It's on

The ACC-Big Ten Challenge has given us a real measuring stick game for the program on November 28th when the Hoos visit the Kohl Center and the Grateful Red, home of the Wisconsin Badgers.

Wisconsin Basketball: The Great White North

If ever there was a team to compare us to this is it. Bo Ryan and Tony Bennett run almost identical systems, but the system has much longer, deeper, and more developed roots at Wisconsin. This game is going to measure where we are as a program relative to what could be considered the gold standard of slow it down basketball. If the over/under of this game is above 85, bet the farm on the under. If we can manage to beat Wisco on their floor playing their style of ball it shows a couple of things. First and foremost it will show that Tony Bennett can coach with the best of them. Each team will know exactly what to do against the other because they pretty much practice against this all season. The success or failure will come down to coaching adjustments. It will also however show how big a factor having superior athletes will be in the success or failure of this system. As good as Wisco has been they still don't have access to the kind of athletes in the B1G that UVA has in the ACC, especially with bigger programs scooping up kids out of Chicago and Milwaukee. While UVA does not necessarily have better players in the system, it's safe to say we are close to, if not more athletic than the Badgers.

All in all this is a good measuring stick game. We will have an experienced point guard, 3 shooters, and some bounce in the paint. Wisco can probably out muscle us down low, but if we can knock down perimeter shots and take advantage of fast break chances we should be able to force them to play our kind of game, which could eventually evolve into a weird up-tempo slow down system which takes advantage of mistakes on the fast break and also kills you in the half court. We'll be up against the model, let's see how it goes.

We're coming for you Bo Ryan.

Third Tier Rights Explained

You're going to need to read and understand this as we move forward with the REALIGNMAGEDDON blogging, especially as it pertains to F$U and their potential departure from the ACC.  Call it required reading.  I'd give you the Cliffs Notes, but this piece is short enough and too important to your base understanding.  So nut up and mouse-smack this link:

“Third-Tier Rights” Defined & Perspective on Their Value

The potential coverage of the Nole Network.  This is a lot of TV sets,
boys and girls, with ZERO competition from GatorTV or The U-Tube.

REALIGNMAGEDDON Rumor -- 5/11/12

Hearing that Louisville just informed the Big East that they are leaving the conference.

Rumored destination: either the Big XII or the ACC.

Also hearing that the Big XII has specifically targeted four schools for further expansion up to 14 teams: Louisville, Cincinnati, Florida State, and Notre Dame.  No mention of Clemson.

Hang on to your asses.  Something tells me this is going to be a very interesting couple of weeks...

REALIGNMAGEDDON'S Revenge!

Nebraska to the B1G.  Colorado/Utah to the Pac-1012.  TCU to the Big EastXII.  West Virginia to the Big XII.  Mizzou / Texas A&M to the SEC.  Pitt/Syracuse to the ACC.  Pu pu platter (including Boise State for football only!) to the Big East.  Mountain West / C-USA merger loose coalition.

You thought the quakes were slowing down?  You thought the REALIGNMAGEDDON was over?  Not so fast.  The plates are still moving, the earth is still rumbling, and this brave new world is still taking shape... and this time, it could involve Virginia in a more meaningful way than just adding two new conference mates to our schedule.

Let's take a look...

(Note: I'm going to be mentioning "tier 3" a lot in this piece.  Just so you understand what it is, tier 3 is a school's right to build its own network around any content not picked up by the primary media partnership.  A perfect example is Texas' Longhorn Network.  Some conferences allow schools to maintain complete control over their own tier 3 revenue (the Big XII), while other conferences enforce revenue sharing across the board (the SEC).  The ACC is currently half-assing it, sharing tier 3 for football but allowing tier 3 freedom for basketball.  That hurts Florida State and helps Tobacco Road, and it's the point of contention that could ultimately destroy the conference if it's not properly addressed at the ACC meetings next week.)

First, if you haven't seen Stewart Mandel's excellent Realignment Cheat Sheet, please click on that now and take a read.  Go ahead, I'll wait...

Got it?

Awesome.

