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Was Pitt's jump to ACC an easy one?

Mark Konezny-US PRESSWIRE

ESPN's ACC blogger Heather Dinich had an interesting take on the moves of Pitt and Syracuse to the ACC. Dinich essentially says that the moves weren't all that difficult compared to the last expansion by the conference when it added Miami, Boston College and Virginia Tech.

I don't know how you couldn't agree with that. Those moves were not only met with so much anger, but it was also far different than the current landscape, where conferences are constantly shifting.

Still, though, I'm not sure that Pitt and Syracuse were 'practically tap-dancing' out of the Big East as she puts it.

The two schools got their fair share of criticism from the other members and as I said at the time, that's understandable (despite the fact that I'm of the belief that any other school in the conference would have made the jump had they been invited). Syracuse fans may say differently but Pitt, in particular, seemed to take the brunt of it due to the belief that because they were one of the schools that helped the Big East stay together after the first round of expansion, they shouldn't have been so willing to break up the conference this time around.

There was even the lawsuit from about a year ago between Pitt and the Big East. A settlement was eventually reached and most believed a trial would be avoided. But it's still not as if the split was an amicable one.

I do think Pitt and Syracuse had things a bit easier than the trio that left several years ago, but it still hasn't been a walk through the park.

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