Sorry. Busy weekend, and we had a big deluge that kept internet access wonky. Completely out for the last 12 hours, aside from my cell service. But it’s back now, and it will be catch-up time with recruiting, good stories and the whole ACC Media Days.

This, though is worth sharing right away.

Pitt & Syracuse will receive full shares 1st year in ACC; in 2012-13 made $3-4M w/Big East; in 2013-14 gets $20M w/ACC

— Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) July 22, 2013

Huge. Most of the time — and it was so for BC, VT and Miami when they joined — you don’t get a full share right away. They slowly give you the cut. Like…

Pitt & SU get full share 1st year in ACC; WVU & TCU don't til 4th year in B12; Md. & RU don't til 7th year in B1G

— Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) July 22, 2013

Louisville will also get a full cut when they join next year.

The ACC is yet to officially announce its bowl line-up for 2014 and beyond. But it isn’t hard to see what it is going to look like:

• Discover Orange Bowl
• (Captial One Bowl (vs. SEC))
• Russell Athletic Bowl (vs. Big 12)
• Belk Bowl (vs. SEC)
• Gator / Music City Bowls (vs. SEC)
• Pinstripe Bowl (vs. B1G)
• Sun Bowl (vs. Pac-12)
• Military Bowl (vs. American)
• Unnamed Detroit Bowl (vs. B1G)

Explanation on some of these deals below.

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I know some other heartwarming stuff. A new recruit. I’ll get to the football side, but I have a bunch of basketball links I just want to get off the browser.

Steven Adams has been playing in Orlando in the NBA Summer League. Coach Jamie Dixon has been down there to watch him a couple times in between hitting the various AAU Tournaments. Good puff piece on Adams.

Adams understands where he is in his development, which is why he’s taken to coaching with such enthusiasm.

“Whatever they say, I’ll do because they know what’s best for me,” Adams said.

During breaks in Orlando, Adams sat next to Thunder assistant coach Mark Bryant near the end of the bench. Bryant provided non-stop instruction, and Adams listened intently.

By the end of the week, Adams had begun raving about Bryant and the rest of the Thunder’s staff like a child who had just met his heroes.

“They’re legit,” Adams marveled. “They are awesome.”

For now, the Thunder wants to keep everything simple with Adams. His job is to defend, rebound, run the floor and set good screens. Adams said he is focused mostly on improving his pick-and-roll defense. Everything else, he said, is “just a bonus.”

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When cutters attempted to get to their spot during summer league play, Adams instinctively would step in and give them a little nudge with his shoulder. When matched up against low-post players, Adams bodied up to them and consistently bumped them off their spots.

“That’s one of the things that we’re going to require out of Steven is that he play physical basketball,” Kalamian said. “Luckily for us, he likes to play that way.”

Not sure if that’s all instinctive. That reads like the basics he would be taught at Pitt to play in the Big East.

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Just watch in awe.

This 2004 commercial has haunted my dreams since Pitt to the ACC was announced back in 2011. Thanks so much to HokieTapes for sharing.

What I can’t decide is if I want a remake for 2013 or if I fear such an event.

#goacc

ACC Media Days are closing fast. Oops, sorry. It’s actually called the 2013 Atlantic Coast Conference Football Kickoff. In just ten days. (Man, do I need to finish with all the old links and stuff.)

The ACC released the list of players who will be in attendance. Two per team is the rule. No surprise that for Pitt it will be Aaron Donald and Devin Street. These are the two best players on each side of the ball. Both are seniors. Both are needed/expected to be team leaders.

The ACC also announced that they have a deal in place to have YES in the NYC market to carry football and basketball for the upcoming season.

The YES Network, the most-watched regional sports network in the country the past 10 years, has reached an agreement with FOX Sports Media Group by which YES will televise live Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) basketball and football games and Big East basketball games beginning this fall.

As part of the deal, YES will televise up to 10 ACC football games and up to 23 men’s ACC basketball games, as well as select women’s basketball and Olympic sports.

I like the chances of more Pitt games showing up in this package.

Locally, Pitt football games will be on WTAE (ABC) as well as some of the basketball games. Root Sports also has a deal in place to show Pitt/ACC games.

It’s looking like it won’t be too difficult to find Pitt on TV even with the Raycom factor.

On the football side of things, I don’t think anyone disputes that Pitt and Syracuse (and Louisville next year) are taking a step up in football competition. Or in the case of Syracuse and Pitt it is more akin to a restoration to the level of competition they faced at the start of the millennium.