My plan for this post was to break down all of the moves for each conference and give you my thoughts.  That was before some new shit - BIG shit - came to light this week.  But that new shit (as hinted to above in the tier 3 blurb) can wait until the end of this post, as I stick to the original plan for now.

Conference-by-conference, here is where we stand after the 2.5 years since the Big Ten's press release announcing its intent to expand:

ACC
Added: Pitt, Syracuse
Lost: Nobody (yet)
Notes: It's all good for the ACC, as the conference landed a cherry deal with ESPN after adding Pitt and the Cuse.  These two additions don't move the needle much for football, but they improve basketball greatly, and make the conference much more attractive from a media standpoint.  The ACC still has some potential internal problems, stemming from tier 3 rights and a slightly lower per-team payoff than the four big-time football conferences (SEC, B1G, Big XII, Pac-12) can offer, but the opportunity for great long-term stability is right there within arm's reach.  Best of all, at 14 schools, there are still two spots open for a potential run at Notre Dame and Penn State, with ESPN open to constant renegotiation upon any instance of conference improvement.  The ACC has forged a true partnership with ESPN, maybe the most powerful television entity in the world of sports.  The conference is in a great spot, currently the 5th-best football conference with a golden (pun intended) opportunity to climb higher.
Further Expansion Options: Notre Dame?, Penn State?, Rutgers, UConn, Louisville

SEC
Added: Texas A&M, Missouri
Lost: Nobody, nor will they ever lose anybody
Notes: I think this 14-team SEC is now pretty much set in stone, with the Florida/Georgia/South Carolina/Kentucky voting coalition able to block possible inclusion of any schools from Florida (FSU), Georgia (GT), South Carolina (Clemson), or Kentucky (Louisville).  If the conference decides to go to 16 at any point, I think the only possibilities would be Virginia Tech, NC State, and/or Maryland.  Further SEC expansion is really, really unlikely, but I suppose it is possible (more on that later.)  Would any schools bring in more additional revenue than they'd be taking a share of?  Would adding VT and NCSU lead to the conference's media partners adding an additional $40+ million annually to the kitty?  I really don't think so.  For now, make absolutely no mistake -- the SEC is the most powerful conference, and it's by far the most lucrative on its own merits.  But with not much juice behind basketball, and the non-revs [other than baseball] nearly non-existent, it's a one-dimensional product.  The SEC is today's vogue conference, but I think it has positioned itself in such a way as to limit any further growth.  It won't be tomorrow's vogue conference.
Further Expansion Options: Virginia Tech, NC State, Maryland, Louisville


B1G
Added: Nebraska
Lost: Nobody
Notes: The B1G failed to kill the Big XII when it had the chance, and as a result has effectively penned itself into its new 12-team lineup.  The Big Ten Network (BTN) gives all 12 schools a revenue bump to a national-best $22 million per school, but that is now a static number -- which is why I continue to think that Penn State moving to the ACC is not impossible.  Notre Dame has no reason or desire to join the Big Ten, despite the geographic fit, and options like Rutgers, Cincinnati, Louisville, UConn, and Maryland are so totally underwhelming that I highly doubt the conference will budge from where it is right now.  The days of being able to poach from the Big XII are almost over, as that conference stabilizes under a great new media deal and total tier 3 freedom for its member schools.  Unless the B1G has a chance to scavenge the wreckage of a destroyed ACC, I think this conference is stuck where it is.  [B1G Commissioner] Jim Delaney is the original architect of REALIGNMAGEDDON, however.  I won't sleep on his ability to set off another series of tremors, should he choose to do so.
Further Expansion Options: Rutgers, UConn, Louisville, Maryland, Virginia


