So I don’t know if it would be a good or bad thing if John Calipari ran the SEC. In a statement, Calipari stated that he would add Missouri (from the Big 12) and Virginia Tech and Maryland to the SEC to go with Texas A&M giving the conference 16 teams.
I don’t think this stuff is done yet. I’ve said for months that there may be four conferences with 16 or 18 teams each. But I can tell you that the SEC at 13, 14 or 16 is going to be stable. We’re fine. If they’re going to add, I’d like us to go and get Virginia Tech, Maryland and Missouri to go along with Texas A&M.
Texas A&M is set to join the SEC for the 2012-2013 season. The interesting and intriguing part is that the ACC just raised their buyout to $20 million.
Thinking long term, the ACC has legitimate viability as they have 14 teams with the possibility to add more and strong leadership in conference commissioner John Swofford. However, the Terps have always felt like outsiders in a North Carolina based conference but it has gotten better and will get better with the additions of Pittsburgh and Syracuse. The SEC would be an interesting choice if the Terps do decide to leave. They would need to increase their football program but that is entirely possible with the backing of Under Armour and following in the footsteps of the Oregon and Nike model. With basketball, they would lose rivalries with Duke and North Carolina and the play would be typically a downgrade from the ACC with only Kentucky and Florida as national powers.
At this point, it is just speculation but it is interesting what Maryland is saying behind closed doors and what may happen.
This would be an awful idea for a basketball school like Maryland that needs to recruit the East Coast for basketball. The ACC provides top level competition, access to top-level talent, and is a conference that actually cares about the sport they are good at.
In the SEC Maryland’s basketball program would be a second thought and they would be eaten alive recruiting, not to mention their football program. I shudder to think about the football team in the SEC year after year. Stay out, Maryland. The ACC is a perfect fit, even if Duke and UNC get to call the shots. It is a small price to pay.