Up for a little more conference expansion talk? Right after you drink that bleach and broken glass milkshake you say? I too find this topic very boring and non eventful, but I did think of a scenario that no one has proposed yet. While schools like Louisville try to shop themselves like Cecil Newton’s shops his offspring, schools like UK would never be mentioned as a possible mover and shaker. So now you’re probably asking yourself “Why would UK ever leave the SEC?”. For craps and giggles I can answer that.
Football wise, this is a win win. I think all UK football fans have come to the realization that UK is going to be near the bottom of the SEC almost every single year. Even in UK’s best year in the past 10 years, they finished 3rd in the SEC East. UK fans may even see Vanderbilt finish ahead of them this y–ok that’s enough Vandy football talk. The SEC is tough even in a down year. So why not join a conference that UK can compete in? If you can’t beat them, join another conference. The ACC sounds like a great opportunity for Kentucky.
In the past 5 years in the ACC, the team with the best record finished with at least 3 losses. That means that every BCS representative from the ACC had good NOT great years. Also in that same 5 year span, the Atlantic division in the ACC has had 5 different division champs. Plenty of room for parity and opportunity. The Coastal division has been locked up by Va Tech for a while, but they certainly are no Florida, Alabama, or LSU. In fact (or opinion), UK football is on par with most of the ACC. For example, last year NC state, Wake Forrest, Virginia, Duke, and Ga.Tech. had a combined record of 25-37.
Now let’s talk about the basketball ramifications. That’s is the fun part. This week we learned that Syracuse and Pittsburgh formally agreed to join the ACC, which may have made the ACC the premier basketball conference in America. If UK joined the fold, the ACC would be insane. Could you imagine UK playing North Carolina every year? Ok, bad example. But, how about playing Duke twice maybe 3 times per year? Somebody has to stop the Dukies from walking through the ACC every year, why not the Cats. Now that Coach Cal has formed UK into a perennial national powerhouse, they should play the best. Its like they say, to be the best you have to be UK.
It may be sad leaving the SEC at first, but when you really sit down and think about it, it’s time to move on. In basketball UK has won the SEC regular conference title an astounding 46 times (2nd in NCAA) and the SEC conference tournament 28 times (1st in NCAA). What more is there to accomplish in this league. The same could be said in football, what more can UK accomplish there, maybe 2nd place in the East division?
I’m not saying this will or should happen, but if it did, it would be pretty freaking cool.
