Mike Krzyzewski has a solution for the Big East and ACC, amid the formation of super leagues across the country.
Join one another.
Create one huge basketball conference.
“Our conference has been a great one, I think [it] needs to get better,” Coach K said on his radio show this week of the ACC. “We’re down results-wise in both men’s basketball and football — at least the bowl games.
“I’d like to see the ACC and the Big East talk and form a mega basketball conference. Imagine if we had the Big East.”
It does make sense, as the SEC and Big Ten have bulked up, adding a number of elite teams following the breakup of the Pac-12. This year, the SEC added Oklahoma and Texas, while the Big Ten brought in UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington. The Big 12 added Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State and Utah.
The Big East and ACC, meanwhile, have languished following underwhelming nonconference performances. Most experts project the two to land a combined eight teams — five from the ACC and three from the Big East — to the NCAA Tournament at the moment.
St. John’s coach Rick Pitino likes Coach K’s idea.
“I am 100 percent in agreement with him,” Pitino said on Friday. “The problem with the Big East right now and the [schools’] presidents, is they’re just looking at the bottom line and they don’t want to share the revenue because schools in the Big East don’t have football, and they don’t have money.”
Combining the Big East and ACC isn’t necessarily simple. The Big East currently sits at 11 teams and the ACC has 18. A 29-team conference isn’t feasible.
But a league led by Duke, North Carolina, Connecticut, Villanova and Marquette, among others, would be fascinating.
Plus, the alliance would give UConn football a home. The Huskies have flirted with joining the Big 12 because of football, but the conference’s presidents have been hesitant to add them.
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This summer, the Big East inked a new six-year media rights deal with FOX, NBC, and TNT Sports that will average nearly $80 million per year.
It is an improvement on the current deal with FOX and CBS that expires at the end of this season. That was a 12-year contract that averaged $41.67 million per year.
It still pales in comparison to the major leagues. The SEC, for instance, has a deal with Disney and ESPN that pays it $300 million annually. The Big Ten’s media rights contract totals $7 billion over seven years.
“In order for it to be grown to make millions down the road, you have to sacrifice five, six, seven years just like any company would,” Pitino said. “I’ve been saying it all along, the only way to do that is by expansion. So, if you don’t want to expand, I totally agree with Mike Krzyzewski.”
This certainly is an outside-the-box idea. There are a lot of issues that would have to be sorted out. Certain schools may need to be left behind. But the Big East and ACC could use some help. Maybe they’re the answer for one another.