March Madness Rumors Like You Won't Believe!

March Madness Rumors Like You Won't Believe!

With “March Madness” underway in the sport of college basketball, I’m hearing some very interesting tidbits/rumors floating around. Here are some of them:

-With all of the conference realignment going on, there’s an interesting rumor floating around which suggests that the ACC may actually implode and that newcomers Pittsburgh and Syracuse could be among those left without a home when all is said and done.

Let me explain.

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First off, the rumors of the Big Ten having an interest in schools like North Carolina and Georgia Tech have been out there for a while and apparently have some legs to them. The latest rumor has the Big Ten attempting to up its membership to 16 teams by adding UNC, Georgia Tech, Duke and Virginia.

Those same rumors have the SEC and Big Twelve also attempting to up their membership to 16 teams as well.

Who might the SEC add? While they would love to have the likes of North Carolina and Virginia, the most rumored candidates for SEC expansion consist of two of the following three schools: Florida State, NC State and Virginia Tech.

Then there’s the Big Twelve. Currently at a membership of 10 schools, they would have to add 6 to get to the magic number of 16. Who might be considered strong candidates to be a part of that group? Louisville might lead the list with virtually every other non-northern school in the ACC also being a viable target. The feeling is that the Big Ten, because of the fact that their current and projected future revenue figures dwarf all of the other conferences, would have their pick of the litter while the SEC would likely be next leaving the leftovers for the Big Twelve.

However, the consensus in many of these rumors seems to be that schools like Syracuse, Pittsburgh and even Boston College may be left on the outside looking in. And would that be such a bad thing?

If these crazy scenarios were to unfold, what’s to say that Syracuse, Pitt and BC couldn’t go back to the likes of UConn, Cincinnati, South Florida and the rest of their former Big East football brethren and ask for forgiveness?

I must say, that as a Syracuse alumnus, these rumors scare me a bit because I wonder if my Orange will ever have an adequate conference to be a part of. However, another part of me would take pleasure in seeing the ACC implode because it was their greed in the first place that started this whole game of musical chairs in intercollegiate athletics.

And wouldn’t it be nice to see John Swafford as a commissioner without a conference to run? Talk about poetic justice!

-I’m hearing that, despite their not-so-strong finish to the season, that the 19-11 Bryant Bulldogs may not be done playing games. The hot rumor has Bryant hosting at least one game in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) tournament. That would be quite an accomplishment for a program that won just two games just a season ago. And, if Bryant fans could pack the Chace Athletic Center for such a game like they did for the team’s NEC quarterfinal round game against Mount St. Mary’s, that could be quite a night in Smithfield.

-Friar fans, I am also hearing that if they don’t make the NCAA Tournament, that PC will be hooping it up in the NIT. But that’s not all. Providence could be one of the higher seeds in the NIT field putting them in line to host at least a couple of games should they win an advance in the tournament. And, with the Dunkin’ Donuts Center off limits the week of March 25-31 because of the Frozen Four, the Friars would not be able to host a possible second round game there. So, what would their options be? Alumni Hall is too small seemingly ruling that out. They could also volunteer to go on the road but that would hurt their chances of advancing to Madison Square Garden in New York for the NIT’s Final Four. So, what would the other option be? Hold on tight URI fans, you might not like this one. PC is exploring playing a home game in the NIT at the Ryan Center.

While playing on URI’s home floor may seem strange to Friar fans, I would think that Ed Cooley would rather play there than on some other team’s home floor if it came right down to it.

Stay tuned. This could get interesting.