In a recent interview with Lenn Robbins of the NY Post, the Duke coach doesn’t like the fact that the Fighting Irish won’t be ALL-IN the ACC.
From The Post:
I think you can’t do something for one that you’re not willing to do for all in these type of situations. I would never have accepted personally them coming in and not being totally in.
Why don’t Duke and North Carolina do something different in basketball? I mean it’s not right. I’m happy that they’re part of it I’m just not happy the way that they’re apart of it.
This information of course is not new to Notre Dame basketball coach Mike Brey, a former Duke assistant and friend to Coach K.
According to ND Insider:
Each summer during the July recruiting period, and again at the Final Four each April, Brey and Krzyzewski go to dinner. At almost every sit-down for the last few years, conference realignment surfaced. Each time Brey, who spent eight seasons at Duke as Krzyzewski’s assistant, wondered about Notre Dame one day joining the ACC. Each time, Krzyzewski never budged – you can come, but you’d better bring football. Otherwise, you’re not in.
Yet, that didn’t stop Brey from chiming in:
“First of all, isn’t Mike Catholic?” Brey joked. “I feel I have to respond on behalf of my Irish. Come on, man. Come on. In this time of conference realignment, you’ve got to think outside the box and John Swofford did that. He got us and we’re in.
“Let’s wake up and smell the roses. This is a whole new era.”
Obviously this now makes Duke and Notre Dame the greatest rivalry of all-time. #SARCASM
Listen, I understand what Coach K is saying and he’s not wrong. When teams come together in a conference, no one wants a George Clooney type of commitment. They want it all.
This is like a butcher keeping the best part of the cow for himself and giving the rest of us what’s left over. Now Brey did try to argue that teams like Duke and North Carolina are “special” just like Notre Dame football.
“They live in a whole different world…They’re on TV more than anyone. They get more exposure than any team in the league and rightfully so.”
Yes, they may be different than other teams in the league (more TV, more wins, more championships), but they do it all within the structure of the ACC. When it comes time to get into the NCAA Tournament, the same rules apply to them. The networks that show their games are the same networks that would show a ton of Clemson games if the Tigers became an elite team.
If Duke and North Carolina basketball wanted to be more like Notre Dame football, they would at the very least demand and get a higher percentage of the TV money the ACC gets and shares with all the teams equally. But they don’t.
Don’t get me wrong, I get it. I understand Notre Dame’s decision to keep football out of the ACC. There is no other sports product like Notre Dame football. They have their own network station that shows only their games. Not some crummy ESPN 8, but NB-freaking-C. They have their own rules when it comes to being eligible for a BCS game. They get exposure unlike any other college team in any college sport. Why give that up?
For the record, Duke and Notre Dame face off once this coming season in South Bend. I’m looking forward to that one.
