Hey, North Carolina … what’s up?
It got brushed aside when the Big Ten and Texas were gabbing a decade ago, but North Carolina was supposedly at least a thought. The Big Ten didn’t really want Duke as part of the pair – smaller base, basketball doesn’t matter like football does – and the scuttlebutt fizzled out fast.
But if you’re looking for the absolutely perfect school for the Big Ten – even more than Texas – here it is.
– 2021 CFN North Carolina Preview
The academic fit is right there, the brand name is obvious, it’s of course amazing at basketball and just good enough in football to make a big splash – but without being too threatening to the balance of power – and any deal would be much, much stronger than the current ACC payout.
Of course North Carolina is tied into the ACC brand, but Texas and Oklahoma were/are the Big 12 and that doesn’t seem to matter. HOWEVER …
There’s one, big, giant, heaping mega-problem with even thinking about North Carolina going anywhere …
Hey, ACC … what’s up?
The problem for any ACC school is the current brutal Grant of Rights media deal that goes through 2036 – good luck breaking that.
The Big Ten has to at least see what the possibilities are, but any hope of stealing an ACC school is almost certainly dead on arrival.
North Carolina is the best fit for the Big Ten, but that’s a heavy lift even if it is legally and technically possible.
– 2021 CFN ACC Predictions For Every Game
Virginia might not have the giant base that UNC does, but it’s right there academically, basketball – as much as that matters – is great, and on brand, the Big Ten would be getting a state’s flagship school.
Georgia Tech isn’t the University of Georgia, but it’s got the academics and it’s downtown Atlanta – the Big Ten Network types would crush to add that market to the mix.
If the Big Ten could chill just a tad on the AAU thing, Syracuse and Boston College would make a whole lot of expansion sense, but that doesn’t appear to be part of the overall discussion.
The only other ACC school in the AAU is Duke, but that’s not happening unless it’s a must to get North Carolina.
Speaking of AAU and the ACC …
Big Ten Expansion Possibilities
Texas? | Notre Dame or Texas A&M?
Missouri or Kansas?
Pac-12 schools?, and the big guess