Pac-12
Added: Colorado, Utah
Lost: Nobody
Credit the Pac-10 for swinging for the fences and almost pulling off the biggest coup of REALIGNMAGEDDON when it almost brought aboard Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech.  Discredit the Pac-10 for swinging, missing, and grounding out to the shortstop with the inclusion of Colorado and Utah.  Those weren't bad moves, per se... but it's kind of like asking Santa for the G.I. Joe U.S.S. Flagg Aircraft Carrier, and then waking up to find the Cobra Water Moccasin under the tree.  Colorado and Utah took the conference to 12 schools, opening up the ability to play a conference championship game.  Congrats on catching up with what was going on in 2003, guys.  The [relatively sudden] success of Stanford and Oregon, along with USC's perennial greatness, keeps the conference buoyed, but the Pac-12 will stay at 12 barring the decision to expand again with more underwhelming options.  The Big XII won't be poached again, and the low-hanging fruit of lesser conferences would just do more harm (more schools with which to share revenue) than good (bringing additional revenue to the table.)  I think Boise is a somewhat interesting option, but that only helps football and kills everything else... and this is a conference that supposedly values its non-revs and its academic profile.
Further Expansion Options: BYU, Boise State

Big XII
Added: TCU, West Virginia
Lost: Nebraska, Colorado, Texas A&M, Missouri
Notes: This conference was attacked and almost killed, but was able to stop the bleeding and stabilize with the additions of TCU and WVU and a commitment to togetherness from the eight incumbent members.  In a fight for survival, the conference agreed to revenue sharing, but allowed Texas to keep its Longhorn Network.  From UT's greed was born tier 3 freedom in the Big XII, which might ultimately prove to be the master stroke that saves this league and catapults it to the top of the world of college athletics... as other schools with tier 3 earning potential - namely FSU, Notre Dame, and possibly Clemson - could seek out a safe haven that offers up a bit more autonomy than the more socialist-minded conferences.  Trading Nebraska, Colorado, A&M, and Mizzou for TCU and West Virginia is a massive net loss, but at the same time this conference has to like where it is currently positioned.  The biggest problem that plagues the Big XII is that enormously over-inflated ego that Texas brings to the table.  Can the Longhorns suffer through sharing the spotlight, should the conference attempt to bring in the Noles and/or the Irish?  Would Notre Dame be able to co-exist with Texas?  Those are fundamental questions at the absolute heart of this conference's potential for further growth.  But make absolutely no mistake -- if the Big XII is somehow able to add F$U and ND, it would suddenly rival the SEC in football, and far surpass it in everything else.  It would be... dare I say it?... the new top dog in college sports.  And the associated megabucks media deal would quickly follow.
Further Expansion Options: Florida State, Clemson, Notre Dame, Louisville, Cincinnati, BYU, Boise State



Big East
Added: Boise State (football only), San Diego State (football only), Temple, Memphis, Houston, SMU, UCF, Navy (football only)
Lost: Pitt, Syracuse, TCU (sort of), West Virginia
Notes: This is what a whore looks like.  A Frankenstein whore, to be specific.  A monster-made college football dumpster slut, to be really specific.  The Big East, constantly poached, and with member schools openly begging other conferences for inclusion, had no choice but to go for quantity over quality, and in doing so decided to bastardize the whole concept of "geographic footprint" for a college athletics conference.  Oddly, I kind of respect what they've done.  It's wacky and outside the box, and while it might be destined to fail like the ill-conceived WAC superexpansion of 1996, at least it's an interesting notion.  Since this conference has seen so much change, here are its 13 projected football-playing members: Cincinnati, UConn, Louisville, Rutgers, USF, Temple, Boise, SDSU, Houston, Memphis, SMU, UCF, Navy.  This feels a lot like the original Conference USA, right?  (Since the Big East has become so hoops-driven, here are its basketball-playing members: Temple, Memphis, Houston, SMU, UCF, Marquette, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Cincinnati, USF, Louisville, Seton Hall, UConn, Rutgers, St. John's, Villanova, Providence, DePaul.  That's an 18-team mutant, but it does carry some hardwood heft.)
Further Expansion Options: Any school not currently in the ACC, SEC, B1G, Pac-12, or Big XII.  Seriously.



