Nothing major here, but the Ty Kraniak (his high school nickame seems obvious)Â of the Wake student paper has some generous thoughts posted on ACC expansion.
Meanwhile, Scott Michaux of the Augusta paper argues that the ACC would be wise to move heaven and earth to protect rivalries - and he's right. The intensity of Duke and State has already waned, and that should never happen. This really needs to be addressed with more than a tsk, tsk for the old days.
Meanwhile in College Park the schizophrenia continues: even though Maryland made the decision to leave the ACC for the Big Ten, Terrapin partisans still ache for respect from the ACC.
Take the survey by the Baltimore Sun of ACC members as to whether they would schedule Maryland in any sport in the future. The Sun seems somewhat surprised that no one said "heck yeah, we'll keep playing your guys."
But really, when you step back - and it's not a big step back either - consider what Maryland's minions are suggesting: that the ACC overlook Maryland's betrayal of the conference and many of the school's own fans and that the ACC overlooks that Maryland wants out of the exit fee.
And you can even put that aside for a moment and consider the decades of nastiness that Maryland has inflicted on the rest of the conference, the endless sneers and complaints about being up in Alaska, the pride many Maryland fans seemingly take in abusing fans of other schools. Duke fans haven't forgotten the heated pennies, the tossed water bottles, or feeling that it was unsafe to wear something in College Park which said Duke.
The Wake fans who were told to hide under their seats one year when it looked like Josh Howard's Wake team would pull off a road win probably haven't forgotten.
State fans probably haven't forgotten Gary Williams giving them the finger after winning in Raleigh and yelling obscenities. And UNC fans surely have their own complaints, as do, we're guessing, Virginia fans, Clemson fans Georgia Tech fans and various others.
You know, really, who the hell needs it? Who would have put up with all the crap if it weren't mandated by the ACC?
Maryland got what so many wanted: no more Tobacco Road, no more getting disrespected by the rest of the ACC. So why now do their partisans seem so focused on what's being left behind?
Schedule Towson. Schedule American. Georgetown would love to play you. As for the rest of of your soon-to-be-former partners, don't count on much. We're pretty happy with Louisville actually.
As a matter of interest, we're curious to see if anyone will agree to play them in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge - if it lasts.