The SEC is currently running away with college basketball and the Big Ten isn’t far behind, but former Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski has an idea that could get two premier conferences more competitive in the national scope of the sport.
Krzyzewski proposed an idea on his radio show this week, Basketball & Beyond with Coach K, that the ACC and Big East Conference should have conversations about joining forces to create a “mega basketball conference.”
“The two power conferences that are ahead are the SEC and the Big Ten,” Coach K said.
“Our conference has been a great one, I think he needs to get better,” he added on the current state of the ACC. “We’re down results wise in both men’s basketball and football – at least the bowl games.”
Can you envision a mega basketball conference between the ACC and Big East??
— College Sports on SiriusXM (@SXMCollege) January 8, 2025
Coach K told @Chris_Spatola he wants to see it and thinks the ACC needs to do something drastic to remain an elite basketball conference.
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The ACC finished 2-11 in the football postseason and the two teams it got into the College Football Playoff, Clemson and SMU, each lost its first-round game by a combined 42 points. There is only one team, Duke, ranked inside the Associated Press Top-25 Poll this week.
“I’d like to see the ACC and the Big East talk and form a mega basketball conference” he continued. “Imagine if we had the Big East.”
Krzyzewski also pointed out that the alliance could also allow UConn to play an ACC schedule in football as the Huskies have been rumored to be eyeing the Big 12 Conference to try and elevate its program.
St. John’s basketball head coach Rick Pitino is fully on board with the idea.
“I am 100-percent in agreement with him,” Pitino said during his press conference on Friday morning.
“The problem with the Big East right now and the [school’s] presidents, is they’re just looking at the bottom line and they don’t want to share the revenue because schools in the Big East don’t have football, and they don’t have money.”
The Big East signed a new 6-year media rights deal this summer with FOX, NBC, and TNT Sports that will average nearly $80 million per year, according to previous reports. The league’s current media rights deal with FOX and CBS that expires at the end of this season was for 12-year and averaged $41.67 million per year.
In comparison, the SEC recently agreed to a new media rights deal with Disney and ESPN that generates $300 million annually while the Big Ten’s media rights deal totals $7 billion over seven years.
“In order for it to grown to make millions down the road, you got sacrifice five, six, seven years just like any company would,” Pitino added.
“I’ve been saying it all along, the only way to do that is by expansion. So, if you don’t want to expand, I totally agree with Mike Krzyzewski.”
There are a lot of logistics involved, probably more than either Hall of Fame coach knows about, but with two of the most prominent people in college basketball advocating for a potentially alliance between the Big East and the ACC, it could move the needle in the conversation.