Mountain West
Added: Fresno State, Hawaii (football only), Nevada, San Jose State, Utah State
Lost: Boise State, BYU, TCU, Utah
Notes: Like Wahooze once ate WahooWatch (sorry Mike), the Mountain West ate the WAC.  Air Force, Colorado State, New Mexico, UNLV, Wyoming, Fresno, Hawaii, Nevada, SJSU, and Utah State forms a quaint, cute little football conference, but this league is no longer pushing for a seat at the grownups table.  One interesting thought that I had and wanted to include somewhere is this: Boise, BYU, TCU, and Utah leaving this conference creates a power vacuum.  Somebody is going to be winning games in the MW, and those wins could pile up to conference championships, bowl games, and eventually into becoming the next nouveau riche western football power.  My guess for that distinction: maybe Nevada, maybe Air Force, but most likely Colorado State.  You heard it here first --- ten years from now, the Rams will be the next Boise State Broncos.  Meanwhile, the new Mountain West logo rocks.
Further Expansion Options: Idaho and/or New Mexico State, both left to wither and die in the abandoned WAC.  Or maybe UTEP.

Conference USA
Added: FIU, Louisiana Tech, North Texas, UT-San Antonio (new to the FBS), Charlotte (new to the FBS), maybe ODU (which would also be new to the FBS, should the Monarchs decide to make the jump)
Lost: Houston, Memphis, SMU, UCF
Notes: This one popped, mushroomed, and went nuclear just this week.  Aggressive moves for an also-ran conference, and I appreciate ALL of it.  I think Florida International is a baby giant, poised to grow maybe bigger than UCF and even USF and become the #4 power in the state of Florida... which I realize sounds like I'm damning the Golden Panthers with faint praise, but I really am bullish about the potential of this football program.  The new additions join holdovers ECU, Marshall, Rice, Southern Miss, Tulsa, Tulane, UAB, and UTEP.  This is honestly not a terrible conference, and like with the Mountain West, I bet it produces a "new" football power.  That might be FIU, or it could be Old Dominion.  If ODU bites the bullet and makes the jump, it could quickly gain traction in a conference like this by strictly recruiting the 757, to include kids like Divante Walker and Wil Wahee, guys that UVA and VT don't pounce on immediately.  (If ODU rises up to the FBS level, we MUST make them an annual rival, with alternating home and away games.  Seven home games with one of our away games in the Hampton Roads area  we are so focused on recruiting?  Yes please.  I'm not afraid of losing to ODU every once in a while.  I think that series would do much more good than harm for UVA, and I can guarantee that VPI will be scared shitless to play the Monarchs.)
Further Expansion Options: Who the hell knows?




MAC
Added: UMass (new to the FBS)
Lost: Temple
Notes: UMass replaces Temple, and it's pretty much status quo in the below-mediocre MAC.  Yawn.



Sun Belt
Added: South Alabama, Georgia State, and Texas State (all new to the FBS)
Lost: FIU, North Texas
Notes: I like the Sun Belt.  Gus Malzahn is coaching Arkansas State, FAU is another potential "baby giant" in Florida, Louisiana-Lafayette seems like it'll be good for a while, MTSU continues to climb, Troy is always a tough out, and now these three FBS newcomers... it's an interesting little conference.


WAC
Added: Ha ha, yeah right.
Lost: Boise State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Louisiana Tech, Nevada, San Jose State, Texas State, UT-San Antonio, Utah State
Notes: Extending the metaphor of REALIGNMAGEDDON being an earthquake, the WAC is like the Wal-Mart that got sucked into the fissure and was never seen again.  This is now a two-team football conference.  Unless Idaho and New Mexico State want to play each other eight times every season, those two schools are looking at the cold, hard reality of folding down the tents and taking the party back to the FCS level.  The Mountain West is happy at ten teams, and nobody else can come even remotely close to wanting the Vandals or Aggies.  Losing such a high-stakes game of musical chairs has to be painful.  Montana is licking its chops to see Idaho come crawling back to the Big Sky.






But back to tier 3 and the ACC...

Do me a favor and finger-punch THIS LINK.

At this point it's all conjecture and fodder for niche blogs and websites of ill-repute, but F$U-to-the-Big XII does seem to be getting some legs under it.  The ACC has a chance to iron out Florida State's (and Clemson's) tier 3 opportunities at next week's conference meetings.  If our conference fails to properly and appropriately address tier 3, could the lure of additional money over the long term entice the Seminoles to jump ship to the Big XII?  How about Clemson, which is in a similar boat, minus the budget shortfalls?  And if those two cut and run, would VT-to-the-SEC once again appear possible?  Could the Big XII's loosey-goosey tier 3 stance also ultimately attract Notre Dame?

