- Daily Press: This was a big weekend for the ACC, but basketball was hardly discussed. Today and yesterday, the ACC launched it’s football kickoff event, which featured considerable talk about football and even more talk about realignment. The hot topic? Notre Dame and whether or not the Irish might find a home in the ACC for football, and yes, basketball. Commissioner Swofford was deft in the way that he avoided the topic, but the general takeaway is that perhaps partial membership for Notre Dame (once an unthinkable concession) may be in the conference’s future.
- News & Observer: When push comes to shove, Notre Dame actually makes a lot of sense for the ACC, at least from Caulton Tudor’s perspective. There are numerous mutually beneficial factors that could cause the Irish to enter into at least some agreement with the ACC. One of these key factors seems to be the eventual adoption of a postseason football playoff system, which would probably place a strong emphasis on conference championships (a problem for the conference-less Irish). Would the allure of the relatively easy pickings of the ACC’s football teams be enough incentive for the Irish to consider full membership? It seems thin to me, but it certainly is worth a little bit of further thought.
- New York Post: We have a date. Syracuse is leaving the Big East for the ACC in July off next year. The agreement to leave the Big East hinged on a $7.5 million exit fee that Syracuse is happy to pay. So there we have it: It’s official. The 2013-14 season will feature Syracuse as a playing member of the ACC. Next season is our last chance to relish the traditional conference match-ups of Wake Forest vs. Miami and North Carolina State vs. Boston College.
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Syracuse won’t be coming into the conference alone. Shortly after Syracuse reached its agreement with the Big East, the University of Pittsburgh announced that it too had come to terms with the conference and would be leaving for the ACC next July. Pittsburgh had tried a civil suit to force a quicker exit from the Big East, but in the end, it came down to accepting a settlement identical to the one that Syracuse negotiated.
- Chapelboro: North Carolina recently made two hires in their athletic department. Vince Ille and Paul Pogue were hired by Bubba Cunningham to focus on the twin issues of athlete eligibility and general NCAA compliance. To anyone paying attention to the UNC football program’s recent and ongoing troubles in these areas, it seems like new blood is sorely needed.