Why would that happen now? Calford, ND and Duke probably love the idea of being in a conference together. None of them will go to the Big 12 or have any affiliation with it. They’re probably just fine with Wake, BC, Syracuse and even SMU. The ACC is going to split. In the next few years - announcements will start maybe as soon as this summer - UNC, FSU, Clemson and Miami are gone to the P2. Whichever 6 ACC schools really want a crack at a conference that acts like it plays bigtime football and actually does play bigtime hoops will go to the Big 12 and join up with West Virginia and UCF on the east coast. This will be GT, NC State, VT, UVA, Louisville and Pitt. The ACC will remain with the Private 8, bring in at least Tulane and USF for all sports (probably also UConn and Rice) and create a merger with the Big East in hoops. If you’re a Big12 lurker and wondering how the numbers work with the Big 12 being at 16, I truly think Kansas might get snatched by the SEC when it goes to 20, along with Arizona. The SEC is all about that hoops life right now and KU is the last blue blood left, and Arizona has a championship pedigree. Plus, the SEC needs a couple football doormats to pair with Texas, OU and aTm out west. Works perfect. Duke and Notre Dame have to be geeking out at the possibility of being in a hoops conference with UConn, Villanova, St. John’s, Georgetown, heck even Butler and Creighton. Especially when all those schools, unencumbered by football budgets, will be able to bankroll some serious talent on the hardwoods. The 80’s reborn!! There is a possibility that this realignment mess actually shakes everything out the right way. It’s been my view for several years now that 20 team conferences are perfect for intimate, regional, 5-team divisions in football and completely separate 10-team divisions in hoops that play true round-robin 18 game schedules. From VT’s perspective, this means we play GT, UVA, NC State and UCF every year in football and are related to the rest of the B12 on a rotational basis. This is WVU, Louisville, Pitt, Iowa State, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Arizona State, Utah, BYU. That’s great for us. In hoops, add Louisville, WVU, Pitt, Cincinnati and Iowa State to that every year mix. That’s great, too. We aren’t a blue blood football program and like it or not, these are VT’s athletic peers. Anyway, to me at least, this is the only ‘common sense’ way this works out.