I always thought the SEC would be the conference to ultimately pose the biggest threat to the ACC.  Maybe the B1G.  Never thought it'd be the Big XII, though "electronic footprint" trumps geographic footprint in modern college sports.

Don't put your heads in the sand on this one, guys. FSU and Clemson don't care that much about academics (else they'd have better schools!), and these tier 3 freedoms represent millions annually, and a chance to get a leg up on their in-state SEC counterparts. The extra $3M + $5M from the launch of the Nole Network would quickly counterbalance the $20+M ACC buyout... especially if the Big XII helped pay off that debt.

If the ACC doesn't move (and move quick, like, next week at the meeting) to address this tier 3 inequity, we could see the Noles and Tigers bolt, and Notre Dame snatched off the table not long after. And with those two gone and no hope for ND, how quick would Virginia Tech and maybe NC State wait before flirting with the SEC?

ACC football could be destroyed over tier 3.

Ball's in Swofford's court. How much faith do we have in that guy and in the ACC university presidents to get this right?

Soooooo glad we have Sullivan at that table instead of Casteen.

It's scary, but if the ACC falls apart, Virginia is attractive enough on its own to find a somewhat soft landing spot.  Clumped together with UNC and Duke, we could help form a new, weird, basketball-first conference.  Or maybe the B1G would come calling.  Or maybe we go whore ourselves next to the dumpster in the Big East.

I'll keep you posted, you keep your ruby red lipstick handy and your stiletto heels polished.

Money Matters

Oh man, I have a freaking enormous REALIGNMAGEDDON piece brewing for you guys right now, for those few of you who enjoy that kind of thing.

But for the time being, just this: Two huge pieces of news that broke today.

UVA Signs Tony Bennett to a Five-Year Extension

No pay increase, but a $500K bonus for 2014. I think it’s a pretty good deal for UVA.

It also shows that Bennett is committed to staying at UVA. Of course, if/when Bo Ryan retires and Wisconsin comes calling, it could still be a battle to keep Bennett. It's a battle I think we can win.

ESPN and ACC Extend Exclusive, Multi-Platform Agreement through 2026-27 

Extension Increases Value with Sponsorship Rights; More Basketball, Football and Olympic Sport Games

The numbers bandied about are $3.6 billion total and an average of $17 million per school per year.  That's up from $12 million per year per school under the old deal.  Good stuff.

Food for thought: Notre Dame receives an average of $15 million per year from its deal with NBC.  Think ESPN might want to increase its ACC deal by ~15% in order to accommodate Notre Dame and another school (Penn State? Rutgers? UConn?) joining the conference as its 15th and 16th teams?  I think they'd be willing to go way above a 15% increase.

This also likely means there'll be more ACC baseball on TV.  Always a good thing.

The bottom line is that the ACC is cementing itself with a media partner, and it's a solid, stable, long-term partnership.  Bristol is a powerful ally in the world of sports, which goes without saying.

Here's the press release:

ESPN and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) have announced an extension to their exclusive agreement through 2026-27 which will now feature several new elements designed to bring added value to ESPN and ACC fans, including more title sponsorship rights, more men’s regular-season and conference tournament basketball games, more conference football games, and dozens more Olympic sports competitions. The deal will provide premier content to numerous ESPN multimedia platforms, including ESPN, ESPN on ABC, ESPN2, WatchESPN.com, ESPNU, ESPN3, ESPN 3D, ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN GamePlan, ESPN FULL COURT, ESPN Buzzer Beater/Goal Line, ESPN International, ESPN Deportes, ESPN Classic and ESPN.com.

Increased Inventory
The conference’s planned increase to an 18-game conference men’s basketball schedule and the additions of Pittsburgh and Syracuse will bring an increase of 30 conference men’s basketball games per year and two more conference tournament games. In football, 14 more conference-controlled games will be televised each year. Per the extension, ESPN has the right to televise three Friday ACC football contests annually which will include a standing commitment from Boston College and Syracuse to each host one game as well as an afternoon or evening game on Thanksgiving Friday. Also, more women’s basketball and dozens more Olympic sports competitions will be covered on ESPN platforms representing the conference’s 25, soon to be 26, sponsored sports.