The basketball side, however, is not the same deal. Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski has pushed a meme in recent weeks:

“I love what’s happening with our conference,” Krzyzewski said. “We’re going to be a 10-bid conference. We’re going to be the best conference in the history of the game. It’s exciting to be part of that.”

Since the words came from Krzyzewski, the mainstream acceptance has been predictable. There has been some small pushback from writers that use tempo-free stats more to at least say, “we’ll see about that.”

And finally, a little bit of a pushback against the whole “history of the game” thing.

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Boy, nobody wins if those are the choices.

Sorry, Pitt fans but Notre Dame is now the early leader for most likely to ferment a new, nasty basketball rivalry with Duke.

Here’s how it went down. The New York Post had a wide-ranging interview with Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski. In the interview he was less than diplomatic regarding new member Notre Dame:

Q: Do you like the relationship with Notre Dame the ACC agreed to (joining in all sports except football, but playing five football games a season against ACC foes) in order to add the Fighting Irish?

A: I think you can’t do something for one that you’re not willing to do for all in these type of situations. I would never have accepted personally them coming in and not being totally in.

Why don’t Duke and North Carolina do something different in basketball? I mean it’s not right. I’m happy that they’re part of it I’m just not happy the way that they’re apart of it.

They add value but, just being old-fashioned, [if] we’re playing cards, we all get five cards. That’s why they were never a member of the Big Ten.

This came out the day after ACC moving day. So right after all the praises were sung of the new members and conference, Krzyzewski just fires away.

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The basketball Big East still has its claim staked with the Big East Tournament. The Big Ten is trying to work its way in there with (*cough*, *snortle*) Rutgers joining and being a part of the Pinstripe Bowl. The American… Okay they quit and are going to Memphis for their tournament.

Then there is the ACC. Having their “Welcome to the ACC” event for Pitt, Syracuse and Notre Dame in NYC was yet another signal that the ACC is making a push for their place in NYC.

To ACC-centric beat writers this was a particularly overt and direct move.

This was the ACC like we’ve never seen. Lobster-on-crostini hors d’oeuvres and piped-in-jazz overlooking Times Square rather than barbecue, hush puppies and Kenny Chesney out yonder. An aggressive, confident marketing campaign instead of the staid, traditional odes to the past.

All to mark Monday’s official arrival of Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame to the conference. All to transparently proclaim the ACC is in the big city to stay.

Oh, there were down-home touches such as sending the 15 schools’ mascots to the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty. But Monday’s rollout was more Gordon Gekko than Bones McKinney, more single-malt than sweet tea, complete with the Twitter hashtag “#ACCtakesNYC.”

The only thing missing was ACC graffiti at Penn Station.

In short, this is business, kids, and the league wisely intends to do “bidness” in New York.

“This is a very prominent city from a media standpoint, from a sports standpoint, that has not been in our footprint,” Commissioner John Swofford said during an afternoon news conference at the NASDAQ stock exchange. “It is now, as of today, and we want to treat it with the appropriate level of importance we think it brings.”

If you think Swofford was being subtle about saying that the ACC is looking at NYC as in their market area, well…

“We wanted to showcase the Atlantic Coast Conference in New York City and to show that this is a very important part of our new footprint,” ACC commissioner John Swofford said.

The Big East and Big Ten could reasonably view that statement as meaning: shots fired.

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Note:  This letter contains profanity and may not be safe for work and sensitive people. 

Blawnox, PA – Dear Friends,

Today is a great day for the University of Pittsburgh.  We are now all grown up and legitimate.  Being in the Big East felt like being the bastard child of the town slut and Eddie the use car salesman.  I mean, we knowingly associated with WVU.  Knowingly!  It’s been over a year since that ended and I still feel dirty.
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A couple other ACC/Pitt items.

If you live in Atlanta or want to road-trip for the Pitt-GT game, today is the day to buy tickets.

On the day that Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Notre Dame officially join the Atlantic Coast Conference, Georgia Tech is making it lighter on the wallet to see two of those league newcomers in Bobby Dodd Stadium this fall.

The Panthers, Orange and Fighting Irish become official members of the ACC on Monday, a ceremony celebrated by the league office at an event in New York.

In recognition, Georgia Tech is offering a one-day-only sale of tickets to the Yellow Jackets’ home football games this fall against Syracuse (Oct. 19) and Pittsburgh (Nov. 2), Tech’s Homecoming opponent. The $15 cost per ticket signifies the 15 schools that now make up the ACC roster, and online sale of these tickets will last 15 hours, beginning Monday at 9 a.m.

