Rick Pitino has bold idea for Big East and ACC 'super league'

Conference expansion and the emergence of "super conferences" in the Big Ten and SEC — alongside the effective death of the Pac-12 as we knew it — has been all the rage on the college football side of college athletes, but conference realignment has impacted college hoops as well.

The Big Ten and SEC currently have 14 of the Top 25 teams in the AP Top 25 poll, and with March Madness coming up, that hypothetically means less room for programs in conferences like the ACC and Big East outside of those getting in with automatic qualifiers.

That's a problem, especially considering the rich basketball tradition of both the Big East and ACC, but that's a problem that could be solved by another round of expansion with hoops in mind.

In fact, legendary Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski recently called for a merger of the ACC and Big East with greater access to March Madness for a "super conference" in mind, and another legend of the game, Rick Pitino, seems to be on board.

In fact, speaking with Krzyzewski in a podcast appearance, Pitino revealed that he knows several coaches who are in favor of expansion, but it's the school presidents who seem to be holding that idea up.

“I’ve been trying to get them, and obviously I jumped on your bandwagon with the suggestion that you had about combining with the ACC because I’ve been trying to get them to start a Super League, basketball league, and get up to 18 teams, 16 teams,” Pitino said (h/t On3).  “Eleven is just not enough. And right now, a little bit like the ACC, we’re not typical of the Big East of the past that’s getting eight or nine, 10 teams in the NCAA Tournament. So I think we are missing the boat if we don’t expand."