcome our new Carolinas-based overlords.
Here's Chancy Nancy's statement:
"We are very excited to be joining the ACC. This is a tremendous opportunity for Syracuse, and with its outstanding academic quality and athletic excellence, the ACC is a perfect fit for us," said Nancy Cantor, Chancellor and President of Syracuse. "The ACC is home to excellent national research universities with very strong academic quality, and is a group that Syracuse will contribute to significantly and benefit from considerably. As a comprehensive, all-sports conference, the ACC provides Syracuse tremendous opportunities for quality competition and growth in all sports, while also renewing some of our historic rivalries. This move will also bolster our continued efforts to look outward, engage and extend Syracuse’s reach to key areas of the country, including the Southeast, as we grow and expand our national connections to alumni, partners and the students of the future. We are pleased that Syracuse adds a New York City dimension to the ACC, a region in which we have built strong identity and affinity, and we look forward to bringing ACC games to the Big Apple. Overall, for Syracuse, this opportunity provides long-term conference stability in what is an uncertain, evolving, and rapidly shifting national landscape."
And here's the good DOCTOR:
"Today is a day that we will remember for years to come. We are truly excited that academically and athletically we will be a member of the ACC, one of the nation's premier collegiate athletic conferences. As New York's college team, we plan to compete at the highest level across all of our sports and help to enhance this great conference."
And how's this for an ultimate f*** you to the Big East...Swofford's thinking of moving the ACC Basketball Tournament to MSG on a rotating basis. Sorry Duke/UNC, you ain't king sh** around here anymore.
There will be plenty of time for analyzing this (on the case of ESPN, you've already analyzed it to death) but for Syracuse fans, I have to believe we're all still in a state of shock. I figured there would come a day when we'd leave the comfy confines of the Big East. I just never expected it to happen so quickly and with the Big East still standing.
One thing I will say...Syracuse (and Pitt) fans should not feel bad. Every Big East football school should have been trying to do the same exact thing. We were just smart and/or lucky enough to think of it first. The Big East will now move into whatever its next phase is (Big 12-East?) but that's not SU & Pitt's fault. It's the Big East's own fault.
That said, it does suck to see the end of so much Big East history. Syracuse was a founding member of the conference. Jim Boeheim was the only original basketball coach left standing. The Georgetown, Villanova, UConn, St. John's rivalries (and many more). I'm sure we'll still play one another, and there's an irony in the fact that we'll probably keep playing Georgetown once a year, which basically means nothing changes.
DePaul...we'll miss you most of all.
As for the ACC...HI EVERYONE!
HI DUKE! HI NORTH CAROLINA!
HI AGAIN SO SOON WAKE FOREST!
HI UGLY TEAM FROM MARYLAND!
HEY VIRGINIA TECH, MIAMI & BOSTON COLLEGE, REMEMBER US? WE REMEMBER YOU!
HI FLORIDA STATE, WE SHOULD HANG OUT BEFORE YOU LEAVE FOR THE SEC!
HI EVERYONE ELSE!
Plenty of time for intros and bro-hugs ahead. The ACC schools are saying hi as well, so we're all on our way to daps all around.
Technically, we're 1-0 in the ACC right now. If this keeps up, maybe we can play for the ACC Championship this year. I'm sure we could find 57 Syracuse fans to attend that game and maintain the usual attendance.
Syracuse and Pitt just pulled a Thelma & Louise on the Big East. Only instead of dying at the bottom of an empty canyon, they jumped their car into a canyon full of pillowy cotton candy that softened the fall and led them down into a valley of happiness, excitement and boatloads of ESPN money.
Way more to come but in the meantime, react, vent and pontificate below...