Sponsorship and Enhancements
For the first time, ESPN has acquired title sponsorship rights, subject to conference approval, beyond football to all other conference championships including the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. The ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament, televised in its entirety on ESPN networks and its syndication partner Raycom, has never been sponsored in its 59-year history.

John Skipper, president, ESPN and co-chair, Disney Media Networks, said, “This expansion and extension of our exclusive agreement brings tremendous value to our company and to ACC fans everywhere. We look forward to showcasing this premier conference across all platforms through 2027.”

“We are excited to have further enhanced our partnership with ESPN through the extension of our multimedia contract,” said ACC Commissioner John Swofford. “We are proud that ESPN has invested so deeply in the ACC both from a resource and exposure standpoint. As we look to the future, this relationship will be tremendous for our schools, fans, coaches and student-athletes.”

ACC on ESPN
ESPN has been televising ACC content since 1979 and has exclusive rights to every conference-controlled football and men’s basketball game, plus women’s basketball and Olympic sports matchups, and all ACC championship events. ACC content is distributed on the widest array of multi-media platforms in the sports industry. ACC on ESPN highlights:

· Football on national TV: Extensive regular-season action on Saturday afternoon and nights, primetime Thursdays, three Fridays including Thanksgiving Friday, Labor Day Monday and the ACC Football Championship Game;
· Men’s basketball on national TV: The most comprehensive coverage of regular-season games and the entire conference tournament produced and distributed via ESPN; regular-season matchups of the storied Duke-North Carolina rivalry each year; full national telecasts on all games televised on an ESPN platform; a weekly ACC Sunday Night Basketball franchise on ESPNU;
· Women’s basketball: Numerous women’s regular-season basketball games and the entire conference tournament;
· Olympic sports: An extensive commitment to the league’s soon to be 23-sponsored Olympic sports with regular-season and championship telecasts, highlighted by baseball, softball, lacrosse, and men’s and women’s soccer;
· Digital media: Exclusive ACC football, men’s and women’s basketball, and Olympic sports games as well as simulcasts on ESPN3. Live ACC games, including football and basketball, on ESPN Mobile TV;
· ESPN 3D: Select live ACC action on ESPN 3D;
· Additional outlets: Select ACC action on ESPN International, ESPN GamePlan, ESPN FULL COURT, ESPN Classic and ESPN Deportes; and extensive content rights for ESPN.com.

About the Atlantic Coast Conference
The Atlantic Coast Conference is now in its 59th year of competition, the ACC has long enjoyed the reputation as one of the strongest and most competitive intercollegiate conferences in the nation. Since the league’s inception in 1953, ACC schools have captured 124 national championships, including 66 in women’s competition and 58 in men’s. In addition, NCAA individual titles have gone to ACC student-athletes 142 times in men’s competition and 101 times in women’s action. For more information, visit theACC.com.

Simmering...

Yesterday was a day for unbridled excitement over Phillip Sims, and today is a day for tapping the brakes and considering the possible negative ramifications of Sims-to-UVA.

I had a whole piece planned for this morning, but From Old Virginia already did it and did it better, so here's a link to their excellent post on the subject.

Time for a trip in the wayback machine...

I agree with just about everything said in that piece, by the way.  I think it's a really excellent write-up overview of the situation at hand.  Please tap the link and read it.

I love that post.  Best thing I've seen breaking down Sims-to-UVA.  However, I might adjust his percentages of opinions to the following:

A) 20% think Sims should instantly be named the starter, or are so certain that he'll win the QB1 battle over Rocco that the contest is merely a formality.

B) 50% think Rocco will be defending his job in fall camp in an open competition, and will probably lose that competition to Sims, who is the more talented player and who brings more to the table in terms of upside and potential overall growth of the program.

C) 25% think Rocco will be defending his job in fall camp in an open competition, and will win the competition due to his on-field experience, success over the second half of last season, familiarity with Lazor's playbook, and command of the offense.

