No. Carolina is tempting because of a market that doesn't have a foot in the door in the SEC, but if football is the biggest concern, there's nothing here in NC that the SEC would be interested in. You have to remember that Duke, UNC, State and Wake Forest are all within 50 miles of 1 another. That fact alone is why none of those schools will ever be worth a damn for any extended period of time. There simply aren't enough quality players around for recruiting. UNC is in the deep crap right now, because they tried to break into big time football by hiring Butch Davis and his pal, John Blake. The results of that were always predictable. +1 to Chewie on the UNC/Duke deal. Nothing will get those 2 to give up their hoops rivalry. And the ACC is showing how ruthless and unethical they are, by raiding the Big East again, while raising the ACC buyout to 20 million, trying to keep Clemson, FSU and Va. Tech. Clemson, FSU and Va. Tech, no matter what they do, will always be outsiders because of the tobacco road influence. They'll bolt for the SEC, if the conditions are right.
I also saw where a couple of schools want to only go to another conference for football - leaving *all* their other sports in their 'original' conference =S In other words they are pushing for 'football only' conference. =\
By the way, the ridiculous posturing by UNC in their football troubles, the firing of Butch Davis, who behaved exactly as anyone with any knowledge knew he would, and the pathetic vacating of a handful of crappy wins over nobodies to try and avoid further NCAA sanctions, it all has a particularly putrid stench about it.
I certainly can't see NC leaving the ACC in basketball....not that I think that's right. There shouldn't be football or basketball only conferences. The Big East, which is in total disarray, is Notre Dame's home for all of it's sports except football. They will try very hard to keep that conference together so their other sports have a home. If the Big East goes under, ND will be forced to join one of the big boys. That would be great for the Big 10-11-12 or whatever you call it.
The Geography of College Football Fans (and Realignment Chaos) - NYTimes.com Here's a really good, well thought-out article on the landscape of the college game. Scroll down to the SEC section to see how LSU's fan base is ranked. The article does a nice job of deciding where college football fans live within th large TV markets. Although potentially flawed, it's one of the more complete assessments I have found on the subject.
