Jay Bilas offered his thoughts on the latest defection and stated more are going to come. Interesting to see him be so candid especially regarding the academic BS being spewed regarding the move.
"It's a really good move for both the ACC and Notre Dame," ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas said during a phone interview on Wednesday. "The ACC gets the Notre Dame brand and the markets where there is Notre Dame interest. So, all of those people watching Notre Dame play, for good or for ill, are going to be more focused on the ACC now. It also allows them to re-open some media deals, in my understanding."
Bilas said he thinks the move will help "open up recruiting" for Notre Dame.
"They will be able to recruit some different areas all the way up and down the eastern seaboard," Bilas said. "It puts them in more basketball fertile areas, if you will. Not that they are not in those now. It opens up Florida."
"I'm sensitive to the fact that they say, hey, it's a great academic fit," Bilas said. "Because of integrity and all this other stuff, how great is it. But this was about markets and money and media rights deals. So that means basketball, football. It increases the footprint of the ACC and makes it more valuable from a media rights standpoint.
"It's good for Notre Dame because they go from a league that was uncertain and frankly destabilized - and does it further destabilize it? Yes," Bilas said. "All of these schools have to think individually as well. When Syracuse left and Pittsburgh and West Virginia, that put the Big East in a bad spot. That's not Notre Dame's fault. They've got to take care of themselves.
"Schools have to do what they have to do," Bilas said. "This has become a 350-team game of musical chairs. And there are not enough chairs."
Bilas said he does not expect conference shifting to end.
"I don't have a crystal ball on the Big East so much," Bilas said. "But I do think this is not over, that we are going to see more of this and it's going to extend down the smaller conferences."
"It's a really good move for both the ACC and Notre Dame," ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas said during a phone interview on Wednesday. "The ACC gets the Notre Dame brand and the markets where there is Notre Dame interest. So, all of those people watching Notre Dame play, for good or for ill, are going to be more focused on the ACC now. It also allows them to re-open some media deals, in my understanding."
Bilas said he thinks the move will help "open up recruiting" for Notre Dame.
"They will be able to recruit some different areas all the way up and down the eastern seaboard," Bilas said. "It puts them in more basketball fertile areas, if you will. Not that they are not in those now. It opens up Florida."
"I'm sensitive to the fact that they say, hey, it's a great academic fit," Bilas said. "Because of integrity and all this other stuff, how great is it. But this was about markets and money and media rights deals. So that means basketball, football. It increases the footprint of the ACC and makes it more valuable from a media rights standpoint.
"It's good for Notre Dame because they go from a league that was uncertain and frankly destabilized - and does it further destabilize it? Yes," Bilas said. "All of these schools have to think individually as well. When Syracuse left and Pittsburgh and West Virginia, that put the Big East in a bad spot. That's not Notre Dame's fault. They've got to take care of themselves.
"Schools have to do what they have to do," Bilas said. "This has become a 350-team game of musical chairs. And there are not enough chairs."
Bilas said he does not expect conference shifting to end.
"I don't have a crystal ball on the Big East so much," Bilas said. "But I do think this is not over, that we are going to see more of this and it's going to extend down the smaller conferences."