I guess March was not mad enough for the ACC.
After claiming the men's national basketball championship in 2001 and 2002, the most prestigious basketball conference in the nation did not have a team advance past the Sweet 16 this season.
The ACC is surely making up for the lack of insanity this summer with its attempt to add three Big East schools.
At first the idea of a neo-ACC was as popular as neo-conservative President George W. Bush and Neo in the year's highest grossing film the Matrix: Reloaded, but as of late things have been precarious at best.
Five Big East schools-including Virginia Tech, who lobbied to become part of the ACC before being dismissed by the conference last May-are suing the ACC, Governor Mark Warner of Virginia is demanding that a high-profile third party (possibly the NCAA itself) mediate the situation to ensure his state's "interests as a whole will be ensured," and Duke and North Carolina, who were hesitant to vote in favor of discussions about expansion a month ago, are having second thoughts about expansion.
How could a plan that seemed so popular less than a month ago be on the verge of collapse?
The reason is ACC Commissioner John Swofford has failed to look at any side of the expansion except its potential for profit.
President Nan Keohane stated in an e-mail that she was prepared to vote against expansion unless her concerns were about student welfare, travel costs and divisional alignment were addressed.
Was Swofford actually thinking the presidents of the conference's schools would vote for expansion before issues such as the effect on student-athletes, team travel budgets and rivalries had been discussed?
Clearly Swofford is trying to get this deal done as quickly as possible because if Miami, Boston College and Syracuse - the three Big East teams to be invited into the 50-year old conference - face only a one million dollar exit fee if the schools leave before June 30th. After that date the figure is two million dollars.
This is a dangerous sign for the conference if Swofford is struggling to deal with money and power issues already with the conference. What is going to happen when three more athletic powerhouses enter the conference?
Will Swofford have the political skill to effectively communicate with an even larger conference? These are all questions that only a pure optimist could answer positively.
Another area Swofford is failing to address is how the ACC will be viewed around the country. Before this expansion decision, the ACC was regarded with the utmost respect from nearly everyone in the country for its combination of athletic excellence and academic prestige.
But if the expansion destroys the Big East conference, will the casual fan begin to look at the ACC as a villain. And if the conference is vilified, will the NCAA be less sympathetic to bubble teams for both the NCAA basketball tournament and Bowl Games?
These are all areas that Swofford must address before the ACC can think about increasing its bank account.
The Herald-Sun of Durham contributed to this story.
Robert Samuel is a Trinity junior and managing sports editor. His column appears weekly over the summer.
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