Big East: “Are you frightened?”
Big 12: “Yes.”
Big East: “Not nearly frightened enough. I know what hunts you.”
— Brendan Loy, one of the few other people nerdy enough to mix “Lord of the Rings” and college sports
ESPN says – and now the AP does, too – that not only did the Big East’s Pitt and Syracuse reach out to the ACC, they straight-up applied – and more:
In addition, amid a “fluid landscape” in conference alignment, the ACC presidents have unanimously approved to increase the buyout for schools to leave the conference from $10 million-$13 million to $20 million, the source said, making it a highly unlikely scenario that any ACC teams defect from the conference.
From the ESPN article: “Baylor and Iowa State have already reached out to the Big East as a backup in case the Big 12 falls apart.” This is, I think, the first report that Iowa State has done anything in the past two months.
Pitt and Syracuse make 14 for the ACC. Who’s next? The cannibalization is on. If the remnants of the Big 12 joined the Big East, would that be enough?
(Radical, pie-in-the-sky pipe dream with absolutely no basis whatsoever: Notre Dame gives up, Jim Delaney gets his brass ring, and then he says “The Big Ten is, technically, a nonprofit.* We can take a charity case. Hi, Iowa State.**”)
*Stop laughing.
**OK, resume laughing.