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Brett McMurphy sums up the enormity of today quite well.
It's hard to imagine who has more momentum going forward: Louisville or the ACC. The ACC now boasts a geographic area that will contain the most television households and highest population of any conference in the nation. The conference projects that by 2030, 55 percent of the United States' population will lie within the Northeast and Southern states, i.e., prime ACC territory.
The Cardinals, meanwhile, are flying high.
"The ACC is the perfect fit for us," Jurich said.
UL now belongs to the only Power 5 conference with more than half of its member institutions among the U.S. News & World Report's 50 Best Colleges.
Not bad for a school that was nearly evicted by Conference USA and got passed over by the Big 12.
Louisville in the ACC was unthinkable as recently as a decade ago.
BC Interruption is super pumped to have U of L in the ACC, but not super pumped that the Cardinal football team will be playing in their Atlantic Division.
Tar Heel Blog is also happy that the Cards are now family, and prefers them to both Kentucky and Maryland.
Rick Pitino is both excited and intrigued by the future.
"This is going to be totally new and different," Pitino said. "'I'm intrigued by it. It's like, you don't know what to expect. You don't know what it's going to be like."
For example, Pitino said he has never seen Clemson play in person. He is looking forward to things like visiting Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium, but he also knows that eventually that novelty and newness will fade, and then games against North Carolina will be the new normal, and fresh rivalries will bloom.
Given the Cardinals' prestige, this feels like the rare instance where a team is as much of a boon to its new conference as the new conferences is to the team. There's the world-class arena, the Hall of Fame coach, the recent national title, the deep history.
Pitino pointed out how the television ratings in Louisville for last week's NBA draft were the highest of any city in the country-though he acknowledged that Kentucky fans played a large role in that figure, too.
"Tobacco Road is very, very good," Pitino said, "but I don't think anything can beat the city of Louisville in terms of basketball popularity."
Now that Louisville has finally settled in the ACC, there's only one thing left to do....debate whether or not they're a candidate to join the SEC. I'm just joking. Please don't do that. We are home.
Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician ranks Louisville as the fifth-strongest team in the ACC at the quarterback position.
Of course Louisville wasn't the only program on the move today. Here's a look at the other programs that woke up in new homes on July 1:
| SCHOOL | OLD | NEW |
|---|---|---|
| Appalachian State | Southern | Sun Belt |
| Davidson | Southern | Atlantic 10 |
| East Carolina | Conference USA | AAC |
| Elon | Southern | Colonial |
| East Tennessee State | Atlantic Sun | Sun Belt |
| Georgia Southern | Southern | Sun Belt |
| Idaho Vandals | WAC | Big Sky |
| Louisville Cardinals | AAC | ACC |
| Maryland Terrapins | ACC | Big Ten |
| Mercer Bears | Atlantic Sun | Southern |
| Oral Roberts | Southland | Summit |
| Rutgers Scarlet Knights | AAC | Big Ten |
| Tulane Green Wave | Conference USA | AAC |
| Tulsa Golden Hurricane | Conference USA | AAC |
| VMI | Big South | Southern |
| Western Kentucky Hilltoppers | Sun Belt | Conference USA |
North Carolina is once again under NCAA investigation, and this time it's the basketball program that's under the microscope.
The ACC mascots spent most of Monday touring Louisville and partaking in crazy mascot shenanigans.
Unseen: the portion of the evening where the mascots wound up at Hikes Point Lounge. Cavalier spent like five minutes there before bouncing to St. Matts by himself. For everyone else, it got pretty weird.
Bobby Petrino talks with the ACC Digital Network (video) about the big day.
Someone mixed the words "change" and "the" up with "win" and "a."
Understandable mistake.
Fox Sports says that trading Maryland for Louisville is a huge win for the ACC.
Duke Basketball Report says that the addition of the Cards is a giant step forward for the ACC.
The folks in Clemson land are also excited about today's events.
So what does this mean for Clemson? Well, since Louisville has been assigned to the league's Atlantic Division, it means that winning division and conference titles just got a bit more challenging.
Clemson basketball coach Brad Brownell, a great strategist who could milk talent out of a turnip, could put together one of his best teams in years and still be in a dogfight to finish fourth or fifth in the division.
Louisville will come in wielding a big bat in baseball, too. The Cardinals are coming off a 50-17 season capped with a second consecutive College World Series appearance.
But the Cardinals' biggest impact could come in football. Louisville went 12-1 last season, with the lone defeat being a three-point loss at Central Florida, and then destroyed Miami 36-9 in the Russell Athletic Bowl.
Teddy Bridgewater may be gone, but the Cardinals still will be packing plenty of talent when they invade Death Valley on Oct. 11.
Florida State and Clemson are proven enough that they won't exactly be shaking in their cleats come kickoff, but Louisville's presence certainly will make things interesting in the Atlantic, which suddenly appears rather top-heavy.
The Juice previews the 2014 Louisville football team.
And finally, go Louisville, go USA, go ACC.
