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Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim offers his thoughts on realignment

jim-boeheim

Mike Miller

Just when many thought that realignment was on a hiatus of sorts the Big Ten struck, grabbing Maryland and Rutgers to move to 14 members. There hasn’t been a shortage of opinions on the matter, and Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim offered his thoughts on the matter following the Orange’s 73-53 win over Princeton on Wednesday night.

“Rivalries don’t matter to anyone anymore,” Boeheim said according to the Associated Press. “If you ask someone at West Virginia if they like going to Texas Tech or Texas and all those places, ask their fans whether they really like that. Maybe they do. I don’t know. I don’t get it. It’s just the way it’s going. There’s nothing you can do about it.

“Like I said, if these guys [conference commissioners] were running the United States in colonial times, Brazil and Argentina would be states because they have something we need. It’s a great country.”

One rivalry that could very well fall by the wayside as a result of realignment is the series between Syracuse and Georgetown, one of the rivalries that helped turn a league created by the late Dave Gavitt to give the better programs of the Northeast a home into a juggernaut.

Whether it was Pearl Washington and Patrick Ewing getting into it during the 1985 Big East Tournament semifinals or any other moment fans of the two teams cherish, Georgetown/Syracuse was one of those game you marked on the calendar if you grew up watching the Big East.

There’s a chance that could be gone thanks to realignment but that’s no different from the fact that Kansas and Missouri won’t play each other this season, and neither will Texas and Texas A&M. Cash rules everything around college athletics these days, and until the industry is no longer a money maker that will likely remain the case.

“Maybe they should just have a draft, each conference should just draft teams ... except then they’d have to make a decision and they wouldn’t be able to figure it out,” said Boeheim. “Eventually, they’ll get this thing figured out. They’ll get all the teams moved and then in a year or two someone will say `We need to take somebody,’ ... But I’ll be long gone by then.”

With the ACC now at an odd number of all-sports members many expect John Swofford and the presidents he represents to make a move in the near future. And the Big East will need to make a move of its own to counter the departure of Rutgers (and any other school that may depart). Will those moves be the end of all this movement? Probably not.

Raphielle also writes for the NBE Basketball Report and can be followed on Twitter at @raphiellej.