The ACC's successful run in the NCAA Tournament, which has resulted in a 12-1 record and six teams in the Sweet 16, "will be worth" more than $30M to the conference through the NCAA's "basketball fund," according to Darren Rovell of ESPN.com. The fund is a pool set aside by the NCAA since '91 to "reward conferences for their teams' advancing in the tournament." Each game played in this year's tournament "is worth" $265,791. That money "is paid out" in each of the next six years ('17-'22), with the number for each game, or unit, "growing each year of the payout." Additionally, because no ACC team will face a conference foe in the Sweet 16, it is possible they "could all advance" to the Elite 8 (ESPN.com, 3/20). ESPN’s Dick Vitale said ACC Commissioner John Swofford "must be doing his dance." Vitale: "I know one thing: He’s thinking about the cash register for the ACC. It’s going, ‘Ding-a-ling-ding, ding-a-ling-ding!’ That cash, baby, is going to be rolling in” (“Mike & Mike,” ESPN Radio, 3/21). USA TODAY's Nicole Auerbach writes the showing is "part of a banner year for the conference" (USA TODAY, 3/21). On Long Island, Greg Logan writes for the "next few days, the ACC is entitled to beat its chest" (NEWSDAY, 3/21). YAHOO SPORTS' Kyle Ringo noted it is "possible we could have an All-ACC Final Four." Ringo: "Imagine what that would do for bragging rights" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 3/20).
BASKETBALL ONCE AGAIN KING? In N.Y., William Rhoden noted before Seton Hall's basketball resurgence this season, the Big East's "disastrous flirtation with football decimated what was perhaps the nation's pre-eminent basketball conference." Many "acknowledge that mistake now." The question is whether the Big East "can ever become the dynamic force it was" from the '80s until only recently. Big East Commissioner Val Ackerman said, "I'm confident that it can be done in the Big East. We have too much going for us as a conference -- our schools are so committed, we have great coaches, great players." However, Villanova coach Jay Wright said, "When the Big East had Syracuse and UConn, they were the glory years, and St. Johns. I think college football has eliminated that." Rhoden: "I agree with Ackerman that the Big East can come roaring back, but for that to happen, [late Big East Commissioner Dave] Gavitt’s vision of a nationally relevant conference driven by basketball needs to be geographically expanded." However, Ackerman said that the conference "was not ready" to expand beyond 10 members (N.Y. TIMES, 3/20).