D) 5% think this whole thing is going to cause such a hassle and potentially disrupt chemistry so severely that it's not worth it, and wish Sims would just transfer to Richmond or ODU instead.

Personally, I probably fall in with the 50% at option 'B.'  But I could also see 'C' happening, because Lazor will value the kid he's spent the last two seasons building up into his triggerman.  Many people will claim they don't fall into 'A' camp, but they do.  I can't really blame them -- Rocco had his struggles last season, and Sims brings the kind of talent (and hype) that can quickly put stars in your eyes.  The people who fall under 'D'... well... I think they are just over-thinking this thing too much.  You have a chance to add a 5-star quarterback who is considered a legend in your most important recruiting region, you freaking do it without hesitation.

Tom Hauck for ESPN.com

Adding Sims to the roster is an easy decision.  It's a no-brainer.  But figuring out what to do with him once he's here is a tricky situation, and it's vitally important that Coach London handles all of this correctly, lest he'll give rival recruiters plenty of ammunition to use against us.

If he shows any sort of favoritism toward Sims, it will reinforce the assertion laid out recently by Jared Green, that London is a shameless 757 homer, and will give the Hampton Roads kids an unfair advantage within his program. To that point, Green said: 

"[Mike London's] agenda was to play receivers from the Tidewater area because that’s where he recruits.  I went home that summer and told my parents I wanted to transfer. My mom said, ‘No. You’ve got two more semesters. Graduate from UVA.’ I said, ‘OK. Who knows? This coach might be an awesome guy.’ He wasn’t. Coaches can manipulate your mind and tell lies. They can hide behind the program and make a kid look like an outcast."

Harsh words, but an overarching message that you can be sure Hokie recruiters have already printed on tee-shirts and posters for their anti-London recruiting campaign.  It's a concept they will certainly use against us in our battles to land any/all non-757 recruits.

However, if London overcompensates the other direction, and gives Rocco too much leeway in the inevitable competition with Sims, then that 757 pipeline could quickly dry up just as easily as it began flowing.  And make no mistake -- if Virginia wants to become a nationally-relevant program, talent from the Tidewater has to be its lifeblood.  Richmond, DC-Metro, and out of state recruits are important, but it's Hampton Roads that will make our program great... or cripple it.

So this whole thing will end up being bigger than Phillip Sims, Mike Rocco, and the decision on who will be our starting QB for this season (and beyond.)  It could end up deciding the ultimate success or failure of Mike London as UVA's head coach.

It's a riveting story to follow this summer.  Can't wait.

The Sims Effect

Well, it's official.

Phillip Sims is transferring from Alabama to Virginia.  Phillip Sims is going to be a Cavalier.

If it sounds like I'm not that excited, it's because I'm really just in shock right now.  Excitement will come soon enough.  For now, it's confusion, bewilderment, disbelief.

We're Virginia.  Good things like this just don't happen to us.

Anyway, as I attempt to come to grips with this unmitigated awesomeness, I think it'll be a good exercise to walk through the many elements of the Sims Effect.

But first of all, I think it's important for everyone to know exactly what we're dealing with here.  Take a look:

He makes every throw.  Effortlessly.  He offers you indefensible plays - 20 yard outs, comebacks at any depth, post routes, fades, digs, curls, corners - all on the money.  He's not a runner but he can run.  He's everything - EVERYTHING! - you could want in a college football recruit at the quarterback position.  Phillip Sims is the best quarterbacking talent we have had at UVA since Shawn Moore.  And no shitting you on this, Sims has a chance to be better than Moore.

Anyway, The Sims Effect...

