re: Realignment...B1G going after 2 more ACC schools?

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Unless you feel you're (Bama) to the point where you'd take a pay cut to get Duke on your hoops schedule then you're wrong about it being worth it. Football TV dollars>>>>>>Hoops TV dollars.

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We're playing chess, not checkers. There is much more to the equation that simply adding "football schools," or adding "states" to the cable footprint.

First, the SEC doesn't really have a burning desire to expand--the conference is only going to add someone if there is a compelling reason. The problems we've had with scheduling for 14 teams pale in comparison to the bloodbath that will ensue if we go to 16. So, if we add someone, it had damn well better be worth the trouble.

The only school that really fits the bill on every category (strong athletics, strong academics, expanding the footprint in a desirable state) is North Carolina. Everyone else has some holes in their resume.

The other thing to consider is what other conferences are doing. The SEC may be forcd to act if the ACC implodes or if the Big Ten starts encroaching on what should be SEC territory. In my opinion, the SEC would be perfectly content to do nothing as long as North Carolina doesn't go to the Big Ten. UVA would not be a bad addition to the SEC, but them going to the Big Ten would be nothing to lose sleep over. If the SEC felt compelled to get into Virginia, Va. Tech would do nicely.

However, I don't really think the SEC has to get into Virginia. It wouldn't be a bad thing, but whether you're talking Virginia Tech or UVA, neither school really constitutes a juggernaught. They are the kind of schools that make good complimentary additions. Virginia Tech would have made a great addition as school 14. But, since they passed, I see no compelling reason why they need to be 15 or 16.

On the other hand, not only is UNC valuable in their own right, but, they are the key to the Big Ten's southern expansion. Get UNC, and adding GT to the Big Ten makes a lot more sense. Miss out on North Carolina, and adding GT becomes a stupid move, with GT becoming a geographically isolated outlier, unable to deliver the cable market in Georgia or anywhere else.

So, the question becomes, if UNC decides they have to leave the ACC (and if I'm Slive, I try to get them to stay in the ACC as long as possible), then what will it take to get them to choose the SEC (which Roy Williams, the athletic department, and the citizens of the state want) over the Big Ten (which the academic administration wants)? I think you do that by offering the 16th slot to a school that will be viewed as a preferred partner for the both the academic and atheltic sides. That could be UVA, but it's more likely Duke.

While Duke doesn't deliver a state, it is one hell of a brand name simply due to its basketball prowess (and no worse of a football option than NC State), and a true academic juggernaught. It's the kind of political choice that would probably be required to keep UNC from going to the Big Ten. The TV partners would love it because of what it would do for basketball. While Virginia Tech would help get the SEC Network on Virginia cable systems, I'm not sure that this channel would get on basic cable in the DC market, given how far VT is from DC, and the fact that, in this scenario, we'd be assuming that UVA would join Maryland in the Big Ten.

Ever heard the saying that you have to know the rules before you break them? This is one of those cases. The normal rule is not to take schools from the same state. But, given the politics of the situtation and the geographic factors, a UNC/Duke pairing is one time where you have to consider breaking the rules in furtherance of larger objectives.