The privates are not a majority. They do have smaller populations but they have bigger endowments. Athletics depends on your point of view. Duke is great in bball. Stanford in great in almost all olympic sports. ND is solid. etc.

Per the link below the ACC private schools are woefully behind ACC state school championships over the ACC's history. The stats in the link below show total conference championships since joining the conference but not average champs per year, especially since expansion. If you do that math the private schools in the ACC are abject failures compared to the state schools. Duke has a bunch since they go back to the 1950s but lately almost nothing but hoops. Notre Dame's championships are 50% fencing, meaningless. BC, Syracuse, embarrassing. You make good points about private school endowments and success (however you measure it), but they just don't matter, only TV ratings and TV revenue matter now. Stanford might be the best athletic program in the ACC next year but they will still get awful ratings on the ACCN, just like Wake Forest, BC, Duke, Syracuse, and Miami. Are you going to watch the ACCN or ESPN Plus to see Stanford? Of course not, and almost no one in California is going to watch VT either. The ACC is a lifeboat right now and while Cal, Stanford, and SMU are going to help bail the water out of the boat, it will sink, eventually, pulled down by the weight of the private school members who cannot drive cable or streaming revenue. The SEC and BIG know what they are doing, and they know private isn't great for business. It's hard to imagine the ACC without UNC but I'll wager they will join the SEC within 3 years. I hope we follow.

Far from a certainty that they continue as a cream of the crop program post K

Cal is number 10. For comparison, in the ACC, UNC is number 8, and UVA is number 16 in total team championships. Stanford and Cal are the definition of elite athletic schools.

From a purely selfish standpoint of rooting for the USA in the Olympics, I'm happy they will be still relevant and sending Olympians to the Olympics, and therefore bringing more medals home.

Cal as a top 10 is a bit of a surprise, though, thanks for pointing that out.

it is a public and part of UC system. The other two are deep pockets private schools.

distinction is important and not inaccurate but, there are variables(money, size, reach, longevity) where privates are not an anchor. SMU is on the fence but, there history says they are all in. Stanford is wealthy enough to do what it wants just like some other well heeled privates like ND, USC-W, etc., in fact, of the three the public(Cal) is likely to be the anchor here, if one exists. ** Edited by 2hhoop3 at 9/1/2023, 5:04:42 PM

It is the flagship university of the California university system. It is very much a public university, and one of the top in institutions in the world.

But yeah, generally speaking, those schools are public.

It is part of the UC system just like UCLA, UCSD, UC Santa Cruz, etc. ** Edited by VT ChemE 1986 at 9/1/2023, 4:54:59 PM ** Edited by VT ChemE 1986 at 9/1/2023, 4:55:19 PM