1) Open the 757 floodgates.  Thanks to Mike London and Chip West, the Hampton Roads-to-UVA pipeline had already begun to flow pretty freely.  Rijo Walker, Henry Coley, and Stephen Lawe in 2010, Clifton Richardson, Daquan Romero, David Watford, Tra Nicholson, David Dean, Ross Burbank, Kameron Mack, Caleb Taylor, and Mason Thomas in 2011, Eli Harold, Kwontie Moore, Courtnye Wynn, Anthony Cooper, Mark Hall, Mario Nixon, Kyle Dockins, Divante Walker, Wil Wahee, and Jamall Brown in 2012, and Zack Jones so far in 2013 --- we haven't seen a lot of these guys on the field yet, but I can assure you this group represents a big chunk of the raw natural talent on the roster; it is a big reason for the optimism surrounding the program right now.  Phillip Sims is a freaking folk hero in the Virginia Beach area, and his decision to transfer to UVA, coupled with the commitments of Richardson, Nicholson, Harold, and Moore, really serves to cement Virginia's status as the up-and-coming, sexy program for kids from the 757.  This impact cannot be overstated.  If Virginia can build a fence around the 757, it can climb to heights never before seen.  Virginia Tech has successfully mined Hampton Roads on its way to a decade of unprecedented success.  We can do the same, and we can take it even further than the Hokies ever could --- our coaches are hip urbanites who hail from the 757, they aren't drawling hicks from southwest Virginia.  Phillip Sims is the biggest name to join UVA's program, and don't think that anyone associated with football in that region is going to fail to notice the fact that one of their best and brightest prospects of the last decade has just joined the Hoos.  Sims-to-UVA could have a similar effect to what Michael Vick-to-VPI had for the Hokies.

2) He's a good quarterback.  In fact, the best we've had in a really long time.  What does that mean for Mike Rocco, Greyson Lambert, etc.?  Not sure yet.  In fact, how Mike London handles this situation could have a pretty big impact on his trajectory as UVA's head coach.  But at the end of the day, he's paid to win football games, and that means putting the best players on the field.  I don't want to see Rocco relegated to the bench after he won the battle for the starting job last season, and then played so well in leading us to 8 wins and the Peach Bowl.  But beating our Phillip Sims is a much different challenge than beating out Ross Metheny and true freshman David Watford.  If Rock is up to the challenge, then great.  It means our incumbent is a damn good QB.  But if Sims wins that battle - and I suspect that he will - it means that we have upgraded the position.  In Lazor's offense, the QB is key.  A stud quarterback should help us to win many more games than we otherwise would have.  I don't want to oversimplify this, but the key to rebuilding a program is winning games.  And the key to establishing a program as a legit up-and-comer on the national scene... is winning.  Phillip Sims can help us win.  I don't think Sims will be handed the starting job this fall, he'll have to earn it.  But I'm pretty sure he will earn it, despite his lack of familiarity with Lazor's playbook.

3) Instant cred.  Point blank: With Sims behind center, Virginia is a football program that must be taken seriously.  It puts us in the public eye, and it will put us on TV, in newspapers, on websites, and in magazines.  Exposure is like oxygen to a rebuilding program, and a quarterback of Phillip Sims stature is like an atomic-powered respirator.

4) Contender status.  What was Baylor before Robert Griffin III?  What was Stanford before Andrew Luck?  Sims can be our RG3 or our Luck, he can take us to new heights, he can take us to wins over Virginia Tech, to the ACC championship game, to the BCS.  He's that good.  This is not pie-in-the-sky optimistic bullshit, HE IS THAT GOOD.  Think of all of the teams that recently rose from relative obscurity to surprising success on the national stage.  What do so many of those teams have in common?  A great quarterback.  TCU with Andy Dalton.  Nevada with Colin Kaepernick.  Central Michigan with Dan LeFevour.  Auburn with Cam Newton.  Washington with Jake Locker.  Mike Rocco has a chance to be a very good quarterback.  Phillip Sims has a chance to be great.  Rock can take us to 8, 9 win seasons and good bowl games.  Sims could take us beyond...

I'm still processing everything, what it all means.  We've honestly never been in this kind of situation since I've been a dialed-in UVA football fan.  Mike Groh, Aaron Brooks, Matt Schaub, they were all good quarterbacks when they came in, and then ended up being our best of the last 20 years.  Sims is on an entirely different level.  We were already very excited about the football program, before this news broke.  Now?

Wow.

More on this later, including a breakdown on what August training camp will be like, assuming Sims is granted his hardship waiver and is eligible to play in 2012.  Until then...

GO HOOS!

And welcome home, Phillip Sims.

Photo courtesy of ESPNRISE.com