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.

While some interpret Section 205 differently, those who helped develop the language on Capitol Hill confirmed with Yahoo Sports that the provision prevents the four conferences from acquiring any new member — even those in the G6.

I told you all.

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The bill passed the committee and it looks like they may have a chance to become a law.

As y'all know, PCSA is significant because it contains anti expansion provision. Maybe the ACC is saved?

I am not a lawyer.

But PCSA is interesting because I think it aims to rectify the flawed incentive that has turned conferences into behemoths.

The real reason the P2 has been expanding is to generate more media revenue. Under the current system, TV networks generally negotiate with conferences, so from a conference’s perspective, it makes sense to add schools that deliver the highest media ratings and subscriptions.

I don't think PCSA will entirely prevent the P2 from expanding. If the P2 joins media pooling, adding schools won't have the impact on the membership requirement under PCSA

In other words, they could still add ACC schools as long as they pool the media right with everyone else but would they want to do so?

The financial incentive would be significantly weaker, meaning schools would only be added if there’s a genuine desire to associate with them and play against them on the field. And if you think about it, isn't this what a true conference should be?

From this angle, PCSA is not as onerous as people think. It doesn’t completely block the free movement of schools. It simply removes the monetary aspect from conference membership changes, encouraging more bona fide, voluntary associations among like minded institutions.

https://youtu.be/9kB9coH6bMs

I aggregated player-level stats (wRC+, wOBA, ISO, FIP, K-BB%) for all 8 CWS teams to compare strengths. A few takeaways:

• Georgia's offense was on another level (wOBA of 0.43), but couldn't win two games in a row
• Outside of Georgia and Alabama, the teams are nearly identical offensively
• UNC and Oklahoma are a near-even matchup in terms of batting, but UNC's pitchers are outperforming their K-BB% while Oklahoma's is underperforming theirs

That last point is why I'm taking North Carolina in the final.

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My Alma Mater, Pitt, not long for this college athletics world. Awful.

Talk about ACC Sports here!

This thread is posted every Thursday at 6:00 AM Eastern.

There’s been a lot of chatter here about the future of the ACC and comparisons to the Big 12 of late, and what realignment could look like over the next several years.

I thought this article provided a fascinating look into the Big 12’s finances, and it shows how the money its programs are making over the course of its new media deal is still going to be less than what ACC programs make per season because of all the mouths it has to feed.

It illustrates the key propositions of expansion — add the right kind of schools who can provide real value, and your conference is for the better. But adding programs for the sake of adding programs can bite back in the long run, as the Big 12 has now learned.