Then the price goes back up to $40. Of course, I’m sure the gameday scalper prices would be reasonable. Still, if you like to plan ahead, this is a good deal.

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Found (thanks Spilly).

It’s official. The paperwork is complete. All faxed in to the home office. No give backs, ACC. You are stuck with us now.

Odd little visual quirk of this. ND, Pitt and Cuse all fit in alphabetically in one little group. And when Louisville comes in next year, they will be slotted right where Maryland was.

So we toast to the new ACC and pour one out for the old Big East.

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Pitt officially joins the ACC on Monday. I’ll skip the snide commentary on the pretty-boy country duo concert that Pitt has to promote the move. This past week also marked the ten year mark of Virginia Tech and Miami joining the ACC. No one disputes the success of the move financially. For Virginia Tech — much more than Miami — it has been an unprecedented period of growth and success (except for the whole basketball thing) in their athletic department.

Nothing has transpired since to counter what Hokies athletic director Jim Weaver told me in May 2008 about the move.

“The best thing that has ever happened to the university both academically and athletically is the invitation from the Atlantic Coast Conference,” he said then. “There is absolutely no downside. None.”

Indeed, ACC membership has enhanced Tech athletics financially, competitively and academically. And while the Hokies’ non-revenue sports don’t approach the elite level enjoyed by league rivals such as Virginia, Duke, North Carolina and Florida State, they have improved exponentially.

That progress is most evident in the Directors’ Cup all-sports standings. From 1994-2004, Tech’s average finish was 91st, its best 63rd. Since starting ACC competition in the 2004-05 academic year, the Hokies’ average finish is 43rd, with bests of 35th in 2011 and ’12.

Labeled as a “football school,” Tech has won four ACC championships in its marquee sport. During the same nine-season span, Florida State has won two football titles, Clemson, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech one each, the latter vacated due to NCAA sanctions.

But the Hokies’ non-revenue programs have been far more successful than anyone envisioned, earning ACC titles in men’s and women’s track, men’s cross country, softball, wrestling and men’s golf.

Obviously, the football success overshadows everything, but don’t discount the overall success that the athletic department is enjoying.

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Ugh. Really? This is a thing? Getting all worked up over future bowl tie-ins for the ACC? This is one more sign of doom and gloom? That the ACC and Pitt are screwed because of exhibition games that will take on less meaning with playoffs coming?

I can’t do it. I can’t even muster the hint of angst over this.

We’ve traded Birmingham for Shreveport as the worst of the “official” bowl relationships in Pitt’s conference. The other thing, is that the ACC like just about every conference is seeking more control over the bowls and making sure the same team is not getting sent to the same bowl every time. Something Pitt fans should fully be supporting.

But since the ACC may not have a full tie-in with the Gator Bowl, it’s time to panic. Instead, what we are seeing are deals with multiple conferences. The ACC will share a bid with the Big 10 on this. They will share other bids with other conferences in other bowls. Why?

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Last week the ACC put out its match-ups for the next twelve years. Predictably there was some teeth-gnashing by fans of programs in the ACC over the infrequency of many of the opponents from the other division. It’s one thing to know that it would be like that with an 8-game schedule and 14 teams. It’s something else to see it laid out in an official release.

The Virginia Tech blog, The Key Play has a proposal on the scheduling that does away with fixed cross-over games in favor of priority partner scheduling.

A priority partner would be chosen for each team every two years, and result in a home-and-home series. Priority partners would be determined by closely matching teams according to total number of regular season ACC wins in the previous two years, while avoiding permanent crossover pairings. The following example uses 2011 and 2012 ACC wins to set the schedule in 2014-2015 (because 2013 games haven’t happened yet).

It’s an interesting idea because it is a bit like the approach taken in the Big East with basketball scheduling. Unbalanced schedules in Big East basketball set to maximize competition and make TV partners happy with marquee games.

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I’ve seen this pop up periodically during the offseason. This whole, let’s find a rival now that teams have switched conferences. The Pitt Athletics blog got into it last week. The choices — despite technically being 13 choices in the ACC is really only limited to seven. The opponents in the Coastal Division plus annual game with Syracuse. In almost every instance, Virginia Tech comes out on top for Pitt fans.

I get why VT has been chosen. Geographically they are within the distance. There’s history from the old Big East. And Pitt has had their number, despite them lapping Pitt in the past twenty years in terms of success.

But a rivalry has to go both ways, and this one doesn’t come close right now. Heck, at best maybe third or fourth on the list for VT fans just in the ACC.

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